Anyone else racing at COTA?

Roger McDaniels · **Posted:** Wed Dec 30, 2015 12:48 am

I'm guessing that the AMP race will be easier to get in to. It was going to be a bit of a slog anyway, driving to Barber, then driving the rig to COTA, and then back to Raleigh, kind of like when we raced at Sebring a couple of years ago, except with an extra race tossed in there. Thankfully I got my kidney stone taken care of over Christmas so I should be able to drive for more than a couple of hours at a time before I have to lie down and recuperate. I think it took us 3 days to get to Sebring.

Andrew Jonell · **Joined:** Mon Mar 23, 2009 6:43 pm **Posts:** 1350

Not to be a downer or anything, but according to some Miata folks in TX, COTA is really, really boring to drive in a car with low horsepower.

e: just found a $1375 entry fee for a 3-day DE

Roger McDaniels · **Posted:** Wed Dec 30, 2015 1:00 pm

Yeah, VIR South would be more fun, but it's one of those places that I want to to race at just because I can, like Sebring, which is also not the greatest place for a low-HP car.

Cash Davidson · **Posted:** Wed Dec 30, 2015 1:41 pm

I assume you are talking about Atlanta's AMP, not Arizona's. I'd like to drive AMP in Arizona - have you seen the runoff room? It's in the middle of a desert - surrounded by a sand trap! No elevation though.

Carry on . . .

Roger McDaniels · **Posted:** Wed Dec 30, 2015 2:25 pm

Yeah, Atlanta would be a much nicer drive in the Duff Beer Mobile Oppression Palace than Arizona.

RickyBeam · **Posted:** Thu Dec 31, 2015 8:45 pm

steve remchak wrote:

He will use this event to try to highlight his series superiority over ChumpCar.

Dude, bumper cars have superiority over Chump (east region at least.) Around here, it's more demolition derby than race. (I'm surprised anyone will insure them.)

Roger McDaniels wrote:

I think it took us 3 days to get to Sebring.

We took 3days, but it didn't take that long. It could be done in one day, but I wouldn't want to be in the RV that long. COTA is a two day, non-stop drive.

Andrew Jonell wrote:

COTA is really, really boring to drive in a car with low horsepower.

People say that about Sebring as well, but I thought it was great. It's such a rough surface, using a lot of HP is difficult. Maybe with more cars I would've wanting some power, but with 27 cars, traffic was almost never in the way.

steve remchak · **Posted:** Thu Dec 31, 2015 9:13 pm

To each their own Ricky. I like running with them.

JamesMilko · **Posted:** Thu Dec 31, 2015 11:35 pm

I'd rather pound out a fender than cling wrap myself to the roof and tool around in the paddock because I dropped 2 wheels.

All of these series need to invest in a real licensing program.

RickyBeam · **Posted:** Thu Dec 31, 2015 11:55 pm

JamesMilko wrote:

I'd rather pound out a fender...

Except it's usually more than just "light contact". It's replacing a wheel, brake rotor, realignment (I don't carry an alignment machine with me), or having to flip your car back on it's wheels and/or dig it out of a wall.

If you don't want to perform stupid displays, keep your f'ing car on the track, pointed in the right direction, without hitting people. My first race, about six years ago, is the last time we've done any silly crap -- and then it was optional (Roger volunteered for it -- the shotgun wedding; I've only ever heard stories of it as I was driving the race car.)

Vincent Keene · **Posted:** Fri Jan 01, 2016 10:16 pm

RickyBeam wrote:

If you don't want to perform stupid displays, keep your f'ing car on the track, pointed in the right direction, without hitting people.

+1. Lemons enforces their rules and by some strange coincidence, people drive better. The real possibility of having to park your car for an hour or more, or even be sent packing, seems to deter the "real racers" from playing bumper cars or trying to win the 14 HOUR race on the FIRST lap.

As far as the "silly" stuff, Lemons is not just about a race, it's an experience. I have a lot more fun with people who don't take this whole amateur racing thing to seriously.

Aaron Buckley · **Posted:** Fri Jan 01, 2016 10:34 pm

JamesMilko wrote:

I'd rather pound out a fender than cling wrap myself to the roof and tool around in the paddock because I dropped 2 wheels.

All of these series need to invest in a real licensing program.

I hope you don't think that a licensing program creates people with good race craft. It doesn't. I've seen enough SCCA IT and NASA races to see that there are asshats in every form of amateur racing. Lemons scares them away as they don't put up with it.

I've entered 2 races in Chump, both 24 hour events, but only the last one did I get hot laps due to an early mis-shift by the first driver. I was the first driver in the 2nd event (this year) and about 20 laps in, we had a full course caution for about 1.5 laps. When it lifted, we were about to enter the turn at Oak Tree. I was on the outside, with 2 inside of me. Our car was not slow, as we set the fastest lap of the event prior to the caution. I was tracking to the just outside the new rumble strips which have additional paving (with about 1.5 - 2 feet between me and the car to my inside). Someone thought it was a good idea to try to pass me on the outside, yes, 4 wide in the dirt. They ran their right front up onto my left front and flipped over. The only thing damaged the Silver Bullets 240sx was the front left fender, nothing else.

BTW, that team's new car (E36) was the first one crashed (T5) on the 1st lap of the race later this year. The driver apparently nailed it in T5, with cold tires and cold temps (mid 30's) and it snapped and hit the inside wall...hard.

I've seen the same level of asshattery in SCCA/NASA, just they have a protest system that is RARELY used. - AB

steve remchak · **Posted:** Fri Jan 01, 2016 10:42 pm

Whoodah thunk that Milko would have gone all "pinky finger out" on us... ??

Roger McDaniels · **Posted:** Fri Jan 01, 2016 11:38 pm

It doesn't seem like LeMons does as much of the silly stuff as they used to, or maybe they just don't do it to us any more because we stopped driving like asshats.

Here's my problem with Chump; they let people bounce off of each other like bumper cars for 20 hours without penalizing anyone, then stop us all on track and make us get out of the car and walk to them in order to yell at us for driving like idiots, then load up the penalty box with bad drivers for the remaining hours. If you suggest that penalizing bad drivers from the beginning might have stopped some people from getting their cars smashed up and obviated the need for the ridiculous "stop on track to get yelled at" event, then you get told that they did that from the beginning. If anyone points out that the penalty box was empty for the 20 hours of demolition derby, then they get banned from the forum.

That's not to say that Jay and company don't do some stupid stuff as well, because they definitely do, but at least their stupid stuff doesn't get my car smashed up.

Roger McDaniels · **Posted:** Fri Jan 01, 2016 11:43 pm

And back on topic, the deadline has passed and we have not received an invitation to give Joey $2200, so no COTA for us. I guess we'll have to wait for AMP in June to see how we like WRL.

steve remchak · **Posted:** Fri Jan 01, 2016 11:58 pm

LeMons has progressively lightened up in my opinion. It isn't just ya'll. And ChumpCar has made strides to reel in the asshats, but it is far from perfect.

WRL doesn't have the car counts yet to justify their "no contact " claims.

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