First SCCA Event

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04-25-2019, 10:32 AM
mach1

First SCCA Event

I wanted to share my experience at my first SCCA event last month at Hallett, I've heard a lot of things about running with SCCA and didn't know what to expect so I figured it would be helpful to share.

This was for the SCCA super tour which is a national tour similar to what you would see in a pro tour, no DE, all racing.
Considering this wasn’t just a regional event the tech was more intense than what I am used to.

A few of the best SM racers in the country were there, Drago, Haldeman, Matt Reynolds so the competition was good.

The worst of the weekend was getting my annual because I didn’t have a logbook so I had to run around to try and find the person with the log books, once I got my hands on one everything was pretty smooth, the staff was fantastic and quite large.

Saturday I qual’d P5, finished P8, had major power issues later in the race because the car was only running 140f, outside temps were in the 30’s eek!

Sunday was better, put a thermostat in the car and qual’d P3 finished P4.

Not a lot of track time here, you get a qual and a race each day, that’s all, I actually liked this as it allowed me to prepare better for the race and I was on the road back to Dallas at 1pm on Sunday. TnT was critical on Friday to get everything ready for the racing on Sat/Sun.

The event was run very tight, they had someone commentating the races over the speakers and streaming on the SCCA website realtime. Tech was interesting, I had my throttle body pulled twice for a restrictor plate check, they hit the EGR tube with a temp gun to make sure it was flowing exhaust gas, another car had it’s intake pulled and they put a ball in front of the maf to make sure it died (not pulling air from somewhere else). Sunday they had me pull my ECU, they opened it up and looked very carefully to see if anything had been soldiered or disturbed on the PCB.

To get registered for the event without a SCCA comp license I had to talk to 3 different people who were all very responsive and pleasant to deal with, they allowed me to use my NASA medical as it was less than 6 months old.

Event registration was $500 for the 2 day weekend, 2 20m quals, 25 and a 35m race.
I won 2 hoosiers ($400 value) and $150 from Mazda for the P4.
04-25-2019, 12:33 PM
Sook

Awesome! Good work qualifying and finishing up front!

The SM field at COTA is tiny. I was talking to an SM racer the other day, seems like the group is pretty adamant against running NASA events after last year's fiasco.

- Josh
04-25-2019, 01:53 PM
ShadowBolt

Quote:

Originally Posted by Sook

Awesome! Good work qualifying and finishing up front!

The SM field at COTA is tiny. I was talking to an SM racer the other day, seems like the group is pretty adamant against running NASA events after last year's fiasco.

- Josh

NASA may have been in a bad spot but the decisions that were made were hard to swallow. I think even the guys that got moved up because of the DQ's thought it was all wrong.

JJ
04-25-2019, 02:20 PM
mach1

I can see both sides of it, SCCA was in a similar situation years ago when the top 8 got DQ'd for some illegal headwork, not sure about the fallout from that. I find it ironic that SCCA came out right after and said what got folks DQ'd was legal in SCCA.
One of the SCCA tech guys at this Hallett event was back and forth in communication with the guy on the NASA side during that whole thing, I wonder what kind of conversations they had.

It seems there are 2 groups of SM now, one that does SCCA and one that does NASA with a little overlap, the COTA event appears to be overpriced so I think that's just salt in the wound for the SM guys that may be on the fence.

This is a business after all, I wonder if NASA TX is going to transform into a DE program, if I was in Will's shoes I would be pushing hard to promote the racing but maybe that's not what is the most profitable.
04-25-2019, 02:59 PM
Sook

Quote:

Originally Posted by mach1

This is a business after all, I wonder if NASA TX is going to transform into a DE program, if I was in Will's shoes I would be pushing hard to promote the racing but maybe that's not what is the most profitable.

DE's and trackdays are blowing up right now. I think that's good for club racing overall but the timing for racing is a little poor. We just have to be out there with race cars to get them hooked. I'll have a passenger seat in my car for COTA.

- Josh
04-26-2019, 11:21 AM
Supercharged111

The NASA CO SM class is 30-40 strong Tyler, you should come up and take a crack here at some point.
04-26-2019, 12:12 PM
mach1

Quote:

Originally Posted by Supercharged111

The NASA CO SM class is 30-40 strong Tyler, you should come up and take a crack here at some point.

I think I can fit my Miata and my SxS in my trailer together, have a dirt and asphalt trip to CO, hrmmmmmm :)
04-28-2019, 08:04 PM
64GunPilot

Today was my 1st SCCA Autocross event. I found that I don't like autocross. Might not ever do that again.
04-28-2019, 09:12 PM
Fbody383

Quote:

Originally Posted by 64GunPilot

Today was my 1st SCCA Autocross event.

Don't discount the rate at which cornering decisions happen in autocross. It's different than track events but you really appreciate how fast things can happen, good and bad, in 2nd gear.
04-29-2019, 10:31 AM
64GunPilot

Quote:

Originally Posted by Fbody383

Don't discount the rate at which cornering decisions happen in autocross. It's different than track events but you really appreciate how fast things can happen, good and bad, in 2nd gear.

Yea...Took me 3 tries just to navigate the course properly. And yes....things happen so fast. Learning one lap at a time, the learning curve isnt as steep.
04-29-2019, 10:36 AM
Pranav

AX is good to get the car control fundamentals down, but after a certain point if you aren't a good "sight reader" in that you can pick up a course by walking it and master it in 3 runs, it's time to move on to DEs.

I stuck with AX for 8 years and felt it was 3 years too long; never could figure out a course quickly, need repetition like you would on a track.

The $/time to seat time ratio is horrible as well.
04-29-2019, 11:56 AM
mach1

Quote:

Originally Posted by 64GunPilot

Yea...Took me 3 tries just to navigate the course properly. And yes....things happen so fast. Learning one lap at a time, the learning curve isnt as steep.

AX is a blast, do non Scca if you can you usually get more runs. Study the course map, close your eyes and drive it in your head, after a few events reading the cones gets much more natural esp after a course walk.
04-29-2019, 10:54 PM
Supercharged111

Quote:

Originally Posted by mach1

AX is a blast, do non Scca if you can you usually get more runs. Study the course map, close your eyes and drive it in your head, after a few events reading the cones gets much more natural esp after a course walk.

I've been wanting to troll some autox events in the CMC car as a way to evangelize for NASA but the timing never seems to line up. Summer time is balls to the walls between NASA and all the other fun that gets crammed in there. I used to autox before my NASA days and it is fun, but it's a really high sunburn to track time ratio and way less beer drinking and BSing.
04-30-2019, 08:15 AM
drecords

Quote:

Originally Posted by Supercharged111

I've been wanting to troll some autox events in the CMC car as a way to evangelize for NASA but the timing never seems to line up. Summer time is balls to the walls between NASA and all the other fun that gets crammed in there. I used to autox before my NASA days and it is fun, but it's a really high sunburn to track time ratio and way less beer drinking and BSing.

Funny you mentioned it...I took my BMW street car to the Houston SCCA AX on Sunday and ran on 300TW street tires. We got 5 runs, it was a riot...not the same amount of driving or excitement as a track/race weekend but also consisted of 20mins of car prep. I was done by 1pm so plenty of time left in the day to drink beer...