Narra @ ra
 

I was just wondering if anyone was planning on running this event or if anyone has ever run with NARRA? I'm really thinking of signing up for the event since i really want to get out to Road America (and its only 30 miles from my house). From looking at entry list and results it looks like it would be crashing a big bore party!

The date is May 11-13

I think they have a Viper series that is the main draw; so that's where all the Big Bore comes into play.

I have a friend that ran with them a lot last year. He had all good things to say about the group and everything - and he's done everything from NASA TT to TA to One-Lap.

NASA MW/GL won't make it to Road America until Oct 6-7th; but I'm planning on that one to finish out the regional season. Hopefully do the Enduro too. Made my first trip there last year; and it is definitely an excellent facility. Fancy Kohler crappers fill the bathrooms; lots of grass & pavement in the paddock and tons of speed on that track. Bring brakes though; you have to stop...

I have a friend currently running with them in a Skittle. He enjoys it very much. The only issue he has had is that last year they turned a blind eye to someone running tires they weren't supposed to be (can't remember if he said they were too big for the class or too soft). Overall he enjoys running with them.

NARRA is great, they used to be also known as Viper Days, hence all the Vipers. The series is also sponsored by Dodge. The chief steward Rob Morrison is local to me, a great guy and their events are really laid back and fun. The Vipers do not like to point by though so be ready.

I wouldn't hesitate to run with them if I were you. The races are also awesome to watch. A lot of FAST cars going toe to toe, especially at the big tracks. Most entertaining non pro series racing I've seen and I stay 10 minutes from Road Atlanta.

I am running NARRA for the rest of the year. It the future in road racing blows everything else away. I am also doing global time attack road atlanta in May 13 anyone else want to join me

I signed up for this event. I just couldn't resist a weekend of racing so close to home. Hopefully I won't be the only :mitsu: in the sea of corvettes and vipers!

good luck Jeremy!!

A little write up for this great event at a great track. (and i suck at these)

I'd first like to thank NARRA/Whelen, RA, Hoosier, sunoco, go-pro, moton, and cool shirt! Yes, i had to put all those stickers on the cars :lol:

The day started out with the typical drivers meeting with not much being covered except tow strap procedure and that we exit in turn 5 and a reminder that we are liable if we cause an accident. If we have never been to the track we are asked to stay for a few minutes to talk. We then have a short meeting to go over where the exit is that were going to us and how to take "the kink". Okay, that's all pretty easy to remember now its time to run.

I pull up to grid to get in line thinking that we were going to be 2 cars wide in the pit. I pull off the side to let some people bye. Well, the pit guy waves me forward and i end up first in line on my first time at the track. This is with a huge pack of HUGE HP vipers behind me. I wave a few bye on the out lap just so i wouldn't be in anyone's way. I then find a little gap and squeeze in. It was go time and started pushing to try and keep pace. I did a fine job and i was able to outbrake and keep up with just about everyone on the back of the track. The problem was that i was a sitting duck on the straights. And then the uglyness of what was IMO just a lack of leadership for the TT group. (absolutly no leadership or even discussion about what a TT is:crap:) It turned into not really being able to get clean laps because people either thought they were faster then they were or their HP numbers meant that they had the right to be ahead of you. I figured okay, this is the first session once we get gridded up this should short itself out.

I go to check time and see that i ran a 2:33.1 without ever getting a clean lap. That put me in 11th out of 20 cars. I then asked if we were suppose to grid up in that order like i would expect. I was told uh, yea thats what you should do. I proceed to the next session and stop at around where i think 11 will be. I'm not sure 1 other person in the TT group lined up according to time. It was a random cluster **** of everyone wanting to be in the front again. I then went out and raced vipers for the session and was able to pull off a 2;31.2. I started looking at the results to see who was in my class and the comepetion. There was only 1 other guy listed in TT3 (the slowest class they offer) with me and he was no where near me.

I then went out to run the 3rd session thinking that there was nothing on the line for contingency without 3 people in the class. So, i went out not worrying to much about this getting slowed down by people thing and low and behold entered another session that you just couldn't get a clean lap without having to lift somewhere or tap the brakes for someone. So i only manage to run a 2:32.x. I really didn't care because it was just about fun without contingency on the line and went to ckeck the results for the session. I then see that there is now a 3rd car in the class that was just added. And he has me bye .011. WHAT! I then figure okay i kno if i get a clean lap in that i for sure have more time out there. I am sitting there just wondering where this other car came from and i hear someone talking about the end of the day merge for TT? I ask why that would be the end of the day when there was one more session left. I am told that they only count the first 3 sessions of the day becuase nobody usually goes faster the last session's of the day? :confused::confused::confused:. I kinda get that punched in the gut feeling that i was just robbed out of 2 tires. I'm not the type of person to complain so i just accecpted what was going down and walked away. I really would have been fine with the whole not knowing you have a competitor thing if they at least would have told us the first 3 sessions were the only ones that counted or at least print it in the rules somewhere. {thumbdwn}. That put me in a bit of a bad mood and i had to see who the hell this guy was and where did he come from. I went over and found him and gave him a congrats. He ended up being a great guy and i'm glad that he was able to take home some tires himself.

