Only 3.........

[Chris P]

It was mentioned to me that ONLY 3 people competed in every SOLO 1 event this year..........thats right.

The dedicated folk were myself(only messed 1 event in the past 4 years of SOLO 1 compitition!!!!!!), my dad and Rob McAuley.

Actually i guess their are really 4 since Jeff Graves was at every event but a mechanical problem prevented him from competing one day at cayuga.

Where's the dedication people!! :eek:

[ice/solo racer]

I guess not everyone wants to spend the bulk of their day standing out on course?That was what kept me from trying harder to attend my second event ever this summer.

[Dave Barker]

Krispy, I only ended up at 7 events ( for various reasons) but really I needed to have a throw away event. Come to think of it after this past wkend I needed 3 throw aways! Maybe 5 !!

[Liam in Montrea]

Shannonville was my 12th driving event of the year. last one in 3 weeks at the glen.

that includes rallies and one winter solo though. and doesnt include co-driving and pit-crewing events.

still, it's a step down from last year's ~26 events (I'm trying to do less and less, not more and more ;) )

regards,
Liam

[ADAM]

i could not get my car to work long enough to attend them all....

[CobraStang]

Catastrophic engine failure claimed the last three events of the year for me.

Next year, though, I plan to get in every event. After doing some laps in the rain, I no longer fear water! Plus as many lapping days as I can handle! It would be nice if Solo 1 organized more lapping days like the ones on the day of the schools.

[James Mewett]

What is really remarkable is not how few people competed in every event, but how few even managed a full season of 7 events. By my count only about 32 people managed 7 or more events and even in well filled classes only the first few overall positions are occupied by full-season competitors. For the health of the sport we need to find ways to get those occasional guys out more often more urgently than we need to find new people to introduce to the sport. A very large number of competitors went away after one event and didn't come back. Only half of them were novices. Is this normal? Is this healthy?

[rpr]

There is this other thing called 'Real Life' that some of us have to deal with. It includes such insignificant things as wives/husbands, children, jobs, houses, income etc. If I was single, childless and living at home (hey, I think I just described Chris!) I'd be at a lot more events. And next year even though I will be concentrating on Solo 1, I still will only be able to do 1 event per weekend since there is no way I will be able to take whole weekends away from my family. Nor would I want to, so there is very little chance that I will do more than half the events. It's called dedication to my family. Do I want to race more? Sure. Will I? Probably not, at least not until my daughter is old enough to drive... :)

[Liam in Montrea]

Someone hasn't grasped the concept of turning races into "family outings" :)

give your daughter a torque wrench, see how that goes....

regards,
Liam

[haniforama]

I had to work :(

[Dave]

my brother's wedding and then his trip up here to go (ugh...) puppy shopping (I know, I KNOW) prevented me from attending two weekends. Otherwise I would have OWN3D Krispy :p

[Rob McAuley]

I would have done more, but there were only 12 events this year!

[Chris P]

okay, lets hear the cry baby excuses. I love it!!!!
Good reading


Okay sooo we have

taylor:
"wah wah wah its raining and my glasses may get wet not to mention that horrible slidding things cars do in the when pavement is damp."

Caius:
"whiped"

Wes:
"there is a SOLO 2 this weekend " :p

adam,
" She just can't handel the Boost captian!!!!! More power is the solution!!!!!!"

davep
"my colon hurts"

:p

Krispy........he who thinks reading excuses is fun

[Rob McAuley]

Christian:

I want to break more than my control arms. I think I'll do a regional race instead of Solo 1.

[Dave]

Jay Fram: I have to shopping for new drapes!

[John P]

I am surprised nobody said the entry costs were too high to do a full season. How many people would attend more events if it was, say $75 per day?

John

[ice/solo racer]

$75 a day! Count me in!:D

[Dave]

yeah, those were the good old days in some ways. But the reality is those prices were feasible because we ran primarily on half tracks (Nelson, Fabi, and the old Powell track at Mosport) which cost half as much. We used to have just 1 Pro track event a season and that was it for full tracks. Now we've got 2 Pro track events and 4 Cayuga events, all of which are full tracks that cost bigger bucks to rent.

We've also seen large increases in event insurance, so that's forced the cost of running the series up substantially as well.

We are paying more these days, but we're also getting more in terms of all the full tracks we get to run on. Based on the Solo 1 survey we did last year, Pro and Cayuga were the highest rated tracks by the 55 competitors who filled out the survey, with Fabi 3rd and DDT counterclockwise 4th, Nelson 5th and DDT clockwise 6th. So I think there is some evidence suggesting competitors want to keep running on the full tracks, though if they had to choose between cheaper fees vs full tracks I don't know which would win out. Personally, I'm happy to pay $100 to run the Pro track or Cayuga (or any other full track we can get our hands on).

