On Fri, 26 Sep 1997 16:58:43 -0700 (PDT) William Lewis
<wrlewis(at)ucdavis.edu> writes:
>Jarrid
> What do you mean by club events. I am sure this is not just
>your
>local car club, although my club does do some rallies and we were
>going to
>head up to Thunder Road until we were displaced by the Jaguar folks.
>I
>would be interested in running the car on the track if I don't have to
>cut
>it to get it there.
>
>Bill Lewis
Car clubs such as the various "shelby" clubs have open events where
the club rents the track, pays the insurance, and runs the event.
The Alfa Romeo clubs run many of these events as do many other
car clubs. To get invited to these events, check at your favorite
track, and get the mailing address of the event chairperson that
sends out the literature to all the patrons. With few exceptions
they will love to have you and your car and of course your money.
Events are typically broken down into 3 or 4 groups.
Groups are staged by a combination of power/weight class and
driver experience.
These events usually require a very small amount of safety
equipment, and this usually means that the car can be left totally
intact.
Cars with open cockpits must have a suitible roll bar, that is properly
backed up on the opposite side of the sheetmetal by equal sized
backing plates.
You must wear pants and a long sleeved shirt.
You must bring and use a snell "SA" helmet that is typically no older
than a SA85 spec.
You must have lap belts installed, with non frayed webbing.
You must have return springs on both sides of the throttle linkage
to prevent a stuck open throttle in the event of a linkage failure.
Your car must be is a condition that would be described as race worthy.
This means that the suspension must be tight, shock must work, and
there are no reasons to believe that any part of the car is unsound for
any reason.
You must pass a technical inspection to prove all the above.
It is at the discretion of the chief tech inspector to allow you to run
if you fail for of the above conditions. Since these events are to
generate money for the club, they will seldom send anyone home,
privided that the infraction is not serious.
This is not quite racing, as the safety equipment is generally not up
to snuff, so the insurance companies like to call these events
"drivers schools". There is never any formal instruction.
Anyhow the main rule is keep your car under control, and dont
spin out. The point here is to learn to drive at the edge, and push
your own limits. To learn how to control YOUR car while having
a blast at the same time.
Two spins will normally get you an invitation to go home.
General rules are there will be NO passing except where
specified "long straights", and slow vehicles must wave by the faster
vehicles at the passing zone.
This is not so bad as the Alpine makes up in handling where where
many other much faster cars do not.
If a car rides your tail through the no passing zones, you are
obligated to allow them to pass even if you could smoke them
on the straights. This keeps the field fair and level.
A few years ago, I got the intense pleasure of passing a
68 RS camaro after having ridden its sloppy sliding rear for several
laps. The car would not let me pass in the straights, and eventually
he was given the passing flag, and forced to allow me to pass.
How sweet it was to have a 100 BHP alpine lap a 302 CID
Chevy.
Arrrrt Arrrrt Arrrrrt!
Anyhow, this is the cheapest way to get the taste for racing, without
having to shell out some major coin in doing so.
This is the way most people do it today, and you wont know if
the racing bug has bitten till youve tried it for yourself.
Jarrid Gross
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