EMRA @ LRP

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Tkczecheredflag

New member
Any IT boys want to chime in on the EMRA Race aty LRP? Good Luck to the NE contingency at ARRC. I wish I could be there but duty calls at home/work/and sports. Jeff L. kick some ITC butt.
Tim Klvana
ITC #11
 
We spent all last weekend putting this sorry looking engine in my car that had spent the last 16yrs in storage. With a busy week at work, I had very little time to get any some miles on the car, so I was hoping it would stay to gether for Saturday's race. This was the last race of the season, the last race before I am a Dad, and an opportunity to run a sprint race and a one hour enduro in a single day at my home track - LRP.

During registration I was told that they had overbooked the Enduro and I was 11th on the wait list. I was still ok for the Sprint race. During qualifying for the sprint the car pulled very strong, but the engine was overheating and the exhaust getting louder. After qualifying I found that all but one of the bolts had fallen out of the alternator bracket and the exhaust down pipe. While working on the car, I was told that just enough had dropped out of the Enduro, so I was in but the Enduro qualification was going on NOW. I acquired a few bolts and was able to get the car back running in time for the last few laps of the Enduro qualifying session.

I was having a tough time getting a good run, and time was running out in the Enduro qualifying session. I spun around big bend - put 2 feet in and stopped the car sideways on the track just in time for a BMW to sideswipe my left front end and tossed the car at least 10 feet down into the grass. the BWM needed a flatbed and was done for the day, but my car was still moving so I limped back to the paddock. The windshield was cracked, the wheel was bent, and the fender - well there wasn't much left.

After trying to pry away the fender, we gave up and used tin-snips to remove the rubbing parts. I put on my "spare" which was a different wheel with a year old flat Hoosier (I run Toyo's). This was about when they announced "last call" for the Sprint race. I tossed on my suit and headed out to the grid, and nearly lost control of the car at 10mph. I had about 20deg of toe-in! My front A-arm was bent pretty bad. I adjusted the toe so it sorta looked right, and made it out the grid about a minute before the start. I was thankful that I didn't loose my qualifying position, which I found out then was 1st in my class.

I had a great start, but when I started trying to turn all hell broke loose. Actually my biggest problem was staying straight. There was a wicked pull to the left, and the car wanted to do anything but go straight ahead. Worse yet, the fellows at the front of the pack thought we were in some kind of demolition derby. I got hit at least 4 times in the first lap. I did about 2/3 of the race, but after taking my 3rd romp through the mud, I pulled the car in so I wouldn't do any real damage to the car, myself, or a competitor.

Back in the pits I borrowed a set of toe gauges from the Diane and Tim parts store van, and got the toe back to zero. The camber and caster was still warped and there was still a pull, but it seemed to be a little better. So I decided to run the 1hr Enduro. After all the work getting through the Enduro qualifying, it turned out the track lap timing wasn't working and they just lined up randomly for the race. This made the first lap a complete traffic jam, so I decided to pit after the first lap and wait for things to thin. Back in the race, I was very consistent and stayed on the track. And.....get this.... I won! 1st place trophy on my desk now from the Enduro. Now I guess I have to put the poor car back together.
 
The big bore race was NOT much fun! Anyone care to offer WTF happend! I ran maybe 7 green flag laps(of 18)-what a mess!
 
Yeah! I too was a little bewildered at the grid for the enduro. Since there was no grid sheet, I asked the dude at the entrance to the grid where do I go. So he looks at my car, then looks at a piece of paper he was holding and yells up to someone else on grid, ST2. So I was gridded amongst the ST2 cars which sort of put me around mid pack. Forty two cars started so I had my work cut out for me. Mind you, the plan was to use this enduro to try out some new springs and get the car ready for the ARRC. So off we go. Another surprise, a halfway black flag(must have missed that part at the drivers meeting), so I say to Kimmie(crew) I think I'm doing ok so when I come in for my pitstop let's make it quick. I said that because I wasn't passed by anyone up to that point and I was passing two to three cars a lap. Some cars once, some cars twice, some cars three times....and the pro truck passed me once. Three or four laps to go, the car sputters, crap, running out of fuel. A few short shifts and coasting downhills and we made it to the chequered flag. No printed results are given out so you had to go to the beer party to find out how you did so after waiting through countless number of awards I found out that I finished third or fourth overall(still not sure yet) I won first place for ST2 beating the class by two laps. Paul K second and Scott Haven third. Big thanks to Kimmie for the excellent pitstop and thanks to all competitors for good clean driving.
Ray
 
So guys...any comments on EMRAs running of the event?? Officiating, flagging, timing, organization ??

