StreetSpeed

Folks,

Be picking up my car tomorrow after a full race car conversion. No aero, basically stock power, and next year will be my first forray into w2w racing outside of Lemons. So I'm probably right on the ST3 limit and am not at all ready to open up the can of worms (and check book) to make it competitive in ST2. However everytime I go to a NASA event or look online at results in my area (Northeast) I see almost zero ST3 cars. Anyone race in a region with a strong ST3 presence? If one shows up and there are two ST2 cars and me do those guys tune down and run ST3 or do I class up and get smoked? Just trying to get an idea of how all this works ahead of time.

Supercharged111

It's not a very big class. I know TX and CA have enough to run a class, but can't recall which ST they're in. If you're running ST3 max power without aero, you're going to get waxed. There are 2 power to weight ratios allowed and they're aero dependent.

troyguitar

Plenty of TT3 cars in Northeast but I don't know if any of them race - I know mine won't be racing.

z06801

At Miller we have 8-10 plus I think the Miller racing schools Mustangs fall into that class but they are racing students getting their racing license so they are moving pylons

PMBoxcar46

Love it...moving pylons..

brkntrxn

The SE had good ST3 fields all year, mainly due to the East Coast Championships being at Road Atlanta last month and from a ton of Thunder Roadsters crossing over to run in a Nationals class.

Next year, they will be at VIR, so Mid-Atlantic will have good fields.

RX-Ben

I've never seen an in-region (ie non-visiting) ST3 car in the NE. Think there were a couple last year but they moved to ST2, where everyone else was/is.

StreetSpeed

Right and my point is why do that? Is it better to come in last in a field of 5 then first in a field of 1 (or two)?

RX-Ben

When the two cars moved to ST2, they were certainly competitive (and one in the front) of that field. You can be somewhat competitive (ie have a few people to race against) with the setup you are describing, depending on how well it is driven.

brkntrxn

What is better to brag about:

I won Saturday and Sunday
--- great for when you put the new coffee cup or plaque on your desk at work on Monday... Just don't tell the whole story about the field of one.

OR

I bumped up a class, didn't touch a thing on the car, and placed 4th out of 8 on Saturday and 2nd on Sunday out of 5. With an overweight, underpowered car. And no aero. On new coilover. On a new brake setup. At a track I have never ran. After rigging together something to fix a leaking fuel line Friday night. And drinking all day on Thursday at a wine tour.


LOL, that describes my one and only trip to Watkins Glen. Which sounds better to a racer? Which sounds better to a coworker?

5280Racer

No matter what I do I end up in the SU class.. so there I will stay.!!

ScaryFast

Great lakes has good TT3 (8-12 depending on track) fields but ST3 is a little sparse. Hopefully that changes next season, there are some "probably next year's" out there.