Cheers,
Dave

[Chris P]

perhaps a dynamic entry fee rate should be introduced. Why should we pay the full fee for Nelson or fabi? Perhaps this will also increase subscription rates at those usually lowly attended events. Instead of 1 entry fee we base it more on the actual track rental fee. This will also give people a better understanding of the cost to run at different tracks. You know what, that may actually be a good idea. :eek: :eek: :eek:

[Dave]

Krispy, that idea has been discussed a number of times at Solo 1 Committee meetings but it's always been rejected because it was felt that this would make the registration process more complicated than it needs to be. I think there is some appeal both from an adminstrative standpoint and a presentation standpoint in having a single and consistent registration fee for all events.

I actually did a cost:benefit analysis of sorts last year when I put together the Solo 1 survey results. I examined the tracks based on their rental cost, average attendance, profit margin, and competitor rankings. What I found was that the Pro track ranked the highest, with Fabi a close 2nd, Cayuga and DDT CCW a distant 3rd and 4th, Nelson 5th, and DDT CW last. To be honest I'm not too sure about the validity of the methodology I used when conducting this cost:benefit analysis, since it has been a while since I completed my Economics degree (graduated in '93 and haven't used it much since), but I think these rankings do suggest that running events at full tracks is a worthwhile endeavor.

[Taylor]

Yes, I skipped out of the first double header weekend due to a crap forecast with 100% rain, after getting hit like we did the first event, all my tools getting wet (moving them to higher ground, dropping the torque wrench in a puddle (hah.. puddle, I mean I dropped it under the bleachers, which just happened to be one big puddle), etc..etc.. not to mention driving around nelson looking for a "dry line" wasn't terribly exciting. If no one's noticed (i.e. Krispy) I kinda have a lot of torque and no LSD. Maybe if I had a FWD car with no torque driving in the wet would be more fun. At the time, with that car, I basically had to remove the T-Roof so my helmet didn't bang on the roof, I was in a race seat so I can't really sit limp, so with the T-Roof off, and it pissing rain, bursting through puddles, I'm going to soak (i.e. ruin) my interior and myself. Wheeee! However that did get fixed after #4 and 5, so the only excuse I have left is tread depth.

So yea, there's my excuse for event's #2 and 3.

I missed #7 and 8 due to the Canadian Easterns in PEI.

Dave was kind enough to let me drive his car for #9 and 10 (as the MR2 was still out due to a mechanical suffered on #6)

And I missed 11 and 12 due to two things, a mechanical I found only 2 days earlier where my taillights and interiors wern't coming on (likely caused during the repair to the mechanical in #6) which meant I couldn't drive at night and this more or less gave me sufficent excuse to get work done at home I couldn't put off any longer. Which is a shame because that was a beautiful weekend for Solo.

So yeah, excuses excuses, but all basically uncontrollable minus event's 2 and 3 which you all know sucked due to torrential downpour, so I'm not sad I didn't make it. :)

So I actually made it out to 4 weekends out of 7, but that only worked out to half the events. Ahh well.

That said, in '01 I did 13 of 14 and would have done them all had my father not come down and my wanting him to compete in a Solo 2 while he was here. Then I got the MR2 and modded it.. *sigh* :)

Anyhow, I fully anticipate a reliable FWD car next year and hopefully a backup set of full tread Toyo's. So that ought to curb my excuses.

[Chris91GT]

I don't see me using rain excuses. :D It's called car control. hehe

My excuse is that I decided to start exploring the big tracks of Mosport and Watkins Glen. Several days of that started to eat up my budget quickly. But I did intend to come back to Shannonville (I even installed mufflers!)... unfortunately, I busted 2 gears, a cluster, and the tranny case itself at Mosport on Sept 1 and the damn thing is still out for repairs. :mad:

My 2004 plan includes as much of the Solo 1 schedule as I can manage (perhaps excluding DDT - one day there will eat up as much tire as several days at the big track with continuous lapping), lots of the NE Porsche club events, and tons of Mosport (most likely several of the BMW schools). The thought even crossed my mind that I might get my rookie race licence and try a sprint at Mosport. But that's just a tickling in the back of my mind right now...

So, 2004 SGT3 champion... Chris Atkins!

:D

[rpr]

Originally posted by Liam in Montrea
Someone hasn't grasped the concept of turning races into "family outings" :)

give your daughter a torque wrench, see how that goes....

regards,
Liam

She is almost 4, but yeah, I've got her started in her role as grease monkey already. She knows wrenches, sockets, pliers, etc, I just need to get her to figure out the sizes: "No, the 10mm!"

