How much will this cost me, and other dumb questions

[Teeth]

I've got some HPDE experience and I've done some time trials--one was a bracket TT at Waterford Hills and the other was SCCA's TT Nationals event at NCM.

So I actually have some sort of BS provisional license, but I'm thinking of jumping the SCCA ship. It's tough because my budget pretty much limits me to one event per year, but I don't autocross more than a couple of times a year either, so dues to 2 organizations is yet another budget-buster I could eliminate if I decided that one event would be a NASA event.

So here are my actual questions:

 

1. How far does my "eclectic" resume  and "provisional" SCCA license get me towards competing in TT with NASA?

 

I'm not really a novice, but I'll freely admit I'm no expert either, and I drive a fairly pokey vehicle--on the other hand I have taken my 5-year-old son on a lap of the Nurburgring in a 70hp Fiesta rental on snow tires, so there's that. The point is that I'm less concerned with shredding the competition than measuring my personal progress; but having that transponder makes a big difference to me. If I've got to shell out for 7 or so $450 HPDEs before I get one, that's just too much for me.

 

2. About the vehicle--before I go further, do all NASA classes require roll bars or cages for TT? I don't think that's crazy, but it definitely again  blows my budget (and also conflicts with my interest in keeping the car streetable) so if this is true there's not much point in asking further questions, but...

 

Just in case not all classes require a bar or cage:

3. I feel like there used to be a set of points-based classes here and I even went through the worksheet for my car (not being sure if I did it correctly, but figuring I'd gotten into the ball park) but I can't find that rule set anymore. Has it been superceded? I'm looking to run a Suzuki Swift GT with bolt-ons, an LSD and adjustable suspension, how would  I go about classing my car for NASA TT these days?

 

 

 

 

[Teeth]

I'll save whomever is reading these some  trouble, as I've dug back into the documentation and I've made some headway answering my own questions, so now just let me know if I am incorrect:

1. I'm not sure exactly how it works, but you'll want some sort of a documented driving resume, but it looks like if that is acceptable that I might be allowed to run 1 or 2 HPDE4 events before moving up to TT if things go well, so that's only a year or two for me, lol.

2. Because TT uses HPDE safety standards, a bar or cage is not required (?). Looking more carefully at my situation the safety issue I may have to address is the fitment of a fixed back seat without a 5+ point harness. It looks like I'll either need to go back to the OEM seat so I can use the DOT, OEM equivalent 3 pt. belts , or fit a harness bar so I can install the required belts. I have had the car on track a number of times how it is and my personal preference would be to fit a harness bar. Does this seem like a reasonable path to compliance? There are people who believe harness bars are...bad, and that's why I'm still running 3 pt. belts. Yes I understand that the ideal configuration is either all OEM or at least rollbar/harness/neck restraint, but I feel that harness bar/harness/neck restraint is still better than OEM, especially in this case. Thanks in advance for any guidance.

3. I see that all classes are now power to weight, with some points plus or minus. I get the idea that my car might work well in TT6 and that if I ran a couple of HPDE4 events I could fill in the blanks in my current knowledge on how to get classed prior to competition. 

I'm currently living near Seattle, so if I did an even this year I'd be interested in running at one of the NorCal events at Sonoma (I'll be logging lots of hours of practice on Forza motorsports ahead of time).

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[Greg G.]

On 2/27/2020 at 11:00 PM, Teeth said:

I'll save whomever is reading these some  trouble, as I've dug back into the documentation and I've made some headway answering my own questions, so now just let me know if I am incorrect:

1. I'm not sure exactly how it works, but you'll want some sort of a documented driving resume, but it looks like if that is acceptable that I might be allowed to run 1 or 2 HPDE4 events before moving up to TT if things go well, so that's only a year or two for me, lol.

2. Because TT uses HPDE safety standards, a bar or cage is not required (?). Looking more carefully at my situation the safety issue I may have to address is the fitment of a fixed back seat without a 5+ point harness. It looks like I'll either need to go back to the OEM seat so I can use the DOT, OEM equivalent 3 pt. belts , or fit a harness bar so I can install the required belts. I have had the car on track a number of times how it is and my personal preference would be to fit a harness bar. Does this seem like a reasonable path to compliance? There are people who believe harness bars are...bad, and that's why I'm still running 3 pt. belts. Yes I understand that the ideal configuration is either all OEM or at least rollbar/harness/neck restraint, but I feel that harness bar/harness/neck restraint is still better than OEM, especially in this case. Thanks in advance for any guidance.

3. I see that all classes are now power to weight, with some points plus or minus. I get the idea that my car might work well in TT6 and that if I ran a couple of HPDE4 events I could fill in the blanks in my current knowledge on how to get classed prior to competition. 

I'm currently living near Seattle, so if I did an even this year I'd be interested in running at one of the NorCal events at Sonoma (I'll be logging lots of hours of practice on Forza motorsports ahead of time).

Hi, I just noticed that nobody answered your questions.  Sorry about that.  For TT questions, you probably would have gotten a response in the TT section.

1) Yes, depending on your experience, the NorCal officials would either have you start in HPDE3 or HPDE4.  Depending on your driving, you could move up from HPDE4 to TT in one day.....or not.  

2) The reason that the fixed-back seat requires a 5+ point harness is that those seats were designed to only be effective for safety with such harnesses, where your OEM seats are designed and tested to be used with 3 points.  The harness bar would be adequate with the seat and 5 points.  A roll bar would be better, and plenty of folks are using their cars with roll bars on the streets.

3) Yes, once you get to an event, you might be able to get Dyno tested at the track, and your regional TT Director can assist you with any classing questions, but the process is pretty self explanatory once you read the rules and get onto the online Car Classification Form.

And, we are getting back on track starting this month!--depending on the States' COVID regulations

Edited May 21, 2020 by Greg G.