Open track smackdown

[Damn True]

HOT-ROD lagged and GRM picked up the ball.


Originally Posted by GRM
Raise your hand if any of the following describe you:
* I get so excited the night before a track day that I have trouble getting to sleep.
* My team and I build the fastest cars around, and we’ll take on any challengers.
* I love beating up on the fancy-pants hardware with my crazy driving skills and this trusty (Your Car Here).

Now put your hand down and prepare to lose sleep, because we’ve got an event just for you. GRM has teamed up with NASA to create the Grassroots Motorsports Ultimate Track Car Challenge. We’re going select a variety of cars to compete in a NASA Time Trial format at the Virginia International Raceway North Course on Friday, July 27.

The fastest car wins, but since we’re a bunch of car-crazy writers, we’ll be looking for neat stories throughout the field. While the only hard data we’ll be gathering is the lap times, we’ll have our eyes peeled for outstanding (or horrific) engineering, daily driver manners, bad assedness, durability, ease of duplication, operating budget, driving ease and the use of brains over brawn.

To keep it simple, we’re going to have two categories, Shop Class and Independent Study. Shop Class is for the heavy hitters who build and prepare cars for a living. Independent Study is for the guys and gals who come home from work and spend late nights doing it themselves in the garage.

Each category is broken into two classes, Varsity and JV. All naturally-aspriated, four-cylinder (or less), mass production based cars running DOT legal tires are in the JV class. Anything with forced induction, racing slicks, a tube frame or an engine with rotors or more than four cylinders runs in Varsity.

This is an invitation only event, but we’re teaming up with CarDomain.com to make the application process part of the fun. If you want to be considered for the GRM UTC Challenge, log on to www.cardomain.com/grm and follow the steps to create a CarDomain.com site for your entry.

As part of this process you’ll be required to upload a photo of your car, so have a digital image at the ready. The deadline for entry is June 1, but the sooner you submit your entry at CarDomain.com the more time we have to get to know your car before we make a decision.

Be sure to put in as much information as you can on your CarDomain.com site. We’ll be picking entries based on this information, and we won’t know how cool your car is unless you tell us.

Best of all, you’ll be able to poke around the GRM UTC Challenge category and see what other cars are in the running for a coveted entry spot. Readers can even vote on the entries on the site to influence the staff as to what they want to see in the competition. We’ll notify the invitees six weeks before the event (see sidebar). Up to the minute details will be available at grassrootsmotorsports.com, and we’ll keep you posted in the magazine as well.

...

If we choose your car for the GRM UTC Challenge, you’ll then need to register for the event through NASA and expect to pass a NASA tech inspection for a Time Trial car. Specifics will be posted along with the official rules at GRM Online. Each car can have one driver, and that driver must hold a NASA Time Trial or equivalent license. Generally this requires HPDE 4 or higher experience; obviously a road racing license does the trick too.

If you’re not already a NASA member, check out nasaproracing.com; signing up for a year is just $40, and that includes a 1-year subscription to GRM. They’ll be happy to get you on the path to getting your Time Trial license if you don’t already have one, or you can hand over keys to the qualified ringer of your choice if you prefer.



Time Trial rules will apply, so if you drop a wheel off the track you loose your time for that session, and metal-to-metal contact with another car on track means immediate disqualification with no refund. Open passing is allowed during each session.

The entry fee will be less than $200 per car and will be announced as soon as it’s finalized. All cars must run an AMB transponder, and a very limited number of rentals will be available at the track. Our tentative schedule includes a 20 minute morning warm-up session followed by three 15-minute afternoon sessions. A car’s single fastest lap from any of the afternoon sessions counts for the purposes of scoring.


Anyone in?

[6'9"Witha69]

Now that is what it should be. That is thought out, partnered and advertised. Sounds like a good event. If I could make it anywhere near the area with my car I would sign up. Too bad that crap is always on the right side of the country.

[Damn True]

GRM is one of very few auto mags that isn't based in LA or Detroit. I will concede their right to have an east coast bias in light of the west coast slant of the majority of their contemporaries.

[MarkM66]

I don't think some will like having to get that "Time Trial license."

[Damn True]

Well they are using NASA's TT format so with open passing they can't very well have rookies running around out there.

Honestly though if somone can't get a HPDE-4 sign-off they most likely wouldn't stand a chance. One could always hand the car off to the race licensed ringer of their choice.