[ADAM]

here you go already spreading lies.....

chris sgt3 2004 champion......

ha ha ha ha... that mustang is gonna be spanked so hard..... that the guy who originally sand casted your 302 block is gonna feel the pounding i am gonna give your mustang
:)

let the 2004 smack talk begin.... :)


Originally posted by Chris91GT
I don't see me using rain excuses. :D It's called car control. hehe

My excuse is that I decided to start exploring the big tracks of Mosport and Watkins Glen. Several days of that started to eat up my budget quickly. But I did intend to come back to Shannonville (I even installed mufflers!)... unfortunately, I busted 2 gears, a cluster, and the tranny case itself at Mosport on Sept 1 and the damn thing is still out for repairs. :mad:

My 2004 plan includes as much of the Solo 1 schedule as I can manage (perhaps excluding DDT - one day there will eat up as much tire as several days at the big track with continuous lapping), lots of the NE Porsche club events, and tons of Mosport (most likely several of the BMW schools). The thought even crossed my mind that I might get my rookie race licence and try a sprint at Mosport. But that's just a tickling in the back of my mind right now...

So, 2004 SGT3 champion... Chris Atkins!

:D

[JGraves]

Taylor - Get yourself and MR2 out to a drift school or, like I did, a winter school and/or solo and learn to be comfortable when the car orientation and direction of travel are not the same. I spent 8 or 9 days last winter driving the Miata sideways at the snow/ice track we built near Ottawa and I really noticed the difference on the track this year.

Chris - I'm not sure what to tell you about regional racing. I took the school last spring for the purpose of a driving school, not to get a race license. I became more interested in regional racing last year and applied for a novice license this spring with the intent to do one race to keep my license even though I don't have the resources to go racing yet. I should have waited until I could afford to go racing before taking the school and applying for the license. I also should have went to see a doctor about my race medical much earlier and used a doctor that has done these before. Having only been in Ontario for about 6 years, being reasonably healthy and not liking doctors (sorry Dave, John) I had no recent medical history. It took about a dozen trips over 2 months before he was convinced I was healthy.

I rented John Powell's 83 RX7 and ran GTC last Saturday. Even with the weather, car issues on Friday and having a cold, I am completely hooked. I will most likely rent a ride for a couple weekends next year as well as run a few Solo 1 and road racing (hopefully) will be my main form of motorsports for 2005.

Okay, maybe I do know what to tell you about regional racing. I'm the little guy on your right shoulder, in the red driving suit holding the pitch fork saying "do it, you know you want to, ignore that wimp whining about it being expensive and just do it"

[bbqman]

If I count all my track days for 2003 which include Solo I & II, iceracing and lapping/instruction days...mmmmm..I'm up to.........26 with 4+ to go.
And I still have a girlfriend.......

BTW, 100$ is reasonable for Solo I racing...at LAPS its $80 but our 2 clubs are among the cheapest in North America.

[TYSON]

I registered but was unable to get to any events this year.

Never buy an expensive, critical electronic device serial #57 from a company on the other side of the world when said company has a history of product release problems!! Engine finally quit on firmware version 15, head software version 24.:mad:

After rebuilding my engine this winter I intend to hit all the events I can next year.

[alexb]

Chris i have missed 1 event in the last 4 years,perhaps you should do more research!

[ice/solo racer]

Dave I understand the reasoning behind the costing of solo1 and running full tracks,its too bad for me that tmp is likely a 5 hour tow one way so attending any of them next year is unlikely.
I do intend to run the ddt and shannonville as often as I can.

[Chris P]

don't worry babz, i know..... ;)

but you did miss one event this year........


Wait a sec, didn't you miss an event last year because of a wedding or something but still made the sat night fire and sunday racing??? Don't make me go looking through results!

[alexb]

Yeah,forgot about that.But i think we had a lapping evening on friday so that would make up for missing saturday.

[Chris P]

excuses excuses.......

[John P]

Babzy

Don't listen to Krispy. I am impressed with your dedication, and in my books you attended all the events in the last four years. Us older guys have to work harder to make an impact.

John

[Chris P]

pretty bad when your own father reffers to his son as 'krispy' :eek:

[Chris91GT]

Originally posted by JGraves

Chris - I'm not sure what to tell you about regional racing. I took the school last spring for the purpose of a driving school, not to get a race license. I became more interested in regional racing last year and applied for a novice license this spring with the intent to do one race to keep my license even though I don't have the resources to go racing yet. I should have waited until I could afford to go racing before taking the school and applying for the license. I also should have went to see a doctor about my race medical much earlier and used a doctor that has done these before. Having only been in Ontario for about 6 years, being reasonably healthy and not liking doctors (sorry Dave, John) I had no recent medical history. It took about a dozen trips over 2 months before he was convinced I was healthy.

