MARRS 5 and Small Bore Bonus Race

G

Greg Nagy

Well-known member
Now that MARRS 4 is over, it's time to start talking about MARRS 5. MARRS 5 is going to have an extra, non points races for all of the MARRS "Small Bore" classes (EP, FP, GTL, HP, GTP, SPU, STU, STL, LC). Track time will include 15 minute qualifying session and a 10 lap qualifying race on Saturday, and TWO 18 lap races on Sunday! our races would be group 1 for the regular race, and the first race group after lunch. This will allow racers to get out of the track still early in the afternoon. Total cost will be 380$, or $295 for just the regular MARRS weekend. Summit Point holds a separate Test and Tune on Friday.

MARRS 5 is July 12th and 13th

It would be really great if we could have a full field for this race weekend. The Small Bore group is usually the 3rd largest run group of the weekend, but it would be really great if we could push it to the top, and show everyone else how good the racing can be in Production/GT with multiple makes and models all competing. It is also the last Summit Point race before the Eastern Majors final, and would be good for practice. Majors drivers. MARRS drivers. Out of region drivers. All are welcome to come and join us for this special race weekend!

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Greg and I have registered, Mike says he's coming, who else is coming in H?

Al Seim
HP Scirocco 1.6
 
Got the bodywork done and the backup motor fired up. Strightened out the old grill and jammed it back in, after trimming off some of the more offensive bits. And the hood fittiing took a little creativity too. Shot the painwith what Eastwodd is peddling instead of the old preval units, not too bad. And I installed a nerf bumper of an old patrol car.
So I went ahead and registered - hope more people sign up, there is usually a spike around Wednesday. But it is typically not the best-attended event of the year, too many folks let things like family vacations get in the way.
 
If anyone has any suggestions on how to better use the "bonus race" opportunity if we have it again next year, please send it along. As I mentioned to some at the track, a split of the group for the weekend might be better than the extra track time for all. Whatever gets presented to the comp committee, it has to be something that will get their attention with extra entries.
 
How many showed up for the bonus race?
As for me, I will have some serious problems getting back on track with the Legends cars. That 68 hit me at least three times, what's wrong with these guys? This isn't the 3/8ths mile high-banked clay. Having to do bodywork again is very discouraging.
But I will fix it up, see what I can do about sub-standard engine, and be back out there for Labor Day. Need some time to cool down still. May come out and work the Majors -
 
There were 7 or 8 cars out for the bonus race. Most of them were LCs. In the Saturday race #60 LC pushed Mike Weedon into the gravel at turn 3 and when told he did it at impound he said I never saw you. As we all know Mike's car is bright orange and black and Mike was beside him from just after turn 2. Kind of hard to miss. Looking at Mike McQueen's car Sunday you could tell it had been hit more than once. That same car #68 ran the bonus race and was running much slower laps than the rest of the field. As Kenny would say "Just saying".
 
Bill Hunter":2o7xk5e2 said:
There were 7 or 8 cars out for the bonus race. Most of them were LCs. In the Saturday race #60 LC pushed Mike Weedon into the gravel at turn 3 and when told he did it at impound he said I never saw you. As we all know Mike's car is bright orange and black and Mike was beside him from just after turn 2. Kind of hard to miss. Looking at Mike McQueen's car Sunday you could tell it had been hit more than once. That same car #68 ran the bonus race and was running much slower laps than the rest of the field. As Kenny would say "Just saying".
Click to expand...

One SPU, 2 STU Miatas, 4 LCs and an F Prod/IT car.

The simplest way to solve this would be wild success in the p/gt classes. Hopeful, but not realistic. I am looking at possible grouping changes that benefit all, but there is a lot of NIMBY involved.
 
