Nationals

[Vernon Maxey]

Any of you guys going to Nationals?

I know its a little early, but I'm the only Vee so far.

and only 6 in FMod.


v.
DSS Midiv

[Lynn]

Thanks to the morons at Porterfield racing, I still don't have rear brake rotors. I'm thinking of just bagging the season. I've told Andy to drive Kyle Langley's Shelby for the rest of the year. I'm going to contact HRP tomorrow about rotors and if they can get them done in time for a St. Louis event in August, I will think about running the KC Tour and Nationals.

[Vernon Maxey]

Lynn,
I hope everything works out for you two, I know you'll have a fast car this year.
Don't give up.
v.
Come on guys, sign up. Time is slipping by.

[vreihen]

Come on guys, sign up. Time is slipping by.

If the site problem isn't solved, this could very well be everyone's last shot at a Nationals for a few years!

Oh, and to answer the original question, I will not be making the trip to Topeka this year. I took my first autox runs in almost two years on Saturday, and was thankful that the scoring computer conveniently "lost" them so that I wouldn't have to bear the shame of being DFL in PAX.....

[Lynn]

The site situation will be solved. There will a Nationals in 2009. However, as usual with us humans, no matter how it is solved a number of people will be unhappy.

[77fmod]

Unfortunately due to taking a new job in Northwest Indiana, I have not finished with the changes on the car and will not make it to Nationals this year.
BTW, anyone with the autocrossing up in this area?

Best of luck to all...

JGB

[dd46637]

Don't know about INR but South bend is having one this sunday, come on over. Maybe Scott Nardin will show up.

[77fmod]

Thanks for the invitation but I'll be back in Cincy working on mine this weekend. Finishing the steering rack and associated parts... and finishing the engine install.. Should get to fire it up with a little luck.

I would expect that Scott would be at the Milwaukee Tour, wouldn't he? Speaking of my old nemesis, has anyone seen what he has done with his car thusfar? He doesn't participate on this site but I bet he is a lurker...

Johnny B.

[dd46637]

Don't know if Scott is going to Milwaukee or not. I've only seen him out once this year. I think he said he was running a 1915 this year other than that his car looked the smae to me.
Dave

[77fmod]

I noticed that he beat Jeff Bleumenthal (sp?) at Peru. Actually Sott beat him the first day and Jeff got him the second but Scott still had him by nearly a second. However due to the big differential in a couple of runs, Jeff may have been having some troubles on the first day.

Also, noticed that Scott is not on the entry list for the Tour this weekend...

JGB

[Lynn]

I think it rained Saturday at Peru.

[vreihen]

The site situation will be solved. There will a Nationals in 2009. However, as usual with us humans, no matter how it is solved a number of people will be unhappy.

Would you care to elaborate...especially on the third sentence?????

[MBillings]

As to the location for Solo Nationals, beginning in '09 I heard, at this weekends Wendover Pro, that the site will likely be in Arkansas.

Mike

[Lynn]

Vreihen, what I meant is that no matter where the Nationals are held some people won't like it.

It appears that the former Eaker Air Force Base at Blytheville, AR is currently the leading candidate for the 2009 Nationals. If so, the concrete surfance, which is probably somewhat bumpy, will help us against the evil two strokes.

[77fmod]

Lynn,
I thought lodging was a major inconvenience at this site... Is it not? If we return to bumpy concrete, the 500 guys are going to be making serious noise about it!

BTW, just got mine fired up this weekend but unfortunately will not make it to Nats this year.. DId you ever get your 1915 dyno'ed?

JGB

[Lynn]

Johnny, I sorry for not answering you PM. I just found it. I arrived during the great Windows box to iMac transition and I missed it. No, the car hasn't been dynoed, yet. After the great rear brake rotor disaster, I haven't done much to the car in the last month. After four months of trying to get custom rear rotors, the getting blown off and lied to by both CNC and Porterfield got real old. I have a lead for a local machine shop that may be able to make them.

I was told by the engine builder to run the 48 IDF from Drew's engine on the 1914. Well, it runs much, much richer on the 1914 than it did on Drew's engine. I might try the 44 that came with the mythical 128hp engine that pieces of live on in the 1914. Even if I get the rear rotors, I doubt the car will be ready this year. In addition to the dyno tuning, we need to fab some new rear trailing arm mounts, string the car and align it and something else major that slips my mind right now. Drew's engine will go in a rebuild and conversion to a 1914 and his transaxle will also get rebuilt as it has a broken spider gear.

