61 replies to this topic

[Danny Steyn]

WOW - this thanksgiving weekend at Sebring is going to be epic. Do not remember last when we had over 70 entries pre-registered. This event is focused on having FUN, but the racing is always tight, and of course with the 2nd Majors event of 2016 at Sebring in January, its a good event to test setup/ car changes. 

 

Going to be a fun weekend

[Jim Drago]

Thats crazy.. Should be a blast. I have never made that race as we always have family obligations. But is always reportedly one of the most fun weekends of the year.
jim

[John Wilding]

It's always one of the best weekends for fun racing and usually great weather, you should plan to come down one year Jim.

 

Last I counted there were 12 SMSE's entered....hopefully there are some quick 1.6's that find their way back to the track in that group of 12. I guess we'll find out. 

[Danica Davison]

Brace yourselves....test day registration complaints are coming!  I heard they aren't opening test day registration until Friday morning, should be interesting. 

 

Oh and John Wilding,  David Johnson is pretty quick in his 1.6. Should be a good battle between you two.

 

My '99 is making its' debut!  woohoo! 

[Danica Davison]

Old dogs and Autotechnik tents will have combined ~20 cars.  It's going to be wild!

[Danny Steyn]

Brace yourselves....test day registration complaints are coming!  I heard they aren't opening test day registration until Friday morning, should be interesting. 

 

 

 

This is so sad - CFR really needs to lean on the track - it seems as though they don't give a damn.

 

People keep telling us that the test day issue is because NASCAR owns Sebring. But remember that both Sebring and Road Atlanta were acquired by NASCAR when they acquired IMSA from Panoz, yet Atlanta Region SCCA which has by far the best registration approach of all tracks that I ever go to, somehow manages to get the track to open registration for test day the night before. I have never waited 5 minutes for test day registration at Road Atlanta EVER!

 

So why is it only Sebring that sucks. Is it because CFR, whose own registration process is abysmal, really doesn't give a damn. Would love the CFR crowd to let us know why we have to stand in lines for over an hour, when at Road Atlanta, it is seldom more than 5 minutes for full registration AND express tech.

[Danica Davison]

Well lets look at some numbers here. 

 

2015  ARRC:               137 pre-registered entries, 38 for SM. 

2015 Turkey trot:          272 pre-registered entries, 74 for SM.

2015 Sebring Majors:  384 pre-registered entries, 68 for SM.

 

Turkey trot doubles the ARRC, and Sebring Majors triples it (in total).  More entries = longer line.  Interesting how math works, huh?  Funny thing, I remember standing in the registration building to both the 2015 Sebring majors race (CFR registration) and the runoffs when you came up to the window, and if I recall correctly, I remember both times you walking straight up to the window with very little/no wait.  By the way, both had the same chief of registration and a lot of the same workers.  Sure, Sebring test day registration is slow...but please tell me how CFR Reg is "abysmal", again?  Because, if I remember correctly, it really hasn't seemed to abysmal for you this year. 

 

Also, registration processes are limited by rules set by national office. 

 

If you would like to discuss this further, stop by the Autotechnik tent this weekend and I will gladly talk about it more.

[Danny Steyn]

John

 

You are right, I have had one or two acceptable experiences at Sebring over the years, but for the most part they have been less than stellar. And I am most definitely not the only one that feels that way. 

 

And I appreciate you taking the time to point out the math. But for the sake of the conversation, lets continue with the math.......

 

Road Atlanta opens its FULL registration for the event INCLUDING express tech, AND the test day, the night BEFORE test day. This means that the majority of drivers that are signed up for test day, are able to sign up for test day, and the event and pass through express tech the night before test day, AND no longer have to be serviced by registration. This takes out a significant portion of the drivers - my guess would be in the 20-40% range but I could be wrong. This means that there are seldom if ever any lines at their windows, either for test day or for the event registration)

 

I could be mistaken, but as far as I remember, SEBRING does not open up the event registration before test day. It is normally opened around 3-4pm on test day. So you have the ENTIRE entry list arriving late on test day to get registered. And now we will have the added luxury of having 20-40% of the drivers standing in a long line on Friday for test day, and then again in the evening for the event registration

 

