a few thing different

[mikew968]

There are a few things I would like to see adjusted or changed for the future. With Nasa there is very little track time unless you run Friday which is usually a possibility. The extra day from home does make a difference though. I would like to see an additional warm-up session and keep the warm-ups at 20 minutes. Also is everyone happy with the twin qualifing races? It does seem like there has been at least some carnage in one of the races. Do you want a 3 day or 4 day nationals event? Even though we were at the track for 4 days we got shortened sessions at least 2-3 times but maybe that was the luck of the draw being at the end of the day.

 

Just thinking out loud here...

[001GTSM3]

Track time during a regional event is usually much better than what we see at Nationals. Considering the volume of cars that were on-track this past weekend, I'm surprised we got as much "practice" time as we did. Shouldn't be a problem for the next couple years as 1) MMP is huge and they can probably run all of the cars on the track at once, and 2) they may only have 3 run groups: SM, AI/AIX, and pot-luck.

 

Generally, I like the dual qual race setup. It rewards consistancy throughout the weekend. This year it stunk for me as I started 39th in the Sunday race despite finishing 1st in GTS3 and 5th overall on Saturday. I was basically done on Friday due to engine issues that prevented me from running in Race 1. That, as they say, is racing.

 

Is your comment based on needing more time at Mid-OH or is it that you feel like you did not get a fair amount of track time for the money? Just curious since Fred Crawford made a similar comment that NASA events offer a low lap/$ ratio compared to PCA.

 

Thanks,

Sean T

[mikew968]

Sean:

 

It's not needing more time at MO but rather more time to make adjustments, take tire pressures etc. I know that can be done on a Friday but that is another day to be gone from work/family etc. If you have to scrub tires or bed brakes then you are right into a Q session.

[001GTSM3]

Understand and agree. Trying to adjust constantly from a wet-dry setup is challanging enough. Berkowitz changed to a new shock package in July and we never got enough time even with two events at Mid-OH before nationals to get it all figured out. I kept encouraging him to use the race sessions for tuning but he insisted on winning them instead.

 

-Sean T

[scottbm3]

Understand and agree. Trying to adjust constantly from a wet-dry setup is challanging enough. Berkowitz changed to a new shock package in July and we never got enough time even with two events at Mid-OH before nationals to get it all figured out. I kept encouraging him to use the race sessions for tuning but he insisted on winning them instead.

 

-Sean T

 

Actually I changed motors in July and you changed my shocks in August, but lets not be picky. It is true that we don't get as much practice/set-up time as we would like, but there are a lot of other groups that have to get track time as well. Its a tough situation for the schedule and trying to keep eveyone happy. I'm still trying to get them figured out, I just need a little more input from my engineer/teammate/friend.....

 

-Scott

[001GTSM3]

Yes, motor in July and shocks in August. Apparently my memory is getting as bad as my finishing positions.

 

-Sean T

[mikew968]

I understand that there are a lot of groups to get on the track. We have seen some decline in track time this year and an increase in prices. A 15 minute session with wu and cd is just about 8-10 minutes...pretty difficult to really figure anything out. NASA is going to continue to see a challenge keeping racers and hpde folks happy unless they have limits. If MO is an expensice track maybe places like BGMS and NL will help as they come on line.

[Sterling Doc]

Supersizing is pretty reasonable, and doubles the track time. Even if you're not competitive in your PTx class, it'd be worth it for the time. As stated above, the bigger facility at Miller should help the next two years. Back at Mid-O, the only way I see this improving is to move Time Trials to a separate weekend or venue.

[Fred Crawford]

Track time during a regional event is usually much better than what we see at Nationals. Considering the volume of cars that were on-track this past weekend, I'm surprised we got as much "practice" time as we did. Shouldn't be a problem for the next couple years as 1) MMP is huge and they can probably run all of the cars on the track at once, and 2) they may only have 3 run groups: SM, AI/AIX, and pot-luck.

 

Generally, I like the dual qual race setup. It rewards consistancy throughout the weekend. This year it stunk for me as I started 39th in the Sunday race despite finishing 1st in GTS3 and 5th overall on Saturday. I was basically done on Friday due to engine issues that prevented me from running in Race 1. That, as they say, is racing.

 

Is your comment based on needing more time at Mid-OH or is it that you feel like you did not get a fair amount of track time for the money? Just curious since Fred Crawford made a similar comment that NASA events offer a low lap/$ ratio compared to PCA.

 

Thanks,

Sean T

 

Two separate issues. At Nationals, you should have at some point been on the track before and have some sort of set up data. You also get a day of ( some ) time you can buy to do some set up work before the actual event. Nationals are what they are, I say be PREpared.

At SouthEast we get on Saturday 20 min practice , 15 min qualify, and a 30 min race. Sunday , no practice , 15 qualify and 30 or 40 min race. Thats kinda typical.

Next month PBOC.... Saturday 30 min practice, 30 min qualify race, 90 min enduro... Sunday 30 min qualify race, 30 min race, 30 min race.

 

Fc

[116svvh]

I agree that as NASA grows, track time seems to be taking a hit. I think there are just too many run groups/cars to get a decent amount of track time. Regional weekends have the HPDE thrown in that we don't have at Nationals which eats track time.

 

PCA does not do DE's on race weekends (other than the occasional Solo group at poorly attended races which does not effect track time). If I am going to spend my hard earned money in race fees and towing to get there, I want to get my money's worth. My decision of which race to do in a given month generally comes down to a cost benefit analysis on travel/fees v. track time. PCA won out last year. I did 3 PCA club race weekends and 1 NASA before the motor let go.

 

Bottom line is, I'll probably continue to get the minimum number of races in to run the Nationals (not going to Miller, BTW) and run a slew of PCA races where I get the extra time on track.

 

I know they want HPDE to grow and for the HPDE'ers to see the racing so they will progress. However, I think running the HPDE groups on race weekends really doesn't help attract experienced racers or help keep racers. Plus, at least for Porsche owners, DE's with PCA are a much better bang for the buck.

 

At some point (hopefully sooner rather than later) I think NASA will have to realize that the racing has grown to the point they are going to need to separate the two if they want to continue to grow.

[JSG1901]

Back to the question of the twin qualifiers, I think it is a cool feature of NASA's Nationals. This year, for instance, we had full rain, full sun and then full wind for the finals. You don't always get that, of course, but it certainly rewards those able to be fast in ALL conditions.

 

The folks I don't think it works for are the TT guys. As it turned out, Saturday they may have had dry sessions but for a while it was looking like the only dry sessions for them (and, thus, their fastest times) were on Thursday. A few of us discussed this and thought TT should use a combination of the fastest times from all three days so there was an incentive to go out in each session.

 

But that's not really my problem....