Battle of the Superkit cars 2012? 1.5 mile top speed Northeast event

[T70MK3B]

Just to bring this back to the top,
I have a little trick I use with CV boots for high speed racing.
Take some safety wire and do 2 wraps around the boot in each of the V's and alternate where you tie it off and run the least amount of grease possible in the boot.
I had to change all 4 boots after running 153 during the summer.
After running 183 this fall with the boots safety wired they are fine.
Regards
Mark

[kabacj]

Originally Posted by T70MK3B

Just to bring this back to the top,
I have a little trick I use with CV boots for high speed racing.
Take some safety wire and do 2 wraps around the boot in each of the V's and alternate where you tie it off and run the least amount of grease possible in the boot.
I had to change all 4 boots after running 153 during the summer.
After running 187 this fall with the boots safety wired they are fine.
Regards
Mark

Awesome Mark

I never would have thought of that. Totally makes sense.

Thanks.
John

[fuzzyjk]

Mark is there a different set of rules for using......

Turbo

Supercharger

Nitrous

Thx

[FutureGTMdaddy]

Originally Posted by T70MK3B

Just to bring this back to the top,
I have a little trick I use with CV boots for high speed racing.
Take some safety wire and do 2 wraps around the boot in each of the V's and alternate where you tie it off and run the least amount of grease possible in the boot.
I had to change all 4 boots after running 153 during the summer.
After running 187 this fall with the boots safety wired they are fine.
Regards
Mark

Safety wire is awesome! also works great for hangng ornaments, lights, etc. If it moves, safety wire it!

[crash]

Just be careful. If you make it too tight the safety wire can cut the boots.

[T70MK3B]

Crash,
All I want the boots to last is a few race meets before changing them.
It is hard to source the right size boot from a local part store in Maine.
Do you have any good contacts for good racing CV boots?
Also,
I have studied the rule book and if there are more than 50 GTM's sold then I think you can race in the Modified Sports class.
Regards
Mark

[crash]

My Race Shop sells them for the 930 and 935 CVs, but not entirely sure what the coupe runs. There are some nice low profile aero boots available from Truechoice, IIRC, but they are about $60 A PIECE!!

[Mjollnir]

Originally Posted by T70MK3B

...I have studied the rule book and if there are more than 50 GTM's sold then I think you can race in the Modified Sports class...

Mark, What racing organization are you refering to?

[T70MK3B]

Originally Posted by Mjollnir

Mark, What racing organization are you refering to?

Mjollnir,
I am refering to the LTA (Loring Timing Association) rule book for the land speed racing part of the events as that is where
The LTA rule book is on line for those who would like to study it.
Just look up LTA-LSR.com

Also for those of you that are afraid of going too fast there is a realy nice car show that I usually attent in Mocton NB. that same weekend as the land speed racing. Last year there was over 1500 cars and they gave away a 32 Ford street rod.
But I will pass on the sitting still, for going as fast as my car will go!!!

In a safe enviroment.

They also run an autocross event there but I am not sure when.

Also, has anyone come up with the other locations for the autocross or road course and drag strip?
Regards,
Mark

[T70MK3B]

Originally Posted by crash

My Race Shop sells them for the 930 and 935 CVs, but not entirely sure what the coupe runs. There are some nice low profile aero boots available from Truechoice, IIRC, but they are about $60 A PIECE!!

Thanks for the update Crash
The coupe that I have runs the Lincoln independant rear and I ended up using boots that fit the independant rear from an Explorer.What a pain the rear finding good cv boots for this thing.
I will have to look up the Truechoice after I measure the diameters again.
Mark

[fuzzyjk]

I spoke with The race tech guy and as of right now the GTM and the SLC for that matter will be restricted to 135mph. We are working on getting the limit for our cars raised. I would be happy with 175mph.

[Jim Haar]

Heres a link to another top speed venue (1 mile ).......

Ohio Mile Updates | ECTA-LSR

[T70MK3B]

Jim,
The ECTA and LTA both have the same tech leader and many of the racers run both tracks.
If the new track in Ohio was 1.5 miles long I would be there this spring instead of waiting for July to run Loring.
That extra half mile is good for another 7 to 10 MPH for top speed.
Regards
Mark

[Jim Haar]

Mark,
I understand, if the GTM'S are limited to 135 it might be a good track for them to run...........

[kabacj]

For a road course event I have researched renting New Jersey Motorsports Park in the past. The challenge is getting enough people to justify the cost mid week. The rental fee was $7000 IIRC. Our goal was to get 30 guys and make the cost reasonable.

If we opened up the invite to anybody on the forum I'm sure we could fill the spots.

Then we needed to organize a way to enforce some safety rules.

The next challenge was to help organize the folks new to the track vs those with experience.

