2007 East Coast Enduros

[Knestis]

With just the VIR 13 left to worry about this year, we're getting a jump start on the 2007 season.

Our plan is to make an even bigger commitment to club-level enduros, traveling farther up and down the Atlantic coast for the long races. If you are interested in being part of an effort like this, get in touch. We're looking at the viability of building a second car, and are assessing interest early enough to allow that to happen if it makes sense...

Kirk

[RacerBowie]

I'm sure we will talk more about this offline, but we are looking to do much the same thing (within reason) so we can probably join up and share some infrastructure.

[Knestis]

It's always dicey planning ahead but a quick scan of the '06 season suggests that adding the Homestead and Nelson Ledges 12 hours to VIR and Summit would make for an interesting schedule of substantial races. I could see maybe adding 6+ hour races to a list of possible options but anything shorter is silly to travel very far for.

How about this as an interesting variation - instead of another 2.0 Golf, how about an ITS VR6? Anyone find this intriguing? Hmm?

:)

K

[Eric Parham]

Hmmm, color me intrigued!

[Hahn63]

Kirk,

Just an FYI so you can plan properly... Nelson will return in 2007 as the "Longest Day" 24 hour race. I will post more info as it becomes avalible.


Roland

[Knestis]

Verrry cool - can't wait!

Kirk

EDIT - we have a date yet? The sooner we know, the better since I have "real-job" work travel to deal with.

[Hahn63]

No date as of yet....I'm waiting on that as well so I can finish with the final plans....I think it "MIGHT" be in June or August. I hoping for June.

[RSTPerformance]

RST crew-

Think an Audi can make 24 hours? Give Kirk the retired rules nerd and his VW a run for its money?

I have been to Nelson as crew for my dad in the Mustang and as an SIT but I am still wondering how hard is Nelson on a FWD car? As easy as Pocono, Similar to Summit, or as hard as NHIS?

Raymond

[Knestis]

No date as of yet....I'm waiting on that as well so I can finish with the final plans....I think it "MIGHT" be in June or August. I hoping for June.
[/b]

Please, please, PLEASE communicate with WDC Region to avoid overlapping with the 12 Hours at Summit Point, with its traditional June date. You are drawing from the same pool of entrants and forcing people to make a choice is going to hurt everyone involved. By "make a choice," I mean putting two really long races in the same month...

K

[JLawton]

RST crew-

Think an Audi can make 24 hours? Give Kirk the retired rules nerd and his VW a run for its money?


[/b]

Maybe you should work on getting them to go 30 minutes first!!! :P


Sorry, that was doubly bad considering your season!! Shame on me!!!



But I couldn't resist..................

[67ITB]

RST crew-

Think an Audi can make 24 hours? Give Kirk the retired rules nerd and his VW a run for its money?

[/b]


"AN" Audi, Yes. "YOUR" Audi, NO

Jeff your right, it was too easy.....couldn't resist

Matt bal

[Hahn63]

Kirk, Good point but no worries what I really meant to say was August not June ( darn cold meds make you type funny things.). That would be a very unwise move to put two enduros in the same month. I'm pulling for late in August so that teams have plenty of time to rebuild....cars, vacation time and grow some more money on that money tree! Thanks for the input!!

Roland

[Knestis]

Yippee! I've got a crew and drivers who would be really bummed if we got in a conflict on that one.
Watching for updates...
K

[JamesB]

a friend and I where going to run a 4 hour (our first as we are just sprint rookies this year.) but work obligations changed that for me. So we are planning for 07. If we like it we may expand beyond that to longer races.


For 07, either pit, F&C or wherever they could use me or crewing is my goal for the LONG races.

[Conover]

So, what would it take to organize a points race out of some of these long ones? Four or five long Enduros could make for a great championship battle, and encourage more participatioin maybe.

At anyrate count me in on any and all "real enduros" :lol:

[Bill Miller]

Would be great to run another 24 hr race!! I had a blast when I was at Moroso for the last 'Longest Night'.

Kirk,

You're the organizational wiz kid, any chance you could pull something off like you did for IT2? I think an ECES (East Coast Endurance Series) would be great. Races have to be a min. of 6 hrs to qualify, points would be pro-rated based on race length.

You know how long it takes to put these things together, now is the time to start getting things lined up.

[MaxEnergy]

We've participated in every enduro for 2006 in the NESCCA 6 race enduro series (#11 SSM) and have had a blast. We can't for love or money get anyone to post the results todate for the series. I have to say though that 3 trips to NL in one season is too much. I'd also increase Pocono and the Glen to at least 4 hours. Three hours at the Glen or Pocono and you feel like you've done maybe 25 laps, NL on the otherhand every lap is a struggle but man is it fun!

[Knestis]

I'm harboring hope that the minds behind USERA are going to make an east-coast series happen but if they aren't able to secure deals necessary to make the "Big Four" (or more!) part of a points chase, I'll do something.

