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Thread: what a nice day to be at marrs1

  1. #1
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    perfect weather all weekend. being in race group 9 gave me plenty of time to watch the races. well i was treated to great races. one race after another was a blast to watch.i recall 3 itc cars on top of each other going into 10 on the last lap and all of them finishing. the ssm and sm races were close as usual
    now to ITA/ITB. i think 46 cars started.the race was just plain awesome.kirk and i traded places a number of times.i tried passing him into 10, down the front straight,coming out of 1. i tried over and over but that stinkin nissan would pull me.our hard side by side racing brought greg into the mix. i made a couple of mistakes and i fell back. i thought it was over. i regrouped and concentrated on fast laps.as lappers brought us back to kirk we entered the carosel. 2 itb cars were side by side and kirk went to the grass and cars and dust were flying.i was thinking when the 4 cars in front wreck were am i going to go? well we made it through. with about 3 three laps to go greg loops it entering the carosel and i flash bye and kirk is within reach. balls to the walls boys. i am flying. the car is a missle through ten and 3. on the last lap i fly though ten pull along side up to his door and finish 2nd. grr! a great race! the only contact was me tapping kirk exiting 10. sorry kirk.i have to thank the marrs folks for a great weekend. i also have to thank my group for a great race. Andy B and Greg A sing and dance about ITA and they are right. great racing

    also does anybody have the lap times?
    Rick Benazic
    All Star Sheet Metal inc.


    ITS Honda prelude #06

  2. #2
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    EXCEPT IF YOU WERE IN GROUP 8

    Can anyone please explain why the race wasn't stopped for group 8 when a GT1 was upside down in the tire wall @ turn 8 and another GT1 was stalled and in the middle of turn 8 for some 3 laps!!!!!!!!!!!!!!????????????

    Group 8 wasn't a race it was demolition derby!


  3. #3
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    You are not the only person who was asking that. But I really think that the tower was not properly informed as to what was going on. I was in false grid next to the black flag scanner and never once did they mention that the car was stalled on track for 3 laps. The car upside down was called out as not in the core impact zone for 8 and could be pulled after the race.
    --
    James Brostek
    MARRS #28 ITB Golf
    PMF Motorsports
    Racing and OEM parts from Bildon Motorsport, Hoosier Tires from Radial Tires

  4. #4
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    You are not the only person who was asking that. But I really think that the tower was not properly informed as to what was going on. I was in false grid next to the black flag scanner and never once did they mention that the car was stalled on track for 3 laps. The car upside down was called out as not in the core impact zone for 8 and could be pulled after the race. [/b]
    I was told by spectators that a corner worker was in the middle of the track trying to direct race cars coming through 8!! Talk about a dangerous situation! The GT1 car that hit the tire wall, exploded the tires when he hit them and they hit me while I was trying to avoid the stalled GT1 car in the middle of the track. Not only that but the next lap the emergency vehicle made so much dust that we could see to drive through it, so all you could do is hope and pray no one had slowed or stopped on the other side of the dust cloud! One person did and got rear ended by a ITS BMW (not the BMW drivers fault). Someone really dropped the ball.

    I was hit twice by 2 different cars, one a ITE and One a AS. I was passed under yellow by a GT1 car (I think he was GT1) just after the start finish with the flag clearly in site at turn 1! If you guys ever run ITS with AS, GT1, GT2, T2 and all that other stuff, I'll never be back. I bet I'm not the only ITS that feels this way.

  5. #5
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    Actually, it was 2 ITA cars that were coming out of turn 5 as Kirk entered turn 5, yours truly and the #24 ITA 240 SX. After my own agricultural event in the carousel the previous lap and losing about 8 positions, I got the blue flag at Start/Finish (those guys are GOOD!) as Kirk was coming out of 10, so I had plenty of warning and knew what to expect. I got another blue flag at 4 and had time to turn in to 5 without screwing up Kirk. My plan was to go wide in 6A and wave him by, but the #24 SX didn't accelerate out of 5, maybe chose the wrong gear. I had to dodge to his left to avoid a collision and get out of Kirk's way, leaving the #24 unfortunately in Kirk's path. I went way wide in 6A to give both of them room. All I saw was Kirk boucing back on the track directly in front of me, fishtailing but keeping his foot in it. Nicely done. Knowing the other leaders were close behind, I waved them by in 8 to let them have the apex and continue the chase. Greg and Enrik went by nose to tail. Very entertaining video. Hats off to Doug Kinser (ITA MR2 #03) who promised not to kick my ass after I gave him my old Hoosiers, but he kicked my ass anyway. No, Doug, you didn't punt me off in 5. I ran out of track trying to dive bomb you into 6A and went off of my own free will...
    AJ