I rented John Powell's 83 RX7 and ran GTC last Saturday. Even with the weather, car issues on Friday and having a cold, I am completely hooked. I will most likely rent a ride for a couple weekends next year as well as run a few Solo 1 and road racing (hopefully) will be my main form of motorsports for 2005.

Okay, maybe I do know what to tell you about regional racing. I'm the little guy on your right shoulder, in the red driving suit holding the pitch fork saying "do it, you know you want to, ignore that wimp whining about it being expensive and just do it"

My biggest hurdle in getting into regional (aside from $$$) will be my co-driver... aka my father. He has this notion about taking a perfectly clean car and, um, rubbing fenders. Well... I hate to crunch a fender, but there are millions of spares in junk yards in Ontario! :)

GT sprints seem like a good place to start since door-door rubbing is less frequent, but would be a good exercise in real passing and watching mirrors / protecting position.

How did your GTC stint go?

[ctenche]

Hey! I just read this thread. What do you mean that I'm whipped? :D

I remember the good old days when Elisa used to change my tires and bleed my brakes while I attended the driver's meeting. Ah, memories. I figured it out that that's how she hooked me. Man I'm such a sucker!

Anyway, I did 6 events this year, though I only did 2 last year. The heady days of 2000 where I did 35+ events are long gone I'm afraid :(

Krispy, stay away from women. That's all I gotta say.:rolleyes:

[JGraves]

Originally posted by Chris91GT
GT sprints seem like a good place to start since door-door rubbing is less frequent, but would be a good exercise in real passing and watching mirrors / protecting position.

How did your GTC stint go?

Overall and all things considered, pretty good. I never drove the car before Friday and my only experience at "the big track" was that LBMC lapping day where you flatspotted your tires. We chasing a lack of high rpm power Friday morning which we finally traced to a clogged fuel filter. After about 10 laps I was consistantly turning quick laps.

Saturday morning practice saw moderate rain and I went out with the full depth toyo's slightly underinflated. I followed the Armstrongs around for a couple laps to learn the wet line before getting more aggressive. The polished dry line is very slick and I lit the tires crossing the dry line on the exit of 3. I was very quickly staring at the inside wall as it sped by 30 feet from the nose of the car. I locked 'em up, the car spun in the other direction and I gathered it up with a few more wiggles but kept it mostly on the black stuff. I was more gentle with the right foot after that but the car was still not confidence inspiring.

More tire pressure for qualifying helped the handling but it was raining harded and there was so much spray I couldn't see tail lights that were only a few car lengths ahead of me. I got a mostly clear lap toward the end of the session to qualify 15th in Sprints and 6th in GTC.

I was gridded 17th after the BMWs were added to our race and I dropped to 18th on the start but opened a considerable gap to the cars behind me. The gap allowed me to concentrate on driving and not worry about what was going one behind me. Visibility was as bad as qualifying until Christian parked his BMW on the outside of turn 1 and the pace car came out. I have never been so glad to be stuck in slow moving traffic as I could once again see the track rather than guessing where I was on it. The rain subsided during the 2 or 3 laps of caution and visibility was much better on the restart where I held my position. I was passed, then grew some nads and passed a few cars to finish 9th overall and 4th in class.

There were a number of cars that went off in the rain but I did not see any car to car contact while I was driving. John drove the car Sunday and was involved in (light?) car to car contact in 9. None of my passes were a challange and I made room for anyone that was close enough to go by but tried to minimize losing time and didn't shy away from going 2 wide in any corner.

I had fun although I'm sure I would've had more fun in dry conditions, without a cold or with a podium finish. The car that was available to me was already registered in the Sprints series and it certainly served its purpose of getting me on the track and a signature. Given the choice, I would run the Touring GT series so I wouldn't have to worry about breaking out. I would have based on my dry times on Friday but was nowhere near them in the wet.

[GR8 Ride]

Originally posted by JGraves
I was gridded 17th after the BMWs were added to our race and I dropped to 18th on the start but opened a considerable gap to the cars behind me. The gap allowed me to concentrate on driving and not worry about what was going one behind me. Visibility was as bad as qualifying until Christian parked his BMW on the outside of turn 1 and the pace car came out. I have never been so glad to be stuck in slow moving traffic as I could once again see the track rather than guessing where I was on it. The rain subsided during the 2 or 3 laps of caution and visibility was much better on the restart where I held my position. I was passed, then grew some nads and passed a few cars to finish 9th overall and 4th in class.

That's a pretty good result for your first race weekend, especially in an unfamiliar car. Rain is a great equalizer for underpowered cars, as my own results from the weekend will attest. I knew there was no way I was going to be able to hold onto my position from Saturday on Sunday morning's Sprint race. But it was cool to finish Saturday so well....


Pat