Fred Crawford Posted March 5, 2008 Share Posted March 5, 2008 the SouthEast guys have and do split the GTS series. They say the reason is for safety. GTS1,2,3 cars are far more slower than 4and 5 , so they move them to a race group that includes 944 cup, spec e30 boys. The GTS4,5 run with st and su . My question is , is this the correct way to run GTS series. It kinda hard to feel as a " group " when you never run with all you fellow racers. I have many friends in the series and never get to run with them. Just odd to me Fc Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ryan325 Posted March 5, 2008 Share Posted March 5, 2008 At the VIR event a couple weeks ago they (NASA MA) put GTS 1,2 in the stinger group and 3,4,5 in the thunder group. I think they did this due to the HUGE Spec Miata class in stinger. They also put Spec E30 in thunder. I would prefer if all GTS cars ran together but I understand if it just can't work out. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Fred Crawford Posted March 5, 2008 Author Share Posted March 5, 2008 At the VIR event a couple weeks ago they (NASA MA) put GTS 1,2 in the stinger group and 3,4,5 in the thunder group. I think they did this due to the HUGE Spec Miata class in stinger. They also put Spec E30 in thunder. I would prefer if all GTS cars ran together but I understand if it just can't work out. Yeh, thats what I thought at first, maybe because of the number of racers or something. I'm easy to get along with, but don't do it as a for sure thing as Southeast does. Doesn't seem right. I say run all GTS together or why are we disscussing letting Euro cars in, in what, we don't have a defined race group if we don't race together. Fc Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
buzzracer Posted March 5, 2008 Share Posted March 5, 2008 OK, time for me to chime in: MA region has split GTS for a couple of years now. GTS1 & 2 run in Stinger along with 944 Cup and Spec e30. GTS3, 4 & 5 run in Thunder with AI, AIX, FF, CMC, ST1, ST2 mostly. Last weekend at VIR was an anomaly only due to Spec e30 running in Thunder - because of the overwhelming Spec Miata field in Stinger (a record for any NASA class actually). As far as speed differentials are concerned, several GTS3's are often faster than GTS4, and quite a bit quicker than GTS2. Just as a example, a GTS3 or GTS4 (or 5) will be in the top 3 or 5 of the entire Thunder field, speedwise. Same goes for GTS2 which head up Stinger. What we do get in the MA region, is our own pace car and flag in Thunder as we do not do standing starts - often the preference of the AI & V8 guys. We'd love to keep GTS whole, but that simply isn't practical - UNLESS - we start having GTS fields of 35/40 cars. When that happens (as it has several times in the Great Lakes region), we'll get our own stand alone race group So come on, the more the merrier! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lemming Posted March 5, 2008 Share Posted March 5, 2008 Fred, GTS3 typically runs with Thunder in SE, 1 and 2 run with Lightning. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
buzzracer Posted March 5, 2008 Share Posted March 5, 2008 Actually, I was wrong. GTS2 runs with Autobahn in the Mid Atlantic comprised also of 944Cup & Spec e30. We run 3 race groups on normal weekends; Thunder, Stinger & Autobahn. VIR last weekend with enduro was an exception because there was no Autobahn Group. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
cwbaader Posted March 7, 2008 Share Posted March 7, 2008 I would think strictly for safety reasons. When cars are more closely matched in lap times, there is far less chance of getting "run over" by a car that is 10-15 seconds a lap faster than you. I think it is a great idea. Chuck Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
cellis805 Posted March 7, 2008 Share Posted March 7, 2008 We will be running all the GTS cars in the Blitzkrieg group with the Spec E-30's and the 944 guys at the RA event. Currently, there are only 4 GTS-4 cars and no GTS-5's. (Unless Fred finally registered We will probably split start everyone. C- Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
cwbaader Posted March 7, 2008 Share Posted March 7, 2008 Gosh....I really wanted to park behin Fred in the corners..and watch him disappear on the strainghs. Chuck Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bruce L. Posted March 7, 2008 Share Posted March 7, 2008 Rocky Mountain region also splits GTS into two groups. bruce Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
cstreit911 Posted March 28, 2008 Share Posted March 28, 2008 We haven't done this in the Midwest region for a few reasons... There are not that many GTS4-5 cars entered (usually 2-3). It was the consensus of the drivers that the current group was a lot more respectful of our 13-13 rule. Too many nervous moments in the other session. I know for a fact that running in the other group would keep some of our drivers away based on their experience. There are plenty of slower in CMC/AI compared to GTS-4-5 EDIT: As long as we're talking safety I would also comment that the mass of the cars running together is at least as important as the speed differentials. A 2000# Porsche is going to lose big compared to a 3200# Mustang in the event of an argument.. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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