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    I was told by spectators that a corner worker was in the middle of the track trying to direct race cars coming through 8!! Talk about a dangerous situation! The GT1 car that hit the tire wall, exploded the tires when he hit them and they hit me while I was trying to avoid the stalled GT1 car in the middle of the track. Not only that but the next lap the emergency vehicle made so much dust that we could see to drive through it, so all you could do is hope and pray no one had slowed or stopped on the other side of the dust cloud! One person did and got rear ended by a ITS BMW (not the BMW drivers fault). Someone really dropped the ball.

    I was hit twice by 2 different cars, one a ITE and One a AS. I was passed under yellow by a GT1 car (I think he was GT1) just after the start finish with the flag clearly in site at turn 1! If you guys ever run ITS with AS, GT1, GT2, T2 and all that other stuff, I'll never be back. I bet I'm not the only ITS that feels this way.
    [/b]
    Sorry to hear you had a rough session.

    A couple of things you need to keep in mind.

    The race stewards are the ones who make the decision to red flag a race. These same stewards travel to other venues so your indication is that Summit Point was the problem ("I'll never be back") is a little rash.

    The corner asked for the session to be stopped, the EV crew asked for the session to be stopped. The corner said the track was 75% blocked. The stewards elected to checker the session early.

    Many things contributed to this situation. Many of the on scene officials said the group as a whole was over driving the situation, the dry conditions caused the dust and the stewards made a bad call, the session should have been red flagged.

    Please give the D.C. region another chance. I have been a worker for 7 years now and there has never been this many things go wrong all at onceas it did in this situation. We learned a lot and will be making changes to make sure it doesn't happen again.

    Finally, if you don't like the way things were handled. I suggest you volunteer for the stewards program. Maybe you can help make a difference.


    Enjoy,
    Bill

  7. #7
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    Actually, it was 2 ITA cars that were coming out of turn 5 as Kirk entered turn 5, yours truly and the #24 ITA 240 SX. After my own agricultural event in the carousel the previous lap and losing about 8 positions, I got the blue flag at Start/Finish (those guys are GOOD!) as Kirk was coming out of 10, so I had plenty of warning and knew what to expect. I got another blue flag at 4 and had time to turn in to 5 without screwing up Kirk. [/b]
    That was me in the # 24 - I also saw the blue at 1 and 4, but mistakenly believed they were for you coming up behind me, so wasn't looking for the leaders.

    but the #24 SX didn't accelerate out of 5, maybe chose the wrong gear.[/b]
    So right you are, sir, except "blew the downshift" is probably a more accurate description of what happened going into 5. 5th gear just doesn't work for squat coming out of that turn! Knowing you were right on my tailpipe, as soon as I found the right gear I looked back and saw you coming up on my left, so I moved right to leave you room. Unfortunately I didn't see Kirk until it was too late, when this rocket engulfed in dirt and gravel came flying by on my right. I knew it was close, but had no idea it was THAT close until I watched the video later. As you said, very exciting footage.

    I had to dodge to his left to avoid a collision and get out of Kirk's way, leaving the #24 unfortunately in Kirk's path. I went way wide in 6A to give both of them room. All I saw was Kirk boucing back on the track directly in front of me, fishtailing but keeping his foot in it. Nicely done.[/b]
    Even for a driver of Kirk's talent that was a great save. And to not even lose the lead, what more can you say. Made for a very memorable first race. I hope the next one is just a touch less "memorable"
    Earl R.
    240SX
    ITA/ST5

  8. #8
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    Sorry to hear you had a rough session.

    A couple of things you need to keep in mind.

    The race stewards are the ones who make the decision to red flag a race. These same stewards travel to other venues so your indication is that Summit Point was the problem ("I'll never be back") is a little rash.

    The corner asked for the session to be stopped, the EV crew asked for the session to be stopped. The corner said the track was 75% blocked. The stewards elected to checker the session early.

    Many things contributed to this situation. Many of the on scene officials said the group as a whole was over driving the situation, the dry conditions caused the dust and the stewards made a bad call, the session should have been red flagged.

