THSCC Forums

Let's be honest. The real reason Remchak doesn't come out to that many events is cause he can't flat spot tires in the dirt!

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Stephen Westerfield
2009 Infiniti M35 | 2007 Honda Fit Sport | 2005 Ford Mustang GT |2000 GMC Sierra |1992 Acura Integra LS | Super Westerfield Bros Acura Integra

Careful, let's keep it constructive.

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"Ruttin' is racing"

Chris Suich
Apex, NC
AutoX 2012 Nissan Leaf (Quietly changing the world)
AutoX 2003 Mini Cooper S (on sabbatical)
RallyX 1993 Nissan Sentra - "Le Tigre"
FunX 1970 Camaro LT1 ('95)

by no means am i trying to say that our attendance is down because of lack of volunteers.

i think its down because of other reasons, like location and what not.

the last race we had about 30 participants. down 3 from our first race. we had 3 drivers not make it at the last second for our last race because of engine troubles. so i can see a consistent low-mid 30s for our attendance.

last year we averaged about about the same. two races we had 36-38 and one or two races were under 30.

i dont yet see a real lack of attendance, ive just noticed some regulars that have not been coming back, and that on itself is an issue too.

i would def. like to see more people interested.

there isnt much we can do if the land owners dont want to spend thousands on grading equipment and stuff. so our best bet now is to hopefully educate the members on the "best" ways to drive the courses, and thats what we hopefully would want to address on saturday during our "school".
either that, or look for other locations, which we have been doing for a few years now.

Brian brought up the DC SCCA region races, if people are willing to travel that far, then that could be an option. but personally, id rather stay within 30-45mins of where i live. i would love to go explore other regions, but i dislike driving long distances.

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'11 RallyX VP
1998 Integra Type R - track fun
1999 Subaru 2.5RS - dirt fun

I don't mind driving up to 2.5 hours for an event, but that's just me.

On another subject, it just so happened that my instructor at the last HPDE is on the board of directors of NCCAR, and I talked up the idea of supporting rallyx. The problem is the facility is supposed to support the automotive industry, and having racing there is an afterthought and not a top priority, and racing that doesn't even use the track is a lower priority still. Not to mention they're busy just getting the place opened.

The overall impression I got was that no one on the board cares about dirt racing, but this may be something we could swing once the THSCC develops a relationship with NCCAR.

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"Build a man a fire and he'll stay warm for a day. Set a man on fire and he'll stay warm the rest of his life."
'93 Subaru Legacy DIRTBOMB
'98 BMW M3
2013 Rallyx Co-VP

people spend their time and money at events that bring the greatest level of satisfaction to them. i'm as guilty as the next guy for placing RallyX at near the bottom of the list.

my reasons are as assorted as VK's stated reasons, but course flow on dirt in a 50hp one wheel drive car is paramount to some enjoyment of an event. i believe most of the General Lei crew would agree to this point.

so as a club i think we need to determine who our customers are. are we designing courses suited to the Scoobie AWD crowd? are we designing AutoX style courses in an effort to draw from the ranks of AutoX attendance? are we looking for more people to bring out POS SU2 cars? SU2 is not the dominating attendance class any longer i don't believe.

and there is your attendance problem.... how so you may ask?

RallyX is a dedicated vehicle style racing event IMO. if you don't own or DD an AWD car you buy a POS like the Dirtmaster etc and come out to play in the dirt.

so when the budget, or time, or enjoyability factors change people stop putting forth the dedicated vehicle needed to participate.

as for the condition of the sites, nothing you can do about that. i'd rather bog down in a rut than have to deal with 8 turns in quick succession on a postage stamp sized location. at least i can try to avoid the ruts.

and Stephen, i believe if you inspect your tires from the Chump race it wasn't me flat-spotting them.

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BenchWarmer Motorsports

another one of those damn LeMons heads

just another Chump

we are an Autocross Club Dammit............

That is funny!

Les and I will chair an event at OCS this year. We promise there will be very few cones. I believe the fewer cones the better for rallycross and autocross. Let the good drivers pick the best line and the rest of us will mess up on our own.

