Solofast

In looking at the Solo nationals results (I missed the event due to work conflicts for the first time in 27 years) a couple of things are pretty obvious.

1. The Corvettes in SS did reasonably well enough to mean that there won't be any changes anticipated

2. BSP has been decimated, almost all the C4's are gone and there is no place for a C4 to play in street prepared. This used to be a 40 car class, now it is almost gone...

3. The AS Hondas and Solsti are making the C4's pretty much an afterthought in AS. I realize that new replaces old, but there really isn't much of place for a C4 to play in a stock class anymore.

Any other observations.

Cashmo

I'd hardly call 6th place in AS only a half second out of 1st by a guy who wasn't even sure he was coming to Nats an afterthought. The east course wasn't exactly Vette friendly and I was hoping Scott would do better on the West.

Jeff

BrianCunningham

There's some long threads over on SCCAforums

stock classes
http://sccaforums.com/forums/1/321932/ShowThread.aspx
BSP class
http://sccaforums.com/forums/thread/270208.aspx

38 pages, gets kinda ugly.

brenb

...and 1.3 seconds out by a guy who doesn't drive all that well, using old tires and a bunch of parts that should have been replaced long ago.

I am really surprised the Solsti didn't have a better showing.

Looking out over grid at everyone's car choice, it was hard to imagine that an s2k won last year.

As to observations: 40 second courses at Nationals is a total joke. As is a lot on which everything outside the racing line is more akin to ice than asphalt.

autoxer6

I'm sorry to hear that you didn't make it. This year was my first trip in my '04 Z06 in Super Stock. The East Course was Lotus Elise friendly to say the least. While on the rev limeter in second, you had to pitch the car into a pretty small gap then into a medium straight. There were about 3 pretty tight spots over the two courses. Luckily I stayed off of the cones.

AS had 13 cars the first day cone all 3 runs. I agree with Cashmore, the C4 is still competitive in AS. I think the reason you dont see them much is that the cars are pretty high maintence unless you have a nice low milage one.

Chris Shay

Solofast

I agree, that Scott didn't do badly at all, I was just noticing how few Corvettes there were in the trophies, the point being that most of the better drivers are moving to other rides because a lot of folks don't think the car is as competitve as it used to be... Also agree that it's getting expenive to maintain a C4, at this point the car is going to have to be a pretty dedicated autocross car or you are going to have to start spending a bundle to maintain it. I guess that with 58 cars AS was a pretty well subscribed class, so it's tough to argue with success.

I also noticed and agree that nationals should be more than two low forty second courses. That's a joke.. And really, the course shouldn't penalize a wider car, if you are going to class wide and narrow cars together, the course shouldn't favor one or the other. Hopfully next year at a new site this will be addressed.

JMPO for what it's worth.

tmak26b

You forgot to mention SS ran at the last heat, so we have to play follow the line. If you don't follow the line, you are going to do some ice skating.

AverageVetteNut

While I wasn't driving in any of those classes, nor was I in a Vette ( for now... ) I can say that it was a fine line this year on grip... if you drove Tuesday / Wednesday ( like me ), and early in the day you had little or no rubber out there for grip. While that meant you could pick your line more, it also meant that alot of us had cars getting twitchy and some pushing and sliding going on.
Wednesday was alot better for grip since they actually had a truck sucking the sand off the courses. But again, by the time 3rd - 5th heats came up, it was a matter of holding the line everyone else drove, right or wrong.

I drove 3rd heat and while I wasn't forced to take the lines, it wasn't a joy either.

As far as the courses... I liked the west course alot better than last year. It seemed to flow nicer, and the turns weren't as tight as last year. The increasingly spaced / decreasing offset slalom on the east course really messed with my head and that chute in after the turnaround was a bit hairy even for my car that was neither skinny nor wide.... Luckily I got a clean run there, and that was my fastest time.

With Topeka rumored to really be pushing hard for us to remain there, it sounds like us moving to a new site next year isn't quite a done deal yet. Decision is supposed to be made around 10/15, so we'll see about that.

I had to leave Friday, so I didn't get to see SS run the east course, but it was really fun to watch them go around the west course.

I look forward to joining the SS ranks next year... wherever that may be.

Z07coupe

I attended the solo event on Friday afternoon. It was interesting that I spotted only one C4 (white, and on a trailer). All the rest were C5s + C6s. Autoxer6, and any others, what was your number? I have a dozen or more photos.

I GUESS ALL MY PHOTOS ARE SS CORVETTES.

AverageVetteNut

Since AS, BSP ran on Tuesday/Wednesday, I would imagine alot of C4 guys might have left Thrusday to head home. I didn't see any BSP prepped C4s this year.

I got a load of photos just loaded on the laptop as well... have to find the SS cars.

TedDBere

I thought they were the best courses ever at HPT.

That being said, the surface sucks and the courses were too short, but that's the location's fault. We need to move to a better surface.

But the worst design element was the tight offset chute on the east course. To get a fast time you had to stay flat through it, but it penalized wider cars (C5s, Vipers, etc.). It could be done but there was zero room for error in the wider cars. I hit two cones on my first run through it and then chose to lift on the next two runs.

Here's a video from a C4 perspective of the east course: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LX6jr4nF4I4

It was great meeting people and despite my poor finishing position I had a good time.

brenb

The east course pretty much defined poor course design - there were safety issues, an absurd amount of "coneage" by competitors, and the chute section had so much going on that it was difficult to visualize the line.

BrianCunningham

That's a national course???

Datawiz

Pfadt racing finished 8th in SS with an '08 Corvette

T 8 176 G J Dixon 2008 Chevrolet Corvette

Anybody know if it's a Z06?

I'm really looking at getting their shocks and I'm curious what they were running.

Thanks!

talon95

Hey Chris, I never did get a chance to congratulate you on the great runs, particularly on the east course. Even Gary T. was roaming around looking for you after we finished on Friday for the same reason. You must need to get around more because none of us knew who you were!

In regards to the east course, I kinda figured I was loosing most of the time in that offset as I lifted and even drug the brake on runs 1 and 3. Run 2 I tried taking it faster but just didn't have quite the timing to make it without picking up a cone.

IMO, the east course was the worst national course I've ever run (I've been running nats since 1999). Between the complete bias to small cars and the high cone count, it was very very poor. Even if you put aside the imbalance it probably caused in SS, the high cone count was bad for everybody, drivers and workers. I worked the finish and we ran out of cones by the end of 1st runs and that was with E-stock running. Karen has done a lot of courses in the past that I've liked, so I'm also hoping that a venue change might help to avoid this type of course in the future.

OTOH, the West course was IMO by far the best course we've run at HPT. A great mix of elements that appeared to be very well balanced given the close results we had with all 3 cars at the top.

All in all it was a great Nationals though. Weather was the best I've ever seen and the event ran well for the most part.

Dave G.

talon95

Nope, that's a Z51.

Dave G.

autoxer6

I would love to get some photos. I was #34.

Thanks!
Chris Shay

autoxer6

FWIW, the highest finishing Corvette is on single adjustable Koni's. Strano performance parts can get you a set.

Chris Shay

Datawiz

Very good to know! Thanks.

I'm trying to get my Z dialed in. I want their shocks. I plan on making it to Topeka next year.

I usually run about 2 seconds slower than Hector (4th in ASP) and Lehman (7th ASP) in stock form on a 1-mile course. I'm really hoping the pfadt front sway bar and shocks, along with lowering the car will get me that much closer.

Datawiz

hmmmm