Quote
fiasco

I also understand that the guys with the 351 powered XR4 owe JV some ultra cheaty LEDA coil overs that they said "didn't fit" then never returned them...

No, no, no, the Ledas fit, the 2 "injur-nears" claimed rather aggressively and demandingly that the Supra diff kit---built on the same jigs as all the others that mere mortals have said "dayum went in in about 30 minutes"---"doesn't fit" and the rear part was "3 or 4 inches too high"......
This one installed in "about 30 minutes"


But miracles of miracles, about a year later or so, I just got a Paypal payment out of the clear blue for the struts..

Now those guys just owe for the shipping.

---

John Vanlandingham
Sleezattle, WA, USA

Vive le Prole-le-ralliat

www.rallyrace.net/jvab
CALL +1 206 431-9696
Remember! Pacific Standard Time
is 3 hours behind Eastern Standard Time.

This summer I ran the Rat Race at Oregon Raceway Park (referred to as ORP from here on out). It was a rule set similar to Chump/LeMons, but the themed cars were discouraged and old cub cars were encouraged. There were no penalty laps, and no one got crapped sprayed in a toolbox, or their car destroyed. The cars that were on track were well prep'd cars that were cheap. There was originally two classes (one for actual race cars, and one for crap cans), but the limited entries resulted in the merging of classes.
The cars were: VW GTI (yours truly), a few fox body mustangs, a Taurus SHO, a few MR2s, an E30, RX7, 240Z, volvo 242, and a few more (19 total, I think).
It was a blast! 7 hours of racing, with a BBQ potluck and movie night the day before.
The entry fee was around $500, and we went through a set of tires and $160 in fuel.
I talked to Bill Murray (the man in charge of the Rat Race) and he has a lot of races on schedule for next year. One at PIR, at least 3 at ORP, and he's looking to get some night races too. There is also talk about a spec tire, as some guys were running R6 Hoosiers...
So Gene, this might be up your alley. It's really laid back, the entry fee is cheap, and the competition is good. Plus, ORP is a fantastic track to drive and it is incredibly challenging.
Here's the link to the piccies.



Edited 2 time(s). Last edit at 12/27/2011 10:18PM by Robert Culbertson.

Quote
Robert Culbertson
This summer I ran the Rat Race at Oregon Raceway Park. It was a rule set similar to Chump/LeMons, but the themed cars were discouraged and old cub cars were encouraged. There were no penalty laps, and no one got crapped sprayed in a toolbox, or their car destroyed. The cars that were on track were well prep'd cars that were cheap. There was originally two classes (one for actual race cars, and one for crap cans), but the limited entries resulted in the merging of classes.
The cars were: VW GTI (yours truly), a few fox body mustangs, a Taurus SHO, a few MR2s, an E30, RX7, 240Z, volvo 242, and a few more (19 total, I think).
It was a blast! 7 hours of racing, with a BBQ potluck and movie night the day before.
The entry fee was around $500, and we went through a set of tires and $160 in fuel.
I talked to Bill Murray (the man in charge of the Rat Race) and he has a lot of races on schedule for next year. One at PIR, at least 3 at ORP, and he's looking to get some night races too. There is also talk about a spec tire, as some guys were running R6 Hoosiers...
So Gene, this might be up your alley. It's really laid back, the entry fee is cheap, and the competition is good. Plus, ORP is a fantastic track to drive and it is incredibly challenging.

Acronyms, Grrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrr is ORP the place over on the dry side of the state?

Here's a general question: why do North American road race tracks seem to always be flat? (I know SIR has a little down hill thing, but generally)

---

John Vanlandingham
Sleezattle, WA, USA

Vive le Prole-le-ralliat

www.rallyrace.net/jvab
CALL +1 206 431-9696
Remember! Pacific Standard Time
is 3 hours behind Eastern Standard Time.

Quote
john vanlandingham

Quote
Robert Culbertson
This summer I ran the Rat Race at Oregon Raceway Park. It was a rule set similar to Chump/LeMons, but the themed cars were discouraged and old cub cars were encouraged. There were no penalty laps, and no one got crapped sprayed in a toolbox, or their car destroyed. The cars that were on track were well prep'd cars that were cheap. There was originally two classes (one for actual race cars, and one for crap cans), but the limited entries resulted in the merging of classes.
The cars were: VW GTI (yours truly), a few fox body mustangs, a Taurus SHO, a few MR2s, an E30, RX7, 240Z, volvo 242, and a few more (19 total, I think).
It was a blast! 7 hours of racing, with a BBQ potluck and movie night the day before.
The entry fee was around $500, and we went through a set of tires and $160 in fuel.
I talked to Bill Murray (the man in charge of the Rat Race) and he has a lot of races on schedule for next year. One at PIR, at least 3 at ORP, and he's looking to get some night races too. There is also talk about a spec tire, as some guys were running R6 Hoosiers...
So Gene, this might be up your alley. It's really laid back, the entry fee is cheap, and the competition is good. Plus, ORP is a fantastic track to drive and it is incredibly challenging.

Acronyms, Grrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrr is ORP the place over on the dry side of the state?

Here's a general question: why do North American road race tracks seem to always be flat? (I know SIR has a little down hill thing, but generally)

Sorry John, fixed it for ya.
And yes, it's near The Dalles. A small town called Grass Valley. It's legit, 450ft of elevation per lap. I'm not sure on the flat track thing, maybe it helps ... nope not that. Maybe.....

Quote
Robert Culbertson

Sorry John, fixed it for ya.
And yes, it's near The Dalles. A small town called Grass Valley. It's legit, 450ft of elevation per lap. I'm not sure on the flat track thing, maybe it helps ... nope not that. Maybe.....

