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A hour long penalty came for getting for wheels off after the #77 car rear ended us..
I know the rule, but I just don't agree with it. If you get slammed from the rear thus knocked off the track why should YOU be in the penalty box?
Particle_Man wrote:A hour long penalty came for getting for wheels off after the #77 car rear ended us..
I know the rule, but I just don't agree with it. If you get slammed from the rear thus knocked off the track why should YOU be in the penalty box?
We almost got parked for TWO hours because I locked the brakes up and went through the grass... Some of the rules are a little stiff....
The race was relatively cleanly driven. The Endurance Karting Miata was lucky they didn't drive on Saturday like they drove on Sunday, because they were taking every liberty possible out there. I will remember that for next year.
The Pimpala was, in our team's opinion, the car we least wanted to have around us. Always 1/2 out of control, forcing passes in the tight sections, etc. So they got our vote. No one stood out as being a really awful group, and we almost checked 'no one'.
Sounds like the mob was pretty harsh.
It does sound like these guys actually earned the curse for bad driving.
Regarding wheels off, it's my most common offense. I run a lawn service, shouldn't a lawn inspection be considered a professional courtesy?
I am seeing and hearing about more and more teams with brake problems.
This is real racing, you need real brakes to go with it. Cheap house brand brake pads suck for street use. Cracked rubber brake lines used to fail Missouri safety inspections. Unless you know the calipers and other hydraulics are fairly fresh, they should be rebuilt or replaced.
I think brake failures should result in an automatic disqualification. Unless you can document them as a defective replacement parts. Otherwise, it's negligence.
I think brake failures should result in an automatic disqualification. Unless you can document them as a defective replacement parts. Otherwise, it's negligence.
As opposed to what? Anything can break out there, and a hose can look fine and still blow or get rubbed. Disqualification? This ain't NASCAR, jeebus. we're racing $500 cars! Do you have money to replace parts that are probably ok, but not guaranteed? Is so, I would like you on my team please. Bring your checkbook and a good set of tools.
This is real racing, you need real brakes to go with it. Cheap house brand brake pads suck for street use. Cracked rubber brake lines used to fail Missouri safety inspections. Unless you know the calipers and other hydraulics are fairly fresh, they should be rebuilt or replaced.
dude this was conn. they really dont use words like "safety" or "inspection" when talking bout cars round there
I chatted with Jay after the curse. His intention was to have the mechanics remove parts which could then be stacked up and the team could put them back on the car. It was intended to be a pain-in-the-neck not near total distruction. Kudos to the team for nearly rebuilding the car in 6 hours. Jay announced that the team requested that the workers black flag Vlad the Impala so they could get a sensor needed to get Pimpala back on track for the checker. With 20 minutes to go, Vlad's driver ignored the black, in a final bit of irony.
Jay said he didn't expect all the sledgehammers and destruction. Our team brought a sledge hammer beat on some sheet metal. Fortunately, the handle broke as our mechanic seemed happy to get out alive with the axe and other tools swinging.
Jay said that he was thinking of a tool weight limit or something to get a future curse to be more what he originally intended. I suggested that he limit it to "twisty/removey" tools like wrenches, sockets, and screwdrivers.
I was relieved to see the seat seemingly intact and discouraged by the cut belts. Even if you got run off the track by the car, that's not Lemons spirited.
Sounds like the mob was pretty harsh.
It does sound like these guys actually earned the curse for bad driving.
Regarding wheels off, it's my most common offense. I run a lawn service, shouldn't a lawn inspection be considered a professional courtesy?
I am seeing and hearing about more and more teams with brake problems.
This is real racing, you need real brakes to go with it. Cheap house brand brake pads suck for street use. Cracked rubber brake lines used to fail Missouri safety inspections. Unless you know the calipers and other hydraulics are fairly fresh, they should be rebuilt or replaced.
I think brake failures should result in an automatic disqualification. Unless you can document them as a defective replacement parts. Otherwise, it's negligence.
Negligence? Disqualification? Excuse me but these are $500 cars and had we done the originally designed course our brakes would have been fine. We checked all brake parts, bled the system and replaced it with superblue fluid, and left the stock brakes since we weren't supposed to have a high speed brake zone. We did get Hawk brake pads but it turns out they don't actually MAKE brake pads that fit our car. Needless to say watching the video from last year the stock brakes would have lasted 2 races. With the last minute course change we had to take our chances. The car held out for most of the day both days and we really only missed about 2.5 hours of track time (because we were only able to find ONE set of brake pads anywhere in the area). If we had 3 or 4 sets of pads we could have probably done the whole race with no problem, running 9 inch solid rotors!
