Future of CMC: A wish list

[drecords]

Idk if its time to hit the panic button yet. There is another fox under construction currently that should be racing next year. Then we have Mike and GunPilot who are looking like they'll be joining the race group soon. SE46 had 4 cars this weekend, CMC started the weekend with 5. Spec Vette was the surprise of the weekend car count wise but mostly due to the fact that their entire national car count showed up.

[Supercharged111]

We gained 5 rookies in less than a year here in RM. Local management took a different approach and it seems to be favoring the race groups. Having another CMC class is not the answer, then you'll just split your car counts between 1 and 2. The newer cars aren't near as dirt cheap as these cars, and as previously pointed out Spec E30 and Spec Miata don't seem to have any trouble attracting people. I think the trouble we face is convincing people to try and take a corner in these buckets or like Bob Denton pointed out downgrading from a newer, faster car you've been DEing in. Dollar per lap time our 260whp stick axle dinosaurs do hustle pretty damn well.

[centerville]

1 cota race= 2.5 msrc, msrh, races. Simple economics for me.

I wonder what TMS will cost?

[Den34]

I lived through CMC to CMC2 and back to CMC. I don't EVER want to do that again.

Cost is everything. The COTA event was too expensive. Just my opinion

[ShadowBolt]

I lived through CMC to CMC2 and back to CMC. I don't EVER want to do that again.

Cost is everything. The COTA event was too expensive. Just my opinion

I agree we don't need to split the class.

JJ

[BryanL]

What class did spec vette run in? Curious what their lap times were and if anyone talked to them about their tires or how they held up at Cota? Were any races longer did they fall off during the race?

Already tried to bring in the S197's and lots of testing was done but the gap is too wide. There was a time when I thought everyone was going spec iron but that seems to have fizzled for Nasa and SCCA. I have looked at talked about ASedan racers as their limited prep is close to CMC or used to be until they allowed Spec Mustang and now can run an ASA cam/tuning for 385 rwhp (not the direction I want to go). Too bad if it could be an option like Miata's doing both nasa/scca. I think that is a huge lure for those cars since the classes are strong in both and you can run more events at the same tracks. But maybe an option to get some Asedan guys to come run with us?
Jander-you are real interested in bringing new racers over and good with Will. What about doing some incentive program to give an SCCA ASedan racer half off entry to first NASA event?

Losing TWS hurt not just from having two events there a year but people doing other events, DE, etc. there helped NASA in my opinion. Getting ECR online and I'm thinking with the prep they are doing it should be a pretty good track.

Personally I lack interest in COTA at $1,200 and TMS for whatever it is in August. If I'm racing in August it will be in RM.

Records is right about not hitting the panic button. I know of a couple other CMC cars that should be for sale this summer that haven't been raced for years could help. A better schedule next year would help too.

The CMC ruleset not changing much for several years is huge as well. I am in favor of doing things that don't give advantages but provide better durability/dependability like allowing an option to replace the opti on LT1's.

But the biggest thing that we could help change or decide to change on our own is the tire issue. Find a tire as quick as the Falken that doesn't drop off for 3 events for under $1k for a set and the class improves no doubt in my mind. Only seems to be a few who argue that tires don't hurt our participation but it's not just showing up. It also hurts because a guy on an older set of tires knows he is going to be a second to seconds slower only due to tires and if on old tires you are going to have to work on setup changes that screw your car up when you put on new tires.

I think it would especially help new people looking at the series or who have just joined to be able to do more practice/DE days on the same tires we race on but not have to spend an extra few thousand that year to help get up to speed.

[RichardP]

What class did spec vette run in?

There were 9 Spec Vettes and they ran in ST2. The regular ST2 cars gridded with the other ST classes while the Spec Vettes had their own green at the back of the pack. Times are at http://timingscoring.drivenasa.com although it's a little hard to tell because not even all the Corvettes in ST2 are Spec Corvettes. The best time I saw was 3 seconds faster than the CMC pole. The racing looked really good and close on track but the best lap times don't really support that it was that close...

On the Spec Corvette facebook they are claiming they are getting 5-6 events out of a set of tires. Based on what I've seen in tire wear, that's completely believable. Are thy going that long without a degradation in lap times? No clue.


Richard P.

[RichardP]

Records is right about not hitting the panic button. I know of a couple other CMC cars that should be for sale this summer that haven't been raced for years could help.

I don't think there is any reason to panic. There are still lots of CMC cars in region. They just aren't coming out to race regularly. This is much different than California where all of the CMC cars have been sold off.


Richard P.

[ShadowBolt]

I don't think there is any reason to panic. There are still lots of CMC cars in region. They just aren't coming out to race regularly. This is much different than California where all of the CMC cars have been sold off.


Richard P.

The difference to me in today and back when we had the old RA1 (taller and narrower) is COST. We ran six events per year all in or between DFW and Houston (other than Hallett). Two races were at TWS in the perfect location. Four hours from DFW, two hours from the Austin area and around an hour for the Houston guys. Cost was low for travel and for tires. I have no idea if it was true but the fastest guys claim to run on "thin to wins". Maybe that was all BS? But there was no NOLA or TMS or COTA on the schedule. Other than cost why are so many with cars staying home?

JJ

[RichardP]

What class did spec vette run in? Curious what their lap times were and if anyone talked to them about their tires or how they held up at Cota? Were any races longer did they fall off during the race?

Some tire information from one of the Spec Corvette drivers:

No, they are running a 200 tread wear street tire from Falken, the 615K+. We slip and slide a lot on those tires, but that adds to the fun. Spec Corvette racers, like many of the other products we use, get the tires for nearly 50% discount. The best part is that they don't heat cycle out. I won the third race on Sunday on tires I drove on for three 30 minute sessions and one 20 minute session at COTA on Friday, I then qualified three times and did three 30 minute races over Saturday on Sunday with the same tires... wait a minute, that is not the best part. The best part is that I did four races on those same tires over a month earlier at CVR and then another Saturday of racing on them in Spec Corvette at WSIR. I have at least one more weekend on those tires and they are still capable of winning. Last year I drove to WSIR, raced and drove home in my Spec Corvette. Another weekend I raced NASA ST2 in the rain, won, drove the car to the awards ceremony at a restaurant offsite and then back to my motorhome at the track.

"Capable of winning" is maybe not the same as "no drop off in performance" depending on the competitiveness of the class but this is still good information. He has raced a bunch in classes other than Spec Corvette so he knows the tires heat cycling out game well...


Richard P.