First SCCA Race at NJMP

[Greg Amy]

ITR
-Dave Maynard (and overall)
-Robert Thiele
-John Alexandropoulas

ITS
-Matt Rooke
-Jeff Harding
-Greg Amy (5th overall!)

ITA
-Geoff Branscombe, by a mile
-Joe DiMinno, on a flat tire for three laps (They don't call him "crazy" for nuttin'...)
-John Branscombe, who did a "Dave Gran" and didn't report to impound, thus was DQ'd (ALWAYS report to impound if you're not sure. ALWAYS, ALWAYS, ALWAYS!!!)
-Doc Breault for the third!

Quick notes:
- HOT, HOT, HOT, HOT, HOT weekend. Broiling hot.
- Neat track, seriously rewards bravery, trust in the race car, and consistent momentum. It's also a power track.
- DIRT AND DUST!!! I know it's new, and I know they're trying to grow grass in that sandy soil (we called that place the "Hair Club for Men" because of the planted grasses). But, it's this very fine dust that gets everywhere, and ANY dropping of wheels, even the slightest, causes a massive seriously opaque dust cloud to drift across the track. This is EXTREMELY dangerous: several times I went into a blind cloud at speed and could not - literally - see the front of my car. Unless dust control is addressed pronto I expect we're going to see a pretty serious accident there.
- ROCKS!!! Where there wasn't dust, there was gravel across the track. Dropping off a wheel (guilty!), even the slightest, shot handfulls of these marble-sized round rocks onto the surface.

More importantly, the event ran silky smooth. SNJR and all stewards, volunteers, etc should pat themselves on the back for an event well-run. If you had landed here from another planet, not knowing this was a new track, you'd never know they were working with a new-to-them facility. Terry did a great job keeping it all together and even, upon recognizing our laps were faster than expected, increased our race length by 20%.

In summary, a neat track, a "Mecca" in terms of value-priced hotels, food, stores, fuel costs, friendly townsfolk. A PITA to get to from CT (NJ roads SUCK!!!) though well worth the drive.

Big thumbs-up to all! - GA

[gran racing]

LOL! At least with me, the announcer on the PA system said I finished 6th. Top 5 to impound? Live and learn.

Did any get a chance to look at the Thunderbolt track while there?

Nice job with the win Rick.

[JamesB]

It was interesting to say the least. It's a nice facility, and I am sure they will work out the little kinks over time. But man was it HOT. I must have drank 3 cases of water while on station that weekend. I was convinced by the WDCR EV chiefs to come up and work with the local EV crew. They are really willing to learn and they are doing well. I hope to see that program continue to grow and finally get to turn a wheel on the courses.

[andrew240z]

Hats off to the SJ crew, they did a great job putting this event together. It was really run very well. The track is fun and GA is right about the dust, I almost came to a complete stop at one point because I couldnt see through the dust. It was great so see a lot of familiar faces and meet some new people. Cant wait for the next one! Their was no access that I could find to the other track. It will be open the first week of August so the wait isnt long.

[Doc Bro]

Good weekend. HOT is the understatement of the year!! Qualified 3rd with a gift from AB. Had a great start and was in 10th by turn 2- started 16th, with only 2 cars separating Joe and I. Then it happened....I got absolutely punted by an ITS car in the left hander after the bridge on the first lap!! Reentered the track in 22nd.....finished 11th, 4th in ITA. John was DQ'd for being light by 150# (not for not showing), so net result was 3rd. However if I hadn't gotten punted would have easily been 2nd....(sorry Joe there was no way you'd hold me off for 3 laps with only 3 tires and a 2-3 sec differential)

Good track but 8+ hours to get home, makes this a tough decision to return. How do people in NY elect to sit in that traffic daily????


R

[Z3_GoCar]

Good weekend. HOT is the understatement of the year!! Qualified 3rd with a gift from AB. Had a great start and was in 10th by turn 2- started 16th, with only 2 cars separating Joe and I. Then it happened....I got absolutely punted by an ITS car in the left hander after the bridge on the first lap!! Reentered the track in 22nd.....finished 11th, 4th in ITA. John was DQ'd for being light by 150# (not for not showing), so net result was 3rd. However if I hadn't gotten punted would have easily been 2nd....(sorry Joe there was no way you'd hold me off for 3 laps with only 3 tires and a 2-3 sec differential)

Good track but 8+ hours to get home, makes this a tough decision to return. How do people in NY elect to sit in that traffic daily????


