I went up to see the 12 Hours at the Point today and was quite pleased to see two FBs and two FCs hashing it up with a horde of Miatas, some BMWs, two Mercedes, two Porsches, two GTIs, an Integra, a CRX, and a Neon.

Unfortunately for the RX-7s, they were overwhelmed by the Miata swarm and the Porsche, BMW, and Mercedes grunt - still, it was nice to see our marque so well represented and might big to...the drivers of...

#07 FB
#15 FC
#16 FB
and
#29 FC

It was nice to hear the roar of the rotaries up at Summit Point. Way to go guys

 

Failed to mention the #11 FC...it was out before I got there but still deserves mention...

Way to go my Rotarian brothers!

 

Hey I'm still a rotard but had to give into the Miata draw. We ran the 69 and 96 cars.

 

Do you know what class they were running in? The FC's were (I assume) ITS - were the FB's running ITA, IT7 or Spec-7?

-b

 

The FB's were IT cars. For whatever reason one of them was entered as an A car instead of IT7.

 

Next year I'll be in the paddock crewing for one team or another - on a Miata more than likely LOL

It was a blast, anyone in the area really should look to head there sometime and check it out.

What other races are you planning on being at in the area?

 

From what I understand some kind of a back door deal ended with a spec tire for IT7. Not sure if this is region based or southeast based. Allot of the IT7 guys moved back to ITA to get away from the presumably lesser equipped tire.

-billy

 

The #16 was running ITA (beautiful car btw)

 

Well, not so much a "back door deal" as a difference in opinion among the racers (imagine that ) IT7 is also available only in certain regions (it's essentially a subclass of ITA). The spec tire for IT7 is a Toyo RA1 (in 205/60r13 IIRC). This was proposed in the SE region in order to try and level the playing field a little more (Hoosiers are known to be a second or more a lap faster, depending on the track) in what essentially was already a spec-type class.

So if you are in the SE region and either want to run Hoosiers or Kuhmos, or want to run with a 14 or 15 inch wheel, then you run in ITA. Otherwise, you can run with IT7.

No great conspiracy here, but not everyone agreed with the reasons, so they were given the choice of class to run in.

-bill

 

Maybe "Back Door Deal" was a bit harsh.

Most I have spoken to did not like it.

My question would be: Is a set of the Toyo tires cheaper than the Hoosiers?

-billy

 

Kouryou,
Well next year look me up, we could have use an extra hand. We ran the 69 car with just two drivers. Made for little time between stints to get things done. One of my best crew guys came from this board about two years ago. So come on out! That goes for everyone! Next race will be Mid Ohio or Nelson.

 

Yeah, I've heard the same. I think that it started out with the best intentions, but may not have been handled that well.

That is a definite yes. Significantly cheaper. Also the Toyo's have a demonstrated longer lifespan (like 2x), with some claiming that they get faster as you wear them down near the cords.

The Hoosiers are certainly the faster race tire.

-bill

 

I PM'd you, I am interested in learning more! Thanks!