There is plenty of lodging, if one is willing to drive a half hour or so. I know that a lot of people were complaning about that, but how manuy of us drive farther to "local" events. It takes me almost that long to get to our STL events. Many other drive more. I understand there was a lot of reluctance from the staff about Blytheville because there is nowhere to have the banquet. But the results of the recent survey seems to have been a factor in changing that resistance. There was much surprise in Topekea that the member consider the banquets to be expendable. The other factor is that the other sites considered are either not available (the old AFB in Lubbock) or are not interested (several urban sites). I thought the former Naval Air Station Dallas would be a great site, but the local governments don't seem to be interested in anything other than repeating past failed efforts to turn it into business airport.

[vreihen]

Vreihen, what I meant is that no matter where the Nationals are held some people won't like it.

It appears that the former Eaker Air Force Base at Blytheville, AR is currently the leading candidate for the 2009 Nationals. If so, the concrete surfance, which is probably somewhat bumpy, will help us against the evil two strokes.

You won't hear me complaining about this site, since it's 2.5 hours closer to home for me than Topeka is! The scary thing about that place is that I vividly recall driving past it during the 1997 One Lap, because we had to make a satellite phone 911 call to report a car fire on I-55 because there was no cellular coverage available in that area at the time!

I just looked for hotels in the area, and there are the usual batch of highway interchange staples. Whether or not they can handle an SCCA invasion is another story. Memphis is only an hour away though, so there's always the option to visit Graceland and commute to the event site. Just please remember to pack a fire extinguisher, in case there's still no cellular coverage in that area.....

[Lynn]

There wasn't a lot of celluar coverage in much of the country eleven years ago. There still is no Sprint coverage at Walnut Ridge. But most cell phone companies have coverage along Interstates.

There are hotels in Jonesboro and Paragould, AR, Caruthersville and Kennett, MO and Dyersburg, TN. Good ole SAC concrete just like Forbes, Salina, Peru, and Oscoda. Well, let's hope it's not as bumpy as Forbes or Peru.

[Lynn]

Expect the Nationals to be after the Runoffs next year. Runoffs in September and Nationals in October. It just makes sense. Wisconsin is a lot further north.

[77fmod]

So... Where do they plan to have the run-offs? In Wisconsin?

JGB

[Lynn]

The Runoffs will be at Road America near Elkhart Lake, WI

[Vernon Maxey]

Gentlemen,
I guess the economy and the changes SCCA made in the Vee has taken a toll on the Solo Vee community. This does not look good. Only two Vees
signed up for the Nationals so far. How are we going to know if the changes that they gave us will make us more competitive? I'm not the best
driver in the class, but from what I've experienced running the Nationals East course this year at the Midiv Championships is not a good sign. Only .6 faster on last years tires. Its going to be lonely out here in KS this year.

v. DSS Midiv

[Lynn]

Hopefully, both of my cars will be at Nationals next year. But it just isn't going to happen this year. We might have the Beach ready for the KC Championships, maybe, I hope. The Lynx should be ready by spring, but the only mod it will get is the 1914, no disks, no rack and pinion.

I see that Nardin will be in a 500 again this year.

[Vernon Maxey]

Hi Lynn,
Thats the only thing I've done to my car, 1914. I did have it dynoed, its on you tube. Interesting numbers, changed the jets on the 44 till we got a good A/F mix.
Scott has had one of those years where things kind of kept him from doing a lot with his Vee. Family comes first, that happened to me two years ago.
v.

[vreihen]

Gentlemen,
I guess the economy and the changes SCCA made in the Vee has taken a toll on the Solo Vee community.

Judging by the current entry list only showing 810 drivers, I'd say that the economy is somewhat to blame. OTOH, having such major revisions to the rules like were done for 2008 means that many people are going back to the drawing board with their cars, so not having a huge turnout of Vees may be more indicative of everyone saving the money on a Kansas trip to invest those funds into finishing the upgrades and development work on their less-than-sorted cars at this point.

I don't know how things are going for other regions, but our Solo program in general is seeing 40% fewer entrants than last year. Even more scary, we just ran an Evo school this past weekend, and for the first time in memory there was actually an un-sold space in one school. Who knows if it's the weekend membership paperwork turning drivers away or if it's that some of our dates were on Saturdays and conflicted with a neighboring region's Solo events, but we're seeing alarmingly low turnouts at the regional level. Is it any wonder that Topeka is throwing a heat #5 gimmick "last chance" event as a charity fundraiser during Nationals this year if they're expecting similar turnouts?????