43 replies to this topic

[dtfastbear]

I can't believe I didn't thank all those that helped me this weekend! I was basically a basket-case on Friday evening and again on Saturday from all the false-starts on tracking down the problems with the drivetrain.

Thanks to Jaime, George and Craig for the loan of many tools and a hand with many tasks.

Thanks to Duncan for lots of help under the car, a great education on disassembling and assembling axles and CV joints and for use of his "Subaru" lights which extended my under-car-work by several hours.

Thanks to Ted for ALWAYS having the right tool, the right parts and the right knowledge to get us going again. Oh, and for the spare transmission.

Thanks to Aaron for driving about 1000 miles back and forth between Willows and Fairfield and Willows and Fairfield and Willows and Fairfield as we needed more and more parts from...

Scott and Marcus Miller - Scott drove to meet Aaron to give us diff and axle parts that Marcus unknowingly donated. And to Scott for great enduro crewing!

Thanks to Stewart at AIM Tire Thunderhill for coming through with a used axle that Duncan and I were able to mix-n-match into a working axle.

Thanks to Grant Conley and his dad for the help and moral support on Saturday and for the incredible crew support on Sunday in the Enduro and sprint race prep. We ONLY got back out on the track because of the fix you pulled off with our sheared crank pully bolts.

And last but not least, thanks to Philip Florence for the best damn track food I've ever had. Who else has suvee steak and chicken at the track? OK, maybe the Ferrari Challenge guys... but this was really something special.

Thanks to all that I missed. I'm sure there's more. Seems like I needed a little help from pretty much everyone in the paddock this weekend!

Cheers,

Dean

[mtm68]

All good brother! I 'kinda' knew I was loaning you those parts

[ToddW]

For a birds eye view of the e30 "mishap". Looks like "when you spin, both feet in" might have reduced
the carnage (monday morning quarterback here).

[plane]

I wanted to thank everyone who helped me in my first race weekend. You guys are as nice off the track as you are agressive on the track.

[dtfastbear]

I said the exact same thing when I saw the video - the black car should have been locked up as soon as it was clear he wasn't going to save it. FWIW, I believe the E30's are required to run the stock ABS. Not sure how that affects the cars/brakes in a situation like this.

In the interest of learning, not blaming, anyone want to weigh in after seeing this video?



Cheers,

Dean

[Alberto]

FWIW, I believe the E30's are required to run the stock ABS. Not sure how that affects the cars/brakes in a situation like this.

Cheers,

Dean

They are not required to run ABS. Doesn't seem to be mention to in the rules.

[Charlie Hayes]

None of our cars have abs hooked up.

[Johnny D]

Mike S said you don't have to, his dad doesn't have it and is in the pic.
J~

[dtfastbear]

If it's not mentioned, doesn't that mean it can't be touched or modified (e.g. disabled)? I'm just saying what they were saying on the E30 forum...

[Johnny D]

New tech inspection item,
J~

[Sacslider]

After the treatment that occurred in the drivers meetings (2nd hand info that was not good) it starting to sound like some people are not going to be attending the next few races. The information I recieved was that bodywork must now pass a 5 foot inspection and you are no longer allowed to choose a defensive line (1 move) inyo a corner. After checking the e30 board it now looks like both SM and e30 drivers have stepped out for the year.

NASA seems to be dealing with the same issues that the SCCA was several years ago as the groups get larger and more competative. All I can say is that they seem to be quickly alienating thier customers. Yes we are customers that have choosen NASA's product in the past and were happy with it. However, as of late I am not happy with extreme blanket policies and generally being talked down to. I am not currently happy with NASA's treatment of me as a customer and have walked away from the champoinship battle. It was a tough decision but in light of the new iteration of the rules I believe it was the right one.

Dean - thank you for your efforts and influence in the SM class. It would not be what it is without your time and efforts. Nasa should be allowing you to deal with issues in our class as you are knowledgable with all of the players. Just the same the e30 director should be dealing with thiers. Blanket policies and draconian penalties serve to only drive away customers. I know you Know this but believe that you have no power to stop it.

As a side note to any of the usual SM racers that have not seen the other thread, the June points race will not be held at Infineon on the 16-17th. The points race is in Buttonwillow the following weekend. And yes, as of this posting, there is no information regarding this change on either the national or regional NASA websites.

