SCCA Regions across the north east band together to include ITEZ class.

The Finger Lakes, Glen and New England Regions are all including the accessible ITEZ class in their regional races. The rule set adopted is designed to allow any car that meets Improved Touring safety rules a place to race. In other word there are no illegal cars. Most cars built for other series already meet SCCA safety standards and this class will give them another place to race.
With all three regions adopting the same rules racers can run there ITEZ at 10 events at 5 different tracks.
5/24-5 New Hampshire, New England Region
6/20-21 Lime Rock Park, New England Region
6/21-2 Nelson Ledges, Finger Lakes Region
7/12-13 Thompson Motor Speedway, New England Region
7/19-20 Watkins Glen, Glen Region

8/9-10 New Hampshire, New England Region
9/6-7 New Hampshire, New England Region
9/13-14 Watkins Glen, Finger Lakes Region
10/4-5 Watkins Glen, Glen Region
10/4-5 Thompson Motor Speedway, New England Region

Many other organizations licenses are already accepted for SCCA Regional races. See the current rule book, appendix C for a complete list:
http://www.scca.com/clubracing/content.cfm?cid=44472
For a step by step guide to SCCA licensing see: http://www.scca.com/clubracing/conte...d=44466&tag=52
Experienced racers wanting to race with SCCA can apply for license waivers from the Divisional Licensing official Pete Smith (http://nediv.com/contacts/nediv-club-racing-contacts).
For those needing to attend a SCCA Competition Driving School there are schools scheduled at New Hampshire on May 23rd or at Watkins Glen on October 3rd.

2014 Improved Touring – EZ
The purpose of IT‐EZ is to create a regional class where cars built for ChumpCar or Lemons racing, or for cars that could be ITE legal but do not belong in the fast race group, to have a place to race on an SCCA Regional race weekend. As opposed to any other class of SCCA road racing, IT‐EZ competition is designed as a “fun run” class, without any promise of intent of performance equitability. IT‐EZ is designed to provide a way for drivers to earn an SCCA racing license and race in regional competition, with the absolute lowest cost vehicle. In no way will any waivers be considered or granted in areas regarding safety of vehicle or driver.
IT‐EZ vehicles may race with prior accident damage, as long as that prior damage does not create a danger to the driver of that vehicle or fellow competitors.
Non‐functional additions to vehicles, whose primary purpose is to express creativity, theme, are allowed only if do not create a potential safety hazard to the driver or fellow competitors.
IT‐EZ eligible vehicles
Must be a “mass produced,” gas or diesel powered, four wheel passenger car.
Must meet or exceed safety requirements of GCR Section 9 for IT cars
Minimum weight of 1800 pounds and a maximum weight of 4000 pounds and a production‐based engine.
Tires must conform to applicable Improved Touring rules, i.e., must be DOT rated tires, and sizes must be consistent with allowable dimensions per the GCR.
190 wear‐dated tires are not mandated, but they may be used if the racer prefers.
Preparation regarding brakes, suspension, and engine must meet either Chumpcar rules or SCCA Improved Touring rules

So...I logbooked my first ITEZ car yesterday...maybe first in the Region...? Division...?

Guy is an American Sedan driver, bought this on a lark (for almost nothing) and wants to get his buddies interested in racing. He's getting it ready to hopefully get someone in this weekend's driver's school (if he can get his Novice Permit worked out in time). He calls me up, tells me what he has. I (reluctantly) invite him to bring it over to the house for inspection.

So what's going to show up in my driveway? A chicken head? Eagle's wings? A converted Cessna 172? I brace my wife for expectations...

So it's a bright sunny afternoon and I'm working in the garage, and from around the corner comes a Suburban with a third-gen Mustang in tow. Purple, with various graffiti all over it. It's a LeMons car, 302 powered. Overall, other than the graffiti, not bad. But Purple (or lavender, or whatever. My color palette consists of the Crayola Basic 16, and this is "purple".) Sadly, no chicken head. I walk up to it and start chucking at the details: hood with welded hinges so that it pivots toward the right instead of up and back; rear deck - with no glass - secured with home-window latches (but riveted straps for security); two standard auto bulbs riveted to the outside with wires going in - left side only - so that they could win the "perpetual left turn signal award" (I asked him not to use those in the school...); and of course, the graffiti, which also included a partially-completed checklist written directly on the roof of the car...

Oh, and a couple of very large truck pintle hitches welded directly into the bumper rebars, facing forward and back, as tow hooks. Thumper will have ZERO problem finding and clipping onto those...

