NERRC - Notes from Tech meeting

Andy Bettencourt

Andy Bettencourt

Super Moderator
I sat in on the tech portion this past weekend at NER's Annual Meeting and wanted to pass along a couple pieces of info as well as pose a question.

Driver Gear

Get your gear in order according to the GCR. The biggest issue across all classes is the lack of SCCA patches. It's a small item, but they will be looking for it from what I gather. I would expect gear checks until everyone is clean.

Impound / Compliance

It is up to us as a group to submit a list of itmes we would like the team to consider for inspection. No singular witch-hunt stuff but a class-wide compliance check. I had inquired about the appropriateness of an open hood / trunk standard at impound and it was met with mixed emotions. Some thought it would do some good, some thought it was bad for the teams with 'better mousetraps' that they wanted to keep secret. My thoughts are the IT rules are pretty tight and the stuff you see on the outside isn't very liberal....

Any thoughts? I like the idea as I am an ex-autoxer and it was the standard. You present your car as legal everytime you put tires on the track, so I see no issue with people looking at what you have. Discuss.

Overall, I can tell you that both the NARRC and NERRC teams are very interested in what the drivers have to say. PLEASE do so when you have an idea or comment.
 
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In regards to the open hood deal. I'm not comfortable with people saying they don't want their better mouse traps copied. I kind of think that's BS. It's more like, "I have items that are in the gray area and don't want anyone to know".

With all the discussion with what's legal and what's not, I really don't think there are any silver bullets...........

Maybe I'm ignorant.

Um, don't answer that.......

I think they should be a little more strict on cars with body damage, eh Joe?? ;)


Seriously, I'll have to think about it a little more. (hey, everyone else posts without thinking :))
 
dazzlesa said:
open hood and trunk. what are you hiding?
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+1

(added because the software requires 10 characters minimum. Think this is enough? I can probably keep typing. Though I think at this point no one's actually READING...but that's OK, 'cause I need to make sure I get at least 10 - that's "ten", as in one after none, but not quite to eleven (funny movie, btw) - characters in. I think I'm OK now. I'll hit "submit reply" to see. If you don't see this then it didn't work. But, if it did then, well, it did. OK, here goes....I'm hitting it now...)
 
I like open hood/trunk as a standard.

Here's an observation though - This past year during the last couple of races, I noticed at least one car being worked on by their crew in the Impound Area - had something to do with something in the trunk - it also was a last minute adjustment in the False Grid before we lined up - not sure what was going on, and never had any HUGE suspicions for this front runner, so I never asked the driver about it, but since we're discussing it - "it" certainly caught my attention.

I would like to see the Impound Area restricted to cars, drivers and officials - no crew or sponsors (Carol), until the cars are released form Impound. I would also like to see the cars not being worked on in Impound unless there is a safety issue (I think that's a rule - no?)
 
Tkczecheredflag said:
I like open hood/trunk as a standard.


I would like to see the Impound Area restricted to cars, drivers and officials - no crew or sponsors (Carol), until the cars are released form Impound. )
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Except for Jake, right?? ;) (Jake, my 11 year old crew chief)



How about using the Whistler? It sounds like it's only a matter of pulling a plug? How much are they? Maybe just top three? And draw another 5 at random?
 
Nope, sorry Jeff! You will have to wait 30 minutes to celebrate with your team/family under Tim's restriction. :(

The beauty of the open hood / trunk idea is that Tim (or team) could actually walk over to the car he has secret issues with and either validate or quell his suspicions.
 
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It is up to us as a group to submit a list of itmes we would like the team to consider for inspection.
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Did you get any feeling towards what they might consider?
Whistler
Gearing
Cam Doctor (a pipe dream, I know)
Front spoilers
Ride height

I'd be cool with an open hood / trunk policy.

I would like to see the Impound Area restricted to cars, drivers and officials - no crew or sponsors (Carol), until the cars are released form Impound.
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Carol, did you do something to piss Tim off? :eek: Just because Tim doesn't want you around until it's convenient for him doesn't mean the rest of us wouldn't enjoy your company.
 
I think they would consider anything. They know we don't have any 'National-level' scruitineering. I think the basic stuff for regular regionals and then a real solid effort at the NARRC Runoffs might be do-able.

