24 replies to this topic

[rhart]

Hoping to race with SCCA and or NASA from the Newport Beach area. Am I going to wind up hauling back to the Bay area or
is there activity down this way? Checked the SCCA site and there seems to be lots of Solo but not much racing. Any info appreciated.
Thank you
Rick Hartbrodt

[Rob Burgoon]

Yep, smaller fields but the bulk of us migrate between scca and nasa for some reason. 20 cars is a good turn out if you go to the right club.

[rhart]

Wow. A little different than the 55 or so I'm used to. Is there anything beyond NASA AND SCCA like NCRC in Norcal that provides cheap racing?

[dstevens]

Hoping to race with SCCA and or NASA from the Newport Beach area. Am I going to wind up hauling back to the Bay area or
is there activity down this way? Checked the SCCA site and there seems to be lots of Solo but not much racing. Any info appreciated.
Thank you
Rick Hartbrodt

Sounds like you found the So Cal Solo site. Did you check the Cal Club site? http://www.calclub.com/ They run Buttonwillow, Fontana and Willow Springs as does NASA. Each series runs about once a month, Feb-Nov.

[rhart]

Thanks for input. Fontana looks like a pretty boring track. Maybe I'll make the drive back to my home track of Laguna and try Arizona tracks
I thought there would be other tracks south of LA. Nada.

[dstevens]

I didn't care for Fontana when I ran there. Around here I've done the others except Buttonwillow and including the "outside" road coarse at LVMS, Spring Mountain near LV as well as Firebird in AZ in addition to all three track up in the Bay area. Of those I'd have to say I enjoyed Thunderhill the most.

[rhart]

Thunderhill is a nice track. Right up there with Laguna. I'll go out and try AZ

[HoneyBadger - BrianW]

I am also giving some thought to moving to SoCal from Texas. Maybe I am a bit spoiled here, but there are 5 tracks within 4 1/2 hrs from Dallas. Seems like this is not the case in SoCal. Also, 20 SM drivers "at the right club" seems very light to me. I am used to a minimum of close to 30 to a max of about 40. I was hoping the racing would be a little bit better...

[rhart]

I am also giving some thought to moving to SoCal from Texas. Maybe I am a bit spoiled here, but there are 5 tracks within 4 1/2 hrs from Dallas. Seems like this is not the case in SoCal. Also, 20 SM drivers "at the right club" seems very light to me. I am used to a minimum of close to 30 to a max of about 40. I was hoping the racing would be a little bit better...

Yes, this was a real surprise for me. Whodathunk Solcal are a bunch of wusses. Shoot me a contact if you move this way, maybe we can roll out together.
Looks like for now I'll be running back to Laguna Seca. Buttonwillow is about the same drive.

[Richter Racing]

It has always perplexed me why there aren't more racers in the SoCal area. I think maybe that there is just so much to do here that hobbies get spread out. The economy has also hurt the numbers as well. Fontana isn't a great track but it does lead to some good racing. Buttonwillow is great, many different configs. Willow Springs is pretty fast and has the famous Turn 9. Come on out to a few races before you call us a bunch of wusses.

[dstevens]

Yes, this was a real surprise for me. Whodathunk Solcal are a bunch of wusses.

Road racing hasn't historically been a popular So Cal sport. Drags, circle track, motocross and karting seem to be more popular. For as big as the market is it is odd that So Cal hasn't been more into road racing. And the fact So Cal was pretty ravaged by the crash hasn't helped. Not as bad as Vegas but still pretty bad. That sort of comment at Irwindale would likely lead to having what was left of your car dragged back onto your trailer at the end of the night. As far as location, Buttonwillow is a bunch closer to Newport than Laguna. But I always like a trip to the Bay Area. A lot of us So Cal "wusses" spent much of our time surfing down at Trestles, just a bit south of Newport. Paddle on out and see what the wussification is all about,,

[rhart]

Road racing hasn't historically been a popular So Cal sport. Drags, circle track, motocross and karting seem to be more popular. For as big as the market is it is odd that So Cal hasn't been more into road racing. And the fact So Cal was pretty ravaged by the crash hasn't helped. Not as bad as Vegas but still pretty bad. That sort of comment at Irwindale would likely lead to having what was left of your car dragged back onto your trailer at the end of the night. As far as location, Buttonwillow is a bunch closer to Newport than Laguna. But I always like a trip to the Bay Area. A lot of us So Cal "wusses" spent much of our time surfing down at Trestles, just a bit south of Newport. Paddle on out and see what the wussification is all about,,

Now now. I spent 17 years surfing Trestles and everything else from Pt Dume to the K's. I figgered I could use the pejorative term since I'm going back to Wussville and grew up in Manhattan Beach. I'm just pissed the liberals of Norcal took to road racing more the Socal group. It means a lot of long drives. I live across the highway from Laguna now so I'm spoiled and don't look forward to a $500 bill for gas and wear and tear for a weekend of racing. I still can't get used to the idea there are no real road racing tracks there. Just a boring round and round. Bungee the steering wheel at 10 o'clock and step on the gas.