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Jake Gulick
CarriageHouse Motorsports
ITA 57 RX-7
New England Region
[email protected]
 
Big bore race-We had a black flag all at about the 3-4th lap! My crew was told we would be cut short to only 10 laps! When we returned to the track I thought(wrong) that we would go around and take the green at the start/finish! Surprise-the green flag was shown at station 6! So anyone near the rear of the field was just done! Next lap around we are given the 1/2 way-the next lap we are given 2 laps to go! Not what I would say very smooth! The kicker was that they got us off the track so 12 open wheel cars could run for 1/2 an hour-yikes! We also had pre grid problems-1 guy trying to get 30+ cars lined up-cost them about 10 min. The other races seemed to go off with out to much trouble.
 
things were going smoothly until the sprint race. No postings for where you were going to start from. They started the race about 4 laps in we were black flagged. The leaders took the black flag and were allowed to go all the way around. which gave them all the win because no one would be able to catch them. there reasoning was because they were on the same lap which when you go all the way around puts everyone a lap down. They let us loose and guess what instead of coming all the way around to get the green , it was out when you got out of the pits. You would think the people that run a group like this would know what they were doing. It just sucked. 18 laps became 14 which then was 8 laps.
 
I ran the November EMRA event last year, and it was a run much better than what you described for this year.But overall , it was not as well run as any SCCA event I have been at the past few years. They make you run transponders, so you would think T&S would be better.....I think I will be staying away from their events until I here things get better.

[This message has been edited by rbt510 (edited November 06, 2003).]
 
This was my second EMRA event this year. I also did the Glen event a few weeks ago. You are right, this event did not run as smoothly as one would have hoped. The small bore sprint race (finally Jake and my car are classified correctly - their equivelent to ITB) went pretty well. There are a few cars out there that are a bit scarey being on the track. And I thought I got in your way during the SCCA races?! On the other side, it was fun being one of the faster cars on the track.

One thing I definately noticed is that there is a lot more hitting - no, not bumping but hitting - out there. I also did the enduro. Being in the ITB / ST2 group, we were back in the pack a ways. Driving the first few laps was pretty scarey! For me, the enduro was about surviving the race. I was so happy to make it through the race without hurting my car or anyone elses. (Boy that was close Jake - we missed each other by an inch!)

I do have to say, that all in all the EMRA events are fun. The first race at the Glen was the most fun I have ever had racing. Sat. at the Glen, back to hitting again. LRP was interesting.

They are a good group to run with - they just got a bit unlucky with their computer issues at LRP. Certainly can't complain about the track time! I'll do it again next year.

I did hear they gave bonus points to people that didn't get hit. Any point takers out there? I'll be putting my taxi bumper on during the winter...
Dave
ITA #13 - Yellow prelude
 
Originally posted by gran racing:
I did hear they gave bonus points to people that didn't get hit. Any point takers out there? I'll be putting my taxi bumper on during the winter...
Dave
ITA #13 - Yellow prelude
Click to expand...

US! We didn't get hit or do any hitting!
smile.gif


It was our first time running any races with EMRA. We've done TT's with them in years past. Last year we crewed for the enduro (it was COLD).

My only complaint (besides the computer issues that caused the gridding problems) was how hectic it was! We had planned on sharing the car in the enduro which brings its own set of problems. At the last minute we had an offer to run in the small bore sprint race and after that it seemed like we never had a minutes rest (Jake, thank your parents again for getting much-needed food! Everytime I looked over there the line was too long). But since they were running two events in one, I guess it is allowed to be a little hectic. And we lose 2 hrs of track time due to the time of year.

The schedule had changed a bit as they combined the open wheel classes so we really had to listen for the calls to grid.

All in all we had a great time. Weather couldn't have been better for Novemeber. We introduced a neighbor to crewing (and he did awesome!, as did our regular crew guy - Mr Opel
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), a co-worker came by and watched the enduro and got some pix, and one of the Escort message board guys really did show up and is in such awe he has decided his EXP needs to be on the track. Good lord I've created a monster!
eek.gif
I think one of Tim's co-workers is also looking at the classifieds after Saturday.

As long as the lap times actually make the web I'll be happy. Hope we can do it again next year.
smile.gif



Diane


[This message has been edited by Diane (edited November 07, 2003).]
 