So if we follow the math, surely Sebring drivers would be the ones that BENEFIT the MOST from extended registration times, and Atlanta drivers the least. So if I am heading up the CFR event, I would think, surely we need to provide at least equal if not better customer service to our drivers than they experience elsewhere. So then why is it that Sebring doesn't learn from the customer experience that drivers enjoy at the Atlanta region (Note, I am not a member of Atlanta region, just a fan of their registration process)

 

In my experience, a business that does not pay attention to what its competitors are doing, and falls behind in any metric, customer service, wait times, warranty periods, etc, will soon see customer retention issues. However, if you are lucky enough to have two excellent tracks with an incredible draw, like Sebring and Daytona, then maybe you don't have to be as customer service oriented, you will still get the attendance despite the customer registration experience. 

 

And I will most definitely come and say hi at your tent

[Craig Berry]

What a great track to race! Instead of 1,2, or 3 good passing zones, you have 17 turns and just about 17 places to pass or be passed. Race craft is a necessity!
I really wish I was there. Good luck to all, and be safe

[Danny Steyn]

What a great track to race! Instead of 1,2, or 3 good passing zones, you have 17 turns and just about 17 places to pass or be passed. Race craft is a necessity!
 

 

Craig - thats exactly what makes Sebring such a great race track, the ability to pass! Wish the Runoffs would go there, rather than Mid Ohio where, for most of the track there is almost zero chance of making a pass

[Jim Drago]

Craig - thats exactly what makes Sebring such a great race track, the ability to pass! Wish the Runoffs would go there, rather than Mid Ohio where, for most of the track there is almost zero chance of making a pass

Plenty of places to pass at Mid Ohio.. Unfortunately most are Nascar style and require the use of the bumper or the side of the car

[FTodaro]

Plenty of places to pass at Mid Ohio.. Unfortunately most are Nascar style and require the use of the bumper or the side of the car

I will show you how to do it.

[Danny Steyn]

Happy to report that the registration lines were not too bad. Some reported - 30-45 minutes for event registration at peak times. I was in and out of registration in 20 minutes. Also about 10 minutes for Test Day. So overall about 30 minutes of standing in line for me. Still significantly longer than the Atlanta region process which allows you to do ALL registration (test day, race day and express tech) the night before test day. 

 

Qualifying was hotly contested. I narrowly got the pole but there are 10 guys qualified within 1 second. Good to see a large turnout of NA cars and there are some really fast 1.6's and NA 1.8's on the track. 

 

Two SM races today. 20 minute at around 9pm and a 30 minute around 2.30pm.

 

A HUGE shout-out to the 20 or so drivers that managed to miss me after I spun out in T17 on test day. Not my brightest moment. OOOOPS!

[Bench Racer]

 

 

Good to see a large turnout of NA cars and there are some really fast 1.6's and NA 1.8's on the track. 

Results usually don't show Spec Line.

Times for following.

 

SMSE 1.6

 

1.6

 

1.8

 

99 PLUS

[Steve Scheifler]

Rollan by 0.002 over Steyn in the first race. Where are your transponders mounted and do they point straight down?!?

Would like to see the last lap of race1 from about P9. At the checker there was a gap of 0.13 covering P5-9. I don't know what their speed is at the line but that can't be much more than a car length covering 5 positions.

[Steve Scheifler]

WTF? Once again Race Monitor is a mess. This morning I looked at qualifying and what appeared to be the morning race results. Now the results for the first race are totally different. Wish I had taken a screenshot, SO tired of their app. I don't know how much is user error but it is so common that in the end only the software can be blamed.

[Danny Steyn]

Sebring Turkey Trot was an excellent final race of the season for many of us. Great track, 73 cars on the starting line, lots of NA cars, but most of all, so many smiles, hi-fives, group hugs and more. For many of us, a huge number of our friends are involved in this awesome class called Spec Miata.

 

For Race 1, I got my VVT to the lead through Turn 1 and Selin in his 99 was immediately on my bumper, and pushed me diligently until I missed a shift in Turn 7 and he went by. A few turns later in T14 he went wide allowing me past and we ran together nose to tail for the rest of the race, until a lapped car skunked him in T17. I had a huge lead going into the last lap, but Selin was on a charge, caught right up to me and got his nose ahead leading down to T17, but he couldn’t complete the pass and was on the outside. I was able to hold him off through T17 and he finished on my bumper.

