The Boy and I took advantage of the lack of traffic and went for a spirited drive in The Precious.
What's the point of owning a Vette if you don't stretch her legs from time to time?
Patterson Road and Baillie's Bluff Road are two excellent twisty roads around here.
It's relaxing to row through the gears, match revs and do some heel and toe.
Relaxing for me.
For The Boy this is a roller coaster set to 11.
It's also a stark contrast to taking it to an autocross. Autocross isn't relaxing. It's fun, but different and not relaxing.
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For me AutoX depends on whether I've got direct competition or not. I've been running NCCC 1SE most of the time the last few years (occasionally 1SCD if I run the C3). Most of the time there are no other 1SE cars, so I can just run to try to improve my technique without worrying about anyone else. This year I'm moving to 2E (changing tires and a couple other minor things), but it won't change much because there is usually only one other 2E car, and he doesn't run it all the time because he's broke the car a few times and ends up running his 1K car instead. Anyway, for the most part things are a points chase, so it is a matter of strategies, part of which involve when to run the C3 (to deprive some 1SFG drivers of group bonus points), etc. Which races are drivable and which are trailering races figures into that strategy. This year everything is a mess due to most of the early season races being cancelled or postponed already, and the rest of the season being all up in the air.
ReplyDeleteBut anyway... sometimes for me AutoX can be relaxing. But not always.
You just reminded me why Autocross isn't fun.
DeleteThe class structure. Ugh.
SCCA was a lot looser about classes when I was playing regular if you just wanted to make runs and collect time sheets. As long as you were safe, and did your time as a cone warden, you could run what you brung and just have fun.
The local Miata club had us B-Body people over regularly and were constantly appalled that the 4,200 lb. Impala SS would run right with their svelte little Mazdas.
With The Precious I've gone out with the Porsche club up by Brooksville. Only the Hecho en Stuttgart cars are forced into classes, everyone else is essentially "other" and we just have fun with it.
They did have an interesting "test" for "street" classes. You met at the crack of dawn on the south side of the Suncoast Skyway... then drove surface roads to Brooksville's airport behind a pilot car. If you didn't make it, DQ.
I've never run SCCA. I looked at their class structure and I can understand your frustration with it. The NCCC system is far simpler. It can be because it is all Corvettes. Anything not a Corvette is in "X" class, and not part of the points chase. The class structure is basically by generation (and in some generations split by model families) A for C1, B for C2, C & D for C3, D, E & F for C4, etc., and then 1 for stock, 1S for stock on street tires, 2 for slightly modified cars, 3 for more modified cars, RP for 'race prepared' and RPAF for altered frame cars. That's highly simplified, but in general it makes for pretty interesting competition since most people are running directly against cars similar to their own. Some classes have a lot of people running them (newer C4, and C5-C7 classes mostly), others very few. Anyway, classing is done by visual inspection and there is a challenge system if someone suspects someone else of cheating. The latter rarely happens. Not the cheating part, the challenge.
DeleteOh, it's just the same.
DeleteDefine "slightly modified".
I have a button on the floor that opens the NPP exhaust on command, and I am not using the OEM run-flats. But they are all-weather tires.
Then there's the round shift knob.
Those three things move me into "modified" for SCCA and only the shift knob helps my times.
But the main point, and why I love the Porsche folks, is the classes and cheating only matter if you're competing for points, prizes and trophies.
DeleteWith them, only cars made by sleeker-VW Boblingen count for points so there's no BS of sorting and finding you're running against someone who spent real money "slightly" modifying their car who has a bad day when you whup them through divine intervention and luck.
That person going insane and demanding all kinds of inspections ruins the event.
I just wanna pull some lateral g! The time only matters to my personal skill level and some friendly rivalry with Marv and JT (who've never come to any event I've had time for) but I hope to compare with them someday.
You'd have to read the rule book. Things like different cams, intake manifolds or headers would change your class. None of the things you have take you out of 1S in NCCC. NCCC is similar to your Porsche friends in that only Corvettes could for points. However, if you aren't serious about points, you don't really have to be. Some people take it very seriously, some don't. I've never seen there be any big issues with people protesting or with tech inspections (other than for safety) being super nit-picky. Not to say it hasn't ever happened, just in the past 4 years I've been running and attending dozens of events I've never seen it. Anyway, there are NCCC clubs in your area, and I know there are events in Florida. Most this year of course have been cancelled or postponed because of the Wu Ping Cough, of course. Which sucks. New set of tires and no racing. Damnit.
DeleteIf you are curiousthe NCCC rule book is available on the national web site.
Deletehttps://www.corvettesnccc.org/Handbook/NCCCRulebook_2017-2018.html
FWIW, people who have put significant $$$ into their cars are pretty quickly into at least group 2 or 3 if not RP or RPAF. In groups 1 & 1S it is hard to spend much money in a way that really gives a huge advantage. That keeps things pretty fair and generally lets even the relatively impoverished play on a fairly level field with the much more well heeled.