So how did we do at Nelson Ledges? (Page 2 of 7)

HAHAHAHAHA........ loved the whining.... tried not to add to it!!

(non-cheating SE-R crew chief here)   I had the HARDEST time trying to convince our drivers that going 4 off was a penalty NO MATTER WHY YOU WENT OFF...  And that the correct thing to do was to NOT GO OFF...    one of our guys (Danny Popp) is a seasoned road racer and record holder, he went off on the FIRST LAP, but didn't get flagged...  so we got a freebie!!! YEAH!!!   The next off we had was one of the innocent guys... I groaned audibly when he said it.. I was rushing over to tell him to admit, apologize and throw himself on the mercy of the court... TOO LATE....   two page essay time... just glad he hung around to help read the note...

We had such a good time... the track guys were great, the judges were awesome.. the fun was rampant.   Our whole team are SCCA drivers  Solo, Road Race... we have NASA driver Popp too...  it took all my patience just dumbing them down to the Lemons level, and constant reminding to not take it seriously. They kept talking about winning!!!  I just wanted to be alive at the end...

If we get to run Nelson again, we know what to bring,, other wise we know what to do now.. we will continue to be a thorn in yer asses for years to come..

Also.. to ANY other team.  The SMS racing team pit/paddock is open to ANYONE that needs help, We will work as hard on your car as we do ours (as long as we aren't working on ours at the time!!!)  We enjoyed the hospitality, the comeraderie and the atmosphere of FUN..   what a change from the stuffy ass SCCA nose in the air competitiveness (there I said it) I am used to.... 

Also, as I am going to mention in a separate thread, I run the Cincinnati Region Autocross (Solo) program. I am interested in doing a Craptastic Autocross event in the future... possibly as a test and tune for Lemons entries???  hmmmmmm.................

We thought everyone was awesome.  Our team loved driving this track and we will for sure be back at Nelson one way or another.

Thanks for the great weekend.

Blame Canada #337

This was our first race (red #35 Neon) and we had an absolute blast.  Our race ended unofficially at about 2:30AM when our car went off, and was hit HARD by a V12 powered BMW.  Our race was officially over at about 5:00AM when Jay told us the car couldn't go back on track because the alignment was too out of whack.  We had the car running by relocating the battery, cutting off the fender and part of the bumper, zip tying the ECU back, and relocating the lights.  Anyway, we are already thinking about the next one.

That said, here are some of my thoughts.  I would strongly suggest a drivers' meeting before practice on Friday night.  It was our first time on track at night, and the first wheel to wheel for a number of us.  Having a drivers' meeting to go over at least the night time flagging would help.

Not all the flags were covered during the drivers' meeting.  Our driver saw a white flag and none of us were sure what it meant.  We assumed it meant an emergency vehicle  was on track, but it wasn't mentioned in the meeting.

The flagging on the back straight was a little confusing, but we realized that it was better to wait until the next flag station to confirm if it was green before passing people than get another black flag.

The only suggestion I have is to give the guy on the back straight a permant light so it's easier to see the black flag board at night.  It looked like he was trying to hold the board and a flashlight at the same time, and as a driver I really had to look over and stare to see it.  Having some halogens on a stand or something would probably help.

Overall, great event and glad to be a part of it.

Ken

Agree with Jer, the flagging for yellows left a LOT to be desired, particularly because so many inexperienced drivers decided that it meant SLAM ON THE BRAKES IMMEDIATELY!  Perhaps at the next driver's meeting this could be mentioned as a BAD IDEA.  I am guessing part of it has to do with no one wanting a penalty for passing under yellow - understandable, but that's safer than causing yet another pile-up on track!  Give the spot back right away, and there shouldn't be a penalty - it happens in racing, corner workers know this - but I don't know how Lemons feels about it?  If the intent is to be safe, it shouldn't be a problem.

But back to the flagging; I've been going to Nelson Ledges for over 10 years now, started with DE/HPDE, have done track days (run by the track and private group rentals), and raced there (SCCA).  The best flagging by FAR is Lake Erie when the SCCA is there.  Some of the track days in the past had virtually no flagging.  This was definitely better than nothing, but not to the typical Lake Erie standards I have seen.

Well I got married there and that rocked!  Guess who will be back for his anniversary? The car though blew up about 45 minutes in and we spent most of the race trying to change the motor in the mud.