R

Hey Rob,

Congratulations on the third place. Oh BTW, I'm in East Hartford for the next couple of days. PM/email/or phone me if you're up for me buying you a beer.

James

[kevin22]

Great weekend, but I was wondering why they waive the yellow flag every time a car put a wheel off and kicked up a dust cloud. I could see the dust cloud from a half mile away so I didn't the flag for that, But would have been nice to know, was the flag waiving beacuse of dust? or was their a car on the otherside of the dust?
In the future I would only like to see a waiving yellow if a car is there, we can see the dust for ourselves.
oh-yeah, how about the checkered flag umbrella over the starters.

Great weekend and loved the fast results, they had the time sheets on the board before we were out of the car.

[sccaflagger74]

Just as you can't see if a car is still in the dust cloud neither can those of us standing at the flag station, hence the flag. When the dust dissipates enough that we can confirm the track is clear we drop the flag.

Before the gravel trap and curbing went in at 3 at Summit we had this problem all the time. Dust clouds would envelop the entire the track there. I hope NJMP will see the dust problem from this weekend (and presumably other events) and put in some larger curbing. I worked the entrance to the lightbulb and I heard from several drivers that the bottom 2 or 3 feet of the track were covered with sand but we had no way of seeing it from our station. Wider and slighly higher curbing to keep cars on the asphalt should fix the the problem in the Lightbulb.

Bob
back to F&C thanks to NJMP after a 4 year break

[Greg Amy]

I hope NJMP will see the dust problem from this weekend (and presumably other events) and put in some larger curbing.

Which brings to mind a couple of track-related issues (and I know I owe these to Daryl via email):

1) Is it just me, or was pretty much almost all of the curbing - entrance, apex, and exit - in the wrong place? I consistently found myself at the leading or trailing edge of almost every curb out there! I honestly don't think I was in the middle of an apex or turn-in/exit curb more than a handful of times...

2) The "entrance to the track" thing has gotta change. It flat-ass doesn't work.

For reference to those that weren't there, there's a long entrance road to get to the track "gate", a tall chain-link fence. Track security was there to get folks to sign their waiver and get a track wristband. So far, so good. However, the registration shack was about 50 feet inside that chain link fence, and track security was not letting folks go past them to get there! EVERYONE HAD TO WAIT ON THE ACCESS ROAD, with their rigs, waiting for the folks at registration to have a window open, so that the next 2-3 rigs could be let in to sign the track waiver and THEN proceed to SCCA registration. And, no one was allowed to leave their rigs to walk in to register

Then, to make matters worse, all the folks that had already gone through track security the day before (having run the test day) were coming out from the paddock to register, and track security wouldn't allow anyone in the access road to get in until they finished! We sat out on the access road for damn near an hour waiting to get in; again, they wouldn't even let us walk in, sign the track waiver, then walk the 100 feet to SCCA reg! Not too long after there was a minor mutiny where folks simply left their rigs, walked past security, and got the SCCA wristbands, driving the track folks into a tizzy...

Greg's suggestion: the track's main concern is ensuring everyone signs the track waiver and gets a wristband; fine, I gots'a no prob with that. So, once we've done that, how about letting us proceed past the SCCA registration and on into the paddock (remember, we're all liablity-waived and all that) and then we can work our way back to SCCA reg? That'll clear the access road and registration will filter itself in as available.

Suggestion, alternate: how about letting everyone sign the waiver and get the track band (see above) and let everybondy park their rigs INSIDE in the nice, large parking space inside the fence, behind the tollgates? That'll clear the access road and registration will filter itself in as available. If you're worried about someone getting into the paddock with registering with SCCA (can't imagine why you care) then you can station another guard there looking for SCCA wristbands.

Suggestion, alternate #2: let the folks sitting on their butts on the access road walk up, sign your waiver and get the wristband, and walk the 50 feet to the SCCA registration, and get the process all done? That'll clear the access road MUCH faster than making them sit there...