We already ended up way over budget and the group of us have done enough racing and wrenching to be more than qualified to judge the brake system sufficient or not. Unfortunate circumstances caught us out, but if you would like to donate a set of Brembos for next event my team would appreciate it.
VKZ24 wrote:Particle_Man wrote:A hour long penalty came for getting for wheels off after the #77 car rear ended us..
I know the rule, but I just don't agree with it. If you get slammed from the rear thus knocked off the track why should YOU be in the penalty box?
We almost got parked for TWO hours because I locked the brakes up and went through the grass... Some of the rules are a little stiff....
Most of the penalties for us were do to spinning the car and then going off. The thing that annoyed us the most about the one with the #77 car was due to the race officials not seeing contact. Our car was braking hard for a crash/spin out/etc... ahead going in to turn one, and the #77 hit us in the rear (it also had two other cars behind it, but they weren't in contact). No damage, but it pushed two wheels off, and the guys in the tower didn't see the contact, so the #77 didn't get flagged, while we got a hour penalty.
RogueLeader wrote:VKZ24 wrote:I know the rule, but I just don't agree with it. If you get slammed from the rear thus knocked off the track why should YOU be in the penalty box?
We almost got parked for TWO hours because I locked the brakes up and went through the grass... Some of the rules are a little stiff....
Most of the penalties for us were do to spinning the car and then going off. The thing that annoyed us the most about the one with the #77 car was due to the race officials not seeing contact. Our car was braking hard for a crash/spin out/etc... ahead going in to turn one, and the #77 hit us in the rear (it also had two other cars behind it, but they weren't in contact). No damage, but it pushed two wheels off, and the guys in the tower didn't see the contact, so the #77 didn't get flagged, while we got a hour penalty.
Thats a pain, and a definite raw deal. Its like well thats the rules the fun of the race is just being here, but they verge on unfair. My brakes locked and I went straight, instead of trying to turn and ending up sideways in the racing line which would have certainly ended in a t-bone and possible trip to the hospital, I let the car beind me by and it was clear so whats the big deal? We also ended up with quite a bit of non-conformity... Id get black flagged for being forced off in a corner, but then I got forced over on the main straight into the dirt (by a team that shall remain nameless but should consider a bus pass instead of driving considering their performance this weekend) and no penalty for either of us.
There is always the option of selecting "None of the above" and not having a curse. I know that every body panel of our car had green paint on it from thier car. As far as I'm concerned, the croud wanted to have that car immobilized for the rest of the day.
Tom, Tom, Tom... Did you REALLY need to go *that* deep into the corner to where your brakes locked up and sent you into the grass? Was trying to get that last couple of tenths off your lap time that important that you risked a black flag for it? Look what the KK team did - textbook endurance racing. Kept on the track, stayed away from the trouble makers, and stayed well within thier own limits. Our experienced drivers did the same (and/or knew where they could get away with the hoonage), while our younger drivers were more agressive and got us a couple of black flags.
There is always the option of selecting "None of the above" and not having a curse. I know that every body panel of our car had green paint on it from thier car. As far as I'm concerned, the croud wanted to have that car immobilized for the rest of the day.
Tom, Tom, Tom... Did you REALLY need to go *that* deep into the corner to where your brakes locked up and sent you into the grass? Was trying to get that last couple of tenths off your lap time that important that you risked a black flag for it? Look what the KK team did - textbook endurance racing. Kept on the track, stayed away from the trouble makers, and stayed well within thier own limits.
Good point... Its easy to forget that this is an endurance race, and honestly my first one. Still think its a lame rule, some things need to be a bit more like other race series, if you aren't gaining anything, you've maintained control of the car, and you aren't doing it every single lap, basically "just an accident" then let it remain so. That said I knew the rules going in.... so in the end its my own fault, and why I didn't fight with the officials, I just bartered my way out of it 
.
I have a bunch of photos, here are links. Not all of these are mine, so thank you to all those who documented the race photographically.
http://www.flickr.com/photos/mike_jones … 402578764/ - This is the set from our camera.
http://gallery.bithose.com/main.php?g2_itemId=20160 - This is our team collection, taken mostly by team members.
http://blogs.courant.com/autoracing/200 … t-was.html - A video done by the Hartford Courant.
Looks like the dick move of cutting the belts is pretty well covered. I'm sure Jay will restrict such jackassery specifically in the future. As far as cutting wires, etc., I say it's called destruction for a reason, and the team should not EXPECT to be able to revive the car. If they can, more power to them, but people's curse avoidance is about on/off track courtesy and not pissing off all the other drivers, so your car is not DESTROYED. I think the team reps should have lined up, and each one gotten 10 seconds, instead of the chaotic mob approach, but it WAS fun...
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