4 replies to this topic

[Butch Kummer]

Some of y'all have figured it out already, but registration for the Alabama/Atlanta Double SARRC / Pro-IT weekend at Barber Motorsports Park is now open. Test Day on Friday, Sept 2, then racing on Saturday & Sunday so you'll be able to spend Labor Day as you wish. This is the only time SCCA runs at Barber each year, so come out and play at one of the most gorgeous facilities in North America!

Obviously we'd prefer that you show up in person, but for those that can't make it we'll continue our practice of providing Live T&S plus Live Audio of the track announcers on the internet. Links to the Supps, Schedule(s) and the Registration system can be found at http://www.atlantascca.org/.

Let me know if you have any questions, and hopefully we'll see y'all at the track...

[Butch Kummer]

Just a reminder that early registration closes at 1:00 EDT next Tuesday, August 30. Links to info about the weekend, the registration system, and our Live T&S (plus Live Audio) can all be found at www.AtlantaSCCA.org.

Hope to see y'all at the track...

Butch Kummer
Competition Director
Atlanta Region SCCA

[Jim Drago]

Barber was a good time this weekend. Glad to see everyone. We showed up with a new car and Sandlins repaired car after the Sprints, so we needed the time to sort both. Things went relatively smooth, a few sorting pains, but overall good. I missed qualifying on Saturday due to a water leak. Had to start from the back, it was fun.
Saturdays results
Sparks, Steyn, Topping

Sunday, there is a real nasty storm coming through, so we decided to run qualifying and load up and head home and save our cars for the Runoffs in a few weeks. I made some chassis adjustments to tighten the car, very little grip, everyone was slipping and sliding. The adjustment worked, but I went bit too far as I was really tight in the carousel this morning. The scoring pylon was messed up... I thought I was on pole, but the first digit did not illuminate So Sparks, #12 was on pole, Steyn #2 and I was #3, Sandlin #4. The scoring pylon had #2 first and third Sparks 148.0, Steyn 148.14,Drago 148.17, Sandlin 148.5

Hope you guys had a good safe race, let us know what happens, see most of you in a few weeks
Jim

[Danny Steyn]

Barber was the last chance for some of us to test out our cars prior to the NASA champs and the SCCA Runoffs.

As Drago pointed out, Nate Sparks was quickest in qualifying for both SARRC races. He put both his 1.6 and his ’99 onto the pole, quite an achievement.

On Saturday the SARRC Race 1 was driven in HOT dry conditions. Sparks ran his 1.6 and gave me a schooling on how to run Barber. His car was strong, and he never made an error. I ran on his bumper for the first 8 laps, with our lap times were literally within 100ths of a second, and then I slowly started to fall off as my tires went away. We steadily pulled away from Sandlin, Charbonneau and Topping. Sparks eventually finished 4 seconds ahead of me and we were well clear of Topping in 3^rd. Charbonneau stopped after 10 laps (not sure why), as did Sandlin stopped after 5 laps (I think Sandlin’s temp gauge was displaying intermittently and he wisely shut it down).

On Sunday the PRO-IT Race was run in pouring rain from Tropical Depression Lee. I wanted to save my wets for the runoffs so elected to run some worn intermediates. It was a bad move. There was a lot of standing water in deep puddles and I lost more time in the straights and kink aquaplaning in the deep puddles than I lost in the corners. I started in 3^rd place behind two ITA cars, drove to 2^nd where I stayed until Robert Spence past me, and then together we got past the BMW. Spence ran away with the win on the new Hoosier H2O’s, and I finished 2^nd even after driving straight through the dreaded T5 sand-trap and back out onto the course Michael Hartberger ran an excellent rain race to finish 3^rd.

In Sunday's SARRC Race 2 I dug out a better set of used RA-1 rains and they made a big difference, despite being more than 6 years old. I started 2^nd, and ran away to a 21 second lead over Spence who made the gentlemanly gesture to start from the back of the field with the Hoosiers. Topping held on for 3^rd with Sparks 4^th and Hartberger 5^th.

Spence, like myself, Sparks, Drago, Sandlin, Charbonneau and others waived our SARRC points so as not to mess up the championship run for the regional racers.

There was surprisingly little crash damage in any of the SM races despite the amount of water on the track and the tight racing conditions. Fowler had 14 cars under the OPM tent so it was a great social event as well.

Tracy – we love your catering!

[Gatoratty]

Sounds like a fun weekend! Waiving SARRC points was a classy thing to do though it sounds like the real reward was the great racing and prep for the runoffs. I will miss attending the runoffs this year as I will be helping with the pace car duties at Daytona. Hope you all do well.