This weekend, Mid-Ohio.
Group 1 - F500, V, FF ....... 6 cars
Group 2 - ITA, SSB ....... 10
Group 4 - SRF, SM ...... 50

600-700 lbs and 4 seconds but the Miata's, for the most part, were very courteous.

H.(How to make a Miata huge...get beside it in a SRF)B.

sspano01 wrote:
So in NJMP the place to be for SRF racing?
Looks like they did have a full SRF run group at WGI in July 2012 though?

Glad everyone is ok!

Hi and welcome to Spec Racer.

Any region with the good sense to separate Spec Racer into its own group deserves "Place to Be" status for their regional races. I'm entered at NJMP for the South Jersey Region's event.

The July race at The Glen you refer to is probably the National where we always race in our own group.

Hal B. wrote:This weekend, Mid-Ohio.
Group 1 - F500, V, FF ....... 6 cars
Group 2 - ITA, SSB ....... 10
Group 4 - SRF, SM ...... 50

600-700 lbs and 4 seconds but the Miata's, for the most part, were very courteous.

H.(How to make a Miata huge...get beside it in a SRF)B.

You've got to be kidding me?????
We would have moved SM in with Group 2 ITA/SSB figuring that would be less pain for them than pack racing with SRFs and it would have more equitably split up the run groups. Our SRF *and* SM drivers would never have gone for a grouping like that with numbers like that!

Well, this just isn’t going to get better any time soon and the ONLY way we are going to get something done before someone gets seriously hurt is to get “National” to write something about it.

This past weekend Glen Region hosted The (annual) Last Chance School, Sprint Race, Pro-IT, NJTC, and Enduro. The week prior to the event, I wrote the event co-chairs requesting a split start for our run group that included STU, SPU, GTL, SM2, EP, FP, HP, and SRF!! One of the chairs responded within minutes understanding our plight and offered a few words of help and encouragement.

The morning of the sprint race arrived and it was pouring rain. Unfortunately, there were only 3 of us in SRF, one being my student from the school the day before in his first ever race. After a rather uneventful qualifying session, we had a group driver’s meeting where we were told Group 2 had been eliminated and the Sprint Races would be extended to 25 minutes.

After the quick meeting, I approached the Steward and requested a split start in the name of safety for us SRFs. I was rudely interrupted before I even finished the sentence with a stern face-full of “NO!” He continued, “NO way am I going to split the start for 3 cars that are equal to the other lead cars in the group, rain or dry. I raced Lime Rock in a GTO against GTP cars years ago and the speed differential was much greater!” I walked away calmly realizing I had no chance alone.

After calming down a bit, I gathered up the other two SRF drivers, the event co-chair, and two drivers from other classes in our run group. The Steward was brought in and the request was made again for a split start. Again, we were met only with an angrier “NO!” and the same lame explanation. When he again brought up his GTO experience, I asked him if he had a roof and cage over his head at that time. Yah, you get the picture – he was unable to answer.

An FP driver offered up that the 3 SRF drivers could “be late to grid, start at the back, and fall back creating their own split start…” and that was more angrily greeted by the Steward with, “If they are any more than 4 of 5 seconds behind anyone, I WILL BLACK FLAG ALL THREE OF THEM IMMEDIATELY!! My schedule will NOT be thrown off by such shenanigans!” (We were running Long Course at Watkins Glen!)

Thankfully the weather cleared up late morning we took to the track that afternoon with cool dry conditions. Starting 3rd, 6th, and 10th, us SRF cars did well the first couple laps, but the lead SRF tangled with 2 SM2 Miatas at T1 on lap 3 and lost his tail section, retiring, but without injury.

In impound, the event co-chair came to me and asked how it went and I told her what I knew at that time and saw. I was happy no one was injured. I love this class, this car, the competitors, but still fear entering races where we are NOT even considered for our concerns of our own safety only to withdraw and lose our money. Bringing this up to the Regional Boards will seemingly only bring backdoor repercussions in the near future for us. We need our Area Directors (John Walsh… right?) to work with us on a National level or Regions/Tracks that continue to ignore our please will see SRF classes continue to dwindle and look for other places to race. We need drivers to SPEAK UP and write letters to regions that ignore us and let them know WHY we are no longer registering for their races, not just lack of registering – they NEED to know why!

And the answer was an emphatic NO with a history lesson on the Stewards past driving experience. What kind of bs is that as one doesn't correlate to the other. This nonsense has to end before someone gets hurt...period. I have sent a letter the CRB asking for clear mandates on class groupings including split starts for dissimilar cars by local officials. I would suggest each of you take the time to write your own letter as 'schedules' at this event were apparently more important than safety. As explained the alternatives seemed reasonable and without consequence yet were unilaterally dismissed.