I had a LC pass me last year on the inside of 1 - and I was on the apex at the time, so he was 4 wheels on the grass. How he got there I've never figured out completely, but near as I can figure he had to be on the far inside of 1 or perhaps even on the grass coming into 1. It was an extraordinarily high-risk maneuver, but being in traffic I had little choice but to ease off the gas momentarily to allow him to get back on safely before the tire wall tightened up into turn 2; otherwise I figured he would have taken out my right front coming back on. I spoke with the driver afterwards, but he didn't see any real problem with what he'd done. The lack of any sense of self-preservation sort of struck me as a problem. That, and the fact that they go where pointed so there's no concept or regard - at all - of a racing line, makes them unpredictable.

Not sure what an answer would be. If there is a repeated problem of contact, unnecessary or "unrecognized" pushing, etc. then throwing paper would at least make an official paper trail of how often problems occur. If the stewards see a pervasive pattern, then they might support some sort of action.
 
Hi all. I was the Race Chair for this event, and specifically requested it because Small Bore has been my favorite group since I first got involved with SCCA. I was really hoping for a good turnout in the Bonus Race, a la Prod Fest, and was a little disappointed we didn't get. it. Especially since the numbers for the group as a whole were up from normal.

So yeah, feedback is good. Is the whole concept of an extra feature race not valid, or was it something else? We thought it might have something to do with the registration system where no one could tell who else was running and we tried to work with that, but we never got more than 12 total entries (and as has been said, only 7 or 8 showed up).

The idea was very well received with the formula cars last fall when we tried it, and they are telling us they may have as many as 40+ for the October race. So what gives? I get summer vacations etc, but still, 7 cars?

Anyway, please, if anyone has any suggestions for what might make for a more attractive feature, please let me know! We're trying to give you what you want, but we're just not sure what it is ...

Thanks for your help!
 
CBB":315qip3d said:
I spoke with the driver afterwards, but he didn't see any real problem with what he'd done. The lack of any sense of self-preservation sort of struck me as a problem. That, and the fact that they go where pointed so there's no concept or regard - at all - of a racing line, makes them unpredictable.
Click to expand...
+1

I see this as a bit of a recurring theme.
I don't get to race as much as some of you, but when I do,,, I give these things a very wide berth when passing them or being anywhere near them in traffic.
I can only think of one LC driver who I see regularly and trust to pass that he will not do anything incredibly unpredictable.

Last season (2013) one VERY experienced WDCR racer had a LC car turn right across his bow, making contact, thus spinning the LC car.
Then the LC driver confronted the driver in paddock afterward saying he spun him.
We watched video that night, VERY clear the LC car turned into / across the other car spinning himself.
Apparently the next day, there was still no talking to him even when video evidence was offered.

I don't particularly trust them as far as I could throw one. They are always darting left and right, they don't seem to even use mirrors or have any spatial / situational awareness (or care for that matter).
 
Anne -

I think the poor turnout was due to a number of factors -

I was initially hesitant to sign up for the bonus due to not knowing who if anyone else was running - and a notion that I might as well wait and see what the weather etc was going to be like. Then I got a cold and didn't feel 100% so was reluctant to commit to two races on one day.

So I do agree that the invisible registration played a role. As an aside, I think WDCR is still suffering from its now-discontinued policy of charging credit cards immediately - the WDCR entries still seem to pour in at the last second. As is mentioned in another thread from another part of the country, late enries can serve to reduce participation by leading fence-sitters to believe that there's not much happening.

Would it be possible to give MARRS points for a bonus race? That would definitely increase participation! Many Prod cars are budget racers conserving heat cycles in expensive tires etc so some points would be a strong incentive. It would nominally mean more MARRS races for some classes than for others but I'm not sure that really matters..??

And not to pile on (ha ha) but I think that one entry was essentially knocked out by a Legends Car in the main race.

Al Seim
HP VW Scirocco 1.6
 
I'm not finding the MARRS5 results on Mylaps.com - I do see MARRS4 etc.

Am I doing something wrong or does it take a while for the results to show up?

Al Seim
HP VW Scirocco 1.6
 
Al,
Don't know about MYLAPS but the results are on the DC website. Hope you didn't catch the cold and if you did hope, you feel better.
 
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