ITAC News.

[seckerich]

Class competition. Instead of 2 STU, 1 ITS, 6 ITA, maybe an ITB and 1 ITC Just running around the track for the hell of it (except for the ITA guys) you actually have a 10 to 12 cars in one class actually racing each other.

Sounds like a regional problem you have Jerry, not a catagory problem. Deal with it at home. For some reason in your area IT is not very popular, not sure why because it is still the biggest bang for the buck in SCCA. We see big car counts but a lot of that is due to the aux races we have that give these cars 4 races on most weekends and they can be shared by drivers. This sharing cuts all the cost for everyone involved and leads to more cars being built. If you ever want to see a schedule for our races let me know.

[JeffYoung]

Not sure how it is where you are but here you get anywhere from 5-6 to 25-30 ITS cars, with the average field these days in the 8-10 range and actually expanding.

ITA is strong in the SEDiv, and while some of it is SM crossover a lot is not

Whenever I hear LP IT proposals or your proposal (and seriously, thanks for the thought and effort, it is appreciated) I go back to I think Kirk's point: if you WANT to race cheap in IT you can.

You probably can even do fairly well. May not run up front in strong, strong fields, but you can be reasonably competitive. That's true even in S where strong built cars can be had for $5-6k.

Class competition. Instead of 2 STU, 1 ITS, 6 ITA, maybe an ITB and 1 ITC Just running around the track for the hell of it (except for the ITA guys) you actually have a 10 to 12 cars in one class actually racing each other.

[lateapex911]

Want to have classes with very little car prep? Resurrect Showroom Stock! I said car prep, not the lowest price for the base car!

.

Actually, Bill, SS has a TON of prep associated with it.
They aint even CLOSE to stock, although they are called that. TONS of $$ and time go into the fast ones.
Damper packages alone cost what a used IT car costs...

[lateapex911]

Class competition. Instead of 2 STU, 1 ITS, 6 ITA, maybe an ITB and 1 ITC Just running around the track for the hell of it (except for the ITA guys) you actually have a 10 to 12 cars in one class actually racing each other.

See, that's a symptom of a situation. YOU want to see competition, but the guys who own the cars and actually RACE, evidently don't care.*
If I lived someplace new, I'd go to the track and see who was running what. I'd look at results. I'd see how far it was to tow to other tracks and I'd see who was running what there.

THEN i'd choose a class that had competition.

It's a conscious choice.

But lots of guys care more about the make of car or the model, or the ruleset than they do about running with a bunch of other guys in the same class.

*There's a flipside: Some friends used to chide me that I kept my car and was pretty serious about it, even though I was often running against small fields. But I did that because I didn't care about beating 10 guys, I cared about beating one REALLY GOOD guy.
So, you never know, some of those guys MIGHT be having the fight of their lives.

[RacerBill]

Actually, Bill, SS has a TON of prep associated with it.
They aint even CLOSE to stock, although they are called that. TONS of $$ and time go into the fast ones.
Damper packages alone cost what a used IT car costs...

Rules creep strikes again, eh? I was referring to REAL SS.

Keep IT where it is!!!!!! I just want one little change............... just kidding!!!!

Seriously, though. The club nationally cannot be all thing to all members. It's up to the regions or divisions to administer racing in their area within the framework that the National organization gives us. If an idea becomes popular over a wider area, then it can be adopted across the country. Didn't IT really start that way, regions created their own rules and then they were standardized across the country?

And I really like the idea of performance criteria for requiring certain levels of safety equipement, instead of across the board. Isn't that what we have with roll cage requirements?

[RacerBill]

Just got the mail and what do I find? The March issue of Sports Car, subtitled 'The complete guide to getting the most out of your SCCA memberhip. At first, I was a little taken back - Editorials titled "Welcome to the Sports Car Club of America". Excuse me, I've been a memeber since 1966! Read it cover to cover, in about 5 minutes. Will probably take me a week to find maybe one thing of interest - classifieds were ok, but I just bought a car.

I don't know why they sent this out to 40,000 or so members. Unless they are looking for our feedback.

Looking at the issue from another point of view, however, it does do a very good job of explaining who we are. With the car show season in full spring, Cincinnati region will again be manning a booth with a few of our cars. And we generally get a number of interested folks that actually sign up. This magazine should be the first thing they receive with their membership card, along with an insert listing all of the officers and leaders of their region.