 

Selin has this amazing ability to run right on your bumper through the turn, and in some cases he was actually pushing me through the turn and the ENTIRE length of the straight. Together we ran very close to the lap record in less than ideal conditions, with the rest of the field more than 1.5 seconds slower. He posted a video on my Facebook timeline of him pushing me through T17 while we are bouncing, and all the way up the start/finish straight. Wish I had the gonads to try that!!!

 

Poor Cory Collum, who is one hell of a wheelman himself was left out to dry with no help when team mate Jeffy Labounty’s tied rod broke on lap 1, and he finished a distant 3^rd.

 

At the start of Race 2, I struggled with the shifts on a gearbox that was slowly going bad, and got moved back to 5^th behind Andrew Charbonneau, Selin Rollan, Cory Collum and John Carter. Jeffy almost got past me going into T17 but went too deep as did Charbonneau. Selin got to the lead, and for the rest of the race Cory fought tooth and nail to ensure that I couldn’t team up with Selin, and it was one of the most enjoyable races I have had in a long time. We changed places so many times I lost count, but it was respectful no hold barred, side-by-side, racing without a single touch. With a lap to go Cory went wide in T16 allowing me to get ahead, and I ran my fastest lap on the last lap, closing to within a second of Selin, but more importantly holding off Cory for  2^nd place. Such a fun race!!!

 

So many drivers had great weekends that I am sure I will miss a few. Among the notables:- Nick Malatesta proved what an excellent driver he is, with his NA1.8 finishing 5^th in both races. Many Mills was flying. Joey G was up near the front. Janine Hill went from a 2:44 to a 2:39 over the weekend. Paul Holton showed that he is maturing into a driver to be watched.

 

None of the cars that I was around looked like they were out of line. A great run out of the corner would make your car look like it had 5HP more than the other guy, but the next lap with a crappy exit he would blow by you! Since it was a SARRC race they did have us go over the scales, and opened our hoods, but that was about it, and as a fun way to end the season it was all that was required.

[Jim Drago]

Nice write up and always seems like such a fun event, never attended one.. I need to add to the list. Congrats on all that ran well and achieved new personal bests etc.

[Danica Davison]

Danny gave a pretty good report of the front group.  looked like fun up there.  Cory was saying what a great race he had with danny in the second race.  congrats to my friend selinsito for a great weekend!  After my debut of my 99 this weekend...I can say I am very happy to move on from the 1.6.  After going from around 30th in a 70 car field in a 1.6 earlier this year... to a top 10...I was very happy. Especially when I haven't even driven a car since February. I ran with Amy mills in both STL and SM almost every time we were out on track together and had very clean, fun  racing.  I was so thrilled to even be running with the guys and gals up near the front.   I stayed on charbs bumper for most of the STL race which was a big accomplishment for me. 

 

The first Spec Miata race was very clean and not too much shenanigans going on, starting 18,  finishing 10th.  However, the second race was a bit different of a start.  I started 10th and several cars jumped the start behind me, a few coming from around 20th all the way up to the top 10 before the start finish line gets very sketchy, going five-six wide was too much and unfortunately Holton tagged gibbons which which almost  caused a big mess but fortunately came out okay.   On the restart, I was in 11th and I was already getting passed before the bridge in T17 ... near 5-10 seconds before  the green ever come out...I don't like to complain a lot but it is very frustrating when you are running 1-2 seconds a lap faster than the jumper and have to fight to get back around.  But, that's part of racing I guess. 

 

around lap 6 or so, charbs was all over the place because he had no brakes...taking very strange but effective lines haha.  3/4 the way through T1 I am a car length behind and see his caliper explode off his wheel which startled me and sent me for a wild ride in the grass at down to turn 3.  other than that, man what an awesome weekend!  Looking forward for the majors!

[Danny Steyn]

Yup John, I saw the videos of the cars coming from way back at the race start. Did not see the restart video but IMO Selin made a beginners restart mistake by being too close the pace car. IMO the leader needs to hang back, allow the pace car to pull into the pits and then the leader goes at full speed long before the green flag flies. If, like Selin, you hang too close to the 40mph pace car, the other cars in line behind have hung back and are carrying way more speed by the time the green flag flies.

 

Congrats on your new car and your weekend John. Remember that now you have NO EXCUSES!!!!