Just got back from Road America.

[Baron Von Crowder]

It was awesome. I love that track. We took the Miata, placing 6th overall out of 75 cars that started. The difference in the top three cars was under 20 seconds, gap between 1st and second was 2.6 seconds. This was by far the tightest lemons race ever.

We were doing well, running 4th. The first half hour of the day, the track was still wet and I wasn't able to push it very hard. At the hour mark, I radio'd to the pit that we had more than half a tank, so they wanted me to stay out for another lap or two before fueling at the two hour mark. The second hour I picked up several seconds when the track was dry, and was burning through fuel faster, and I ended up running out two turns before the pit entrance and had to be towed. That cost us 17 minutes, and dropped us down to 37th position.

The rest of the weekend was spent with our guys doing everything we could to make up laps, and the leaders weren't having any issues to help us out. The track is really fast, and if lemons ever goes back, we will either put a big fuel cell in, or take the Fairmont for the fun of the speeds and not try to win it.

Ill try and get some video edited down and post it up later this week.

[end barg\]

[Mach1]

kick ass, good job!

[quikag]

That sounds like a blast. 6th out of 75 is a very solid effort, especially in light of running out of fuel.

[Baron Von Crowder]

That sounds like a blast. 6th out of 75 is a very solid effort, especially in light of running out of fuel.

We had a great time, I was grinning like a little girl after being in the car for 2+ hours and ready to hop back in again. Hell I would have kept on rolling after a refuel, but my teamates really wanted to get in the car and drive too.

We figured up that we still might not have won the race just due to fuel capacity, the top guys didnt have to pit quite as soon as we did. It still would have put us up in 3rd or 4th place if we didnt screw up somewhere else.

[Baron Von Crowder]

[DON SVO]

Bad ass.

[CJ]

Jealous as fuck. I've always wanted to run that track.

[Baron Von Crowder]

Its fucking awesome. You should find a way to do it.

I havent quite figured out how this works, but our 3:10 lap times over a 4.02 mile course comes out to a roughly 75mph average speed. then I find this:

NASCAR Nationwide Series

ear Date Driver Team Manufacturer Race Distance Race Time Average Speed
(mph)
Laps Miles (km)
2010 June 19 Carl Edwards Roush Fenway Racing Ford 50 202.4 (325.731) 2:57:17 68.501
2011 June 25 Reed Sorenson Turner Motorsports Chevrolet 57* 230.736 (371.333) 2:55:24 78.929
2012 June 23 Nelson Piquet, Jr. Turner Motorsports Chevrolet 50 202.4 (325.731) 235 85.171
2013 June 22 A.J. Allmendinger Penske Racing Ford 55* 222.64 (356.224) 2:58:50 74.697

[CJ]

Its fucking awesome. You should find a way to do it.

I havent quite figured out how this works, but our 3:10 lap times over a 4.02 mile course comes out to a roughly 75mph average speed. then I find this:

My father raced Road America when he was my age in his '61 corvette. He raced there competitively for many years in the 50's and 60's.

[Baron Von Crowder]

My father raced Road America when he was my age in his '61 corvette. He raced there competitively for many years in the 50's and 60's.

One of the guys on our team had some folks from WI come hang out with us, and the old man raced TR3's in the late 60's through early 70's at RA. It was cool to hear some of the old stories.

We also got a lap around the track in some sort of GM crossover SUV that was driven by the track saftey administrator. He was showing us the parts of the track, where the flaggers were, and where to be on the track to run fast. I asked him how long he had been there, and he said his first race at RA was in 1969.

[momo]

very awesome

[Baron Von Crowder]

And while we are being nostalgic, I wasnt aware that the track was built after racing on a road course through Elkhart Lake had already been successfully running for a few years. I didnt get a picture myself, but markers are around town describing the race and route.

History of racing at Elkhart Lake[edit]

Open road course


The site of the 1951 and 1952 start finish line for road races in downtown Elkhart Lake
In the late 1940s, road racing was gaining popularity, owing to the post World War II economy, and the influx of sporting automobiles. The Sports Car Club of America was the main organizer of these races, and in 1950, the Chicago Region SCCA and the Village of Elkhart Lake organized the first road race at Elkhart Lake.
The 1950 circuit start-finish line was on County Road P. Competitors went north to County Road J, then South into the Village of Elkhart Lake, and West on what is now County JP (then called County Highway X), and reconnected with County Road P for a total distance of 3.3 miles (5.3 km).
For the next two races, in 1951 and 1952, a different course was used. It was 6.5 miles (10.5 km) long, on County Roads J, A, and P. To date, one may still drive most of the original courses.
The original course was registered on the National Register of Historic Places on February 17, 2006. Signs have been installed marking key locations on the course.

Private road course


After the tragedy at Watkins Glen in 1952, where a child was killed, the U.S. ruled to discontinue motorized contests of speed on public highways. This was a major blow for competition auto racing and brought the end of a long-standing tradition. This did not permanently stop road racing, however, it did shift it to private courses. In 1955, Clif Tufte started what is now known as Road America, in a configuration that has changed little over the past 50 years. The addition of Road America as a private track meant a transition from racing through the streets of tiny Elkhart Lake to racing on a big, wide, dedicated race track.

Racing at Road America


Many different racing series have had the occasion to race at Road America. The first was the Sports Car Club of America (SCCA) on September 10, 1955.[5] The Road America 500 is a sports car race that was part of different championships, among them the SCCA National Sports Car Championship, the United States Road Racing Championship and the IMSA GT Championship. Currently it is a points-paying race of the Americana Le Mans Series. The Champ Car Grand Prix of Road America was an open-wheel race held as part of the Champ Car World Seriesas well as the 24 Hours of Lemons Series' Chubba Cheddar Enduro.
Other notable series have included NASCAR's Grand National (now Sprint Cup Series) in 1956 and Nationwide Series since 2010, CART from 1982 until 2007,[6] Grand-Am Rolex Sports Car Racing Series, CanAm, Trans-Am, AMA, and the SCCA National Championship Runoffs from 2009 to 2013. Road America also holds a variety of vintage racing events, including the Brian Redman International Challenge, now the HAWK with Brian Redman.
ALMS race history[edit]
At the 2008 Road America 500 an Audi R10 TDI set an LMP1 pole time of 1:46.935. At the 2009 Road Race Showcase, Dyson Racing Team set an LMP2 pole time of 1:51.010. At the 2011 Road Race Showcase, BMW Team RLL set a GT pole time of 2:05.447, while at the same event a Porsche 997 GT3 set a GTC pole time of 2:14.126.

[Mach1]

fucking awesome indeed!