"Back to the Future" Thompson, July 2014

[gran racing]

I have to work that Saturday and they are not giving a discount for Sunday only start at the back. If the entry fee were about half, I would have planned on attending. (I did ask but Ray saw how that went. LOL!!)

[Greg Amy]

I'm likely to pull my entry and work Contact Impound instead. I expect that to be a lot more interesting.

[StephF]

The next weekend is NARRC and Pro IT at WGI, so when faced with a back to back decision, the Glen won.

[StephenB]

That seems to be the theme... the Glen won...

[Greg Amy]

I have no plans to go to the Glen Regional, but I am at the Glen Majors the weekend before.

I suggest, however, my primary reason for considering volunteering instead of racing is that during the "soft opening" I developed serious reservations about how the track will "race". Starting from the back of our group, I found it extremely difficult, and highly frustrating, that the track had no flow and even with a significant horsepower advantage I could not get up to relative speed to stick a clean pass (a la Watkins Glen). Yet, the track itself is so stop-and-go that it does not provide consistency such that a momentum car could maintain speed and stay in front of a higher-horsepower car (a la Lime Rock).

There's only one place on the track where a higher-pony car could stick a clean pass, and all the slower car needs to do is move over one lane to stop it from happening. If someone in front wanted to keep you back there, they could do it with little effort.

I fear this will cause a lot of driver frustration, resulting in unreasonable desperation passes, with a lot of metal-to-metal.

Dick related to me that we said the same thing about NHMS, but in the end it all worked out. I don't know, I wasn't there then, but I personally never thought that when I first hit NHMS (not even with the chicane/chicane layout). I sincerely hope my fears are unfounded. But, I'll probably sit this one out and instead do paperwork, then maybe I'll come back later in the year and give it a shot.

Greg

[gran racing]

Absolutely agree. The oval sections and the front straight. Other sections the driver would need to stuff it in there and the other driver be aware that it's happening and give way.

[JLawton]

So where is everyone paddocking? Are there showers? Is the paddock area paved?

[Greg Amy]

...I found it extremely difficult, and highly frustrating, that the track had no flow and even with a significant horsepower advantage I could not get up to relative speed to stick a clean pass (a la Watkins Glen)....the track itself is so stop-and-go that it does not provide consistency such that a momentum car could maintain speed and stay in front of a higher-horsepower car (a la Lime Rock)...I fear this will cause a lot of driver frustration, resulting in unreasonable desperation passes, with a lot of metal-to-metal.

Hoo-boy, was I a busy man today. I did not do a final count, but I managed more drivers with contact impound reports in five hours today than I did at any other weekend...ever. We had two driver protests go through (both with reprimand-level penalties), two more protests submitted and later withdrawn, three more protests threatened and dropped, and at least one Chief Stewards Action. And, believe it or not, it wasn't all Miatae.

I am freaking BEAT.

And yet...I had someone come up to me toward the end of the afternoon and say that he felt the track was working in, that the more he drove it the better it raced. So there's hope...

Good weekend, great times with friends, super to be back home at a reasonable hour.

GA

[StephenB]

I think it was real fun to race on. You make a mistake and you pay for it in lap time... and with so many corners you can make a lot off mistakes. Unlike most tracks with so many 180 turns it feels like your turning a LOT more than your going forward. I did have a real hard time passing but it made it real fun. A few key corners to the track that will give you fast lap but not enough of a run before the next turn to make a momentum pass, you need to pass under braking... turn 11 is key to this track and for any SM or IT car we need to be flat or go make an adjustment to the car until you can be. (Yes I did it)
My data shows if I can put together a continuous lap I could have been @ a 19. (Theoretical was actually an 18) I Only managed a 21.2. A real good driver will be fast, a good driver will make a small mistake every lap and never leave knowing they had "that lap"

Stephen