What I am looking for in the open hood/trunk standard is a chance for competitors to look over each others cars. We all know that we won't learn about engine internals but it would be great to validate intakes, ride height, tranny ratios etc. I would think it would give some peace of mind to the suspicious people of legal cars and it would open up the pathway of protests for outwardly illegal cars.

At the very least it would encourage people to clean up the little stuff. The stuff that won't fly in Ohio or Georgia.
 
JLawton said:
I think they should be a little more strict on cars with body damage, eh Joe?? ;)
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I can't help if my car is made from sheet metal instead of plastic dent resistant panels. :rolleyes:

I have no problem with open hood as long as a dirty engine bay is deemed legal. :p
 
Andy Bettencourt said:
I think they would consider anything. They know we don't have any 'National-level' scruitineering. I think the basic stuff for regular regionals and then a real solid effort at the NARRC Runoffs might be do-able.

What I am looking for in the open hood/trunk standard is a chance for competitors to look over each others cars. We all know that we won't learn about engine internals but it would be great to validate intakes, ride height, tranny ratios etc. I would think it would give some peace of mind to the suspicious people of legal cars and it would open up the pathway of protests for outwardly illegal cars.

At the very least it would encourage people to clean up the little stuff. The stuff that won't fly in Ohio or Georgia.
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What Andy said! When thinking of items you would like to see checked please remember that tech only has 25-30 minutes to perform impound (including weighing top 3). It would be nice to measure valve size, intake & exhaust port matching (1" rule), etc., but tech likely will not have time to perform all of those checks in a typical race weekend with 7 - 8 other race groups to deal with. Also keep in mind the varying levels of staffing at the races, I seem to remember hearing the NARRC Runoffs tech team being a little understaffed. Now is your time to let tech know what you want checked (within reason and no witch hunts please).
 
Andy Bettencourt said:
I sat in on the tech portion this past weekend at NER's Annual
Any thoughts? Discuss.

Overall, I can tell you that both the NARRC and NERRC teams are very interested in what the drivers have to say. PLEASE do so when you have an idea or comment.
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My apologies to anyone I offended by responding to the above invitations. I somehow misunderstood Any thoughts? and Discuss. My bad. I was simply offering some observations that appeared resonable - Again my bad. No cookies and milk for me tonight.

It might be intersting to start yanking parts off the TEG in Impound to see if it gets any reaction from fellow racers and inpsectors. I think it would be kinda cool to pull the, let's say, Throttle Body, in Impound, wrap it in a towel and send it back to the trailer with Carol. Sounds like this would be fine - Right? Working on the car is okay, crew, family, sponsors are okay. I'm catching on - just a little slow.
 
Andy Bettencourt said:
Nope, sorry Jeff! You will have to wait 30 minutes to celebrate with your team/family under Tim's restriction. :(

The beauty of the open hood / trunk idea is that Tim (or team) could actually walk over to the car he has secret issues with and either validate or quell his suspicions.
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No secret issues here or suspicions, if there was I would put up the paper - I actually never thought much of the car, and always thought you, the driver, were the reason for all the cars successes - Am I wrong yet again? I can't win today.
 
Tkczecheredflag said:
It might be intersting to start yanking parts off the TEG in Impound to see if it gets any reaction from fellow racers and inpsectors. I think it would be kinda cool to pull the, let's say, Throttle Body, in Impound, wrap it in a towel and send it back to the trailer with Carol. Sounds like this would be fine - Right? Working on the car is okay, crew, family, sponsors are okay. I'm catching on - just a little slow.
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At least it would be fun to watch you push your car back to your paddock!
 
How could we resist picking on you Tim? I fully agree that no one should be working on their cars or doing anything to them while at impound other than for safety reasons. It most definately throws up a red flag and makes a person wonder whats going on.
 
And again, if you feel there is a red flag, the beauty of the 'open' policy in impound would allow you to see what WAS going on. Of course you are already allowed to watch what is going on real time and make a judgement for yourself!

It just might be something as simple as someone disconnecting an electric fan connector or even shutting off a rear mounted video camera. :eek:

Let's open things up to KNOWLEDGE instead of suspicion.
 
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