Heck - the lowest-drag way to do it is to have interested teams pony up $50 for the trophy/prize fund, make some stickers, write a page of rules, pick the races, keep the points, and crown some champions.

How about "one point per official lap completed?" It would automatically weight the longer races as more valuable in the series, and wouldn't require mathematical gymnastics to sort "championship" cars from a finishing list of cars not in the chase.

Most of the classes won't be a problem, rules-wise, since the bulk of enduro entries are IT, SS, and SM variants without any changes from the GCR. "Any class recognized by common rules as eligible to compete in all (series) events may register and earn points for the championship?" OR just "cars eligible to compete in ANY of the races in the series...?"

ITE might be a problem since rules vary among regions. Some events allow other region-specific classes, so while those might be eligible for season points, entrants won't have any reason to attend some of the events. I suppose it would be possible to convince the Homestead folks to accept SSM entries, and VIR to accept SPU entries, etc. but that doesn't address the fact that, say SPU might be different in Florida and Ohio.

Who wants to help brainstorm options? Scrounge up the supps for last year's enduros and send them to me, and let's start a comprehensive list of all club "enduros" 3 hours or longer, east of Topeka.

K

[philstireservice]

Kirk...It's not necessary to include all the classes at first. Start with a few classes. Or for that matter just the ones that we decide to run in. Advertise it, collect money for awards and such, hype it, set rules based on the sanctioning body for that class, keep good records.......and let it grow on its own.


Phil

[Knestis]

Okay - a quick review of supps and entries makes it look like the following classes are common to the four big races we're talking about - Homestead 12, Summit 12, VIR 13, and Nelson 24:

ITC
ITB
ITA
ITS
SSC
SSB
SM

Add ITR to the list (national class in a recognized category) and there's the starting point for class structure. Yeah, you could try to be the "East Coast Club Enduro" ITGT champ, but you'd only run one race to accomplish that...

We need a good acronym. :)

K

[Ken Grammer]

Kirk:

We are planning a second season for USERA. I also want to start out with seperate classis for the IT cars so the ITB guys aren't racing against the ITS guys. I haven't decided yout how I feel about about ITR because I don't have a strong feeling about their numbers.

We would LOVE to be included on the longer club enduros, but the issue there from the club's perspective would be how to include USERA in a way that benefits the region. For races that may have lower numbers, we could help increase draw if our number come up. We had a good time with the Neohio weekend at Nelson. But I can't see the 12 Hours of Summit Point, which has waiting lists each year, needing "help". :)

I'm working on the schedule now and hope to have something soon.

[Conover]

Okay - a quick review of supps and entries makes it look like the following classes are common to the four big races we're talking about - Homestead 12, Summit 12, VIR 13, and Nelson 24:

ITC
ITB
ITA
ITS
SSC
SSB
SM

Add ITR to the list (national class in a recognized category) and there's the starting point for class structure. Yeah, you could try to be the "East Coast Club Enduro" ITGT champ, but you'd only run one race to accomplish that...
[/b]

Sounds like a plan!

[Bill Miller]

Sounds like a great plan Kirk!! And since VIR is only 2 weeks away, hopefully, there will be several interest parties there. You may want to try and organize a meeting of interested parties, and take advantage of the fact that many will be there. Good way to kick it off.

How about "ECEC" East Coast Endurance Championship"? You could get cutesy w/ it and do something like E squared C squared.

"Atlantic Endurance Racing Championship Series" AERCS

Or how about this?

RACES - Regional Atlantic Championship Endurance Series

[Conover]

But I can't see the 12 Hours of Summit Point, which has waiting lists each year, needing "help". :)

[/b]

:035:

[Knestis]

I don't know how your business model works exactly, Ken and can only make assumptions about how a collaboration with a region might look. Our goal (run long races, ideally that make up a series of some kind that we can brag about) and your/USERA's goals might not line up very well.

Is there any reason that you wouldn't come out to the 13 hours in two weeks? If you do, please stop by and say hello.

K

PS - Ken's reminder of the lottery reality at some of these races brings up a good point: How would we deal with the chance that someone might get skunked, completly not of their own doing, if a points championship is on the line?

[Conover]

I would say, you snooze you loose, it's non-invasive and mirrors the harsh realities of life:)

Also, what about those points? You have to assign the points to the car, as there is currently no mechanism for calculating laps per driver. You could have the teams turn them in on the honor system, as long as they don't exceed the # of laps in the official race results.

[Ken Grammer]

Kirk:

We will indeed be attending the 13 Hour. Stacey and I are the "voices" of Race Control for NCR... and Stacey and I may rotate out to start if they need a break or two. :)

It may be difficult for us to break away from the tower, so if you have a minute or two, come up to race control and say "hello".