I have been sitting here cringing reading this thread. I am writing this before I go to work so please excuse the typos and grammatical errors. I am an EMRA racer/volunteer, and while not an “official” with the club (and so not in the decision making process) I was working at the Lime Rock race and feel I had some part in the day. I will give you my perspective on what the race day was like. Most races come off like the WGI race a few weeks before.

The fall Lime Rock race is unique in the fact that it is a very compressed race day. We want to run a “normal” race schedule, but we cannot get on track as early as we would like (due to track restrictions). We are also contending with dusk, which comes real early in November and we must clear the track by then. So herein lies, what I think, is the root of the problem. The day is compressed enough that the volunteer flaggers end up foregoing lunch and eating at their stations. It also means that there is absolutely no fat in the schedule.

So the day was progressing pretty normally until the big bore qualifying. 6 laps in the normally extremely reliable T&S computer decided to stop working (this proved to be a real problem later in the day). However, the computer was brought back on line quickly (and I think the cars were brought off track anyway, for a black flag). So no problem with qualifying times. Then the enduro qualifying started. And then the computer failed completely. So a decision had to be made. Do we black flag the enduro practice and take the hit and shorten the enduro schedule? Well, a decision was made to try and fix the computer, get what times we can, and line everyone up by class if we don’t get any times. Additionally, Enduro practice is the only time the second driver can get some time in the car. So we decided to keep going.

Normally we would use the lunch hour to take care of any problems like this, and it also give us some schedule time to play with. But no lunchtime today!

The small bore race went off fairly well I thought. More about the “bumping” later.

The big bore race, I thought took the biggest hit of the day. And I played some part in this as I was working Grid. (I was the frustrated looking guy at the front of the grid). Normally we have multiple grid sheets, in qualifying spot order, and in car number order. Well with the computer problem. We had one sheet in qualifying slot order. So every car that came to the grid, I had to search for the car number. Time consuming and with one copy, had to do it myself. It took a longer then normal time to line you guys up. Sorry!

While we had the best intentions for the big bore race. We also ran out of time. There were a few “offs” that needed to be cleared and the tire wall repaired (Lime Rock must do). So a decision was made to shorten the race, right or wrong.

The open wheel race is normally run in two groups: small open wheel (fv’s etc) and big open wheel (FA etc….). The two groups were combined thereby saving 20 minutes. So while it looked like they got more track time…..

As for the bumping… Dave you have my email, write me and let me know who that was. EMRA does not condone, or allow intentional contact, and vigorously fights it. There was a driver, who also races with other clubs, who had his license suspended recently for just that.

I can’t proof read this as I am out of time. Please don’t judge EMRA by this one race. Due to scheduling it is the toughest race of the year to run. Sometimes it comes off great, sometimes……. EMRA is a great club with a great bunch of people, and it pains me personally to read that someone did not have a good day. I think most EMRA people would agree.

Jim Conaty


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Jim
Black Rabbit Racing, #154
 
I have run with EMRA before and had a good time-I will run with them again-maybe summit pt. I don't blame them for cutting the race short-At one point there were cars off the track ALL the way around! AND-practice and qualifying were not any better-spins-bumping etc. Come on people we all want max track time it's NO fun sitting out your session in the pit road! The race off pit road was a little strange-is this a normal practice?
 
Thanks to Jim at Black Rabbit Racing for his explanation for the goings-on last Saturday at Lime Rock.

I ran my first race with EMRA in 1987 at Bryar, and this is my 17th season running with them. I am currently the Race Chairman, and have been closely associated with the operational side of this organization for a few years.

We got caught out by the computer last week. We have been using the AMB transponder system for 3 years now, and it has not given us trouble. Of course, it is just when you start to relax, that technology rears its ugly head and bites back. We will work on that situation, you gotta believe!!

As for the "bumping", EMRA has a very fast reaction to those who are guilty of intentioonal metal-metal or who are driving over their heads. Over the years, we have taken disciplinary steps against drivers, both our own, and those who join us a few times a year. I am going to talk this over with Bob Hill, our Chief Steward, and see what he knows about the bumping incidents.

Stay tuned.

I sure hope more of you guys come out to our races next year. As you have heard, we do run a good race event for modest fees and lots of safe track time. If it was not that way, I would not have been with EMRA for 17 years.

Mike French, Race Chair
Eastern Motor Racing Association
 
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