Thank you!Originally Posted by GlennCMC70
Thank you!
TTB was a mish mash. IIRC there was a 350Z leading the way until he had an mechanically induced 4 off. I think the 350 was duking it out with that yellow bird though. Considering the gap on the other 2 cars though, it must have been as entertaining as TT. CMC is dead in a lot of places. Problem is most people don't associate these cars with turning in both directions. Another problem is that the majority of the car guys I talk to anywhere are always completely unaware of NASA and local road courses. I just don't get it. These people don't look for anything on their own, just blindly accept what is mass marketed/spoon fed to them so when I mention the possibility of anything but a drag strip I get this blank stare. This class totally makes sense because it's a lot like Spec Miata but with V8s. Regardless of how bad peoples' panties get twisted over RCRs, you can still find turn key CMC race cars for the same entry fee (sometimes less) than a prepped SM.
You have to drive the track package GT on track. It's simply amazing. Feels awkward at first cause the irs makes the car kind of lean in the corners but it hooks. Even if you purposely mash the gas it still hooks. If I had $50k to buy one and turn it into an AI car I am confident no one would come within a second of me. THAT's how good it is.
“A man with no enemies is a man with no character.”
― Paul Newman
No surprise that it was all Mustangs! That being said I would certainly be at COTA-yet I don't see how we would get more than 1-2 out of region cars if we were lucky. We would still be able to crack 10 easily. Just don't ever see it happening with the cost of rental for that many days. Of course I have no idea how much the rental costs is at the other tracks but that would be nice to know for comparison. Then you would certainly have your answer as it's all about business and the bottom line of a profit. Sure they might get more entries for other classes but I don't see them having near the overall participation like SCCA has had there. Besides-how many times has SCCA been there?
Maybe we should consider adding another section to our forum for SpecE46 when it takes off.
Bryan Leinart
CMC #24
Good thing a 4th gen didn't show up and whoop everyone like last year at nats.
By everyone you mean the lone Mustang against 8 F-body's that showed up. Though I didn't think Sammy was really whooped with his podium finish. And no disrespect to Sammy as he is faster than me but if Aaron would have been driving the CMC car then I think we all know it would have been a different outcome.
Bryan Leinart
CMC #24
I would not use attendance at National events as the barometer of CMC health. I would look towards each region and judge it on a region to region basis. CMC is a very budget minded class and it is expensive to go to a National event with a entry fee of $500 to $700 bucks depending on when you sign up, and that does not include fuel to get there or hotel etc etc... To convince a CMC guy to give up 2 or 3 regional events to go to 1 national show can be a tough sell. In the past 4 years Derek Wright, Kent Owens, Tim Bennett, Spencer Caudle and myself have been pretty regular attendees at National events. Last year at Road Atlanta we made up 5 of the 9 entries. We kind of got tired of showing up to these events and not having many guys from other regions showing up. So this year we decided we were not going to go. Had we all went we would have had 8 cars. We decided to go to Hallet instead.
Bob Denton
CMC Midwest
Bob Denton
CMC #67
Great Lakes Region
How was it?
SM can also be considered a budget class. Sure the guys at the front run a new set of tires every weekend, but it's still a cheap car to get into. You can spend a ton of money in any class, no matter how cheap, but the fact of the matter is SM is a nationally known class and most everyone who owns one knows that the class exists regardless of if they just drive to work, autox, HPDE, or race their own Miata. SM exists in both NASA and SCCA. SCCA is better known to the masses, even the ones who don't attend their events. What vectors an HPDE1 guy to any race class? Typically the car he HPDEs will have a bit of sway in his decision, i.e. if he started with a gutless, well-balanced car and he wants to go W2W cheap without converting whatever he's driving, he'll likely be inclined to go with SM or Spec 944. If he's got a little more money and wants a well populated class, perhaps GTS is where he'll go again with a gutless, well-balanced 3 series. Someone who shows up in something fast like a Vette or a GTR will probably be enticed by the ST1/2/3 or STU classes, though here in the RM region those guys tend to go TT and stay there. It seems to me there's a very small pool of people who show up to the track from the get go with any predisposition to this class. They must be convinced very early on. In my experience, a lot of the HPDE guys show up just to have fun and are very passive. There's only ever a few of them that are willing to haul some ass for the whole session, most aren't concerned with progression and are content to stay in HPDE for years and years. I think most of those people are probably making the right decision if they don't have the personality to get side by side and not just hand it over. So to recap and trim it down a bit, there are a lot of HPDE participants who don't become NASA regulars, count them out. A lot more that will stay in HPDE forever with most who do progress beyond that going the TT route as they don't need to get a new prepped car. The few that do go race gravitate toward platforms that are generally associated with taking turns in the first place.
I think Bob has nailed it. It just cost entirely too much to go a national event when you consider travel, entry fee, tires, brakes... etc.. for a entire week just to race a few cars. Hallett has traditionally had way more than Nats each year.
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