Trying SCCA club racing . . .

I started with an open trailer - and really got sick and tired of putting up a tent or paying for a hotel. I got tired of the car filling up with water and having to try to drive a set of slicks up a wet steel ramp in the pouring rain. Of loading and unloading the truck - of worrying if someone was stealing my gas cans or mountain bike every time I went into a restaurant on the road...

Now I have a 22' enclosed trailer where my tools can be locked up and not loaded/unloaded from a pile of plastic bins, my car stays dry and I camp in it with 4 other people when the car is out - make coffee, store things in the fridge and microwave them when I'm hungry... and in the off-season, my car has clean, dry storage that isn't taking up space in my garage.

If I knew all this and could have afforded it all when I was buying a small pickup and open trailer - I'd have just gone straight to the box. If you do more than a handful of events in a season it is worth it in hotel bills alone. They hold their value pretty well too so you can usually get out of one if you need to (not so much for the race cars that go in them though...).

rcl4668 wrote: Javelin -- Thank you for the feedback. I did see the blue Miata for sale and thought about it but I know AR does amazing work and would rather have the peace of mind knowing everything about the car was done to the highest standard, including the cage and safety gear.

Rich,

I am 90% sure AR is who built the cage in Josh's car. Might want to call him.

Giant Purple Snorklewacker wrote:

pigeon wrote: Thanks - I've only run 3 HPDE weekends so we'll see how it goes this year before I take the next step. I'm already signed up for 2 HPDEs in April at the Glen (GVC BMWCCA and PCA). Will I see you there?

You might - I haven't shored up the schedule yet for the season but if that GVC event is the 3 day club race weekend it will be a priority on my list because it has an open track day Friday before it to shake down the car.

I just re-checked the GVC site and the May 4-6 school (not April as I mus-remembered) is being run with the Stan Parker Memorial club race. I may or may not make it down for Friday (I'm not signed off solo yet - hope to get that done that weekend) but I'll be there the rest of the weekend, and more than willing to lend a hand with any club race stuff you need. PM me for my cell #.

/threadjack

In reply to mguar:

Sage words . . . thanks!

jimbbski wrote: I have driven my race car to the track and then raced it and then driven it home. What sucked was swaping the tires from street to race and back to street. The other thing was if you have a problem either mechanical or due to contact with another car or object and the car can't be driven home, that sucks even more! That was over 20 years ago and that's why I have a trailer and tow vehicle now. I do know a few guys who still do this though. The bottom line is if you just want to race your Miata then SM is the best place to try to do this other then Showroom Stock class. Many years ago back in the 80's AMC/Renault sponsored a Pro race series for the Alliance car that AMC sold. I remember one racer who happened to live in the Hammond, IN area and he would drive the car as his DD between races, numbers and all. Not sure if he drove it to the track and raced it?

I have a friend who raced in that series, drove the car both ways until at Lime Rock he spun, landed on its side and got hit in the roof. Needless to say, he didn't drive it home.

I am not a club racer and I havent even gotten to PDX/HPDE yet, but I have been doing some flagging and communications for the last year.

I honestly recommend that ANY club racer get out and try flagging for at least one event or do an F&C school. It will help you immensely to know what is happening on the operations end of an event. You will know the whats, hows, and whys of what the F&C crew is trying to do to help you and it can and WILL keep you safer. Not to mention, at least in the case of DC-region, volunteering reduces your SCCA dues (to nothing if you do enough), and they have a work 3, get a PDX free program.

The stories of spec pinata are TRUE as far as my observation goes. The first event I worked was an scca school. There were a lot of SM's there and about half of them left damaged. (someone even managed to put one in treetops off the side of the track, AT A SCHOOL) BE CAREFUL OUT THERE! (I own a miata, love it, but dont think I want to run SM)

REMEMBER, watch those flag stations!

In reply to Javelin:

Thanks Javelin! I'll call AR about it.

I don't run SM because I don't like to do bodywork. Let's face it, SM is a LOT of fun to whatch, but a little tough on the participants.

My first club racing weekend was the Laborday MARRS 7 & 8 at Summit Point last fall; I run in GTP (as in GT Pinto). On Saturday they held 3 SM drivers in tech after quilfying for "counciling" from the chief steward, then the ENTIRE group after the Qualifying Race in the afternoon was held and "counciled" in the class room. I'm pretty sure there weren't any SM sessions over the course of the three day weekend where at least one or two guys weren't "spoken" to.

Too bad GTP isn't a national class, a competitive, fresh, and ready to run Pinto is around $6K. And what other car can you race and hear the Benny Hill Theam in the back of your head at the same time?

BTW: This thread has been VERY helpful for me, as I'm still figuring out what trailer to buy and which spares and tools to take to the track with my Dart after two race weekends.

Dave

What, you don't want to run Smash Miata?

Spec Pinata!!!

Everybody's pretty much covered the basics..all I can add is to say that no, the days of driving the car to the event aren't absolutely over, yet.

However, the days where you could drive the car to the event and hope for a finish in the top half of the field definitely are.

And also, those "Spec Pinata" jokes aren't completely without merit..

Just to bring this post full circle, I loved my first season of SCCA racing and am now hopelessly addicted. For anyone thinking about taking the plunge, I could not recommend this sport/hobby more.

rcl4668 wrote: Just to bring this post full circle, I loved my first season of SCCA racing and am now hopelessly addicted. For anyone thinking about taking the plunge, I could not recommend this sport/hobby more.

Pix/stories?

Javelin wrote:

rcl4668 wrote: Javelin -- Thank you for the feedback. I did see the blue Miata for sale and thought about it but I know AR does amazing work and would rather have the peace of mind knowing everything about the car was done to the highest standard, including the cage and safety gear.

Rich, I am 90% sure AR is who built the cage in Josh's car. Might want to call him.

It was actually probably Racetech, aka Russ Nyberg, but their shop just burned down :(

You gotta check out this website too

http://www.goaheadtakethewheel.com/

For those of you on the east coast looking for a decent alternate to the regular race clubs, you might try calling Charlie at:

www.imgracing.com

Also:

In reply to turboswede:

I also heard about Russ' shop. Seems like a great guy but with no insurance this must have been devastating. The worst above all? I heard his dog was killed in the fire.

In reply to mguar:

Wow, I will definitely take your words to heart mguar. I don't think I I've experienced anything close to the trials you and your friend have but I've definitely gotten a sampling of the insane balancing act that racing demands when you work a full-time job, have a wife and kids. But, I enjoy it more than any hobby/sport I've done before. I think that if we all really, truly analyzed the amount of time and money demanded by racing versus the amount of seat time, many of us would quit instantly. My solution? Cognitive dissonance.

In reply to friedgreencorrado:

Corrado: The quickie summary is that even over my rookie season, I got a nice sampling of the highs (and lows) of racing: A couple of top 10 finishes, making some last minute strategic choices (rains versus slicks) in the last few minutes before qualifying that really paid off, and having my first in-race crash (with a friend no less).