The track by far exceeded my expectations and I thank Nelson Ledges for a opportunity to get married at a place I could actually race at.  Maybe next year we'll see about SCCA and Lemons. 

We'll be back next year with a slightly different team in a car that's not slapped together.  Ok it'll be slapped together but we'll finish!  lol

I think most people dug the yellow bumblebee camaro so maybe we'll do that again...Have to thank Schumacher Taxi Service otherwise we'd never have seen the track due to seat/rear bar issues.  Thanks guys.  Also those MR2 guys for inspiring us to (try) be heros.

I have a LS400 I'm finishing up (just needs cage), so I'll be ready for your "Craptastic Auto-x"... Your car sure had plenty of power, but some of your drivers need to slow down your auto-x reflexes!

We understood the situation.  The only thing we were thinking was that some of the cars were probably more dangerous to begin with; ie the cars with no front suspension.  There were some Crown Vics and other large cars that were riding around on bump stops.  Afterwards though, we were fine with it.  It actually took some work to convince our whole team to even try and repair the car.  I think our real goal was to prove to ourselves and everyone else that we know enough backyard engineering to get the thing running.  I made sure Jay looked at our cooler turned battery box because we didn't want that to be a wasted effort.

Ken

We, the Schumacher Taxi Service, had an absolute blast.  I also saw the yellow flag inconsistancies but kudos to the workers - one came out to the cars during one of the red flags and let us know what was going on.

Your guys weren't a problem. Its kinda hard to describe, and again, typical of folks coming out of auto-x. I think its because auto-x folks are used to making fast decisions and reacting fast.... They tended to be kinda all over the track. Mostly just slow down the reflexes a bit. When a car is predictable, everybody knows what to do. If passing a slower car, they know where to move to get out of the way. If a faster car is trying to pass you, they know where to go by you safely. If you move around a lot, it makes everybody jittery, and more prone to contact or other unpleasantness... Not sure if that expresses it right. Not a complaint mind you, just an observation, and I'm sure I'm guilty of some of that too. In my case, I tend to get a bit impatient when I have to wait in slower traffic.

Mentioned it to the organizers after the race but will throw it out here too.

C'mon people. Say it with me... "brake lights are RED". Ok again, "Brake lights are RED"

To the smack offs that had yellow brake lights...  you know that ones that look just like the yellow lights used by the flag stations to signify caution, yeh those ones. Ugh.

Too many times I would be coming into oak tree, looking across for the flag station 7 and see yellow lights. At that distance, in the night with crap cans in front, behind and beside me, well it sucks.

Otherwise great time. Shocked at how many cars finished. We stopped in the 10th hour due to knocking and a eroding camshaft. Put some 90wt in and started up back in the 20th hour and made it to the end, though the motor finally started really giving it up with 10min to go but we nursed it to the finish. And gained something like 13 spots by coming back out.

BF stations were hard to see at night, I'll agree with that as was the Red, though I knew it was coming after seeing the Caddy into the bridge and another car off in the swamp at the same time. Otherwise I thought they said that yellows at night were always going to be FC? Was that true? If so that should have made it easier, no?

I think the issue was the BF station was busy with BFs and not working the yellow as much. Perhaps it would have made sense to only have that as a BF station and not a true flag station? Exit of the Carousel and then the kink only? that way we couldn't pass until we go to past the kink? I know I was looking to the BF station and not seeing yellow and pulling as many passes as I could before coming into the kink.

I also liked that we didn't keep the cones in the kink. I don't know that there were many/any issues with speeds. Outside passes in the kink were a non-event for many out there.

Final thought. Nelsons = Lemons. Just something about that combination that just worked.

blah blah blah Miata?!... I guess I missed that one!

The Lada guys told me after the race that the Spec Miata was claimed....?  If so, serves his dumb arse right... and this from a Spec Miata guy

Also -- we heard about the blue/yellow and white flags.

The corner workers were not supposed to be using those. Like Sarah Palin, they went rogue.

If you're interested, blue with a yellow stripe means you are too slow and need to let the guy behind you go past and white means a safety vehicle is on the track.

Since most Lemons racers have a hard enough time with two flags (yellow and black), we figure additional flag will only hurt their brains that much more. The corner workers waving blue/yellow and white flags were in and around the Carousel and out of our line of sight. So, sorry they were doing that.