SCCA Time Trials National Program

[tony_r]

Trackcross is not Solo1/Autocross - it's point to point in sectors. IE best sector times, not cones on course.

There will be a couple of Trackcross sessions that factor into the final time.

[tony_r]

National website is up - http://timetrials.scca.com

[strat61caster]

Welp, no TT for me next year


Edit: Well I guess I could swing Portland...

[Shark_Bait88]

The Gingerman event is 3 days after my birthday. Looks like a long weekend in South Haven might be in order.

[Evan55]

Originally Posted by Shark_Bait88

Where did you see anything about trackcross?

Thats the event. 2 timed full track sessions, 3 (or 4? I dont remember) sessions of "track cross" coned sessions.

Originally Posted by tony_r

Trackcross is not Solo1/Autocross - it's point to point in sectors. IE best sector times, not cones on course.

There will be a couple of Trackcross sessions that factor into the final time.

Solo1 is not autocross. Solo2 is autocross. Solo1 was SCCA's now defunct on-track time trial program. Which was real time trialing, on a full track all the time. (Same as redline time attack, nasa tt, etc)
Which is not what this new time trial series is.


I feel like this is just another instance of SCCA desparately trying to get Autocrossers to the track. Its not working and probably never will, since they are fundamentally different in logistics and time investment.

[14stu]

Originally Posted by Evan55

Thats the event. 2 timed full track sessions, 3 (or 4? I dont remember) sessions of "track cross" coned sessions.



Solo1 is not autocross. Solo2 is autocross. Solo1 was SCCA's now defunct on-track time trial program. Which was real time trialing, on a full track all the time. (Same as redline time attack, nasa tt, etc)
Which is not what this new time trial series is.


I feel like this is just another instance of SCCA desparately trying to get Autocrossers to the track. Its not working and probably never will, since they are fundamentally different in logistics and time investment.

Here in north Texas we've got a flourishing 4 year old Time Trials program that has a year long points series and gets autocrossers to the track at high enough numbers to have been profitable the last 2 years (we run 9 events a season and most are standalone events with a couple run in conjunction with the club racers).

The key to our success was reusing autox classes and keeping the rules as simple as possible. Our 'rule book' is 9 pages long and if you know your autox class you know your Time Trials class. Most autox people either only have one car or only have one car they want to use for motorsports, so we had to make a rule set that worked with the solo classes.

When they announced the national program they originally contacted our region for input and even sent a representative to an event. Then they put all new people in charge, quit responding to our emails, and set a program that would have killed ours if we hadn't lobbied hard to allow regional supplemental classes.

We've got a formula that works, is fun, and easily replicated, but who would want to just use something easy and proven when you can create Club Racing light.

[tony_r]

Originally Posted by Evan55

Solo1 is not autocross. Solo2 is autocross. Solo1 was SCCA's now defunct on-track time trial program. Which was real time trialing, on a full track all the time. (Same as redline time attack, nasa tt, etc)
Which is not what this new time trial series is.

Solo1 was cones on track (most of the time), "Trackcross" is not cones on track. It is a point to point, sector based format. Think Hillclimb - standing start and finish lights - that's it.

[steverife]

I had an interest in Solo 1. Probably around 2005 or 2006. Basically, everything was filtered through some old dude. Got his number. Called him 1 day after work. Wife picked up. He's eating dinner. She hung up. This was at like 5:30 PM. I called a again a few days later. This time at like 7 PM. He's in bed. When is a good time to talk to him? You can come over on a Friday morning. I'm in TN. And work. Old guy lived in some other state.

That was the end of my Solo 1 career.

[TrqlessWonder]

Originally Posted by Evan55

I feel like this is just another instance of SCCA desparately trying to get Autocrossers to the track. Its not working and probably never will, since they are fundamentally different in logistics and time investment.

It's getting me to try it out.

[CSG Mike]

Originally Posted by Evan55

Thats the event. 2 timed full track sessions, 3 (or 4? I dont remember) sessions of "track cross" coned sessions.



Solo1 is not autocross. Solo2 is autocross. Solo1 was SCCA's now defunct on-track time trial program. Which was real time trialing, on a full track all the time. (Same as redline time attack, nasa tt, etc)
Which is not what this new time trial series is.


I feel like this is just another instance of SCCA desparately trying to get Autocrossers to the track. Its not working and probably never will, since they are fundamentally different in logistics and time investment.

I'm not quite sure about that, given the recent announcement unifying time attack in North America.

While the rulesets are not strictly aligned, the SCCA TT program is supposed to feed into Gridlife, which feeds into Global Time Attack, which feeds into Super Lap Battle.

I would have never considered SCCA in the past for TT, but with the new tour and alignments, it's on my list of events to attend in 2019.


IMO, it's an attempt by the SCCA to get fresh blood into their business. Many folks out there are not willing to build a W2W race car, myself included. If you look at the typical racer on a SCCA weekend, whether Tran Am, Spec Racer Ford, or Spec Miata, the majority of the folks are... older.

If you consider the number of 86 owners, vs 86 owners who track/TT/TA, vs 86 owners who W2W race, the number diminishes by two orders of magnitude every time you go down the categories.

[tony_r]

Originally Posted by CSG Mike

IMO, it's an attempt by the SCCA to get fresh blood into their business. Many folks out there are not willing to build a W2W race car, myself included. If you look at the typical racer on a SCCA weekend, whether Tran Am, Spec Racer Ford, or Spec Miata, the majority of the folks are... older.

If you consider the number of 86 owners, vs 86 owners who track/TT/TA, vs 86 owners who W2W race, the number diminishes by two orders of magnitude every time you go down the categories.

This is exactly the case. The road race crowd is getting older, and I would guess the average age of the participant is 50+. SCCA is mostly volunteer run and very few are coming up the ranks to fill vacant positions. This puts the program in jeopardy - probably not at a National level but on the regional level most certainly.

Track Night in America is one of the ways that SCCA experimented with attracting a newer, younger, more diversified crowd and I think the program has successfully done that for the past three years. Time Trials are now the extension to that - an inclusive place to compete with your street car, with very little barriers for entry.