77 replies to this topic

[Johnny D]

So what are your David Letterman top 5 or so.
J~

In a PM I got this...
J~

I ask,
So what made NASA SoCal a 9 ?

Rob's reply,
No surprises and they have their sh!# together. That's it. Grids are posted hours in advance, few if any mistakes by officials, the event runs smoothly. They have an experienced friendly staff that are good at their jobs. The only beef I have is them being a little shorthanded corner worker wise and not cracking the whip on passes under caution and the pole accelerating early. No registration is nice too.

All their administrative stuff is fantastic, and if I get screwed, it's on track, not before the race.

I asked,
So Admin gets what. 3 points ?
Size of field, competition ? 6 ?
Good fields ? stiff competition ?
-1 for PUY / corner workers ?

Rob's reply,
I was leaving fields and competition out of it, and just grading on the regions ability to not f@#$ up my event-going experience.

SFR's doing what they did with the quick boards was pretty much an insta-fail and ensured they would be below a 5. Imagine if I came up from socal and was only racing SM and then got put in the rear thanks to their stupidass countdown. I would have gotten myself thrown out of SFR and maybe even SCCA after I went ballistic.

Also, keeping me entertained during my stay at the track is probably worthy of honorable mention. The free taco social open to all and the fact that they offer enduros certainly doesn't hurt my opinion of NASA. Contrast that to 3 days of ass sitting with SFR. Prices to add classes are much more reasonable with NASA, especially considering my car likely wont be competitive in the 2nd class.

[Ron Alan]

I read Rob's report and do agree with one thing...the PA system was terrible. You could only hear it in about half the track and the you had to tell the person you were talking to to shut up so you could listen! For the longest time I thought they weren't announcing because in the garages you couldn't hear anything.

As for the rant about grid on Sun...shit happens, be prepared. To be accurate, 2 drivers were transported by ambulance to 2 different hospitals. No race could resume until both ambulances were back at the track...no one had any control over this. I thought they did a good job on the fly to get all the workers in for a short lunch and back out. Unlike NASA I think all races ran their full time just because they have time built into the schedule for just such unfortunate events.

But I'm glad to see Rob is getting his moneys worth out of his "Wine" country visit

I guess those of us with a little more patience will continue to pay to much and put up with lousy volunteers so we can run in 50 car fields

[Rob Burgoon]

I think you misunderstood me Ron. The delay while the ambulances returned was fine. The crazy fast countdown without warning was not.

Also, I never made any complaints about not being able to hear the PA.

[KyleLoustaunau]

I read Rob's report and do agree with one thing...the PA system was terrible.

And having to listen to Great Whites "Save your love" on pre grid did not help me get amped for the race.

[Ron Alan]

I think you misunderstood me Ron. The delay while the ambulances returned was fine. The crazy fast countdown without warning was not.

Also, I never made any complaints about not being able to hear the PA.

No doubt it was quick...we rushed a little as did many...but all made it.

Late on the 2nd call announcement, not being able to hear it, and sometimes no announcer...this area had room for improvement for sure.

You may know this but the red 38 car in your video which blew up right in front of you(2 holes in the block)was driven by our regional champ (last year), Brian Ghidinelli. 140k stock motor I believe...we put a 120k motor in that night and the owner was back out the next day.

Your like a Harley splitting traffic on the 405 in your ITA race!

[Ron Alan]

And having to listen to Great Whites "Save your love" on pre grid did not help me get amped for the race.

Great Whites?? Is that like Tony Bennett for us old guys?

Actually that is the one time I remember hearing the PA and I was in the tv stand between 2 and 3...that must have been loud if I could hear it

[Rob Burgoon]

No doubt it was quick...we rushed a little as did many...but all made it.

Late on the 2nd call announcement, not being able to hear it, and sometimes no announcer...this area had room for improvement for sure.

You may know this but the red 38 car in your video which blew up right in front of you(2 holes in the block)was driven by our regional champ (last year), Brian Ghidinelli. 140k stock motor I believe...we put a 120k motor in that night and the owner was back out the next day.

Your like a Harley splitting traffic on the 405 in your ITA race!

Right, but why rush? Why even cut it close when there is hours worth of slop on a Sunday? What if a single guy out of the 56 or so in his hurry ended up with his shoulder harness on his shoulder instead of his hans? Is it worth preventing being 2 minutes off schedule that can be made up trivially after the race?

I don't expect exact minutes, but I believe there is value to a fairly stable countdown, even if they didn't tell us to leave the cars.

I'll have another look at the video, I haven't watched either all the way through and didn't notice a blow up.

And thanks, the ITA race was fun, I'd be tempted to start from the rear on purpose to make more wild videos, but I'm afraid I might give the slow guys a heart attack if I keep that up.

