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I spent the weekend including Friday at Sebring at the combined Trans-Am and SVRA event. It was a blast. Went Daytona for the Trans-am race in November and again had fun. I must confess that I like the Sebring race the best. Although owned by same people, Sebring has a lot less restrictions as to where you go to watch, far better food, and better overall experience, for me.
I was raised in Sebring and went to every 12hrs from 1966 until 1997, in 97 I also attended the Sebring Octoberfest. That is when Andy Evans nearly destroyed Sebring forever.
The point of this whole rant is, why are we not flocking to Trans-Am racing? Some of baddest road racing Corvettes on the planet! Lap times equal to GTLM cars on the same tracks. Unreal sounds, walk up to the drivers and cars, get asked to help direct them out of the paddock. Four classes of cars and a down home atmosphere you will not find at the Rolex or 12 hrs. These cars race the whole race in a sprint format, with the top 10 cars on the same lap, almost no full course yellows. This is racing worth seeing.
Go to one and you will be hooked. Thanks for reading.
I was there Saturday and Sunday. Great cars and racing. TA2 had the "Big One" after a restart but they did get it going again for a four lap shootout with Dillon Machavern holding off Gar Robinson and Shane Lewis for the win.
For my money I enjoy this more grassroots Pro Racing rather than the billionaire racing of IMSA.
My racing partner's son, Bobby Kennedy, is an occasional competitor in TA2 in a Howe Mustang. He finished second at Daytona in '14 and ninth at Sebring in '15 on a very limited budget.
I have raced both SVRA and IMSA, but only SVRA for the last 33 years
Tony Parella has done and is doing a GREAT job with improving ALL forms of Grass Roots Racing. 3 cheers for Tony P.
I noticed there is a Trans Am race out west in a couple weeks, March 25-26, at Willow Springs in California. Anyone have any info on this? I wonder if the race teams from the east coast events will be driving in this?
The TA2 pile up was a bit of a mess, but the Trans-am officials made arrangements for 4 full bore laps for the finish. SVRA and Trans-am did a great job of adjusting the format so everybody got practice and racing done to the fullest. We are friends with the guys at Phoenix Performance so we get good insight into their activities. Really enjoyed the #32 Corvette they entered in TA3, sorry it lost it's clutch after 10 laps and the #37 Porsche crashed out between turns 1 and 2, right in front of us. It is great racing.
This is my fifth season of Trans Am racing. I really, really like it. But it is not easy.
I've been in Corvettes until Mid Ohio of last eyar when we debuted the Cadillac CTS-V body, but underneath the car is the same..
We had 22 starters on Sunday. I botched qualifying so I began in 20th position. I am pleased to say I finished 3rd on the track. Not so please to say we didn't realize there was a rule on how far forward the rear wing could be, so we had it 2 inches too far forward, and subsequently was disqualified. Oh well. I don't think the wing placement made much of a difference in performance. I know what I did on-track, and so does everyone else in the paddock, and that's really why we race.
I thought you did a heck of a job. Even though I wish you were still running the Vette body, I got one of you T-Shirts and wore it out to dinner last night! The race series is awesome. I usually make the Sebring and Daytona rounds, most of the other rounds are on weekends I am racing off-road motorcycles, (enduros and hare scrambles), but I am going to spend more time Trans-am, at 61 the bikes are beating me up more than they used to. Good luck BuckeyeZ06.
I love Trans Am! Have not been able to attend a TA race in person...YET! I still watch the videos, social media updates, know some of the racers, etc...I have the first TA2 Camaro - but it's an older chassis, so, unfortunately, not legal to race in Trans Am anymore. A buddy of mine has recently acquired a current TA2 Camaro and is planning to run a few TA2 races later this year.
I thought you did a heck of a job. Even though I wish you were still running the Vette body, I got one of you T-Shirts and wore it out to dinner last night! The race series is awesome. I usually make the Sebring and Daytona rounds, most of the other rounds are on weekends I am racing off-road motorcycles, (enduros and hare scrambles), but I am going to spend more time Trans-am, at 61 the bikes are beating me up more than they used to. Good luck BuckeyeZ06.
Thank you.
I still can't get my head around people I don't know wearing a shirt with my car's picture on it. I am just not used to that.
I will post in-car videos from the Sebring race later tonight.
It's the graphics package!!! I have the same thoughts at the motorcycle races, people cheering me along the track I have never seen before in my life. But it is helpful when I'm damn near dead and wanting to quit after 2 hours.
It's the graphics package!!! I have the same thoughts at the motorcycle races, people cheering me along the track I have never seen before in my life. But it is helpful when I'm damn near dead and wanting to quit after 2 hours.
Now I am bummed: I thought it was my good looks and engaging personality.
I just wish they televised it.
Got Fed up with NASCAR years ago and got hooked (again) on road racing.
Maybe when I get old enough I can participate
They were posting full races on YouTube so we could at least chromecast the reruns to TV. Hope they continue to do that but so far there are no full races posted from this year. Last years races are still online.
Series was on CBS Sports Network in 2015 and will have a number of reasons on this year as well!
Amazing series, with ever-increasing levels of competition. We won the TA3 championship in 2014, ran two partial seasons after, and are trying to make another run at a title this year.
Follow us at Berkeley Motorsports on Facebook
Come find us at any of the races, and we'll be glad to show you around the car!
Last edited by jasonberkeley; 03-11-2017 at 03:51 PM.
Reason: Typo
I attended the TA weekend here at BIR in brainerd Minnesota. It was fantastic weekend. Watched my friend and fellow club member set the TA3 lap record in his first ever wheel to wheel race. Unfortunately it was an absolute ghost town with no spectators. Something needs to happen to get people out because it is some of the best racing around hands down
Good stuff and I really appreciate the videos. I watched them all! I will be at Watkins Glen on September 10th to watch. I am curious as to the classes. Why does the TA3 class restrict Corvettes to the years of 2010-2015? What class do guys run who drive C6 Corvettes from earlier years?
You can run a C7 inTA3, but nobody has as of yet. Joe and Andrew Aquilante are the only folks I know of who have built a C7 into a race car, and they are running it in SCCA T1. All C6's run in TA3.
03-07-2017, 03:50 PM
Trans-am racing