[MarkM66]

Well they are using NASA's TT format so with open passing they can't very well have rookies running around out there.

Honestly though if somone can't get a HPDE-4 sign-off they most likely wouldn't stand a chance. One could always hand the car off to the race licensed ringer of their choice.

That's true.

Then I would imagine the "open passing" might scare away the high dollar pt cars. A track time only might be more attractive.

[69Nova]

What a badass event. I'm betting you will see some serious hardware there. But I doubt there will be any show cars like hot rod was leaning towards.

Who wants to get ahold of the old dude that has "The Cuda"?

[Steve1968LS2]

Virginia? :(

Hey, maybe I could ask Boris Said to drive my car.. lol

Sounds like fun, although I do admit that "open passing" would make me a bit nervous, I really couldn't afford to rebuild my car is some knucklehead screwed up while passing me. His "getting disqualified" for smashing up my car would be of little comfort.

I like the idea of "track time only" though.. In any event it's nice that SOMEONE finally stepped up.

[Steve Chryssos]

I'm in!

[Steve68]

Boris Said, why don't you call Bill Auberlin or Hans Stuck, how's Hurly Haywood sound,

Sound like fun, GRM always has something up there sleeve,

[Damn True]

I'm in!

I would think that playing up the paddle-shift thing in your entry would make your car VERY attractive to them.

Let us know when you get your car up on the Cardomain website. We'll make sure to go Chicago style on the voting.

[MonzaRacer]

Well after looking into NASA and thinking that maybe my current project might be able to be steered towards more auto-X venues. I will use the NASA specs for safety but I have to look elsewhere for classes as the ones Imight be interested in require the use of Toyo tires.
NOW while I am sure a lot of people love thier tires and all have good luck I have 2 brands of tires that I will never run again, one of them being Toyo. After having had 3 tires fail at higher speeds, relativly new tires and very expensive ones at that, all Toyos (other brand aside) all different purchase points(dealers) and since the owner changed tire brands has never had so much as a tire go low let alone fail for any reason.
I hope no one ever has the problems we had with that car. # very expensive tires and 3 more even more expensive wheels and down time while the wheels were ordered (the first time), as he had a spare after that and even had ordered a third before the 3 tire blew.
now I have been in the tire buisness a long time and can tell when tires are bad and when I saw what happened on the tires (sidewall) it became very clear it was a defect but the dealer wouldnt make it right nor even admit it was a bad tire(my buddy would have taken a reduced price tire even). Now when we had 2 more blow we decided to look into other brands and to date he has never blown a tire(same size/rating) nor has he ever had any of the impact breaks he was plagued with. He had a tuner car before and had alwys had them and just attributed them to low pro tires on lightweight rims.
This is just my experience.
Oh and the other brand which a lot of people brag so much about that I wont ever use again we found we could NEVER get a perfectly round tire. They always had run out and for 300 to 500 dollar tires you would figure the company would make great tires. BUT even the regualr street tires are just a crappy.
OK I vented and related.
But I willsay use what you like and feel safe running.
It just that I have 2 performance tires I dont like anymore and several regular tire companies that make tires that are just plain slick and poorly built.
And this is from over 20+ years of working on cars, tuning cars and buying tires.

[6'9"Witha69]

What was the name of Brand X?

[69Nova]

I'm in!

I'm coming to watch then! I bet this would be a awsome event to walk the pits in. I could probly pull a ton of ideas from diffrent cars.

[Bill Howell]

Boris Said, why don't you call Bill Auberlin or Hans Stuck, how's Hurly Haywood sound,

I don't have a Porsche!!!

I wonder if there is any year cut off? If not, count the malibu in.
Possibly another car too, project in the works now.

[slow4dr]

It's to bad my car isn't finished and they don't have a class for "broke guy not knowing what he is doing"

[ProBell]

I will look into this one. I am all for it with the concern of some one making a bad passing decision. Primer is so hard to patch!!! "Ha Ha"
Randy

[ProBell]

One more thing, After reading this I hope I can sleep tonight. I am hitting the local go cart track tonight to try and help me sleep.

Randy

[Steve Chryssos]

......Let us know when you get your car up on the Cardomain website. We'll make sure to go Chicago style on the voting.

It's up.

[69Nova]

What about a link Steevo?

Edit: Nervemind I found it.

http://www.cardomain.com/ride/2563772