Jim's original post
"Different thread I suppose.. But for guys who have no interest in the ladder system or being "pro" there seems a lot to spend and little gain from moving from Sm to Mx5 global. We have as much competition as we can handle here in Sm.
For those that want to continue their career and run pro, it is a great opportunity.. for those of us who just want to race in competitive fields not so much. Maybe I am missing something."
You bring up valid points. If you've never done a weekend, I can see that it would be hard to understand why.
To be clear, this is my personal opinion after my experience last weekend
I'll get into more detail in the video I'm going do, but here are some highlights:
- Professionalism - Mazda, the officials, and everyone who runs the show are all being paid to do a job and therefore you end up with a very high level of "customer" service. These guys are at the track for YOU and they have a vested interest in doing the best job possible.
- Organization - Things run like clockwork. There are detailed schedules down to the minute for most activities which takes the guess work, delays, etc out of it.
- Communication - On and off the radio, they keep teams and competitors up to date. Emails throughout the weekend keep everyone on the same page.
- Racing - the parity here is nearly absolute with the only differences being setup, driver, and wear & tear on things like engines/trans There's no room for cheating - the LRR guys are on top of the cars and data from every car after each session.
- Atmosphere - these are big race weekends with lots of fans, lots of stuff on track, etc. If you do have partners or are looking for them, these weekends have a lot more value to offer than a club weekend. Plus, who doesn't want to walk around the IndyCar garage between sessions or watch stadium super trucks air out half a straight away!?
- Prizes - while the running cost for a weekend is slightly higher than SM if you field the car yourself, your opportunity to win prizes is also higher. The series pays $4K for a win, $1K for hard chargers (driver & crew chief) all the way down to 10th place ($1000). With a $50,000 rookie and $200k championship prize at stake, theres more to go for here than just bragging rights.
No disrespect to club racing, but if you value your at the track experience as much as you do the racing, there are more than a few reasons why the series is a good choice. This weekend was refreshing, enjoyable, and something I could get VERY used to.
TK