    Please give the D.C. region another chance. I have been a worker for 7 years now and there has never been this many things go wrong all at onceas it did in this situation. We learned a lot and will be making changes to make sure it doesn't happen again.

    Finally, if you don't like the way things were handled. I suggest you volunteer for the stewards program. Maybe you can help make a difference.
    [/b]
    I wasn't the only one to have a rough session. Your Stewarts or the people in charge of these events have to start listening to your local class reps. They know the cars they know the track they know the problems. I'm sure if you listen to them they will agree get ITS out of that group. I think DC Region has one of the best organizations around including corner workers and I believe they WILL learn from this. I have a lot of respect for all of them. Sometimes we have to take one on the chin, DC Region, once,.......in my case 3 times . Now that I have time to think this over, I blame myself for not stopping my car at #8 and making the call to the stewards myself. I promise you I will do that if it ever happens again, that piece of wood means nothing if everyone isn't as safe as possible. You dodged the bullet & I'm SO happy that everyone was safe.

    The reason not to come back is from the the grouping of the cars, not because of any issues with the race officals. Rethink the grouping and I'll be there with bells on.

    You run my business and I'll volunteer for the stewarts program.

  9. #9
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    Thanks for not hitting me in the confusion, Earl. You did a nice job. I had a decent start from 26th, going forward a few spots and passing Doug in 4, but I'd also like to apologize for tagging Richard Ay in the 09 IT7 in turn 5 about halfway through the race. I think we were having fun racing until that event. We had swapped places a couple times and I thought I had the apex since I dove in next to him in the braking zone, but as we turned in I tagged his LR tire, judging by the black stuff on my RF bumper. Sorry about that. I might have been a little ambitious. Turn 5 was obviously looking for me that race. More good video, though. Also want to give personal congrats to Matthew Yip, whose great attitude (and determination and wallet) brought him from a major crash at the last race in '05 to the grid at M1 in the now Glow in the Dark General Li. The General has never looked better and he's right back up to speed. You are da man!
    Art Jaso
    Former 1989 Toyota MR2 #55 ITB
    DC Region SCCA
    DC Region Board of Directors
    Coordinator of Racers Helping Racers Fund
    http://www.racershelpingracers.com/
    PDX/TT Committee Member
    PDX Co-Chief of Grid
    PDX Chief Technical Inspector
    SCCA Pit Marshall
    SCCA Pace Car
    SCCA F & C
    Producer of "Racing Summit Point" Video
    http://vimeo.com/67177646

  10. #10
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    Also want to give personal congrats to Matthew Yip, whose great attitude (and determination and wallet) brought him from a major crash at the last race in '05 to the grid at M1 in the now Glow in the Dark General Li. The General has never looked better and he's right back up to speed. You are da man!
    [/b]

    From the sidelines noone cannot declare that the past week it was nothing but blood, sweat, and a near shed of tears for matt to get back on the track. But there is no way you can miss that car glowing in your mirrors. I didnt even look behind me to give a point the inside of my car turned ORANGE so I knew he was there.

    It was my first race, and man I have a lot to learn still. But at the same time I learned a lot, each time I am there I am able to find some valuable time and thats a great feeling. Another great feeling was how good it felt to keep pace with guys doing this a lot longer then me and even getting by a few. I just need to learn to keep my fustrations and aggresion in check so I dont start overdriving the car like I did towards the end of the race.

    Till next time....
    --
    James Brostek
    MARRS #28 ITB Golf
    PMF Motorsports
    Racing and OEM parts from Bildon Motorsport, Hoosier Tires from Radial Tires

  11. #11

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    Regarding the Big Bore / ITS race...
    That situation in turn 8 was perhaps the most dangerous one I've seen as a driver. One car was upside down (I think it was a T2 car, not a GT1) and the yellow GT1 car was blocking the track to the point that the only way around it was to go 2 wheels on the dirt. So, you had corner workers on the track, a car in a prime position to be T-boned and a dust cloud so thick that I couldn't see the hood of my car as I went through it. And we had a local yellow! The wreck happened right in front of me (I had to dive through the grass to miss it) and when I came around for the next lap I couldn't believe we didn't have a red flag or at least a double yellow. I've been racing in MARRS for 6 years now and I really respect the way the events are run, the work of the corner workers and the professionalism of the stewards. I make plenty of mistakes as a driver, and the stewards and workers make very few mistakes. They really are good. But in this case, they did make a mistake, and I'm just glad there's recognition of that so it doesn't happen again.

