Problem Solved

[Hotshoe]

Hey everybody:

...I got it. I have an idea that will even out the field of cars regardless.

....Bracket Racing.... Just like they do in drag racing. Here is how it will work, come on now hear me out.

....All the cars in a class will qualify. If your time comes out that you will go a lap down by the end of the race, you get dropped down to a slower class.

....The start will be a "Standing Start". Slowest car of the group goes first. Take the fastest cars time and subtract the car at the starting lines time. Take that (the difference) times the amount of laps to be run, and "SPOT" him that far ahead of the field.

....Do this down to the last car which will be the fastest qualifier. Now...any car that turns a faster lap than they qualified will be black flagged and given a 1 lap penalty.

.... Problem solved .... Mathematically all the cars should reach the finish line at the same time.

.... Sounds good in theory. I think it would be interesting to try. Sort of like a mini rally.

[lateapex911]

It's been done.

I think it was Road and Track who did it at Lime Rock in the 60s...but my recollection is weak.

The only problem is that the fast guy would lose time passing, so that would screw the math, but it's a fun idea.

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Jake Gulick
CarriageHouse Motorsports
ITA 57 RX-7
New England Region
[email protected]

[JeffYoung]

Sounds a lot like that old Vonnegut story "Harrison Bergeron"...lol.

[xr4racer]

Watkins Glen ran enduros like this a few years ago., maybe they still do i remember an ITC Fiesta getting a 3 or 4 lap head start on an AS Mustang.

[dyoungre]

Imagine trying to grid 10 race groups in a day at LRP: "OK, move back 40 more feet. Okay, STOP. No, 6 feet forward"...

It could almost work, though, if you did an inverted split grid with, say, 4 or 5 splits. Hmmmm...

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Dave Youngren
NER ITA RX7 #61

[Wreckerboy]

EMRA does this with our 4-Hour Night Enduro at Summit Point (running this weekend, as a matter of fact) - an ITC car will get a 9:48 head start over an ITA car, and ITS car will leave a little under 17 minutes after the ITC guy.

We've been doing it for 10+ years with great success. Although our handicapper's dream to have cars from about five different classes finishing five wide at the end of four hours (he really needs to get out more)hasn't happened yet, we usually end up with a large number and variety of cars on the same lap end.

[joeg]

Yes they ran the Enduros at the Glen as a "turtle and rabbit" handicap affair, but it has since been abandoned.

You had to use red flags for big cautions, etc.

A logistics nightmare--but kind of cool, nevertheless.

[bill f]

Actually, there is a variation of that used in Canada. I saw it used at Mosport. Up there they have a system (was explained to me...I've never raced there with it), where the lap time of the class is fixed. Each competitor gets to race without "breaking out" of the class lap time. One break out is tolerated per season. The next one automatically moves you to the next fastest class for the rest of the season.

Obviously, there are few rules of class construction, almost a "run what ya brung" deal, and the variety of cars is interesting. Much of the equipment used by the competitor is to monitor the lap time each time around, so as to cross the start/finish line on the money. You can actually see the cars slowing as they round the final turn!!

Not suggesting it, just explaining it.

Good racing.

Bill