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I played with optima, it was fun but ultimately (no pun intended) not for me. 1. I don't enjoy autox events, and if given the choice between a parking lot and a track I will pick the track every single time. 2. There is a lot of "fluff" that makes the series appeal to a very broad crowd that doesn't interest a lot of driving enthusiasts. 3. at the end of the day, its essentially an "unlimited class" without safety, without wings (a lot of cars still have aero, and if its a factory wing like a gt3, viper acr its legal). I think a lot of guys whom are unhappy would have a blast and kill it in Nasa time trials. just my .02 cents
Thanks for capturing my smokiness lol that car was just puking out oil all weekend!
Rich I have been thinking about this ever since I left the track Sunday. Ill be shooting you a message when I have everything Im thinking about sorted out...
What I don’t understand is why they think the Evo and the Driver that won is good for the series. Literally Hundreds of Thousands of dollars Spent by one person so that he could finally win after getting beat for 3 years, including showing up at events with two or three race cars on Semi trailers, does nothing to make us grass roots racers want to go and spend our hard earned $$ in that series. I’ll take my $13K total cost build, easy-up, single cooler, and two fold up chairs somewhere else.
Last edited by Tomswheels; 11-09-2017 at 11:13 AM.
Thanks for capturing my smokiness lol that car was just puking out oil all weekend!
Rich I have been thinking about this ever since I left the track Sunday. Ill be shooting you a message when I have everything Im thinking about sorted out...
Please do. I will PM you my cell # so we can chat.
What I don’t understand is why they think the Evo and the Driver that won is good for the series. Literally Hundreds of Thousands of dollars Spent by one person so that he could finally win after getting beat for 3 years, including showing up at events with two or three race cars on Semi trailers, does nothing to make us grass roots racers want to go and spend our hard earned $$ in that series. I’ll take my $13K total cost build, easy-up, single cooler, and two fold up chairs somewhere else.
After having gridded behind the yellow Z06 at LS Fest and talking to the owner, it is definitely what I consider to be a very well engineered car and it looks great.
If a car like that can't score well at Optima, that is making me seriously reconsider building a car for it this year as I wasn't planning on anything nearly as involved and detailed. I though the D&E was just to make it so some POS/ratted up car doesn't win.
After having gridded behind the yellow Z06 at LS Fest and talking to the owner, it is definitely what I consider to be a very well engineered car and it looks great.
If a car like that can't score well at Optima, that is making me seriously reconsider building a car for it this year as I wasn't planning on anything nearly as involved and detailed. I though the D&E was just to make it so some POS/ratted up car doesn't win.
That doesn't make it right either. AFAIK, the Ultima thing isn't labeled the ultimate Good looking street car competition. So what if some low budget guy used hard work and his ingenuity to make a fast car. Should he be penalized because some fat cat competitor can afford to buy the latest DSE equipment or tons of billet bling on his car?
That doesn't make it right either. AFAIK, the Ultima thing isn't labeled the ultimate Good looking street car competition. So what if some low budget guy used hard work and his ingenuity to make a fast car. Should he be penalized because some fat cat competitor can afford to buy the latest DSE equipment or tons of billet bling on his car?
It sounds like you are making the assumption that the event is focused on awarding a trophy to the fastest / best braking / best handling car then? How is the event meant to be more about that than it is about looks or function? By name, it's simply the Ultimate Street Car Competition. You've applied your own interpretation and decided that it's about the racing aspects of the competition. But that isn't the only goal of the event per the organization putting it together. At the end of the day, it's up to the people organizing the event to determine what they consider to be the ultimate street car (and thus the subjective component that can leads to issues).
D&E and the Road Rally were put into place to ensure that people weren't showing up with full-on race cars that couldn't be (legally) driven on the street. That's not what this series wants to be, it's about being a street car first. A portion of D&E is to ensure that all of the street-legal requirements are met. Another portion is to ensure that the car is built in the spirit of being a true street car (full interior, AC, radio, etc). I don't like the full cages that some cars show up with (I wouldn't drive that on the street). The problematic component of scoring is the subjective component. It's next to impossible to have that be a part of the scoring system and not have any bias in the process...
But at the end of the day, the people that put in the effort to create this series and offer us the opportunity to 'play' get to decide how they want it to be run. While I've unfortunately only been able to attend one of the events, I had a great time while doing so. Car and schedule willing, I'll do 2 next year. I'd like to believe that my car is good enough to be competitive (at least in the GTV class), but whether I am as a driver, that's another story. But I approach it with the intent to have fun and getting an opportunity to compete in events that I don't get to compete in very often.
The reality is that a handful of the entrants will have any realistic shot at winning the event, and I know that going in. I like to see where I measure up to them. And I know full well what I'm getting into when I choose to pay my money and sign up. It's each person's choice at the end of the day, it's not a surprise what we're signing up for (potential judging subjectivity notwithstanding)... If that's not the kind of event you want, and you are looking for a pure racing event, then perhaps the USCA events aren't for you. And that's ok, that's why we have options to choose from.
D&E and the Road Rally were put into place to ensure that people weren't showing up with full-on race cars that couldn't be (legally) driven on the street. That's not what this series wants to be, it's about being a street car first. A portion of D&E is to ensure that all of the street-legal requirements are met. Another portion is to ensure that the car is built in the spirit of being a true street car (full interior, AC, radio, etc). I don't like the full cages that some cars show up with (I wouldn't drive that on the street). The problematic component of scoring is the subjective component. It's next to impossible to have that be a part of the scoring system and not have any bias in the process...