And for wristbands, a minor nit: once we have the SCCA one, no need to make us wear the track one. Recall that we can't get the SCCA one unless we previously got the track one (reg is inside the track) so they're redundant...

Other than that? No other major issues.

[jjjanos]

Great weekend, but I was wondering why they waive the yellow flag every time a car put a wheel off and kicked up a dust cloud. I could see the dust cloud from a half mile away so I didn't the flag for that, But would have been nice to know, was the flag waiving beacuse of dust? or was their a car on the otherside of the dust?

General rule for flaggers is that, if you, the flagger, cannot see through the dust, you assume a car is there until either you can see clear traffic or the downstream station tells you that you are clear. As a flagger, I prefer this because it eliminates the recriminations of "if I had only put up a flag for that dust cloud" and as a driver, I like it too because it tells me that if I see dust, no flag and have no visibility... the course is clear.

My beef is that I saw a yellow for 3 laps during my race for a car pulled off by the barrier in the light bulb. Hanging a yellow that long for a car I have ALREADY seen will make me ignore your flag vis-a-vis displaying caution. Get the driver out ASAP or, given the location this car was sitting, if the driver stays in the car - one lap then green.

I give SJR two thumbs up for the event. I hope NJMP moves the 20+ green rooms from the one (far) corner of the paddock into the rest of the paddock.

[sccaflagger74]

My beef is that I saw a yellow for 3 laps during my race for a car pulled off by the barrier in the light bulb. Hanging a yellow that long for a car I have ALREADY seen will make me ignore your flag vis-a-vis displaying caution. Get the driver out ASAP or, given the location this car was sitting, if the driver stays in the car - one lap then green.

I only worked the light bulb on Saturday so I take no blame for that car pulled off!

[jimalley]

Great facility, well run event as others have stated. I really enjoyed myself, even in the extreme heat.

I had problems with the shift points. It was either over revving the engine on the front straight or shifting to fifth just befor the braking zone and messing up the downshift I weny from fifth to second once on Saturday and figured my weekend was over. I don't want to start another discussion but the M----'s are very forgiving in the stock configuration.

Great racing and I hope I was aware enough that everyone had plenty of room to get by. I felt very comfortable with the side by side racing as this group is very predictable.

Anyone who has a "final Race Sheet" that would be willing to scan it and PM it to me would be appreciated. We left soon after the race, as it was a long journey back to New Hampshire.

I will go back again if they build onother bridge over the Hudson! The GW is something else. How do people live this everyday?

[lateapex911]

I will go back again if they build on other bridge over the Hudson! The GW is something else. How do people live this everyday?

Tappan Zee. It's longer, but it avoids the Cross Bronx, (Hell on Trailers) and the general NY gridlock mess. and with no tolls going west, it generally moves along. Coming back on Sunday can be rough, but if you are a mid to late race group, I imagine you'd miss the bad stuff and sail through.

[kakarot]

Some pictures
http://picasaweb.google.com/kakarot1...gRaceJul202008

[megmeyer]

Some pictures
http://picasaweb.google.com/kakarot1...gRaceJul202008

Nice pics! Thanks for posting.

As an SJR Race Planning Committee member, I want to thank EVERYONE - drivers, crew, workers (especially all the help we got from surrounding regions - NNJR and WDC in particular, but including Philly, Nepa, and too many more to mention!), and even the track! (just kidding)

All things considered, it went better than I had hoped. I agree the test day had some issues (first being I would love to give the miatas the track to themselves, so they don't punt unsuspecting others - but I have always had issues with miatas). It was good that they separated the SRFs, much less incidents after that.

As for the multiple armbands, we had several discussions about it, and (I, at least) am hopeful that that will be smoother for the next event.

The track has taken both Fridays from SJR (first SCCA event at each track), so they will run the test day (assuming and hoping there is one) for the Thunderbolt 9/20-21 event.

If you are going to that event, get your hotels early - there is a vintage group on Lightning, and an air show and a car show all the same weekend. It will be crowded! The good news is, there should be showers at the big track.

