Events Sept. 7th

[MNbiker]

Anyone up for a road trip to an event on Sept. 7th? I'd like to get in a bit more seat time before Nationals, and can only find two alterantives within reasonable driving distance:
Fox Valley Sports Car Club, Appleton, WI (http://www.fvscc.com/)
Madison Sports Car Club, Madison, WI (http://www.madisonautocross.com/)

Does anyone know much about the lots & typical course layouts used by either club? Pat, you listening?

Thx!

-Steve

[StevenMosley]

Why not go to Saint Cloud and run with the Vette's?

[MNbiker]

Originally posted by StevenMosley
Why not go to Saint Cloud and run with the Vette's?

Any other weekend, I probably would. However, this close to Nationals, I'd prefer to run on a real Solo2 course. Good option for other folks, though! :)

-Steve

[StevenMosley]

Steve,

From what I know Madison is not an SCCA club. They go by a points system. Last I heard one of there sites was an oval, so they will not be really true Solo2 stuff either.

Good luck with your quest but I would look at 2 days of sweepers and saloms at Saint Cloud as better seat time then hours on the highway driving and a few runs. Plus Shawn Hanna is setting up the track and I'm sure they use the narrow parts like last time so you can really get some real solo2 stuff mixed in with a few 70 mph sections.


PEACE OUT

[MNbiker]

Originally posted by StevenMosley
From what I know Madison is not an SCCA club. They go by a points system. Last I heard one of there sites was an oval, so they will not be really true Solo2 stuff either.


Yeah, I checked into the Madison site for the 7th - it's an oval track, plus infield. It sounds pretty much like Elko, so that one's probably out.

I'm still undecided about the value of running in St. Cloud. Is the course layout (or a typical example), posted on the web? How many runs could I expect, if I only attended one day?

-Steve

p.s. Last time I checked, MAC wasn't an SCCA club either...;)

[StevenMosley]

Originally posted by MNbiker



Originally posted by StevenMosley
From what I know Madison is not an SCCA club. They go by a points system. Last I heard one of there sites was an oval, so they will not be really true Solo2 stuff either.


Yeah, I checked into the Madison site for the 7th - it's an oval track, plus infield. It sounds pretty much like Elko, so that one's probably out.

I'm still undecided about the value of running in St. Cloud. Is the course layout (or a typical example), posted on the web? How many runs could I expect, if I only attended one day?

-Steve

p.s. Last time I checked, MAC wasn't an SCCA club either...;)

The last event I did up there was kind of like half solo and half solo2. Expect around 8 runs, also except to see 2 of the fastest daily driven road course cars in the country.
Talk to Shawn Hanna about the course setup. I'm sure they will have some challenging wrinkles.

As for MAC we run by modified SCCA rules. Madison is a little different. Your car would be considered prepared on their points systems.

Take care and I hope to see you there.

[MNbiker]

Originally posted by StevenMosleyMadison is a little different. Your car would be considered prepared on their points systems.

Boy you're sure right about being different! It looks like my car would fit into one of their street tire classes - either MS or SS, depending on how they treat my ECU tuning. Somebody went to a whole lot of work to come with a class structure that bears very little resemblance to the SCCA classes. My question is, why?:sarc

Fox Valley appears to run "normal" courses and regular SCCA rules, but Appleton's 5 hours away. :( St. Cloud's sounding better all the time....

-Steve

p.s. Speaking of classes, who do I need to talk to to get the Met Council to add STX for next year? It's going to be the 4th or 5th most popular class at Nationals this year, but isn't even in the Met Council rulebook! (It only takes a half-page of text in the Street Touring rules to add STX.) STX would be a perfect class for MAC, as it seems most members prefer running street tires and STS has been very popular at events this year.

[Bill Owen]

Fox Valley appears to run "normal" courses and regular SCCA rules, but Appleton's 5 hours away.


Pat W, Chris B, and myself entered one of a Fox Valley event @ FVTC a few years ago. FVSCC are really great people. Fun course, but I remember a lot of sand in a couple areas of the course (hairpin turn that day) The border of the lot is dirt/sand. The Fox valley event still represents more of a SCCA style course than St. Cloud. Long drive is right!

[SaturnRaycer]

p.s. Speaking of classes, who do I need to talk to to get the Met Council to add STX for next year? It's going to be the 4th or 5th most popular class at Nationals this year, but isn't even in the Met Council rulebook! (It only takes a half-page of text in the Street Touring rules to add STX.) STX would be a perfect class for MAC, as it seems most members prefer running street tires and STS has been very popular at events this year.