[Brian Ghidinelli]

The motor blew up about 3s after Rob passed me heading out of 10. I came out of 7 that lap and was suddenly really slow, I thought I had shifted early or something and pedaled it into 9 but then cars went around me on the outside and I was like, "uhhhh...", then it blew just a couple of seconds later. Thankfully going in a straight line and not at the apex of 10!

I agree with Rob that the timing on the restart was unnecessarily rushed from the perspective of the grid. Dramatic storytelling aside, it was a pretty unusual situation and with the shortened lunch for the workers, there was an opportunity for some miscommunication. It's funny because my primary beef with NASA when I used to run with them is that their grids were never on schedule! I think it happens to all groups at one point or another... our workers did a great job of modifying the schedule on the fly to accommodate both ambulances leaving, bringing workers in early and getting them out early so we didn't lose much hot track time. This is a hallmark of SFR racing in my experience: the schedule is usually stuck to very closely.

Rob, thanks for coming up from SoCal. Other than Vance, you're the only one I'm aware of all season so thanks for running with us.

[Brian Ghidinelli]

Also, keeping me entertained during my stay at the track is probably worthy of honorable mention. The free taco social open to all and the fact that they offer enduros certainly doesn't hurt my opinion of NASA. Contrast that to 3 days of ass sitting with SFR. Prices to add classes are much more reasonable with NASA, especially considering my car likely wont be competitive in the 2nd class.

One note - we have a social both nights of a 3-day weekend which is open to all including food and drink. Not sure if not being tacos is what turned you off or not but all drivers are welcome and encouraged to come by. It's on the schedule and that's one time the crew doesn't start late.

[Rob Burgoon]

One note - we have a social both nights of a 3-day weekend which is open to all including food and drink. Not sure if not being tacos is what turned you off or not but all drivers are welcome and encouraged to come by. It's on the schedule and that's one time the crew doesn't start late.

Thanks Brian, happy to come up and give it a try, even if the 3 day format didn't quite work for me. Hopefully Tyler didn't give you guys too much grief.

Also, if you want to measure against NASA, NASA socal is who you should measure against. NASA norcal in August had me facepalming too.

I think Johnny went to the bbq and was shooed away since the workers got first crack at it. Often times when SCCA has socials it's mostly a worker affair and it's not immediately clear if drivers and/or their crew are welcome.


Glad you only lost an engine and not a car too.

[Jim Boemler]

Often times when SCCA has socials it's mostly a worker affair and it's not immediately clear if drivers and/or their crew are welcome.

At least in Oregon and north, drivers and crew are invited and welcome, even though it's spoken of as a worker dinner. Mixing drivers and workers seems to be seen as a good thing, and I've always found it to be so.

[Johnny D]

I think Johnny went to the bbq and was shooed away since the workers got first crack at it. Often times when SCCA has socials it's mostly a worker affair and it's not immediately clear if drivers and/or their crew are welcome.

+1, but I a have to say the Ruffles and dip for the drivers were Yummy.

[Ray Meister]

Despite my poor performance mostly due to not being able to shift under high g-loads in both races (I know how, but just needed more time), I had a all out blast.

-bw

Can someone enlighten me, is there a trick to shifting under high g-loads? I often have trouble upshifting from 2nd to 3rd coming out of turns like Infineon #7 or Laguna #2. I thought it was just my transmission wearing out.

Thanks, Ray

[Johnny D]

I thought once because I didn't use MTL, I had problem off the last turn at LS.
But mostly I thought I was at an angle under G's that I wasn't in the same position when I wasn't. The shift movement wasn't the same.

But yours is interesting, oil forces to the side walls starving the tranny to shift?
J~

[Jim Boemler]

oil forces to the side walls starving the tranny to shift?

Doubt it. Once the input shaft is spun up, oil is flailing around the inside of the trans like crazy.

[Johnny D]

Started new topic about Rays question.
http://mazdaracers.c...t=0
J~

[Viet-Tam Luu]

I think Johnny went to the bbq and was shooed away since the workers got first crack at it. Often times when SCCA has socials it's mostly a worker affair and it's not immediately clear if drivers and/or their crew are welcome.

The socials are open to all and workers do appreciate it when drivers attend and mingle. Snacks and drinks (including beer and wine) are open to all, but dinner is generally reserved for race workers/volunteers only. Malinda (chief of our Social team) would love to be able to provide food for everyone but she's got a limited budget and has to prioritize taking care of our volunteers.

I usually stop by for snacks and drinks before heading out for dinner. Malinda serves up this salmon mousse that seems to be underappreciated--more for me!

[Robert Linse]

Matt schultz starting dead last. Sorry it took so long