Personally, I broke in my new engine, had some power issues that turned out to be wiring for the kill switch, and took my usual long time to get comfortable on a new track. I qualified 4 of 5, 4 seconds slower than Beth. At the start, Jeff Haines got by me, we had some great little battles, and I finally got some space between us and pulled away. Dave (I can't remember his name right now) in the #7 rabbit, could not race, I think he said his clutch went bad. I finished 3rd, but my time was only 1 second slower than Beth, so I felt a lot better about that!

The SSM race was excellent (only one I had time to really watch).

I have to apologize to group one, because I lost the checkered flags, and did not find them until just after they got off the track. So they did not get their victory laps. Hopefully, I will get the podium pics soon, and post them on the SJR website.

Thanks again to all who helped make it a successful debut!

Meg Meyer
SJR Membership/Webmaster
#27 ITC Civic

[gran racing]

Meg, do you know if camping is allowed at the Thunderbolt track?

[mowog]

Sorry I can't remember who finished where in DP (don't have the results with me), but Jeff Harding won. Congratulatins! Glad you guys were running two races, group 1 certainly was better because of the additions.

I loved the track. They certainly made the most of the elevation they had to work with. It's not difficult to learn how to get around the track, yet it is challenging and will take time to get the most out of it. Note to self - do NOT even glance at those huge mega dollar jets landing when you are heading up the hill....

My .02 on the event....kudos to SJR and the track for a very successful first event. There are some things to work on, mostly by the track management I think. The negatives were few though. Arm bands - I ended up with 4 wrist bands and got another for the ATV. I received one Thursday evening and was told by the track staff I must keep it on all weekend to enter the track (yellow/white). I was given another for Friday's practice session (red/white for BB group). On Friday morning, I was given yet another (green/white), the guy at the gate didn't know anything about the yellow one. SCCA gave me a solid red one. I got a red/white for the ATV - darn, could have used the test day one if I had only known LOL . Some crew weren't allowed to go onto pit lane because they didn't have the SCCA band AND some other color (blue or green I think). When one person went back to registration, they didn't know anything about this. Yeah, teething problem to work out (not unexpected). Actually I was laughing at the collection I had, wondering how many different colors and combinations they must have purchased....Prices - $12 for ice, $9 for a slushy fruit drink, etc. On the other hand, there were vendors, and they needed to be sure they would at least break even, so not much of a negative I guess. Probably my biggest complaint regarding prices was the extra $100 for the test day if you didn't sign up in time... NJ rules and laws - one time it was OK to be on the false grid with shorts, the next time it wasn't. During lunch (no cars, no traffic, no workers), I was stopped from setting up a beacon because I was wearing shorts. OK, so now I know, but it did seem over the top at lunch and on the false grid.....Dust - they need some fast growing grass to keep the dust down. Someone said showers will be added next year. It's a luxury, so no negatives on this one, but it certainly will be a big plus, especially considering how dusty everyone was....Practice groups - should have been split up better, but at least they did make some changes (original schedule was SRF and formula in one group, big bore (AS, T1, T2, big GT) in another, and everything else in one group (all Miata's, all IT, SS, prod, GTL, SPU, etc). In other words, one small group, one medium group with incompatible cars (SRF's were later given their own group after several incidents), and one huge group. Several of us were allowed to run with BB, which helped.

On the plus sign, there were two sets of flush toilets at either end of the facility, and the rooms were air conditioned. I considered moving in there for the weekend but the car wouldn't fit thru the door.

All in all, an impressive start, so again, kudos to everyone.

[wdether]

Sorry I can't remember who finished where in DP (don't have the results with me), but Jeff Harding won. Congratulatins! Glad you guys were running two races, group 1 certainly was better because of the additions.

I loved the track. They certainly made the most of the elevation they had to work with. It's not difficult to learn how to get around the track, yet it is challenging and will take time to get the most out of it. Note to self - do NOT even glance at those huge mega dollar jets landing when you are heading up the hill....