But the contrast inside was interesting. Kirkey metal seat with new IO Port seat brace, HANS-compatible FIA 2017 belts, decent rollcage with decent welds, very much not unlike what we see in amateur-built Improved Touring cars. Cage could have been done better, but it appears safe. Hell, if not for the graffiti and oddball additions, this car would have felt right at home in Improved Touring. And it has Camaro iLE brakes all around...with a driver-controlled bias adjuster.

Should be fun...can't wait to see the heart attacks these are going to create with the Old Guard...hoping this won't cause some steward positions to be inadvertently available... ;)

GA



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You can't let him run with those tow hook???? :(

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Originally Posted by ner88

You can't let him run with those tow hook???? :(

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Ah, our first Old Guy having a freak out... ;)

Sure I can. Why not? regs says "does not dangerously protrude". However, I fail to find a definition of that term in the GCR, thus it is a subjective call. And, subjectively speaking, I find that these large pintles have large enough surface area - and are covered in foam - such that it is no more dangerous a striking object than the rollbar that is a couple inches from your head. They're certainly no more dangerous than those silly-ass 1980s-era NHTSA-required protruding bumper ends on our 1980s Improved Touring cars.

Besides, ever seen some of those fancy-schmancy thin-walled flat-plate loops that stick out of the bumpers of our fancy-schmancy Porsches and BMWs? In my opinion, those are far more "dangerous" (in terms of potential opportun....errrr, damage to Miatae) than these. As long as the Miatas don't hit him and they'll be all right. And if he's close enough to hit them then they suck and probably deserve it anyway (juuuuust kidding).

GA, relishing in the thought of all the screaming these cars are going to create...

Quote:

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Originally Posted by ner88

You can't let him run with those tow hook???? :(

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The most entertaining place will be the tech shed when the ITEZ first arrive for their initial inspection. Let's make sure that we have First-Aider on stand by to revive and calm down the Tech Old Guard. :blink:

Went to the Jim Stark with the Chump car and the ITX log book issued by Atlanta region...yea, freak out in tech!!!

No problem Greg, wait until you see my new push bar, Oh wait! Tow hook :-)
The can of worms has been opened!

Quote:

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Originally Posted by ner88

No problem Greg, wait until you see my new push bar, Oh wait! Tow hook :-)
The can of worms has been opened!

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As long as you're ITEZ, no prob my friend we give you a lot of leeway!

Actually, I think you'd look pretty good with a big chicken head on your roof...

GA

Bulls baXXX hanging from my Tow hook :-)

Quote:

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Originally Posted by ner88

Bulls baXXX hanging from my Tow hook :-)

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I am sure you meant this as a joke but I had to deal with a protest over a set of those on a race car a few years ago. That's an hour of my life I'll never get back and why I am happy to be spending more time behind the wheel this year.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Matt Rowe

I am sure you meant this as a joke but I had to deal with a protest over a set of those on a race car a few years ago. That's an hour of my life I'll never get back and why I am happy to be spending more time behind the wheel this year.

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and what happened? (it sounds like someone had the balls to protest someone else's balls, but I need a crystal ball)
Weaver was gonna protest my ball hitch, but I removed it.

Maybe it was because your hitch weighed 200#/???
It looks as tho we will have to get north with the chumpers this summer if we wanna race them in SCCA. have fun, MM

So we had one ITEZ entry this past weekend at LRP: a World Challenge BMW looking for extra track time.

We also had a Fiat 500 - what prep? - entered in ITE, I brought to their attention that ITEZ with the ITR/ITS cars was probably a better fit than running ITE with the AS, GT1, and other Big Bore cars...it was pretty comical to watch though.

My Dad in a Greek accent, "What is that...da clown car?"

Didn't Elivan run ITEZ this weekend? In a.........what?

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Andy Bettencourt

Didn't Elivan run ITEZ this weekend? In a.........what?

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Quote:

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Originally Posted by Greg Amy

So we had one ITEZ entry this past weekend at LRP: a World Challenge BMW looking for extra track time.

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ttt

every time i saw the Fiat go by there was calliope music playing in my head.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by dickita15

every time i saw the Fiat go by there was calliope music playing in my head.

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http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IVm241fA_Xg

Quote:

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Didn't Elivan run ITEZ this weekend? In a.........what?

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E46 BMW 330i

somewhere the original rules limited performance to be no greater than ITA......
and a place for cars that don't fit into IT and not just another class for cars to run.
I see now it was omitted???

Quote:

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Originally Posted by ner88

somewhere the original rules limited performance to be no greater than ITA...

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Never saw that. I remember it was originally discussed as a "guideline", subject to steward's discretion*...but an entry is an entry, especially when there's zero competition for that wine glass.