Cones to slow someone down often cause more problems than they attempt to solve. A tight set of cones before the finish just upsets the car and increases the chances of a finish cone being hit.

A couple of years ago Gwen and I set up a course here in Greenville. We made the course and then went through to see how many cones we could take up. If I remember correctly, many thought it was the best course we had, had in Greenville.

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Rubbin' is Racin'

Another thought.

Are you willing to let someone co drive your car to get them interested in rallycrossing? My brother in law co drives the Laser with me along with Les.

That is one way to get more people interested.

I wish I had not given my Maxima to my nephew. I could have given it to the club as a club car for newbies to drive. Yes, I would have put the front brakes back on it first!

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Rubbin' is Racin'

As a site co-owner, I'd like to discuss the perceived problems or disadvantages that folks are bringing up. I've seen lack of sites mentioned by a few people- is it that the sites we have are not good enough or just that people would like to have more options (i.e. different locations, less sandy soil, etc)?

I'll comment on our place (BMW Farm), since that's the only place I know much about or feel qualified to comment on.

Our farm has pretty sandy soil, no matter how much grading and compacting you were to do, the top ~12" of soil will remain sandy. Is this a real problem? I don't really know. I know that when I drive in a RallyX out at my place, I've run through some rutted areas, and as the day goes on some of the corners get pretty rutted up with soft soil. BUT, there seems to always be enough real estate that if you plan ahead and think about where you're going AND have the talent and memory to put your car in the right place, that it's possible to avoid the really bad areas and still stay on course and still have a good run time (if not a better time than those who insist on plowing through the soft stuff).


If I do say so myself, we have some of the best RallyX sites that I know of.


Where's the fun or the challenge of running on a hard-packed surface that doesn't really change much as the day goes on? Sounds a bit like Autocross to me.......

Dammit, people. Rallycross saved my marriage and gave me a creative outlet. I'm signing up for tomorrow. Of course, that could be the downfall of my marriage again... but at least I'll pay my fee.

That's Sunday... right?

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"Ruttin' is racing"

Chris Suich
Apex, NC
AutoX 2012 Nissan Leaf (Quietly changing the world)
AutoX 2003 Mini Cooper S (on sabbatical)
RallyX 1993 Nissan Sentra - "Le Tigre"
FunX 1970 Camaro LT1 ('95)

I agree with Bret and like our sites. I do like OCS for variety.

Why are none scheduled at OCS?

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Rubbin' is Racin'

Wait, if you start RallyXing, then Michael will have to start AutoXing and....OMG!!!!!!!!!!! you will be doing things together and then Michael will start driving the Mini and you will start putting snorkel pipes on the Mini and ..........

All:

I think if anyone comes out tomorrow or Sunday, you will have a great time and drive more than you ever want to (especially on Saturday).

Bret:

The issue with the sandy sites (those which appear to be East of 440) really just need maintenance at the beginning or the end of a season, so they have time to "sit", and we have a clean, blank slate to start the year. Year after year, without fixing the locations, to me, keeps pushing course design down narrower and narrower courses that get worse and worse (bermed). That is my opinion from course setup, and having to work around "old courses". This isn't the opinion of someone who has maintained courses, like you or Kevin.

With clay, you get a changing surface, even on a static course (is it packed, loose, gets swept through out the day, do you run street tires or rally tires, etc). Personally, I am glad we have access to both, it just appears that a) course designers need to be smart (from event to event) to keep from "digging themselves a hole" b) they need end of year maintenance, or they can get to be tricky sites to lay out safely AND fun. Clay... it is just a different set of variables.

Thanks for the reply, and I think everyone who comes tomorrow, especially, will have a GREAT time!

- brian

I think everyone knows who the guilty party was this time. All race cars should have ABS.

I think all the sites we have are fun to drive. The only site I would never go back to is Rockingham.

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Mitch Moore

I Scared you that bad Mitch???

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2004 C5(415whp,390ft/lbs),
1997C5,1997Trans Am, 1986 C4,
1990 Miata, 1976 MGB,1997 Protege, 1989 MR2