So, it was a learning experience and i really just tried to write it off as part of the game. It did motivate me for the next day tho!{thumbup}

Day 2

Today started with me pretty focused at the task at hand and the slight distaste of yesterday still lingering. My plan was too just look ahead, keep the foot planted as long as my balls would allow, and try and think about using momentum to help me on the straights. (point and shoot was NOT going to help me on this track).f I went out in the first session of a perfect day and figured i was just going to see what unfolded and try and put down a solid lap. Well, lets just say that the whole ugly whoever has the most HP gets to be in front thing started right up aDay gain. I unfortunatly was not the only recipient to this behavior as i was following a Porsche 911 GT3 RS that had run about 3 sec quicker then me the day before. I figured i was set becuase everyone SHOULD have been faster then me that was ahead of me. We then proceded to head out on track. The green flag flew and we were off. I was trying to give a bit of exrta room because i had a feeling that i was going to catch everyone right away in the braking zone and first 2 turns. This was pretty much exactly what happened and then the BS started. This guy in a viper just would not let the Porsche and myself by. The porsche guy was giving every hint in the book to get the F out of the way and i could have been on his bumper if i wanted too. (i gave some extra room for a mishap since your liable in this series if you cause and accident) :-X. It finally got the point that he braked going into the kink and really made braking a a very bad time a neccesity. I WAS PISSED! Fortunaly i was able to back off just alittle to give myself just enough room to run a real lap. And that wasnt' even easy because i had a viper hounding me from behind. So i had to keep my pace or he was going to have enough of a run at the straight to catch me.

IMO, the whole thing was just because there was NO leadership to tell anyone what a TT is. It really just turned into a big race with super high HP cars.

Anyways. enought about how they could use a bit of help in their execution of TT's.

Onto the Great news. I did actually manage to find a few laps today that were traffic free and i put the hammer down. I had a great battle with the Porsche Cayman that beat me yesterday,with a him taking the first session and me coming back to take the victory in the next 2 sessions. I ended up with a 2:29.2 as my best time of the day. He ended up about .8 back.

That foruntatly made the weekend's BS worth every penny. Their contigency is pretty darn good and i walked away with even more then just 2 free Hoosiers. ;D

I will post some video of the 2 sessions i had recorded soon.The one session is the one from the story above.

One strange thing was the whole media thing with this event. I was interviewed and they placed some go pro camera's on the car for footage. It was pretty funny! :P

In the end the EVO is really a car that is at a disadvantage at this track without big HP.

Pic of my competitor's cayman.

You'll never guess what I ran at Road America last year... It was a 1-day trip and my first day ever at that track. 2:29.2 --> Seriously!

Road America is a fun track, but not all the difficult to 'pick up' like you found out. Even with NASA last year, I had entire sessions ruined because of 1 car. Mine was a C6 Vette that had more than me in the straights and braked at like the 650 ft mark (if there was one) on the 3 straights so I'd be on his ass immediately. I ended up taking him in T13A I think.
I feel your pain. With the warmup and cooldown laps, you don't get a whole lot of chances per session. And you spend a LOT of time in 5th gear!

Sincerely appreciate your writeup on Narra. Especially the contingency info; I'll have to give that another read. I had that event on my tentative schedule, but a closer track to me (Putnam) was this weekend and it's always a great event with NASA MW/GL.

Jeremy, Did you see or hear anything about this incident?

http://vimeo.com/42111541

Oh yea! Its one that i have heard may be one of the worst people have seen. It has rattled the whole fieild and have made a few drop out of the series. It just shows' what is at risk racing.

http://vimeo.com/42111541

Jeremy, im assuming that since you put hoosier stickers on your car you were going for the hoosier contingency. Hoosier now requires 5 cars in class to win tires, not just 3. FYI.

Actually I had Hoosier stickers on the car already. I just needed all the other stickers they wanted to be put on.

It's only 3 in class for NARRA! (better then NASA) Its published like that in the rules, and I was handed the signed redemption form from the race organizers. :)

Here is a video from the first session on Sunday.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xNrfA8UZLOI