Turned out it was way easier to just participate in an organized event. NASA have both HPDE and autocross. The challenge series also runs these same dates. I think it would be fun to have everybody at the track at once. What do you guys think of that idea?


John

[fuzzyjk]

If marketed toward kit car/component cars you should get far more than 30 people. Maybe plan the event right after Carlise, contact Kit Car print media, kit car related forums (gt40s.com, this site in all categories, the other F5R website, madmechanics.com ect...) ask for corporate sponsorships from the major companies, charge a participant fee and a spectator fee. Bring a car and guest is one price, if you came to watch it is another. 100 cars @ 100.00 each should be easy (F5R open house alone gets much more than that and they are only one manufacturer) 300 spectators @15.00 each and several corporate sponsors at 500-1000 each we should be able to rent the track on a whole weekend instead of just one day midweek.

[kabacj]

Originally Posted by fuzzyjk

If marketed toward kit car/component cars you should get far more than 30 people. Maybe plan the event right after Carlise, contact Kit Car print media, kit car related forums (gt40s.com, this site in all categories, the other F5R website, madmechanics.com ect...) ask for corporate sponsorships from the major companies, charge a participant fee and a spectator fee. Bring a car and guest is one price, if you came to watch it is another. 100 cars @ 100.00 each should be easy (F5R open house alone gets much more than that and they are only one manufacturer) 300 spectators @15.00 each and several corporate sponsors at 500-1000 each we should be able to rent the track on a whole weekend instead of just one day midweek.

HA! Way to think big Jim. I totally agree with you we could make this into quite an event. Ideas like this are just how these type of events get started.
(most start small however and grow to a giant event) Lots and lots of logistics with an event that size. Liability and insurance, multiple coordinators for each car event, food vendors, folks to sell tickets, hand out armbands man the gates, collect money and all that fun stuff come into play. But of course it can be done. Do we have any event coordinators in the audience?

[crash]

I've toyed with this type of event previously.

Issues that I remember off the top of my head are:

INSURANCE! Completely different levels if you want to have paying spectators at the event. IIRC KKK Insurance is a specialty insurance provider for events like this. (No joke on the name)

AMBULANCE SERVICE. Must have AT LEAST one ambulance there at all times. If you only have one and something happens, it is likely the event will then be shut down because the insurance says that there must be an ambulance on site, so TWO ambulances is the norm I believe.

RESCUE SERVICES. The ambulance people aren't going to jump into a burning car to save someone. You MUST have specially trained individuals on hand with specialty equipment to deal with particulars of auto racing incidents.

CORNER WORKERS/TRACK CONTROL. You can't just put people out on the track and say "have at it". Many times there are blind corners that MUST have a corner worker stationed at to make the situation "reasonably" safe.

STAFFING. One person can't be everywhere all the time. You must have someone at the entry gate ALL DAY to make sure no one gets in without signing the liability release form. Event check in, registration, announcer, etc. etc.

TIMING/SCORING. Everyone has gone to the transponder route for the most part, which cuts down considerably the number of people needed, but someone still has to moniter. Some tracks provide the equipment, and at some YOU must provide the scoring equipment.

Many tracks will provide many of these items and services for a cost. If you guys are REALLY serious about doing an event, I would recommend talking with David Ray. He is one of the 25 Hour drivers for the FFR PDG GTM, and also owns Hooked On Driving. This is a nation wide company that does track day events. He will certainly be able to give you much better details and more accurate numbers than I. If anyone is SERIOUS about doing something, PM me and I will get you in touch with him.


BTW- We reach over 135 on the relatively short front straight of Thunderhill with only 380 HP and a ton of downforce, so being limited to 135 isn't going to cut it or "prove" anything. I'd say a 160-170 limit would be "reasonable" after the first run when the cars are proven reasonably stable and safe.

[Stage7]

Although I've already begun doing the required roll cage work to be legal for the 200mph class at the ECTA 1.5 mile in Maine, I think we would all prefer an event that was more inclusive/accessible for more people without having to spend thousands to make their car legal for a 1 day event.

I haven't been to the NJ motorsports track yet, but it looks like a nice layout.
Did the $7k include any insurance, or was a separate rider necessary for each day/event?

I normally go with the PDA groups to events they have at Pocono and I've also been with the Viper and Ferrari clubs at HPDE days. The least I paid was $200/day, and the most iirc was $375 per day when we ran the long course at Pocono.

Perhaps we could partner up with another car club who has run these types of events before and hold a joint event? With the economy in the tank, the HPDE days have thinned out compared to 5-6 years ago. I would imagine many of the clubs that have experience organizing and running these events would welcome a partner to share the rental risk, increase their profits, and lower the entry cost for the field.

