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Hi all,
Indeed, the 2007 schedule of track events is starting to emerge from the smokey depths of sanctioning body board rooms. I've checked into NASA, the AROSC, and the LASAAC (and others) to see what's up and would like to pose a few suggestions, observations, comments and the like.
Before diving into 2007, it's important to recap with a few So. Cal. observations from 2006. A general comment (despite a rude Head Instructor's bias at Thunderhill); our group of 'Seven' enthusiasts is becoming a very capable group of drivers: smooth, quick and consistent. I feel comfortable around you guys at speed and enjoy returning to the pits to talk about our sessions.
Gert, Stan and Doug began their seasons at the AROSC time trial school in February. These schools feature track, wet/dry skidpad and classroom sessions, and are one of the best values for instruction dollar a driver could spend. Next, we descended in-mass upon Buttonwillow in April for our first taste of NASA. I was impressed with the organization, and heard a lot of positive comments from within our group. (This event is chronicaled in the
September '06 Lowflying). On my own agenda, I returned to Buttonwillow over Memorial Day weekend for the AROSC 2-1/2 hour enduro, co-driving with Tony Adamowicz. Doug also attended this event for the time-trial, and provided valuable and essential assistance during our enduro pit-stop. In August, a few of us So. Californians got our first taste of Thunderhill: YES, very tasty! This despite Woody's best efforts to get us hopelessly lost in the back roads of, well, wherever the Hell we were in, as he described it, "God's Country." 1,400 mile round trip and I'm looking forward to doing it again. Finally, we (most of us, anyway) closed the '06 season with another NASA event at Buttonwillow, running Counterclockwise 13. The track rocks in this direction! As a plus, my Internet friends from England, Roger and Barbara Swift joined us for this event, and provided us with an official Lotus Seven Club of Great Britain garage banner!
So, what for next year? Except for the Northern California group (Woody, Pierre, Michael, and others?), I haven't seen any migration to the installation of roll cages, as required for NASA racing. We seem pretty happy doing the HPDE thing; it's great track time, good instruction and feedback at the downloads, and we can run with the FIA (or equivalent) rollbars on our cars (for '07 I'd suggest we agree on HPDE-3 so we all run together). If I were to devise a strategy for '07, it would be one that allows us a taste of timed
and/or wheel-to-wheel competition, but allows our cars to remain configured as they are, and also maintains at least the level of safety we have enjoyed this past year. Still with me? Here we go with my 2-cents worth of suggestions for 2007:
Feb. 3 & 4 - AROSC race-group school, Streets of Willow
Feb. 17 & 18 - AROSC at Pahrump (race or TT)
March 17 & 18 - NASA HPDE-3 at Cal. Speedway (enter early!)
April 14 & 15 - LASAAC at Streets of Willow; or
NASA at Buttonwillow
May 26 & 27 - AROSC Enduro at Buttonwillow (or TT)
August 11 & 12- NASA HPDE-3 at Thunderhill
Sept. 1 & 2 - AROSC race-group school, Streets of Willow
Oct. 13 & 14 - AROSC at Willow Springs (race or TT)
Nov. 10 & 11 - NASA HPDE-3 at Buttonwillow
That's enough for now. A few more events will likely come along to fill in the gaps. So, whadoyathink? I'm looking forward to hearing your comments and feedback!
Best regards,
Indeed, the 2007 schedule of track events is starting to emerge from the smokey depths of sanctioning body board rooms. I've checked into NASA, the AROSC, and the LASAAC (and others) to see what's up and would like to pose a few suggestions, observations, comments and the like.
Before diving into 2007, it's important to recap with a few So. Cal. observations from 2006. A general comment (despite a rude Head Instructor's bias at Thunderhill); our group of 'Seven' enthusiasts is becoming a very capable group of drivers: smooth, quick and consistent. I feel comfortable around you guys at speed and enjoy returning to the pits to talk about our sessions.
Gert, Stan and Doug began their seasons at the AROSC time trial school in February. These schools feature track, wet/dry skidpad and classroom sessions, and are one of the best values for instruction dollar a driver could spend. Next, we descended in-mass upon Buttonwillow in April for our first taste of NASA. I was impressed with the organization, and heard a lot of positive comments from within our group. (This event is chronicaled in the
September '06 Lowflying). On my own agenda, I returned to Buttonwillow over Memorial Day weekend for the AROSC 2-1/2 hour enduro, co-driving with Tony Adamowicz. Doug also attended this event for the time-trial, and provided valuable and essential assistance during our enduro pit-stop. In August, a few of us So. Californians got our first taste of Thunderhill: YES, very tasty! This despite Woody's best efforts to get us hopelessly lost in the back roads of, well, wherever the Hell we were in, as he described it, "God's Country." 1,400 mile round trip and I'm looking forward to doing it again. Finally, we (most of us, anyway) closed the '06 season with another NASA event at Buttonwillow, running Counterclockwise 13. The track rocks in this direction! As a plus, my Internet friends from England, Roger and Barbara Swift joined us for this event, and provided us with an official Lotus Seven Club of Great Britain garage banner!
So, what for next year? Except for the Northern California group (Woody, Pierre, Michael, and others?), I haven't seen any migration to the installation of roll cages, as required for NASA racing. We seem pretty happy doing the HPDE thing; it's great track time, good instruction and feedback at the downloads, and we can run with the FIA (or equivalent) rollbars on our cars (for '07 I'd suggest we agree on HPDE-3 so we all run together). If I were to devise a strategy for '07, it would be one that allows us a taste of timed
and/or wheel-to-wheel competition, but allows our cars to remain configured as they are, and also maintains at least the level of safety we have enjoyed this past year. Still with me? Here we go with my 2-cents worth of suggestions for 2007:
Feb. 3 & 4 - AROSC race-group school, Streets of Willow
Feb. 17 & 18 - AROSC at Pahrump (race or TT)
March 17 & 18 - NASA HPDE-3 at Cal. Speedway (enter early!)
April 14 & 15 - LASAAC at Streets of Willow; or
NASA at Buttonwillow
May 26 & 27 - AROSC Enduro at Buttonwillow (or TT)
August 11 & 12- NASA HPDE-3 at Thunderhill
Sept. 1 & 2 - AROSC race-group school, Streets of Willow
Oct. 13 & 14 - AROSC at Willow Springs (race or TT)
Nov. 10 & 11 - NASA HPDE-3 at Buttonwillow
That's enough for now. A few more events will likely come along to fill in the gaps. So, whadoyathink? I'm looking forward to hearing your comments and feedback!
Best regards,
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