this was posted by the guys at the new Cobb Tuning shop (hope you don't mind, Terry).
many of us NTEC will be there for their grand opening (Nov 22), so
lets have a brief q/a period to see who's interested in some more track-time!!!
i hope most of you will read it before asking questions {there's a picture for the rest of you , (prices at the bottom) but if there's enough interest,
we can always go to MSR w/members to practice on our own..

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....from some SCCA autocross chatter......
I've had a bunch of e-mails from the list asking for more info about NASA Time Trials, which Hanchey and I have run a couple of times this year. We saw a lot of local autocrossers at the last NASA event at ECR, too, who were there to "take a look" at TT and/or club racing. There are several groups doing Time Trial/Time Attack events, but the biggest in our area is NASA Texas.

http://www.nasatxracing.com/ - the NASA Texas region website is pretty informative, if a bit tardy to be updated sometimes. Membership into NASA is $44 ($75 for families) and includes a subscription to Grassroots Motorsports magazine. I think I paid $80 for my SCCA membership last year? Something like that. There are several contingencies paid in Club Racing and TT, even at the regional level.

Here's the TT rules: http://www.nasa-tt.com/Rules A bit odd (points based) when you come from the class/category rules writing of the SCCA, but it makes sense when you start adding it all up and gives you a lot of choices on mods (do I want more power, better handling, lower weight, or some combination?) and classes to run in. Instead of making mods to the limit of a category, then having to make a radical step to go up a category (like going from Stock to Street Prepared, or SP to SM), you can do mods and add up points to gradually move up classes. All classes also have a power-to-weight ratio number you can't exceed, and they will sometimes bring a dyno to the track to verify. There's no controversies for things like illegal boost - your car has to dyno below a certain number (the ultimate lie detector). They have a TT National Championship held at the same location as the Club Racing event (this year it was at Mid-Ohio).
http://nasatxracing.com/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=19&Itemi d=30 - the 2008 Texas schedule. NASA Texas is in its second year and up to 7 events over a wide variety of road courses including TWS, MSR-H, MSR-C, ECR and Hallet. Each weekend usually includes a day of racing Saturday and another Sunday (you can sign up for either one or both days). Each day has HPDE, TT and Club Racing, all running in different sessions. Amy is working on getting her TT license by going up through the 4 HPDE classes. Once she gets signed off for TT, $10 is paid and a TT license is issued, then she can run Time Trials with us.

http://www.nasaforums.com/ - their forum. They use this for the normal member banter but also to make official rulings (publicly!) when asked for a clarification or even a new car/combinaiton classing. I asked for a ruling on our E36 LS1 swap and got an answer from the national rules makers the next day. It then became the precedent for the "base class" (TTB) for that specific engine swap! I didn't have to write 30 letters that went unanswered, make pointless calls, wait 3 years for a class to be created then have it grow and maybe go national, or wait for committees to meet and decide to do nothing. It was asked, discussed, answered, and became a rule. In one day.


Hanchey running his EVO in TTB and me driving our E36 LS1 in TTU

This TT stuff is a TON of fun and autocrossers that find their way into TT seem to be doing very well. Its more expensive than Solo, of course (we spent $180 to register for a one day Time Trial vs $25-30 for a one day autocross - but we got 4 twenty minute sessions to get our best lap times in), and it does eat consumables faster (brakes, tires), so we won't be leaving autocrossing completely either. My favorite part: no corner working.

Cheers,

Terry Fair - fair@vorshlag.com
www.vorshlag.com | www.ast-usa.com


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Are you on the track with other cars?

I do NOT want to have to worry about some guy in a POS diving into a corner trying to get around me...

 

+1 Im not worried about the POS car, I'm worried about the POS driver that may or not have a clue how to control his $5k-500k car

 

^what about the POS driver with the $1mil car? that could be scary.

 

good questions...
a little competition/mixed w/EGO and $$ = trouble

from the surface, it appears to resemble our 'friendly' MSR members' days
so if we keep playing on our own, why do a 'competitive event?'

 

^ Those people have TONS of insurance, so I'm ok being hit by them

 

NASA TT's are open passing but from what I've seen in the TX region, no one forces a pass... its all quite courteous. Much like a MSR member day as Kelly said.

 

if marc tries to pass me i'll run him off the road

 

Glad I will be in front of you guys!

 

You mean like when Eddie Griffin crashed the Ferrari Enzo? Yeah, it was not good.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cNVrMZX2kms

 

I don't think that'll be an issue

This year I may do TT's but they are only coming to DFW twice. Need to finish a few unfinished projects first!

 

Hey guys,
Since it doesn't really offer you an advantage, the passing thing isn't a huge deal. You're trying to get your best lap so fighting for position doesn't help anyone. On top of that, you have to get a TT license so they don't just let anyone out there. They check ride with you and make sure you're safe after 3-4 weekends with NASA running HPDE. I haven't ever felt like there was going to be controversy on the track. For starters, you grid by your lap time in the previous session so you shouldn't ever get passed. This last event at ECR wasn't as strict on gridding, but everyone self policed their own grid spot so it all worked out.

We ran our V8 car at GRM's UTCC event at Buttonwillow. They used the TT rules there as well. There were several 700 hp cars running in the same session as me and there was never a passing incident. Several of them ran off the track on their own, but that's another story.

Brian

 

Brian,

Thanks for the info. I'd definitely interested if we can set something up. How hard is it to get a TT license?

 

Do some DE's, get consistant and safe. Move up into Group3/4. Check ride. TT License.

 

Couldn't have said it better myself! It really is a blast. Coming from competitive autocrossing, I really enjoy the fact that at the end of the day you can see how fast or slow you are vs. just bench racing.

I wish I could post this picture from the TT event but we haven't bought it yet. It shows the Evo loaded up with probably 3* of positive camber front and rear. It is hilarious. The body roll is just awesome! Luckily I'll have a fix for it installed just in time to show at the Cobb grand opening.