[crash]

Originally Posted by Stage7

Perhaps we could partner up with another car club who has run these types of events before and hold a joint event? With the economy in the tank, the HPDE days have thinned out compared to 5-6 years ago. I would imagine many of the clubs that have experience organizing and running these events would welcome a partner to share the rental risk, increase their profits, and lower the entry cost for the field.

Yep. EXACTLY what I am suggesting. No need to remake the wheel when all you need to do is become a spoke!

[kabacj]

Crash, Stage7,

Renting the track included ambulance. If we had more then 7 or 10 guys we needed the corner workers and rescue guys/ hook truck. The track provided those.

Pocono long course is OK but the nice thing about NJMP its there is lots of run off and no walls to hit. Lightning is actually a pretty simple track and easy for a beginner to memorize.

Yes Mike, totally agree on the logistics of safety and the best thing to do is partner with hooked on driving or track time for cars or an event director like those.

A car club is also a good way to go to share the logistical burden.

Honestly the logistics were such a pain when I attempted to organize a day last year I even considered just keeping the day to 7 cars. But that's expensive, and unless you are really serious about track time its too expensive. With 7 guys its nearly a free for all especially without many blind corners. You put somebody with a flag in the blind corner, use radios and you are good. Then I have all my motorcycle racing buddies and we had the idea of cars and bikes in different sessions of course. This was another way to get the payed participant numbers up. That worked, but then as usual when it comes time to pay... crickets from all those gung ho participants. Again gets us back to the idea of jumping on somebody elses band wagon.

Regarding Lorring, yes we can do 135 on a drag strip so we all agree that the trip to Maine is not justified unless we can at least get up to 175. Even that speed is not so 'Super' in my book. Its fast but before they tore down Bridgehampton raceway here on Long Island. You were nearly going that fast into turn one. I have not run Road America but I think you are near those speeds at the end of that straight as well.

Bottom line we want to get everybody going as fast as they can, up above road race track speeds if we can.

[crash]

Anybody know of any airports that may be available?

We have one here in SoCal that has been decommissioned and is rented out, or at least it used to be, for $500 a day. Pretty much on your own as far as anything and everything. You crash, you die, your problem! Track or course must be walked religiously as the issue that makes the runway no good anymore for planes also can tear up cars...loose concrete pieces. If you guys were closer I'd look into this, but I haven't had any contact with the airport operator for about 12 years now.

[T70MK3B]

Originally Posted by T70MK3B

They also run an autocross event there but I am not sure when.

Also, has anyone come up with the other locations for the autocross or road course and drag strip?
Regards,
Mark

The Cumberlandmotorclub.com is tenativly running an auto cross at loring August 11th and 12th. I do not know anyone from this group but maybe they could change the date to be the weekend before or after the high speed runs?

Yes, I know Maine is way to far away for most people to drive to but the facillity is inexpensive to rent.

With a great surface.

When I raced at Maxton we had a 30' wide path and at Loring we have over 300' of track width that is super smooth and 2 return runways that are in great shape as well.
Regards,
Mark

[pittsman]

GTM 147 at road America. 157 mph on front straight, less than a mile uphill!

100_0333.mov - YouTube

[kabacj]

Originally Posted by pittsman

GTM 147 at road America. 157 mph on front straight, less than a mile uphill!

100_0333.mov - YouTube

Thanks for the info Pittsman

I like this video of yours also.

GTM147 Fast Lap at Road America - YouTube

GTM147 Fast Lap at Road America - YouTube

John

[crash]

Pittsman- How much HP do you have in that GTM?

GREAT video, BTW.

[pittsman]

147 dyno'd 667 hp at the crank, we never strapped it down. This is a Schwartz Extreme Performance LS7, normally aspirtated, reasonably tuned, kooks exaust, G96-96 trans. If anyone is going to buy a motor call Jeff first. There are 4 thousand miles on this car now and allot of it has been standing on the loud pedal. It has run flawlessly and is still very street friendly.

[crash]

I could tell it had a lot by the way it "jumps" when you get on the go pedal.

[T70MK3B]

Originally Posted by pittsman

GTM 147 at road America. 157 mph on front straight, less than a mile uphill!

100_0333.mov - YouTube

Pittsman,
Looks like a fun combination that much power in a light car.

What video camera are you using? As I need to get one to watch the gauges while racing cause at 180MPH I do not have time to look down.
Regards,
Mark

[fuzzyjk]

There is a land/speed gathering tonight in CT, I know John, Mark and myself are going (Stage has to work) anyone else up for a ride to CT? I am drive down from the Cape so I would be happy to pick anyone up on the way through. Starts at 7pm.

I will be leaving the Cape around 3:30, my SUV seats 8 :-)