    As for putting ITS in with the big bore group, I think that's a mistake, also. A lot a bad dynamics with that combination.

    Mark Lapos
    #23 ITS
    rpperformanceracing.com
    Mark Lapos
    ITS RX7 #23
    www.rpperformanceracing.com

  12. #12
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    Regarding the Big Bore / ITS race...
    That situation in turn 8 was perhaps the most dangerous one I've seen as a driver. One car was upside down (I think it was a T2 car, not a GT1) and the yellow GT1 car was blocking the track to the point that the only way around it was to go 2 wheels on the dirt. So, you had corner workers on the track, a car in a prime position to be T-boned and a dust cloud so thick that I couldn't see the hood of my car as I went through it. And we had a local yellow! The wreck happened right in front of me (I had to dive through the grass to miss it) and when I came around for the next lap I couldn't believe we didn't have a red flag or at least a double yellow. I've been racing in MARRS for 6 years now and I really respect the way the events are run, the work of the corner workers and the professionalism of the stewards. I make plenty of mistakes as a driver, and the stewards and workers make very few mistakes. They really are good. But in this case, they did make a mistake, and I'm just glad there's recognition of that so it doesn't happen again.

    As for putting ITS in with the big bore group, I think that's a mistake, also. A lot a bad dynamics with that combination.

    Mark Lapos
    #23 ITS
    rpperformanceracing.com [/b]
    I concur Mark. Congrats on 3rd Mark.
    Dan

  13. #13
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    Your Stewarts or the people in charge of these events have to start listening to your local class reps. They know the cars they know the track they know the problems. I'm sure if you listen to them they will agree get ITS out of that group.[/b]
    Sorry to hear about the problems w/ your group, DJ. I just want to correct one thing...your class rep is the one who originally asked that ITS be placed in the Big Bore group. It was only after the change had been approved by the competition committe that he gathered feedback from the drivers and asked for a reversal.

    As has already been expressed, I'd like to congratulate all of the ITA/IT7/ITB drivers on a spectacular MARRS 1. We had a number of new drivers to the MARRS series running this weekend, including many rookies as well as a number of out-of-region drivers, and all were safe, predictable, and showed great on-track-awareness.

    Although I didn't see it, I hear there was a photo finish for the region's innaugural IT7 race. Congratulations to Owen Schefer, our first IT7 winner!

    Full results are at: http://offtotheraces.net/m1-06r9.pdf

    As I explained at the drivers meeting, I will shortly be emailing information on the MARRS ITA/IT7 mailing list/newsgroup.

    Hope to see a bunch of you at VIR

    -Gregg
    Gregg Ginsberg
    '96 Civic EX -- MARRS ITA #72
    WDCR-SCCA Rookie of the Year 2003
    MARRS ITA/T3 Drivers rep

  14. #14
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    Sorry to hear about the problems w/ your group, DJ. I just want to correct one thing...your class rep is the one who originally asked that ITS be placed in the Big Bore group. It was only after the change had been approved by the competition committe that he gathered feedback from the drivers and asked for a reversal.
    -Gregg [/b]
    Sorry to hear about the problems w/ your group, DJ. You & me both Gregg

    Thank you for the clarification. Lets hang the class rep. To further clairify things, this isn't my region, I was making mine & spectators observations known. No disrespect of any kind was intended to anyone.

  15. #15
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    Sorry to hear about the problems w/ your group, DJ. You & me both Gregg

    Thank you for the clarification. Lets hang the class rep. To further clairify things, this isn't my region, I was making mine & spectators observations known. No disrespect of any kind was intended to anyone.
    [/b]
    No problems...Good luck finding the rep though...I hear he's headed to BMWCCA. Something about not wanting to be called SIR or something.

    There's nothing wrong w/ speaking up. I might suggest that you send off a quick note outlining your concerns to the WDCR Stewards Rep. You can find his contact info at http://wdcr-scca.org/email/contacts.php

    I know our volunteers try their best to put on a safe event for us nutjobs and they are always open to constructive criticism. Hopefully we will see you back at a MARRS race soon as I'm convinced that they are the best run on the east coast.
    Gregg Ginsberg
    '96 Civic EX -- MARRS ITA #72
    WDCR-SCCA Rookie of the Year 2003
    MARRS ITA/T3 Drivers rep

  16. #16
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    Sorry to hear about the problems w/ your group, DJ. I just want to correct one thing...your class rep is the one who originally asked that ITS be placed in the Big Bore group. It was only after the change had been approved by the competition committe that he gathered feedback from the drivers and asked for a reversal.

