SCCA Time Trials - no national Formula / Sports Racer class

[Josh R.]

Just heard from someone with the NE Ohio SCCA Region. They are open to having a OW/SR run group at their June 29th TT at Nelson Ledges but they need 15 cars to make it work. That’s a tall order for this neck of the woods (10 OW cars at the PittRace Majors this year). Would anybody here be willing to commit to go to this event?

[RussMcB]

I'm an occasional TT participant down here in the Southeast, and (as far as I know), there is never a need for "required minimum" to run open wheel cars. I suppose it is because they send similar lap time cars out one at a time, spaced so there it's infrequent when one car catches another.

My only guess is other organizations must run their events differently, perhaps sending out all cars (in a group) together, with passing allowed on straights, point-by's or whatever. I would be interested to here the exact reason why you couldn't include OW cars if, say, only 14 cars registered. Couldn't they mix and match with other cars, like Lotus 7, Exocets, sports racers, race cars on slicks, etc.?

Is it money-related? If so, how would including more cars (and more entry fees) cost the organization more money?

[Dave Cutchins]

......................." Couldn't they mix and match with other cars, like Lotus 7, Exocets, sports racers, race cars on slicks, etc.? ………...

Russ, I believe part of the reasoning is SCCA does not want the smaller, lighter OW & SR cars on track with large heavy full bodied production based vehicles, I would think that visibility of an OW or SR from a full bodied car is not ideal.

That being said, I have participated in TT's with larger vehicles and they all seemed to be aware and respectful.

I just came from an event with PHA, where they used 3 car pods with drivers pairing up with those of similar lap times and then releasing the cars with varying intervals to prevent catchups.

If on track sessions for the existing production based car classes where shortened by 5 minutes, a run group for OW and SR could be created and not require a specific number of entries.

OW and SR could be integrated into the mix if organizers want to make the effort.

[Josh R.]

Short and skinny is that they don't want to bump X amount of production car drivers (the majority, paying customers) into more crowded run groups OR shorten their sessions for a few OW/SR cars. Mixing OW/SR and production cars can work depending on the number of cars and track layout/length. I can only assume that NEOH is not comfortable with the number of cars and/or Nelson's length/layout to mix like WDCR was for their event in March.

But at least there's a glimmer of hope! Does no good if nobody is willing to ask to go and commit though. Read (and re-read) Jon K.'s replies in this thread. Some of it applies only to the National events, a lot of it applies to regional events as well.

[Josh R.]

Well it's official, OVR is going to have an OW/SR run group for the Nelson Ledge's TT on June 29th! That's GREAT news! They are going to need 10 cars for it to work however. You MUST sign up ahead of time. If there aren't 10 cars when registration closes they will cancel your registration/you don't pay. Right now there isn't an OW/SR class to register for so I'm waiting to hear back if we should wait for them to add a wings n things class.

If you're a proponent of OW/SR cars doing time trials but you can't/won't make this event () then pass the word along to someone who might. Only way OW/SR's are going to be included is if we actually show up when given the chance...

[Farrout48]

Well it's official, OVR is going to have an OW/SR run group for the Nelson Ledge's TT on June 29th! That's GREAT news! They are going to need 10 cars for it to work however. You MUST sign up ahead of time. If there aren't 10 cars when registration closes they will cancel your registration/you don't pay. Right now there isn't an OW/SR class to register for so I'm waiting to hear back if we should wait for them to add a wings n things class.

If you're a proponent of OW/SR cars doing time trials but you can't/won't make this event () then pass the word along to someone who might. Only way OW/SR's are going to be included is if we actually show up when given the chance...

Your best bet is to send an email to every driver in that Region and surrounding Regions who has either a Competition or TT license. TT is good test time for road racers. Region officials can access their driver lists thru SCCA. This is a good way of promoting your events.

We also send an email thru MSR to every driver who has ever registered for one of our TT or Road Races in the past years. MSR maintains the lists and sends these emails for you. Easy for any Region member who has Admin privileges on their Regions' MSR events. Again, another good way of promoting your events to drivers and workers.

[Josh R.]

Your best bet is to send an email to every driver in that Region and surrounding Regions who has either a Competition or TT license. TT is good test time for road racers. Region officials can access their driver lists thru SCCA. This is a good way of promoting your events.

We also send an email thru MSR to every driver who has ever registered for one of our TT or Road Races in the past years. MSR maintains the lists and sends these emails for you. Easy for any Region member who has Admin privileges on their Regions' MSR events. Again, another good way of promoting your events to drivers and workers.

Good info, but I'm not at all affiliated with OVR so I don't have those privileges. My only skin in the game is I want to drive my FM at Nelson Ledges. And as evidenced in this thread, some folks feel slighted that there aren't OW/SR classes in the Nat'l TT events. If, and only if, people show that there is enough demand to include OW/SR's will they be included.