National Tour at Ft. Myers

[hancheyb]

http://scca.com/_FileLibrary/File/SC...s-Saturday.pdf

12 entries in STU!! More than most classes including STX. There was a Sentra in STU which is kinda weird. Makes you think it was just padded. No Yokohama drivers either. That's disappointing. No RX-8 either

They were 2 seconds off Andy and STX was slow too. Makes me wonder.

[McCall]

Re: National Tour at Ft. Myers

http://scca.com/_FileLibrary/File/SC...s-Saturday.pdf

12 entries in STU!! More than most classes including STX. There was a Sentra in STU which is kinda weird. Makes you think it was just padded. No Yokohama drivers either. That's disappointing. No RX-8 either

They were 2 seconds off Andy and STX was slow too. Makes me wonder.

The RX8 guys are saying the course is under protest for being too fast (whatever that means). I'm guessing it wasn't a RX8 course anyway since B Stock lost to C Stock AND G Stock.

[hancheyb]

Re: National Tour at Ft. Myers

Weird. Were any of those RX-8s nationally competitive? I'd never guess that CS and GS would beat an RX-8 no matter what the course was.

[Nick]

Re: National Tour at Ft. Myers

http://corner-carvers.com/forums/showthread.php?t=27994

http://sccaforums.com/forums/thread/177509.aspx

Protested for corner speeds...

[hancheyb]

Re: National Tour at Ft. Myers

Oiy!! I read all those. This sounds a little silly in some respects and warranted in others. I went to the Pro at Ft. Myers one year. They do push the envelope if I may say so with only one data point. The finish on the Pro had a top of 2nd offset. One Miata finally hit the timers, there were plenty of close calls.

Ramey was there driving another guy's ZO6. I guarantee he was hitting 80 and he was putting the HURT on everyone there, not even close, TWO SECONDS on a Pro course per day. It sounds like Stewart did the same thing. I'd hate for them to protest just because one car was fast. We get so much practice on high speed stuff at Mineral Wells and TAMU, I can see why the times were off. If you're not used to your car at those speeds, you lose tons of time to someone that is comfortable.

[McCall]

Re: National Tour at Ft. Myers

Weird. Were any of those RX-8s nationally competitive? I'd never guess that CS and GS would beat an RX-8 no matter what the course was.

From the first and second placing BS RX8:

"I certainly realize that BS times were not up to par with a lot of other classes...that performance is certainly not an indicator of future dominance for either driver of my car. However, we did what we needed to do to finish at the top of the class--and that doesn't suck. Congrats to Aaron on popping his national cherry. And it sure felt nice to end a loooooong national wood drought for me. And--gasp--I believe my car was the only RX-8 in the field that had never seen the benefit of a TeamRX8 part ... LOL

The courses were fast. Saturday was the Saturday course I've seen at at least two prior NT's there, with a few minor changes. No 3rd gear for us, but lots of beeper time and maybe a limiter hit here or there. A blast to drive, but a bit annoying that they refuse to do an original course.

Sunday was the same general shape and flavor (transition til you puke) but not a replica of any course I've seen there before. Sunday was faster...as said above, a little 3rd gear time."

Another comment from a normal BS RX8 contender commenting on getting beat by GS and CS:

"With nothing but high speed slaloms and offsets, there wasn't really anyplace for an RX-8 to get an advantage over those cars. I never touched the brakes on saturday and only one place on sunday at the turnaround.

Clearly Darin and Mark were driving better than us but wheelbase really ruled at this event. With the exception of Ian in the GT3, even SS got tamed."

So I don't know. Could have either been a bad course for the RX8 but since the winner was a first timer, who knows.

[hancheyb]

Re: National Tour at Ft. Myers

Yeah, cockiness is inversely proportional to talent. We're dominating Southern Florida!!!

[McCall]

Re: National Tour at Ft. Myers

Statement from the Ft. Myers National Tour Chief of
Protest (unofficial):

http://sccaforums.com/forums/thread/177845.aspx

I think the last post really sums it up. I sure hope this incident/protest doesn't lead to overreaction and slow pivot-cone autoxs.

[John in Houston]

Re: National Tour at Ft. Myers

[url]They were 2 seconds off Andy and STX was slow too. Makes me wonder.

Wow... that's REALLY slow. I'm usually faster or right at Andy's times (course dependent)... and I ain't that good.

[McCall]

Re: National Tour at Ft. Myers

Update, the protest has been upheld and Sunday's results are back

http://www.scca.org/garage/forum/fo...p?TID=3380&PN=1

So you can't protest the course. Interesting...

[hancheyb]

Re: National Tour at Ft. Myers

Geez.