Certainly there is enough video evidence between what occurred at LRP and what can happen from just SRFs getting together at the Glen to show cause why any request of this nature has standing. One can only imagine what the outcome might have been if the Glen debacle had included a mixture of production cars.

I urge all of you to write to the CRB and/or your local officials and voice your opinion on this topic. Point them to this forum if needed but this nonsense of not listening to drivers expressing concern for their safety has to end!

A few suggestions...

1) Stewards like that are part of the problem not the solution. Drop your Area Director a note about that and he can chat with the Exec Steward for the Division. Over time we can "retire" those kinds of stewards!

2) Create a paper trail. If a split start is not already noted in the supps for the race (you can request one ahead of time too you know). Tell the CS you want paperwork and want to formally request a split start and make them write up an RFA (Request For Action). The Stewards of the Meet may still deny it, but at least you are on record now.

#2 will piss them off but as I said it creates a paper trail to help back up those phone calls and letters in number 1 above.

Finally you can do exactly as suggested, show up late to grid start last and hang back slightly (not dramatically) and start from there. They can file paperwork on you but you can also appeal and bring crap like "I raced with bigger faster cars so the answer is no" to light!

I'll tell you guys up front, I'm 100 percent opposed to mandating SRF get it's own run group codified in the GCR.

I will add my 2 cents here also concerning safety in our class when mixed with other classes and also what happened at the Glen last weekend. I was the lead SRF and due to my brain fart move I spun in turn 1 on the second lap of the race after passing several SM's in the process down the front straight. I felt the SM that hit me had adequate area to move away from my spin but racing is racing and this kind of stuff happens. I place no blame on him. What is sad is we in our class are being subjected to more contact with cars that are getting close to us in lap times but have much more mass, which caused me more damage than would have occurred had it been a fellow spec racer or a slower production car (which in my opinion would have avoided hitting me).
The steward was not even listening to us when we appealed to him before the race about the mix as we were only 3 SRF's. He had a schedule to keep was what he said and instead of offering a GCR explanation why we could not lag back and start our own race, he stated he would black flag us for lagging the start. Us three were only concerned with our SAFETY. But safety was not in his attitude or comments during our conversation with him. Yet after my accident, I had more stewards involved with me than congress has lobbyists. THEN they seemed to care.
I have raced many many years in mixed classes and have had contact with other cars during both Nationals and Regionals, but that was rare. For the most part because most of them were slower cars, we could more safely pass them as needed in a race losing only some momentum during the lap. Most of them even gave us the line when they could also. But now we are mixed with cars that have mass that cannot get out of the way during an incident and when contact is made, results are getting more devastating. Brown and Doyle are two recent examples of the physics. Race organizers that put us with comparable lap time vehicles that vastly outweigh us are playing a very dangerous game. I hope that someone is not seriously hurt or killed before smarter heads prevail. I am sick of hearing that "Rules state that ....blah blah blah" which coming from the mouths of stewards or whomever, allow them to hid behind rules and schedules to keep rather than making a decision that is more prudent or more logical, AND MORE SAFE.
Happy off-season guys and lets keep this discussion going so that OUR club doesn't let it die off and nothing changes.
Thanks for taking the time here.
Mark F

"Tilting at windmills" (the SCCA motto?)

Just "suppose" that three SRFs happened to qualify, oh, let's say at the back of the field (or happened to get to grid "late")...

Then suppose that the SRFs need a lap to get the tires "warmed up", finally coming up to speed on the 2nd lap with the main field, oh, let's say 20 seconds ahead...

Let the racing begin...

http://vimeo.com/1541015

I have included the video of my incident with a Formula Vee at Daytona in August, 2008. Most of you have probably seen this. I will include it in a letter I shall write regarding the safety issues of mixing classes. The most troubling part of this video is that I was going fairlyy fast (I assume about 90+ mph) and had the FV been a couple of more feet forward (milliseconds) then I would have center punched him directly in the drivers compartment which would have in the least seriously injured him and possibly killed him.

breton wrote:"Tilting at windmills" (the SCCA motto?)

Just "suppose" that three SRFs happened to qualify, oh, let's say at the back of the field (or happened to get to grid "late")...

Then suppose that the SRFs need a lap to get the tires "warmed up", finally coming up to speed on the 2nd lap with the main field, oh, let's say 20 seconds ahead...

Let the racing begin...

Or what if the green flag flies, and the SRFs, starting at the back of the pack, having poor visibility and poor throttle response, don't actually react to the green until they reach the start/finish line?