What makes a great racecar?
06-13-2016, 11:51 PM
#16
What makes a great race car...
Reliability. Fast, easy to drive. Factory support.
G Dyer
G Dyer
06-14-2016, 03:33 AM
#17
Rennlist Member
Thread Starter
I appreciate all the input!
I live in Utah, so Miller Motorsports Park (now Utah Motorsports Campus) is local and I'm six hours from Vegas. I'm about ten hours from everything else. We just started a family, so I can't make that happen often. I can get to the local track about every month though. NASA runs monthly and PCA does monthly DEs and one race a year. A few groups rent out the track for test days so I can pay for time, but that doesn't buy competition. If I want to race locally, it's pretty much down to what shows up for NASA events.
Based on the NASA season points and timeslips, the per-event turnouts for the first three events this year are approximately:
P/W classes:
GTS2 - 2-3 cars
GTS3+ST3 - 4
GTS4+ST2 - 2
GTS5+ST1 - 2-5, varied quite a bit
GTSU+SU - 4-9
I grouped the GTS and ST classes as they are pretty comparable overall. PT is pretty empty and I'd go with a spec class over it anyway. Checking the times, I found that the unlimited groups really have a slow and a fast speed tier within the class, and the ST1/GTS5 cars run similar times to the fast unlimited cars.
Spec classes:
SM - 3-9, typically about five cars
Spec Z - 9-16, locally this is where the most action is. I don't really want one, but I like the size of the fields.
SPB, 944, most others - 0-1. I could always run GTS/ST.
In practical terms, they have a fast and a slow run group with a median difference of about 10-20 seconds per lap.
Lightning Group (GTS2,PTB,PTE,SM) - also the SPB
Thunder Group (GTS4,GTSU,SpecZ,ST1,SU)
Based on that, I basically have to choose between Spec Z, Spec Miata, and running a power to weight class. I'm not in love with either of those spec cars, but the power to weight classes really leave things open, which is a blessing and a curse. That's why I was looking for opinions on what makes it fun.
I'm wondering if the best approach is less about which car and more about getting anything that fits my budget and (1) I like the idea of racing in, (2) has 3-5+ close competitors at most races, and (3) wouldn't be hard to resell for some acceptable price. That way if I love it, great, and if not I can easily sell it and change classes after getting my feet wet for a few years. In that vein, a SPB or a simpler Cayman race car might make a lot of sense.
I live in Utah, so Miller Motorsports Park (now Utah Motorsports Campus) is local and I'm six hours from Vegas. I'm about ten hours from everything else. We just started a family, so I can't make that happen often. I can get to the local track about every month though. NASA runs monthly and PCA does monthly DEs and one race a year. A few groups rent out the track for test days so I can pay for time, but that doesn't buy competition. If I want to race locally, it's pretty much down to what shows up for NASA events.
Based on the NASA season points and timeslips, the per-event turnouts for the first three events this year are approximately:
P/W classes:
GTS2 - 2-3 cars
GTS3+ST3 - 4
GTS4+ST2 - 2
GTS5+ST1 - 2-5, varied quite a bit
GTSU+SU - 4-9
I grouped the GTS and ST classes as they are pretty comparable overall. PT is pretty empty and I'd go with a spec class over it anyway. Checking the times, I found that the unlimited groups really have a slow and a fast speed tier within the class, and the ST1/GTS5 cars run similar times to the fast unlimited cars.
Spec classes:
SM - 3-9, typically about five cars
Spec Z - 9-16, locally this is where the most action is. I don't really want one, but I like the size of the fields.
SPB, 944, most others - 0-1. I could always run GTS/ST.
In practical terms, they have a fast and a slow run group with a median difference of about 10-20 seconds per lap.
Lightning Group (GTS2,PTB,PTE,SM) - also the SPB
Thunder Group (GTS4,GTSU,SpecZ,ST1,SU)
Based on that, I basically have to choose between Spec Z, Spec Miata, and running a power to weight class. I'm not in love with either of those spec cars, but the power to weight classes really leave things open, which is a blessing and a curse. That's why I was looking for opinions on what makes it fun.
I'm wondering if the best approach is less about which car and more about getting anything that fits my budget and (1) I like the idea of racing in, (2) has 3-5+ close competitors at most races, and (3) wouldn't be hard to resell for some acceptable price. That way if I love it, great, and if not I can easily sell it and change classes after getting my feet wet for a few years. In that vein, a SPB or a simpler Cayman race car might make a lot of sense.