IT is given good press. It will be interesting to see how the club uses this new tool.

[Knestis]

Class competition. Instead of 2 STU, 1 ITS, 6 ITA, maybe an ITB and 1 ITC Just running around the track for the hell of it (except for the ITA guys) you actually have a 10 to 12 cars in one class actually racing each other.

Ah, right - thanks!

You get no argument from me that we have too many classes in Club Racing. And you are correct that consolidation would address that, AND that it would have be done with the nationwide rules sets.

However, that kind of initiative needs to look across the entire country and make any decisions based on national participation. If a region has the low numbers you use in your example, they might not be representative of the big picture.

K

[Chip42]

on the topic of age:

I was at the SEDIV Double Drivers School at Roebling Road this past weekend. there were at least 10 guys under 30 in the school, and another 10 or so under 35. yes, there was a fair amount of grey hair in the room, but I was really happy to see so many younger people in the class. The weekend didn't end well for everyone (and ended very badly for a few in particular), but hopefully we'll retain most or all of those new drivers who did make it through.

[dickita15]

Just got the mail and what do I find? The March issue of Sports Car, subtitled 'The complete guide to getting the most out of your SCCA memberhip. At first, I was a little taken back - Editorials titled "Welcome to the Sports Car Club of America". Excuse me, I've been a memeber since 1966! Read it cover to cover, in about 5 minutes. Will probably take me a week to find maybe one thing of interest - classifieds were ok, but I just bought a car.

I don't know why they sent this out to 40,000 or so members. Unless they are looking for our feedback.

Looking at the issue from another point of view, however, it does do a very good job of explaining who we are. With the car show season in full spring, Cincinnati region will again be manning a booth with a few of our cars. And we generally get a number of interested folks that actually sign up. This magazine should be the first thing they receive with their membership card, along with an insert listing all of the officers and leaders of their region.

IT is given good press. It will be interesting to see how the club uses this new tool.

Bill this was going to be an electronic issue only for existing members. The print issues are going to mailed to every new member but do to a last minute sponsorship deal Haymarket did with Hawk and Bondurant it is being mailed to all members.
Use the tool. Pass it on to someone who might be interested in the club. Or leave it in the waiting room the next time you go to a doctor.

[Knestis]

... The weekend didn't end well for everyone (and ended very badly for a few in particular), but hopefully we'll retain most or all of those new drivers who did make it through.

How many went for the "I got it!" attempted oversteer save coming onto the straight, and did the stick-and-poke into the wall driver's right...?

K

[JeffYoung]

Awesome!

Any new IT blood???

on the topic of age:

I was at the SEDIV Double Drivers School at Roebling Road this past weekend. there were at least 10 guys under 30 in the school, and another 10 or so under 35. yes, there was a fair amount of grey hair in the room, but I was really happy to see so many younger people in the class. The weekend didn't end well for everyone (and ended very badly for a few in particular), but hopefully we'll retain most or all of those new drivers who did make it through.

[jhooten]

OK, If any of you are going to the convention find me and let's have a sit down so you educate me.

[CRallo]

I was wondering the same thing... seems this has been an issue before. I'm pretty sure that's a different old Volvo. 142 vs 240? or something like that...

We are talking about the same model Volvo that runs up here in the north east?? The very competitive north east? Where the Volves win frequently?? Am I missing something??

[lateapex911]

I was wondering the same thing... seems this has been an issue before. I'm pretty sure that's a different old Volvo. 142 vs 240? or something like that...

Nope, you've got the right model.
Nat's white one is probably what you're thinking about. Also, Paul Curren (Eric Currens father) runs one as well.
If you talk to Nat (I have, numerous times), he'll tell you he's constantly working on the car, tweak this and that. I hope he checks in here, but, I'd characterize his position as 'close, but there's more".

And, in reference to the above mentioned Eric Curren hot laps comment, the story is that we were at a test day up at lime Rock, and Eric happened to be there to help his Dad. For one session in the afternoon, Dad put Eric in the car for a few laps. Eyebrows jumped when the stopwatches were checked. Lap record stuff. Of course, it wasn't a race, it was only testing, and skeptics will suggest it was a stunt and the car was under weight or whatever. Nonetheless, it was done in front of an assembled mob of 3 people.
(For those who might not know, Eriic is an accomplished Pro driver with lots of sportscar wins and laps lead under his belt)

[Andy Bettencourt]

. Also, Tom Curren (Eric Currens father) runs one as well.