    -Gregg
    [/b]
    whoa, time out gregg... you have it all wrong.
    I ABSOLUTELY DID NOT ASK THAT ITS BE PUT IN THE BIG BORE GROUP. i asked that ITS be moved out of the miata group. my proposal was to put all the IT classes(abcs) together, split in two groups, like we had been doing in marrs for years. the move to put its in big bore was someone else's idea entirely and its got railroaded into it. it was absolutely NOT an option i put on the table, ever. i won't go into the b.s. politics that led to this debacle in this forum.

    marshall
    its rep
    never wanted to run with miatas
    never wanted to run with big bore
    been outvoted and dumped in both those groups now.

  17. #17
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    And now you have the rest of the story....

    Sorry about misrepresenting what happened. What you propose(d) probably would have been better for all of us (and gotten the C cars out of SRX7 as well). I was just reciting the order of events as presented by the "acting Director of Competition" at the winter planning meeting.

    On another note, anybody know how the search for a permanent replacement for that position is going?
    Gregg Ginsberg
    '96 Civic EX -- MARRS ITA #72
    WDCR-SCCA Rookie of the Year 2003
    MARRS ITA/T3 Drivers rep

  18. #18
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    Greg,
    Why on earth would we want to move ITC out of Spec 7?? We're one of the few groups where the numbers mesh nicely so we end up with a field of 40 to 45 cars on the bigger weekends and have a reasonable good speed differential.. This weekend the top 6 in ITC finished on the lead lap, and the only metal on metal report I heard over the radio net was between ITC's.. Short of getting enough Spec 7's to get our own group again, I'm gonna fight like hell to keep ITC with us..
    Unfortunately for ITS, the numbers no longer work to keep them with SSM.. There weren't many options available other than SSM and big bore. Marshal asked to overturn the move to big bore, but again, it just doesn't work with SSM.. Keep in mind a lot of drivers who would have run SSM last year did not because of the ITS grouping. They simply have the numbers to require their own group.. But there is a group that has a low enough car count to merge with another group.. This week Vee's and 500's had 7 starters.. 7 Vee's, no 500's.. And the wings and things group had one Atlantic. So far, the region has been reluctant to merge them and eliminate Atlantics from MARRS, but if they continue to draw so few cars, well something's gotta give.. -AG

  19. #19
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    I for one had a great time last weekend, despite spinning/stalling/blowing the head gasket. My goal was to get over being scared of the magnets in the walls, and I accomplished that! hehe. I would also like to express my gratitude to whoever was in the RX7 that got wide and onto the grass around the carosel and managed to keep from plowing poor Sven in the tail where he was sitting broken. Thank you! I have enough work to do on him...
    -Nick '73 Volvo ITB #8

  20. #20
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    Greg,
    Why on earth would we want to move ITC out of Spec 7?? We're one of the few groups where the numbers mesh nicely so we end up with a field of 40 to 45 cars on the bigger weekends and have a reasonable good speed differential.. This weekend the top 6 in ITC finished on the lead lap, and the only metal on metal report I heard over the radio net was between ITC's.. Short of getting enough Spec 7's to get our own group again, I'm gonna fight like hell to keep ITC with us..
    Unfortunately for ITS, the numbers no longer work to keep them with SSM.. There weren't many options available other than SSM and big bore. Marshal asked to overturn the move to big bore, but again, it just doesn't work with SSM.. Keep in mind a lot of drivers who would have run SSM last year did not because of the ITS grouping. They simply have the numbers to require their own group.. But there is a group that has a low enough car count to merge with another group.. This week Vee's and 500's had 7 starters.. 7 Vee's, no 500's.. And the wings and things group had one Atlantic. So far, the region has been reluctant to merge them and eliminate Atlantics from MARRS, but if they continue to draw so few cars, well something's gotta give.. -AG
    [/b]
    agree al, merging the open wheels is the answer. that was so lame having a 7 car run group when half the rest of the groups were over 40. they keep saying the speed difference is a problem, but the the speed difference in big bore is now worse than open wheel. gt1's turning 1:15's and slow ITS cars turning 1:40. yikes.

    and it would still work with its and ssm....ssm only had 30 cars. its had 12.

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