[rhart]

It has always perplexed me why there aren't more racers in the SoCal area. I think maybe that there is just so much to do here that hobbies get spread out. The economy has also hurt the numbers as well. Fontana isn't a great track but it does lead to some good racing. Buttonwillow is great, many different configs. Willow Springs is pretty fast and has the famous Turn 9. Come on out to a few races before you call us a bunch of wusses.

I really didn't mean the wuss comment to offend. I include myself in the group. Maybe I'm afraid I'll get going too fast on these less technical tracks and I'm being a bigger wuss than the ones I'm calling wusses.

[dstevens]

No worries Rick, just having a bit of fun. You guys do have three great tracks up there. When I was surfing we never made it up past HB much. The LA county boyz didn't take too kindly to OC kooks dropping in on their breaks. We hit more OB or Stone Steps.

Now if you want to get into drifting, So Cal is just the place... Don't look down on circle track too much. I spent the last two seasons in a hobby stock in the NASCAR Whelen All American series. The racing was a blast but there were a couple of guys that were in the shallow end of the gene pool. Glad to be back road racing. Well, at least building a road race car.

[rhart]

No worries Rick, just having a bit of fun. You guys do have three great tracks up there. When I was surfing we never made it up past HB much. The LA county boyz didn't take too kindly to OC kooks dropping in on their breaks. We hit more OB or Stone Steps.

Now if you want to get into drifting, So Cal is just the place... Don't look down on circle track too much. I spent the last two seasons in a hobby stock in the NASCAR Whelen All American series. The racing was a blast but there were a couple of guys that were in the shallow end of the gene pool. Glad to be back road racing. Well, at least building a road race car.

The Tres was always one of my favorites. I quit surfing when it got territorial. I mean to the point of cars being vandalized. Further north mainly, Tresles always seemed pretty mellow. Look forward to warmer weather, wusses, and extensive goods and services. Monterey is a little sleepy. Great place tho. It has grass and trees and breathing room which I'm soon to leave behind. Everything is a tradeoff. Leaving 3 acres behind and trading for long drives to good tracks and small garage spaces and tiny back yards.

[Mike Colangelo]

I used to live in SoCal and one great thing about that area is that there are track day and/or racing events almost every weekend at one or more of the following tracks: Buttonwillow, Cal Speedway, Willow Springs (big track), and Streets of Willow (at Willow Springs). Plus, there are the tracks in the Las Vegas area. Your only limiting factor will be time, money, and a car that is ready to hit the track.

If you don't mind the haul, Laguna Seca, Thunderhill, and Infineon (Sears Point) are up in northern California.

Check out these organizations:
Racing:
http://socal.drivenasa.com/
http://www.calclub.com/
http://touringcarclub.net/

Time Attack/HPDE:
http://www.speedventures.com/
http://www.speedtrialusa.com/
http://www.redlinetrackevents.com/
+ the local Porsche, BMW, and Alfa clubs

SoCal is a GREAT place for racers and track day junkies.

[rhart]

I used to live in SoCal and one great thing about that area is that there are track day and/or racing events almost every weekend at one or more of the following tracks: Buttonwillow, Cal Speedway, Willow Springs (big track), and Streets of Willow (at Willow Springs). Plus, there are the tracks in the Las Vegas area. Your only limiting factor will be time, money, and a car that is ready to hit the track.

If you don't mind the haul, Laguna Seca, Thunderhill, and Infineon (Sears Point) are up in northern California.

Check out these organizations:
Racing:
http://socal.drivenasa.com/
http://www.calclub.com/
http://touringcarclub.net/

Time Attack/HPDE:
http://www.speedventures.com/
http://www.speedtrialusa.com/
http://www.redlinetrackevents.com/
+ the local Porsche, BMW, and Alfa clubs

SoCal is a GREAT place for racers and track day junkies.

Great post Mike
I did not know of touringclub. They offer some cheap racing. It looks like redline is for the Pro guys not for the mere SM crowd. True? I'll check them all out
in detail. A quick spin thru shows me there is a lot more going on than I realized. After lots of DE I really only have an interest in wheel to wheel and it looks like
there is more than I orig. thought.
Thanks
Rick

[dstevens]

No road racing in Vegas these days but a lot of solo and track days. SCCA solo events at LVMS and the Silverton and Vegas is cheap again so it makes for a good autocross weekend. For the racing that is left the car counts are down quite a bit. Spring Mountain is nice but it's a country club though there are local track days out there from time to time.

[Elliott Skeer]

So Cal has been great to me, I remember doing winter tests on New Years Day, not too many other places you can do that. We might not have the grids of NorCal, but we do have some pretty quick guys down here, don't be fooled by the smaller grid sizes.

[Grant W]

Thanks for input. Fontana looks like a pretty boring track. Maybe I'll make the drive back to my home track of Laguna and try Arizona tracks
I thought there would be other tracks south of LA. Nada.

Hey Rick,
It might be boring just puttering around but once you learn it and get up to speed it is anything but that. Fontana sees fields of 25 - 35. Bump drafting is common and with it we'll get close to 130. Lots of nose to tail and side by side racing. The other two tracks are just as fun with plenty of pucker factor. You will be challanged by all three tracks and the good compettion and should check it out. Happy to provide some lead/follow the first time to help get you up to speed.
Grant