Paul Curren

[lateapex911]

Paul Curren

Duh...where'd I get Tom? Fixed.

[Chip42]

How many went for the "I got it!" attempted oversteer save coming onto the straight, and did the stick-and-poke into the wall driver's right...?

K

only one, and it was a light pancake, he continued on with his weekend after an OPM look over, maybe an alignment etc...
the big ugly was the sunday "race" where a very fast miata with a very young driver went WAY off driver's left in T1 and seemingly found a tire wall or tree to hit every panel on the car. He walked away but the car is not well.

Awesome!

Any new IT blood???

Morgan Mehler broke, but was there with an ITB VW A1 Wabbit GTI, Nick Ulbrik in his MR2, Robin Langlotz had a young family friend in his ITA integra, and there might have been an IT miata there, but I didn't notice any in the ITA/S group. there were a bunch of young spec miata drivers there. Corey had his STL Civic, and I think there were some Formula car youngsters as well.

Less young guys new to IT as well. Jay griffin's old "voodoo" ITB CRX was there with its new owner "Ace", also there was a very undeveloped ITA/B Del sol (long story), the owner (Sean) needs some helping guidance and the car needs substantial love but he did well regardless and is a super nice guy. Well known orlando tire shop owner "Carlito" had a new ITA civic Si. he rolled in 2, but continued on to the end of the weekend anyhow.

there were at least 4 trailers from Orlando in the paddock: Langlotz, Kings, Crucial, and TrackSpeed. we're proud of that.

FWIW my ITB MR2 had it's SCCA debut after 2 yeas of me taking time off to become a dad, and ran like a top. I guess I count as young in the SCCA...

[JeffYoung]

What was the overall turnout? Did we get up over 100 entries?

And yes, you are a young'un by SCCA standards....

[JLawton]

Nope, you've got the right model.
Nat's white one is probably what you're thinking about. Also, Paul Curren (Eric Currens father) runs one as well.
If you talk to Nat (I have, numerous times), he'll tell you he's constantly working on the car, tweak this and that. I hope he checks in here, but, I'd characterize his position as 'close, but there's more".

And, in reference to the above mentioned Eric Curren hot laps comment, the story is that we were at a test day up at lime Rock, and Eric happened to be there to help his Dad. For one session in the afternoon, Dad put Eric in the car for a few laps. Eyebrows jumped when the stopwatches were checked. Lap record stuff. Of course, it wasn't a race, it was only testing, and skeptics will suggest it was a stunt and the car was under weight or whatever. Nonetheless, it was done in front of an assembled mob of 3 people.
(For those who might not know, Eriic is an accomplished Pro driver with lots of sportscar wins and laps lead under his belt)

I was there to witness Eric's feat and know Paul very well. No stunt. I want to say he started running under the track record within 3-4 laps of hopping in the car. That's why he gets paid to race while us shmucks sit on the internet complaining about how slow our cars are. That wasn't a shot at anyone. Just a general comment.


But Paul and Nat's Volvos are some of the fastest ITB cars in the country. Top builds, top prep with great drivers.

Back when I ran at the back to middle of the pack I used to complain all the time that my car was not competitive, the other guys cheat, they have more money, blah, blah, blah. I was then lucky enough to spend a lot of time at the track with the fastest guys/cars in the country. it was eye opening........... No stone goes unturned. Hours prepping, hours on set-up, hours and hours and hours on driver developement.................... Anyone out there that thinks they are driving their car to it's maximum potential needs to "get real". There are better drivers out there that will hop into your car and demolish your times.............. Recognizing that fact will be the biggest factor in making any driver faster.

6 years ago I was lucky enough to buy inarguably a 10/10ths ITA car. It was supposed to be one of the fastest in the country. I got in it expecting to win my first race out and every time after that........ HA!! I was dreaming. I then spent the next 6 years developing me as a driver AND spending 6 years developing a 10/10ths car!!! We changed shocks, we changed sprints, alignment, sway bars. You name it, we fiddled with it. I found the harder I worked, the luckier I got..................


Hmmmmmmm. Sorry about the rant.............. I'm done now..........



.

[Andy Bettencourt]

I think these are really cool ITB cars. Top 3 IMHO.