My .02 on the event....kudos to SJR and the track for a very successful first event. There are some things to work on, mostly by the track management I think. The negatives were few though. Arm bands - I ended up with 4 wrist bands and got another for the ATV. I received one Thursday evening and was told by the track staff I must keep it on all weekend to enter the track (yellow/white). I was given another for Friday's practice session (red/white for BB group). On Friday morning, I was given yet another (green/white), the guy at the gate didn't know anything about the yellow one. SCCA gave me a solid red one. I got a red/white for the ATV - darn, could have used the test day one if I had only known LOL . Some crew weren't allowed to go onto pit lane because they didn't have the SCCA band AND some other color (blue or green I think). When one person went back to registration, they didn't know anything about this. Yeah, teething problem to work out (not unexpected). Actually I was laughing at the collection I had, wondering how many different colors and combinations they must have purchased....Prices - $12 for ice, $9 for a slushy fruit drink, etc. On the other hand, there were vendors, and they needed to be sure they would at least break even, so not much of a negative I guess. Probably my biggest complaint regarding prices was the extra $100 for the test day if you didn't sign up in time... NJ rules and laws - one time it was OK to be on the false grid with shorts, the next time it wasn't. During lunch (no cars, no traffic, no workers), I was stopped from setting up a beacon because I was wearing shorts. OK, so now I know, but it did seem over the top at lunch and on the false grid.....Dust - they need some fast growing grass to keep the dust down. Someone said showers will be added next year. It's a luxury, so no negatives on this one, but it certainly will be a big plus, especially considering how dusty everyone was....Practice groups - should have been split up better, but at least they did make some changes (original schedule was SRF and formula in one group, big bore (AS, T1, T2, big GT) in another, and everything else in one group (all Miata's, all IT, SS, prod, GTL, SPU, etc). In other words, one small group, one medium group with incompatible cars (SRF's were later given their own group after several incidents), and one huge group. Several of us were allowed to run with BB, which helped.

On the plus sign, there were two sets of flush toilets at either end of the facility, and the rooms were air conditioned. I considered moving in there for the weekend but the car wouldn't fit thru the door.

All in all, an impressive start, so again, kudos to everyone.

I agree with everyone that it was hot, hot, hot.

I have not seen Thunderbolt up close and plan on attending the SVRA event (first public event) on August 7 - 10 to check out the track. It's also a chance to see some great vintage cars.

DP Results
1. Jeff Harding
2. Greg Amy
3. Joe Diminno
4. Robert Breault
5. Enrik Benazic

The Friday test and tune in August (Lightning) is being run by NNJR. Suggestions about practice groups should be made to the region (DA). I am not sure about the test and tune at Thunderbolt in September.

Considering it was the first event at the track, I was surprised how well the event went. The lessons from this weekend will be used by the two regions at the track (SJR, NNJR). There was a nice mixture of volunteers from other regions to help out SJR in their first event in 40 years. The track personnel are also learning how to run a track and I would think (hope) the few issues (registration is one) would be fixed by August.

By the way, the overall track record for the weekend was 0:58.630 (best time) or 116.664 mph by John Thompson in his FA. Smokin'

[Magical Trevor]

Tappan Zee. It's longer, but it avoids the Cross Bronx, (Hell on Trailers) and the general NY gridlock mess. and with no tolls going west, it generally moves along. Coming back on Sunday can be rough, but if you are a mid to late race group, I imagine you'd miss the bad stuff and sail through.

Just don't try to get there on Sunday mornings that happen to be the date of the NYC Triathlon. Wasn't allowed to the GW (even at 4:00 AM) so I had to take the Lincoln tunnel after navigating the lower west side... not rush hour gridlock, but still crazy cabbies (and it was already over 80 and straining the old Escort...)

[mowog]

oh-yeah, how about the checkered flag umbrella over the starters.

Brief note about that....the permanent starter stand wasn't up yet, so no roof or shade (did anyone mention it was sunny and HOT? ) I happened to be on pit lane and noticed them putting up the umbrella, immediately worried that some might notice and momentarily be distracted. I mentioned this to them, and they did consider the possibility, but at that point they didn't have anything else. All agreed something was necessary (we really don't want a started to fall off the stand due to heat stroke, do we). I talked to three people in that run group, not one took notice of the checkered umbrella. However later, Beth and John Burkhard loaned them a blue and white umbrella because it was a potentially better choice, and they did make the change.