I stumbled onto while just wondering around on Google maps, looked good.
Bit of a drive, but looked good.

---

John Vanlandingham
Sleezattle, WA, USA

Vive le Prole-le-ralliat

www.rallyrace.net/jvab
CALL +1 206 431-9696
Remember! Pacific Standard Time
is 3 hours behind Eastern Standard Time.

Thabnks Robert, I'll show him that tomorrow...found their website. Google has 12million hits for rat race btw.

Funny... I also had a really bad experience with the guys at Lemons. I got the impression that the number one priority for the organizers was to entertain themselves--and always at the expense of paying customers.

Our team had never received a complaint or black flag before, and we got several at Lemons. I saw a team get black flagged for hitting a cone that was at the apex of a corner.

Anyway, yeah it seems that about $600 is the cost per driver for a 5-6 person team. Roll cages have to be pretty reasonable. A set of 200-300ish treadwear tires should last a 24 hour race, if the car isn't understeering. Brake pads: may have to swap out if it is a heavy car. Seems like we've had some races where pads last, others where they don't. Seems like the 4 & 6 cylinder cars I've driven burn like 4-5 gallons an hour for fuel.

A Lotus friend of mine does a lot of lapping day type events at ORP. He really likes it and keeps trying to get me to take the Elise down there.

alan

ORP is a hoot... probably the most fun circuit in the area. Problem is there is zero services out there (power, toilets, etc), little in the way of hotels/restaurants in the town.

Cool track though... will be nice with some infrastructure to match.

John, here is the new track in Shelton The ridge motorsports park.

Motorcycle lap:



Car lap:



Get something together so we can go do a lapping day!

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john vanlandingham

Here's a general question: why do North American road race tracks seem to always be flat? (I know SIR has a little down hill thing, but generally)

You obviously haven't been to very many road race tracks in North America. Having worked in professional racing the past few years I've been to most of the big ones around the country. The only ones that were really flat were in Florida. I won't include temporary street courses like Long Beach or St. Petersburg which are flat but don't really count.

* Sebring - Flat. It's an old airstrip, so there you go but it's biggest challenge is it's very bumpy.


* Mazda Laguna Seca Raceway - Lots of elevation changes. 300 feet total. Tricky downhill corkscrew.

* Mid Ohio Raceway - Lots of elevation changes.

* Road America - Lots of elevation changes. About 160 feet total. Uphill drag race out of the last turn down the long front straight which crests at the start/finish line.

* Lime Rock Park - this little bullring has a fairly dramatic elevation change. John Morton was nearly killed going up the steep uphill straight when his car got airborn so they put in an optional chicane there named after him.

* Road Atlanta - Huge elevation changes. Big downhill esses. Hell, there is a pit road hill that our pit cart could barely make it up.

* Infineon Raceway - Lots of elevation changes. About 160 feet total. Tricky downhill turns.

* Mosport International Raceway - Fast track with lots of elevation change. 166 feet total.

* Miller Motorsports Park - Flat. It's in Utah.

That's just scratching the surface off the top of my head. The number of flat road racing tracks in North America is really in the minority.

PIR is really flat and after doing two chumpcar races there I've grown bored of both chumpcar races and PIR.

I'm dissapointed to hear about the direction lemons has gone, but good to know.

Chumpcar is a competition of who can cheat the best with, its a $500 race for minimum $5000 race cars, there needs to be a true claimer policy.

Lemons is a real turn off for me. It would be funny to watch on TV but I don't want to participate. I would however, be interested in Chump Car.

The Ridge looks great. I have heard good reviews. LETS GO!

---

Robert.

"You are way too normal to be on Rally Anarchy." Eddie Fiorelli.

Quote
sidewaez
PIR is really flat and after doing two chumpcar races there I've grown bored of both chumpcar races and PIR.

I'm dissapointed to hear about the direction lemons has gone, but good to know.

Chumpcar is a competition of who can cheat the best with, its a $500 race for minimum $5000 race cars, there needs to be a true claimer policy.

I thought all road racing was about who could cheat the best?

Lots of funny outside perspectives on the crap-can race series. I just raced ChumpCar at Laguna Seca last Thursday which was my second with them. The first was a true 24 hour down at Willow Springs their first year in business. They are much better now but I still can't shake the feeling they could fold up shop at any second with my entry fee. Maybe I'm off base but I don't get a folksy low budget vibe from them...more of a clinging for dear life pyramid scheme where they try overly hard to be clever and funny like LeMons. It's hard to argue with the price though. I got 2+ hours of race time at Laguna Seca which is close enough to home that all my friends came down to watch for around $380 including entry/fuel/tires. Just a normal track day there can cost that much and only get you an hour total during the day broken up in 20min sessions.

LeMons is more a festival of racecar idiocy. It's still real racing but there are many races internal to the race. There is a relative minority up at the pointy end going for the overall win. The other 100 cars at a CA race are rolling chicanes that make great picks for the faster cars. Just a completely different type of driving compared to Chumpy. The "racing" aspect of LeMons is hampered by the total lack of skill many drivers have. Lots of people are fresh off the street with no road racing experience at all. That's why the penalty system has evolved to keep the aggression level down, all the cars on the track, and the noobs in relative safety.

As any of the little start up series become more popular they will evolve toward what LeMons has become. They may not end up with people constructing a cardboard Mercedes SL in the pits before they get to go back racing (or some other funny shit that Phil thinks up) but they will have some sort of check on the aggression level.