 Posted July 31st, 2012 10:51 PM IP
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RLHofer
Moderator |
Posts: 3601
Registered: Apr 2006
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Quote:
uncle fred wrote:I'm not sure why this is even a issue? What would be gained by not having an organized series? |
It's not a matter of being an "issue" per se; rather, just expressing my own preference. And I don't know that it has to be expressed in a "gain/loss" paradigm. To me, just holding stand-alone races felt more relaxed. Also, a series is more administrative overhead; have I ever told y'all how lazy I am? LOL
OK, it's settled; we'll hold another series. There will be 8 races with 2 drops. We'll wait until September to start. Like I said somewhere else, I first suggested August to start just 'cause we started in August last year. But my predisposition regarding racing in California in July superseded any thought on my part about where we are now and what we will do in the near future. Now that we are "here", starting in August is way too optimistic; heck, people need more notice just to acquire parts. And spec tires will have to wait until NEXT year; there's just too much that has to be done in too little time. Let's share our thoughts and testing results as this series goes along and we should be able to select an adequate all-purpose tire by next Summer. I'll put y'all on notice that I'm giving y'all a couple more years of series' and a couple years of spec tires, THEN I'm going to selfishly run one year MY way... no series and no spec tires; that probably won't be until 2015/2016 so save your breath for now. Maybe when MY season rolls around, we'll run just one race on race day, but race every two weeks instead of just once a month(?). Imagine racing and leaving the track by 3pm - 4pm and having Saturday evening for whatever.... craaaazy, huh?
We have tracks lined up and we have prospective race dates; I still need to put the two together. Beyond that, the last big hurdle is what classes will we run? Retro Can-Am is a given. But what will the 2nd class be? Flexi/GTR? Or retro F-1? The idea behind running flexi's as a support class was to get whatever crossover participation we could... trying to "infect" some flexi racers with the retro bug. Do we still need to pursue that course of action? Do we have a strong enough core group of retro racers to go "all retro"? While that is my personal preference(all retro), does anyone else want "all retro" or do enough of you guys still want to mix-n-match flexi's with retro? And IF flexi's are to be the support class, is there any interest in alternating retro Can-Am with F-1 from race to race? Don't shoot me; it's just an idea.
Lonny, you said you'd be willing to acquire the box plaques and such; I'll let you. $12 entry fee per race, same as last year, with the track getting $10 per entry and $2 per entry going towards the trophy fund; I'll work with the tracks to get you your $2 per entry at the end of the night.
Anyone want to do the series spreadsheet duties? How 'bout you, Ryan? Anyone else just itching to help out by keeping the series spreadsheet?
And finally, I'll don my Joe Neumeister commemorative "Tech Nazi" cap and get up on the soapbox one more time. Our last hurdle on the tech frontier is to make sure we all have legal front clearance. Your chassis' should CLEAR(not drag) .015" at the forwardmost point of the chassis(excluding guide tongue). Measuring such clearance is done WITH ALL 4 WHEELS TOUCHING THE TECH BLOCK WITHOUT INTERFERENCE FROM THE GUIDE FLAG OR BRAID. In other words, your guide/braid is not used to raise the front end of your chassis to achieve the required clearance. This is the way it's always been in all retro racing organizations. I did everyone a disservice by not enforcing this requirement previously; I apologize to all. But I want us to have a level of legitimacy in our retro program such that anyone from any other retro organization could come race with us knowing that the playing field is level among all competitors and that his car will not be at a disadvantage. I keep harping on this front clearance issue 'cause fixing front clearance is not something that is easily done at the track on race day. Fixing a car that is too low in the front requires either putting on new front tires or dropping the front axle. Do yourselves a favor and buy a piece of .016" brass at your local hardware store and measure your own front clearance. Or buy a set of feeler guages that includes a .015" guage. I was told that I would be supported in my enforcement of the rules; I'm counting on that. But even that support won't diminish the pain I will truly feel if I have to refuse to let someone race due to not meeting the front clearance requirement. I BEG you all, PLEASE don't put me in that position. Tech your own cars ahead of time. Make them legal. If need be, send the car to me and I'll fix it for you; there's no reason for anyone to show up without the required front clearance. If you know someone that might race with us that doesn't follow our forum, touch base with them about any possible tech issues and help them get them cleared up before showing up to race. As I've said before, once the front clearance is achieved, it should be good for a loooooong time.
Remember, two wrongs don't make a right..... but three lefts do! Only you're a block over and one block behind! |
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