Club "Petite Le Mans" at Road Atlanta

[RacerBowie]

So being the evil SOB that I am, I planted a dangerous seed in Butch Kummer's head this weekend at the ARRC.

Road Atlanta, and Atlanta Region in general, NEEDS a long enduro. Like 10+ hours, to join in with the ECS.

Wouldn't a 10 hour "Club Petite" be cool as hell?

Let's show him some interest here and make sure that devil on his shoulder grows more and more persuasive.

[eprodrx7]

BERG Racing is in :026: 2-3 cars depending on what is running...
On a side note please use ECS series rules for spec classes not local/regional rules.

[JohnRW]

^^^^^^^John just can't keep his tire rules straight^^^^^^^^^^^

The "3J's / Wild Child" team from the far north would show up. The Homestead 12 hour was always on a bad week for us (traditional work conference thingy), and Homestead, being just short of Cuba, was a little too far (although we did do a bunch of 24's at Moroso). We have, however, done EVERY other 10+hour enduro east of the Mississippi in the last decade (like a bunch of other enduro rats, like RC Imports, the Over-50 guys, etc.). You'd have a good entry just from the dedicated enduro rats on the east coast (and I can't let a sentence go without yet another parenthetical comment, can I ?).

(edit) BTW, ask this same question on specracer.com (SRF guys) and you'll likely get a good response, too. Great turn-out of SRFs at the VIR 13 Hour (ibid.).

[Hahn63]

Absolutely, We will bring a car.

On a side note please contact me as I may have some sponsorship for this race and would like to add it to the ECS 2008 schedule. A spring date would be awesome if you can.

Roland

[email protected]

[Conover]

Night time at Road Atlanta would be the stuff!

[Jeremy Billiel]

That would be an absolute blast!

[Cobrar05]

I've got two cobra mustangs that are in for that, if you can make it happen.

[Marcus Miller]

Depending on month/ timing; I've got some west coast cars that will coem join the fun.




Marcus

[Ron]

A spring/ early summer race would be great. Now that "Pablo's" team has decided that team Sattele in the mustang must run more we would do it.

[Butch Kummer]

An Update:

At last night's Race Board meeting I brought up the concept of hosting a "Club" night event at Road Atlanta. I may be wrong, but I don't believe I've EVER seen such a large collection of pitchforks, torches and WMD's appear in that short a timeframe. Y'all can lobby all you want, but Atlanta Region SCCA ain't gonna host it.

I know that racers don't think about it until they need it, but driver and worker safety was the biggest concern. We did run a night Enduro a few years back and it was a fiasco. The rain certainly exaggerated the issues, but cars were off course and the workers never knew about it until the driver made her/his way back to the corner station. I also recall that one worker was responding to a car in the gravel trap, slipped on the wet tire wall and severely injured his ankle. Running a night race at Road Atlanta is a logistical nightmare and the consensus of the Race Board is "the juice ain't worth the squeeze."

That said, is there any interest in running a three-hour night Enduro at Nashville in June? Drivers have already demonstrated a simple Double SARRC is not enough to entice them to the far reaches of the division, but would adding an Enduro under the lights make the event more appealing?

I welcome your thoughts...

[Cobrar05]

Butch,

I would sign up for the Nashville thing, IF the track configuration could be more like what they use at Homestead. The infield course with no use of the NASCAR banking is oftley small for an enduro field of any size.

Although...I should ask first if this would be an ECR(no soup for you!!) or an Atlanta ARRC like enduro(y'all come) typle of thing?

[Kolin Aspegren]

Butch who are the corners workers for the Petit Lemans..........scca right. Certainly something could be
worked out.

2 cars for sure right here

k

[Conover]

That's a bummer, I think if you look at what others are doing in regards to night racing you might find some practices that will calm some nerves. Required two way radios for example, extra ID lights on the cars, and two full sets of workers to keep the fade away. . .

That being said, Nashville is a start.

[JIgou]

Nashville? Meh.

Road Atlanta? YES.

Glad to hear you avoided any bodily harm, Butch. :P

Jarrod

[Marcus Miller]

That's a bummer, I think if you look at what others are doing in regards to night racing you might find some practices that will calm some nerves. Required two way radios for example, extra ID lights on the cars, and two full sets of workers to keep the fade away. . .

That being said, Nashville is a start.
[/b]

Si. check out the 25 hour at thunderhill in two weeks for corner working info.

10 hours at the RA? I've got two cars on trailers to come play.
3 hours at Nashville? nuh-uh. too long a tow from great state of CA.


Marcus

[bhudson]

Having been involved in nearly every enduro at Road Atlanta for the past 18 years, I can tell you that from a logistical standpoint, it would be difficult for us to staff a 10 hour club race. Even for the Petit LeMans we don't get nearly as many cornerworkers as we'd like.

No offense intended, but lets face it - a 10 hour club race vs the Petit LeMans is sort of like comparing a company softball game to the World Series. A lot of fun for the players - not so much fun for everyone else.

I was flagging at the disasterous night enduro (we could hear a car stuck in the mud at Turn 5, but it took us a several minutes to find it) so I understand the reluctance of the region BOD to try again.

That being said, I like the idea of a longer than usual enduro, but perhaps 10 hours is just too much.

Bob Hudson
Atlanta Region Membership Chairman

[Chris Wire]

How about a "Half-pint Petit" or however you would say it in French! If the Petit is 10 hrs ours could be 5. No nighttime, longer than usual, NO PROBLEM!

Make it a Saturday-only thing maybe, with practice/qualifying in the morning, and the race after lunch. Could be coupled with a straight regional with practice also in the morning, and qualifying and racing on Sunday. Or whatever works.

I'm interested.

`a Demi Petit - or some crap like that!

(edit for bad French translation)

[Cobrar05]

How about a Saturday twighlight 4 or 5 hour enduro at the July SARRC meet? Daylight til 9pm ish. Cooling temps as the race runs on making it more tolerable for drivers and cars. 4 hour race starting at 4p is over by 8pm.

[Butch Kummer]

Before this gets too far out of hand, we are seriously considering a 5-Hour during our February 23-24 weekend. It would be a single-SARRC all on Saturday, then 90-minutes of Enduro qualifying Sunday morning, our county-mandated break (and PDX) from 10-12:30, then start the Enduro at 12:45. $500 entry fee for the Enduro, $200 for the SARRC, no Pro-IT. I need to get buy-in from the Race Board before we officially announce it, but a full field of 65 cars would go a long way toward convincing them.

And yes, I HAVE been in communication with Roland Hahn of the ECS.

Maybe a Petit Petit?

[Cobrar05]

Butch? what do you say, pal? Say, yes.