GA

* One of the baseline goals of ITEZ was to get slow-ass cars out of Big Bore. Remember, Chump and LeMons fit the letter of the ITE rules...but are typically slow as shit and ugly as sin. Well, my sins, anyway...

actually Jerry I believe you are thinking of the Club Racing Experience rules. The ITEZ rules are:

2014 New England Region Rules

Improved Touring – EZ

The purpose of IT‐EZ is to create a regional class where cars built for ChumpCar or Lemons racing, or for cars that could be ITE legal but do not belong in the fast race group, to have a place to race on an SCCA Regional race weekend. As opposed to any other class of SCCA road racing, IT‐EZ competition is designed as a “fun run” class, without any promise of intent of performance equitability. IT‐EZ is designed to provide a way for drivers to earn an SCCA racing license and race in regional competition, with the absolute lowest cost vehicle. In no way will any waivers be considered or granted in areas regarding safety of vehicle or driver.

IT‐EZ vehicles may race with prior accident damage, as long as that prior damage does not create a danger to the driver of that vehicle or fellow competitors.
Non‐functional additions to vehicles, whose primary purpose is to express creativity, theme, are allowed only if do not create a potential safety hazard to the driver or fellow competitors

IT‐EZ eligible vehicles
Must be a “mass produced,” gas or diesel powered, four wheel passenger car.
Minimum weight of 1800 pounds and a maximum weight of 4000 pounds and a production‐based engine.
Tires must conform to applicable Improved Touring rules, i.e., must be DOT rated tires, and sizes must be consistent with allowable dimensions per the GCR. 190 wear‐dated tires are not mandated, but they may be used if the racer prefers.
Preparation regarding brakes, suspension, and engine must meet either Chumpcar rules or SCCA Improved Touring rules

while that BMW likely would have been okay in big bore since the group it was in included ITS and ITR they were pretty similar.

just a question to throw out there, I know the weekend of LRP with the ITEZ bimmer was fast and not in the way of the rest of the race group oh wait he was really fast! OK so my question is if we end up with some really slow ITEZ cars is there a way we can split them into a more speed oriented race group? As it is we have to race with ITB cars:D HEHEHE! Just kidding I always like racing in ITB but ITR/S is fun too! My biggest concern is closing speeds with some of the slower ITEZ cars. And some of the ITEZ drivers may not have a ton of time on a track with much faster cars. Im not trying to be "the big dog on the track" just thinking about safety for all partys. If im out of line please tell me and ill keep my mouth shut. I just dont like to visit with TGA with paperwork in hand.

absolutely we can. first of all the original idea was to give the stewards the power to decide if a car should really be in ITE rather than ITEZ. second we can easily create sub classes if cars show up that are quite different. Ian's car was not what we expected but given the race group they were in the quality of the driver it was not a real big deal. the Mustang that ran at Thompson was more of what we are expecting. we will watch the class closely and adjust as needed. the important part is to make them welcome.

So, what would be the difference between ITE and ITEZ?
other than ITE awards trophies........
A guy in a Spec Miata can remove his restrictor and run ITEZ for track time??

Quote:

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Originally Posted by ner88

So, what would be the difference between ITE and ITEZ?

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"The [ITEZ] rule set adopted is designed to allow any car that meets Improved Touring safety rules a place to race. In other word there are no illegal cars."

"The purpose of the ITE class is to allow vehicles from other professional race series, Pro-Rally, Showroom Stock (those not otherwise eligible for IT or SS) and equivalent marque club classes to compete at a regional level."

Quote:

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A guy in a Spec Miata can remove his restrictor and run ITEZ for track time??

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Yes! In fact, that's a very, very good thing, because I'm hearing that we're getting very low on race groups that Spec Miatas are compliant to run to! In addition, I think any Spec Miata would be right proud to be able to win a Regional championship in a class designed for Chumps!

And don't forget to remove that plate; you wouldn't want to get beat by a Lemons! You'd never hear the end of the ribbing from your fellow drivers!

GA

Quote:

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Originally Posted by ner88

So, what would be the difference between ITE and ITEZ?
other than ITE awards trophies........

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well lets go back and review the statement of intent in the rule set. just because people can find ways to pervert that intent does not mean ot is not worth doing.

The purpose of IT‐EZ is to create a regional class where cars built for ChumpCar or Lemons racing, or for cars that could be ITE legal but do not belong in the fast race group, to have a place to race on an SCCA Regional race weekend. As opposed to any other class of SCCA road racing, IT‐EZ competition is designed as a “fun run” class, without any promise of intent of performance equitability. IT‐EZ is designed to provide a way for drivers to earn an SCCA racing license and race in regional competition, with the absolute lowest cost vehicle. In no way will any waivers be considered or granted in areas regarding safety of vehicle or driver.