06-14-2016, 10:54 AM
#18
Originally Posted by ace37
I appreciate all the input!
I live in Utah, so Miller Motorsports Park (now Utah Motorsports Campus) is local and I'm six hours from Vegas. I'm about ten hours from everything else. We just started a family, so I can't make that happen often. I can get to the local track about every month though. NASA runs monthly and PCA does monthly DEs and one race a year. A few groups rent out the track for test days so I can pay for time, but that doesn't buy competition. If I want to race locally, it's pretty much down to what shows up for NASA events.
Based on the NASA season points and timeslips, the per-event turnouts for the first three events this year are approximately:
P/W classes:
GTS2 - 2-3 cars
GTS3+ST3 - 4
GTS4+ST2 - 2
GTS5+ST1 - 2-5, varied quite a bit
GTSU+SU - 4-9
I grouped the GTS and ST classes as they are pretty comparable overall. PT is pretty empty and I'd go with a spec class over it anyway. Checking the times, I found that the unlimited groups really have a slow and a fast speed tier within the class, and the ST1/GTS5 cars run similar times to the fast unlimited cars.
Spec classes:
SM - 3-9, typically about five cars
Spec Z - 9-16, locally this is where the most action is. I don't really want one, but I like the size of the fields.
SPB, 944, most others - 0-1. I could always run GTS/ST.
In practical terms, they have a fast and a slow run group with a median difference of about 10-20 seconds per lap.
Lightning Group (GTS2,PTB,PTE,SM) - also the SPB
Thunder Group (GTS4,GTSU,SpecZ,ST1,SU)
Based on that, I basically have to choose between Spec Z, Spec Miata, and running a power to weight class. I'm not in love with either of those spec cars, but the power to weight classes really leave things open, which is a blessing and a curse. That's why I was looking for opinions on what makes it fun.
I'm wondering if the best approach is less about which car and more about getting anything that fits my budget and (1) I like the idea of racing in, (2) has 3-5+ close competitors at most races, and (3) wouldn't be hard to resell for some acceptable price. That way if I love it, great, and if not I can easily sell it and change classes after getting my feet wet for a few years. In that vein, a SPB or a simpler Cayman race car might make a lot of sense.
I live in Utah, so Miller Motorsports Park (now Utah Motorsports Campus) is local and I'm six hours from Vegas. I'm about ten hours from everything else. We just started a family, so I can't make that happen often. I can get to the local track about every month though. NASA runs monthly and PCA does monthly DEs and one race a year. A few groups rent out the track for test days so I can pay for time, but that doesn't buy competition. If I want to race locally, it's pretty much down to what shows up for NASA events.
Based on the NASA season points and timeslips, the per-event turnouts for the first three events this year are approximately:
P/W classes:
GTS2 - 2-3 cars
GTS3+ST3 - 4
GTS4+ST2 - 2
GTS5+ST1 - 2-5, varied quite a bit
GTSU+SU - 4-9
I grouped the GTS and ST classes as they are pretty comparable overall. PT is pretty empty and I'd go with a spec class over it anyway. Checking the times, I found that the unlimited groups really have a slow and a fast speed tier within the class, and the ST1/GTS5 cars run similar times to the fast unlimited cars.
Spec classes:
SM - 3-9, typically about five cars
Spec Z - 9-16, locally this is where the most action is. I don't really want one, but I like the size of the fields.
SPB, 944, most others - 0-1. I could always run GTS/ST.
In practical terms, they have a fast and a slow run group with a median difference of about 10-20 seconds per lap.
Lightning Group (GTS2,PTB,PTE,SM) - also the SPB
Thunder Group (GTS4,GTSU,SpecZ,ST1,SU)
Based on that, I basically have to choose between Spec Z, Spec Miata, and running a power to weight class. I'm not in love with either of those spec cars, but the power to weight classes really leave things open, which is a blessing and a curse. That's why I was looking for opinions on what makes it fun.
I'm wondering if the best approach is less about which car and more about getting anything that fits my budget and (1) I like the idea of racing in, (2) has 3-5+ close competitors at most races, and (3) wouldn't be hard to resell for some acceptable price. That way if I love it, great, and if not I can easily sell it and change classes after getting my feet wet for a few years. In that vein, a SPB or a simpler Cayman race car might make a lot of sense.
Last edited by z06801; 06-15-2016 at 06:45 PM.