Steve, bring your request and justification for adding the class to the annual Met Council Rules Meeting in December.

Suggested rules and class changes come to this meeting. Those present vote on the changes. The ones that pass are sent to all the met council clubs as proposed changes.

Each club votes on the proposed changes during their January or February meeting. The results go back to the Met Council at the March Meeting. Changes are published and distributed to all member clubs before the next Met Council meeting.

Met Council tends to follow SCCA classing pretty closely. The significant differences are in Modified (we have only 2 mod classes); in retaining a stock street tire class; having SC1 and SC2 classes and the absence of STX.

[AlexL]

What are the details on the St. Cloud event? When does it start, how much does it cost, etc.

[weidnerpaul]

Alex,
This is answered in another post except for the location, it's on Hwy 10 across from the prison B4 you get to St Cloud. The easiest way to get there is 94 west to 24 (Clear Lake exit) go north on 24 to Hwy 10, left/west on 10 to the Highway safety center.
I plan on going on Sunday unless something comes up.
Paul

[washburn]

Steve, go to St Cloud.

Madison is run at 151 Speedway, and is exactly what you think it is.

Appleton has fun events, but the course was *exceptionally* tight in places.

Even if St Cloud is open, it represents Nationals style course elements better than what you will see at the other two places. I say go to St Cloud, and don't worry about your finishing position. If it's too wide open, just make up practice stuff. Place a couple of mental cones in your way and drive around them, then explain to people why your driving all goofy and getting bad times. :)

Concentrate particularly on higher speed offsets, slaloms, and side to side transitions.

[MNbiker]

Originally posted by washburn
Steve, go to St Cloud.

Madison is run at 151 Speedway, and is exactly what you think it is.

Appleton has fun events, but the course was *exceptionally* tight in places.

Even if St Cloud is open, it represents Nationals style course elements better than what you will see at the other two places. I say go to St Cloud, and don't worry about your finishing position. If it's too wide open, just make up practice stuff. Place a couple of mental cones in your way and drive around them, then explain to people why your driving all goofy and getting bad times. :)

Concentrate particularly on higher speed offsets, slaloms, and side to side transitions.

Okay, I'm convinced. I'll be heading up to St. Cloud for Saturday only. Anyone else gonna be there?

-Steve

p.s. For those interested in geekware, I'll be logging all my runs with a laptop, so I can fine-tune a 100 octane fuel/timing map for Nationals. According to my tuner, 100 octane will be good for an additional 12-15hp, versus the 93 octane I've been running.:D

[kit]

p.s. For those interested in geekware, I'll be logging all my runs with a laptop, so I can fine-tune a 100 octane fuel/timing map for Nationals. According to my tuner, 100 octane will be good for an additional 12-15hp, versus the 93 octane I've been running.:D

i'm not sure how you'll be able to realize something from datalogging an autox run, lots of erratic graphs i would think. what you want is a flat road to do your datalogging, that way the graphs are smoother and easier to read. Plus you can actually hear pinging without a helmet on.

But yes, 100oct is worth that much HP! I could advance my timing by 6-8deg and the car feels 20hp stronger and still run 30-min lapping sessions!

[MNbiker]

Originally posted by kit
i'm not sure how you'll be able to realize something from datalogging an autox run, lots of erratic graphs i would think. what you want is a flat road to do your datalogging, that way the graphs are smoother and easier to read. Plus you can actually hear pinging without a helmet on.

The flat-road tuning is already done. You're right, it's a WHOLE lot easier to get readable information on a level road with smooth acceleration runs. The autox logging is just for some fine-tuning (if required) in the exact situations where I care most about power delivery.

-Steve

p.s. not much pinging to listen to - the Subaru ECU starts pulling timing before you can really hear much. The trick is to use as much advance and as little fuel as possible, without causing the ECU to start pulling timing, which it doesn't like to give back, once taken.

[StevenMosley]

Originally posted by washburn

If it's too wide open, just make up practice stuff. Place a couple of mental cones in your way and drive around them, then explain to people why your driving all goofy and getting bad times. :)

Concentrate particularly on higher speed offsets, slaloms, and side to side transitions.

Pat, I'm not sure about this one. This is the highway patrol center and I'm not sure they will like the idea of Steve driving out there and avoiding mental cones. They might want to lock him up. :D

Steve, Just think of it this way. You have as much power as most of the cars there and you will finally get to use it.