IT-Miata Shootout @ Mid-Ohio June 8-10 *Grand-Am Weekend*

[scottirwin]

My 1st competition race after drivers school. I was a little apprehensive about all the cars but it worked out great, and I had a lot of fun!

- Wish we could have camped in the paddock
- Wish all that track time would have counted towards more than one race.

Overall though, great event that stayed right on time. Hope to see everyone next year.

Scott Irwin
'85 Honda Civic
#81 - ITC

[ITA_honda]

Way better than I expected!

Here were my concerns BEFORE the weekend
1. Too crowded
2. Being paddocked way the hell up in no mans land
3. Random people walking thru our paddock
4. Worried about people stealing things/equipment

Much to my relief:
1. Wasnt as crowded as I thought it was going to be, yes the paddock was a little tight but looking at the big picture not bad at all. AND we were close to the false grid/bathrooms

2. Most spectators left us alone, I know that sounds bad but the last thing I want is random people just going thru our paddock and doing who knows what.

3. The good thing about us being paddocked as a group is you didnt constantly have to worry about people taking/stealing things. As regional racers, we are a tight knit community. We look out after each other. A big relief.

Could be improved:
1. The only thing that got me bent was drivers couldnt get in to the main paddock area. I was able to because I worked for the school but for other team members/drivers the gate keeper kicked us out. We are drivers too, we signed the waivers. Let us in.

2. This isnt a complaint and Im glad for the hefty track time. But the 19 lap race was a bit long (in my opinion) Wouldnt complain if the race was a few laps shorter and maybe take away one of the qualifying races, and as Jim said, make it in to a points race. Again this is NOT by any means a complaint.

OVERALL:
Would I attend this event again? Yes.
Great job by OVR for a well planned/run event.

[Racerlinn]

As stated security was fine, I had several people stop and want to talk about the car and SCCA racing. Stil made sure everything was out of site and /or locked up. But that is unfortunately a "new" requirement for any race weekend.

Sunday morning I got my qual hot lap in early, came in, went and got a shower with no line, and was walking back into the paddock as the rest of the cars were coming in from the end of the session. Dropping a duece was no issue, just time it with a trip down to T&S and the bathrooms right next door. Planning my friends, planning....

Greg, I walked around everywhere. As long as I had my SCCA credential, nobody said a thing to me.

As for camping in the paddock, you just had to have the right type of "camper". It was proven a 911 could be used as one with the correct alcoholic intake.

Saturday being a tru race with it's own sanction number would be a good thing. Yes, it costs the region more, but....

I loved everything else. If it hadn't been 92 degrees when we came off track, I think 19 laps would have been fine Sunday. I did manage to melt my front tires. And my rear tires came home larger than when I arrived with the amount of OPR on them. It looks like I have re-caps.....

[tom91ita]

this event should be on my radar for next year. early on i was hoping/planning to go.

i did grattan on Memorial day and the others on the LeMons team voted to do Autobahn that same weekend.

[RX555]

What's that, not only did somebody watch the race, they took photos? It looked fun to me and wished I could have had the RX7 out there.

Photos: http://smg.photobucket.com/albums/v2...SM%20Shootout/