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Thread: First SCCA Event

  1. #1
    Senior Member Carroll Shelby
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    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.
    Tyler Gardner
    CMC #13 2015-2017
    SM #013 2018
    www.dfwmustangs.net

  2. #2
    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
    CMC #50

  3. #3
    Senior Member Carroll Shelby ShadowBolt's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by Sook View Post
    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

  4. #4
    Senior Member Carroll Shelby
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    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.
    Tyler Gardner
    CMC #13 2015-2017
    SM #013 2018
    www.dfwmustangs.net

  5. #5
    Quote Originally Posted by mach1 View Post
    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
    CMC #50

  6. #6
    Senior Member Carroll Shelby Supercharged111's Avatar
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    The NASA CO SM class is 30-40 strong Tyler, you should come up and take a crack here at some point.
    RM CMC Director

  7. #7
    Senior Member Carroll Shelby
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    Quote Originally Posted by Supercharged111 View Post
    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
    Tyler Gardner
    CMC #13 2015-2017
    SM #013 2018
    www.dfwmustangs.net

  8. #8
    Senior Member Rookie 64GunPilot's Avatar
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    Today was my 1st SCCA Autocross event. I found that I don't like autocross. Might not ever do that again.
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    3rd Gen CMC Wannabee

  9. #9
    Senior Member Carroll Shelby Fbody383's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by 64GunPilot View Post
    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.
    #39 CMC Camaro
    Orange is Fast!
    CMC-NT01 FTW!

  10. #10
    Senior Member Rookie 64GunPilot's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by Fbody383 View Post
    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.
    __________________________________________________ __________________________________________________ _______________
    -Dylan
    3rd Gen CMC Wannabee

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