For another interesting perspective go to page 5 of this thread and post#65991:

http://spece30.com/f...&start=40#65991

Craig Evans

[Andrew Charbonneau]

I said the exact same thing when I saw the video - the black car should have been locked up as soon as it was clear he wasn't going to save it. FWIW, I believe the E30's are required to run the stock ABS. Not sure how that affects the cars/brakes in a situation like this.

In the interest of learning, not blaming, anyone want to weigh in after seeing this video?

http://vimeo.com/42606031

Cheers,

Dean

first whos the idiot on that start formation

[Charlie Hayes]

New tech inspection item,
J~

Maybe an anti bumper fixation system can be added to the rules instead? Will be a lot easier to tech.

[plane]

Just my first weekend, but I sailed for years in the same type of group - 30+ boats - the biggest fleet in the bay, with some of the best and worst sailors in SF. There were so many collisions that some insurance companies dropped coverage for awhile. The fleet tried all sorts of solutions - mandatory rules seminars, $50 damage and your are DSQ'd rules, changing the basic racing rules of sailing. Non of it worked. What worked is when the sailors actually knew each other and communicated on the water and had talked to each other about situations off the water. I felt, this weekend, like there were some officals on a big ego trips trying to teach the customers lessons.

It felt a lot like the Great Santini - as I said to a paddock mate, "I would hate to be these guys' teenage son."

It feels like the officals like the power. Changing rules verbally 30 min before your go out is sucha bad idea. And it seems that enforcement is not uniform so racers push or don't fully respect rules that are sometimes rules and sometimes not. The whole dent thing is probably good, but springing it without warning or discussion smacked of a power trip. It was "their race series"? Really? I though it was for the participants not Formula One.

I owned up to going off track in practice and got ZERO credit for it. They want you to be a good racing citizen but then penalize you for talking to them - very contradictory messages. It was more important that I stayed on track badly or dangerously than went off safely in the grass and rejoined far passed the blind track out. They did not even want to know if I knew I did the right or wrong thing.

I will keep racing because I don't know any better, but I have seen this movie before in other expensive, racing sports and it tend to supress turnout and pit racers against each other. That sailing group which used to be the biggest thing in SF is now about 1/2 the size and 1/3 of the quality.

[Alberto]

I felt, this weekend, like there were some officals on a big ego trips trying to teach the customers lessons.

FWIW, I think I met some of the guys with the big egos my first time with NASA Nor Cal when I first moved here. I used to run NASA back in NY and in So Cal. Still had NY plates on my car and signed up for my first HPDE event at Infineon and in Nor Cal. Got so much shit from some loud mouth ego maniac barking in my face about parking in a zone that was not marked as no parking but apparently I couldn't park there.

It's been 4 years and I still remember that ass hole. Never wound up doing another NASA day after that.

Dean is a cool guy but some of the others....

[Rob Burgoon]

In the interest of learning, not blaming, anyone want to weigh in after seeing this video?

Looks to me like the car that eventually spun wandered over into the camera car he was passing before he was clear. Doesn't appear to be any other cars forcing him over, but that's not 100% certain.

[dtfastbear]

Hold fast on your judgment of NASA NorCal please, guys. We have some very positive changes coming for Group A. Immediately.

Feedback heard. Feedback relayed. Changes coming...

Cheers,

Dean

[Alberto]

Hold fast on your judgment of NASA NorCal please, guys. We have some very positive changes coming for Group A. Immediately.

Feedback heard. Feedback relayed. Changes coming...

Cheers,

Dean

after reflecting on the wording I used, I wanted to state that didn't mean to be as critical as my post may sound . I find NASA a good org overall but you can't improve w/o feedback. My comments were meant to be taken in a informative manner.

[Johnny D]

_{Better Valet Parking??
http://mazdaracers.c...067-e30-pileup/
J~}

[Duncan]

Here's my video from the weekend. This is after the restart in the Sunday race. Any tips are definitely appreciated. This was my first time to Thunderhill and I was unable to run the practice sessions on Friday. I had a total of about 40 minutes of experience at the start of this race so there's still a lot to learn.

Duncan