That reminds me of the first and only time they held an event at Laguna Seca. I showed up wit my buddy Mike Maier with his 66 Mustang Coupe that has a NASCAR Nationwide motor in it. They Thought they'd show us and made the drive down through Carmel, onto 19 Mile Dr and a bunch of other crowded streets and neighborhoods. Jokes on them when we finished the cruise while passing about 3 cars that were broken down on the side of the road. I guess everyones version of what a street car is is different. We didn't have a problem driving that car on the street, but many though we would. DuSolds Camaro is pretty intense, but if thats what he considers a street car and it survives the cruise, then so be it. Cars shouldn't be judged on appearance as far as being a street car, they should be judged on if they make the cruise in the allotted time while passing the appropriate checkpoints along the route.
DuSolds Camaro is pretty intense, but if thats what he considers a street car and it survives the cruise, then so be it.
I like Mike and his car. It's a tube-framed car with a Camaro body, no denying that. But he's put a ton of work into it to make it street worthy at least. Interior, windows, and a lot of custom seat and dash work to make it nice inside. So while it is a racecar at its core, and it's not what I would want to drive on the street, Mike's a good example of someone who put the effort into making his car match what is needed to be successful in the series. He had to put in the work to earn the Design and Engineering points to be competitive. (he lost events in the past as I recall due to low D&E scores)
Originally Posted by chetly
Cars shouldn't be judged on appearance as far as being a street car, they should be judged on if they make the cruise in the allotted time while passing the appropriate checkpoints along the route.
I'm not sure it's our place to say what should and shouldn't be part of the series. We don't get to define it, we just have the opportunity to participate in it if we choose. But I think that by having the judging portion of the D&E points, USCA is trying to bring a bit of the local cruise-in or car-show feel to the events. If you think about your local car shows, people drive cars there, usually they are then judged in different categories, and then people drive home. So I think the judging part of a USCA event brings a bit of that element to the event.
(as I wrote that, I contemplated whether having a "people's choice" type of judging at a USCA event would be a good idea. all of the competitors could vote on one car which was not their own. but then I realized that if you think the bias is bad now, boy that could get ugly fast......)
To me they they approach the 'street worthiness' in 2 parts: the D&E points and the Road Rally. The latter is what you referenced above (make the drive in an alloted time). The former bringing the 'car show' element along with the other requirements.
For better or worse, it's just part of what the series is... I, for one, am glad it's out there, as I don't think there is another series really like it. I just wish I lived in a place where it was more convenient for me to attend.
I like Mike and his car. It's a tube-framed car with a Camaro body, no denying that. But he's put a ton of work into it to make it street worthy at least. Interior, windows, and a lot of custom seat and dash work to make it nice inside. So while it is a racecar at its core, and it's not what I would want to drive on the street, Mike's a good example of someone who put the effort into making his car match what is needed to be successful in the series. He had to put in the work to earn the Design and Engineering points to be competitive. (he lost events in the past as I recall due to low D&E scores)
I'm not sure it's our place to say what should and shouldn't be part of the series. We don't get to define it, we just have the opportunity to participate in it if we choose.But I think that by having the judging portion of the D&E points, USCA is trying to bring a bit of the local cruise-in or car-show feel to the events.If you think about your local car shows, people drive cars there, usually they are then judged in different categories, and then people drive home. So I think the judging part of a USCA event brings a bit of that element to the event.
(as I wrote that, I contemplated whether having a "people's choice" type of judging at a USCA event would be a good idea. all of the competitors could vote on one car which was not their own. but then I realized that if you think the bias is bad now, boy that could get ugly fast......)
To me they they approach the 'street worthiness' in 2 parts: the D&E points and the Road Rally. The latter is what you referenced above (make the drive in an alloted time). The former bringing the 'car show' element along with the other requirements.
For better or worse, it's just part of what the series is... I, for one, am glad it's out there, as I don't think there is another series really like it. I just wish I lived in a place where it was more convenient for me to attend.
That's exactly what I mentioned before. Parts of the USCA is just a glorified car show. And there's just too much pissing, bitching, and moaning going on at car shows. That's why I've never entered a car show, and rarely if ever go to one.
A stopwatch doesn't have biases or play favorites.
If you're thinking of joining this series, do it!...unless you want to win. In which case, you better be very wealthy. I've got, what I consider to be, a very nice ZR1 corvette. Everything has been upgraded and/or custom. Problem is, you're competing against everyone else in D&E where they might have something old and custom which is generally more appealing to the masses. It's an infuriating part of the series, but it's also where this series started. I'm lucky to have great sponsors that get great publicity on television, and I've come to grips with the fact that judges apparently think my car is a turd. Regardless, the people are great and it's an absolute blast....until the DE scores come in...at least.
P.S. you missed the fastest Corvette from Saturday! I don't blame you, it was probably a blurry picture. Ohhhhhh!
new to AutoX and love it (06 Zo 6) not an engineer or maybe not all that smart, but it seems to me a Evo would need a whole lot more design and engineering to even come close to a stock Corvette ???????
new to AutoX and love it (06 Zo 6) not an engineer or maybe not all that smart, but it seems to me a Evo would need a whole lot more design and engineering to even come close to a stock Corvette ???????
Unlimited budgets tend to allow for those extra mods. Don't get me wrong, I wish my budget was unlimited, but it's not.
new to AutoX and love it (06 Zo 6) not an engineer or maybe not all that smart, but it seems to me a Evo would need a whole lot more design and engineering to even come close to a stock Corvette ???????
You're not giving the Evo enough credit, especially a highly modified one.
11-08-2017, 10:46 PM
