95jersey

Since I am semi-retired, I was going to go to drive down on Sunday to check out some of the action as a spectator. Wanted to see if any forums folks were going to go?

Wicked Weasel

Last report they had different levels of drivers on the track at the same time and a Ferrari went off 4 times with an instructor. Good enough reason for me to stay away.

moespeeds

I'm going to be out in AZ, or I would go. I'll be out with them in June though, hit me up if you're coming down.

PaConehead

Please keep us posted - I'd like to hear how they are handling cars sessions and dealing with traffic/novice.

I ran with TT4C last season and the car sessions were "ok" - there were some problems and complaints about two particular slow/inexperienced drivers (one had several spins and at least two offs). But since it was my first trip to Lightning, I was wasn't pushing too hard - also there weren't a lot of cars. I'm considering doing another event this season.

theVcar

They have 16 days scheduled for this year at NJMP, just too bad they dont do a better job with safety. I like running with them, but it is safer on rte 78 west on a sunday

95jersey

It looks like things have changed since I last ran with them. I too remember only one run group, but there was always only something like a 1/2- dozen cars at the most, so because of the low attendance, I guess I never ran into a problem. It always seemed like the motorcycles were the main source of their attendance and the cars were just an after thought. I remember sessions where you would literally only have 2-3 cars on the entire track.

PaConehead

Anybody have any updates or any info on how TT4C has been dealing w/safety and traffic issues this season - or any changes to their format for car sessions. PM if you prefer!

Thanks

moespeeds

I would love to know what the safety issues are. I've run with them 3 times now, and don't see any issues. They only do one run group, point by passes on the straights only. Tech is fine, they aren't going to bust your ***** if your roll cage isn't to NASCAR spec, but they make sure your vehicle is track worthy so you won't be a hazard to anyone else. I ran with them yesterday, 10 cars on track, 8 sessions in one day. If you are super fast, it's not for you. If you are super slow, it's not for you. If you think you need an instructor, it's not for you. If you're somewhere in the middle, and want good, quality track time, nothing is better. They have a 2 spin rule, and it is enforced. My first event with them there was a group of yahoos in civics and WRX's all down there together. Every one of them went off once, 2 of them damaged their cars, but that isn't any fault of TT4C. Also, most of the guys running with them made the transition from the motorcycle side, so cars seem tame in comparison. They can be an aggressive bunch, especially if you are slow on the point-by, and overall they are much younger than what I saw with PCA or NCM. Lots of kids in their 20's.

Wicked Weasel

Safety concern is mixing experience drivers with novice. As an experience driver running decent lap times I don't feel comfortable with others being on the track with no experience. I personally feel that sooner or later something bad is going to happen and I don't want it to happen to me at 150 mph.

As far as the rules of 2 off track you are out, our first report back was a Ferrari went off 4 times with an instructor and nothing happened. Once we heard that it confirmed our safety concerns.

I like Glenn and I like the motorcycle guys since I am friends with a bunch of them. Heck we use to do TT4C all the time but I feel a few years ago they made a change which was not good. I heard they changed out the head instructor which was good since every time he was on the track he thought it was a race.

I hope they change back to the way they were then I will be back out there.

moespeeds

Lotta "I heard" running around in here. Like I said, if you're really fast, you won't be happy, but for us middle guys who just want twice the track time that you'll get with other clubs, it's great. Of the 3 events I went to, everyone was plenty happy, and the most cars they ever had on track was 20. As for that rogue Ferrari, you sure it wasn't the IM exotic car lap day back in March? Glen was an instructor for them, as well as myself and a few of his other motorcycle instructors. We were just working for IM, not running the event or affiliated with it in any way. The Ferrari F430 was spun off the track 5 or 6 times in one day.

2 GTOs

Mike, come to an NJMP member day with me No fuss, no crowd, and a huge diversity in cars.

PM me for details.

NOSLO6

I've run with them 4-5 times over the last year and while they do run just one car group I've never seen safety issues. I think this is in part because of who turns up-- I really haven't seen many full on race cars and there are usually just 15-20 cars max.

I was very hesitant to run with them for the first time for the reasons stated above, but I no longer have concerns. I see trade-offs associated with having some slower traffic on track vs. a track packed with cars as you see with other HPDE groups. As some have noted, if you have a full race car and decades of experience, it would probably be more fun to run with the experts in one of the other groups (I love Schattenbaum PCA, but that's just me).

It's a fantastic amount of track time and Glen and the group are great.

Wicked Weasel

Someone I know was attending the event listed on tt4c website for March 27th. This event was also listed on NJMP calendar as "team promotion". Could it have been the exotic day I guess so but since it was listed on tt4c website and NJMP had the day reserved for them why would I think someone else was running the event? Anyway I asked for feedback and this is what was posted:

This was enough information for me to stay away based on my last track day with them.

I have done many TT4C days and my last day was when they combined novice and experience at thunderbolt. All drivers were frustrated. Novice had experience drivers approaching at high rates of speed and were nervous what to do. Experience drivers sat behind novice drivers waiting for a point by and eventually many just started to pass without point bys. Each group complained and TT4C solution was to divide the group in 2 and give each group 12 mins. Of track time per session Since 12 mins is not enough time on the track many of us asked to have 1 full session for novice and then 1 full session for experience but that didn't happen.

So I am making a decision to stay away based feedback from their first event this year and my own experience. If you are saying the march event was not tt4c event and their events are run better now then great for tt4c and I wish them the best but it will still be hard to convince experience drivers that mixing run groups is a good idea.