It did rain a little bit, but dry for most of the day... will post results later today! :)

Round 9 - Thunderhill West
 

Hello! Results are in from this past weekend's event at Thunderhill West, hosted by Exclusive Trackdays, and made possible by all our generous sponsors: Cusco, Winmax, GT Radial, Counterspace Garage, Elite Performance, 86 Drive, and Scott Grasso Photography!

The day started out a little wet, but dried out for most of the day. We also had a ton of seat time, due to the low car count and format that we were running (up to 3 hours of actual track time!!). Once again, many personal bests were set that day, as our NorCal 86CUP drivers get faster and faster! See attached for the results from this weekend, and visit the NorCal 86CUP website for complete scores for the season: http://norcal86cup.mkivsoopra.com

There's only 4 more events left for this season, so let's make it count! Remember, only your top 9 scores out of 13 events are counted toward the championship.

Lets start signing up for Nov 5 Sonoma Raceway with Speed SF!!

If you're looking for something to do after Thanksgiving and the black Friday mayhem, then drive down to Laguna Seca on Saturday 11/26!! Double-header excitement as we will have Nissan Skylines (that's right - SKYLINEs) and Round 11 of NorCal 86Cup!!!

Free entrance to Laguna Seca. Free for spectators. And free to chat it up with track addicts. As always, if you have a helmet, bring it for a chance to get a ride along. And because this event is special, stick around until the end of the day for an opt to be included in our on-track photo!!!

http://i1066.photobucket.com/albums/...psciuep0hq.jpg

Round 11 - Nov 26 @ Laguna Seca

Thanks for coming out to Round 11 at Laguna Seca on Saturday! The rain created rivers running across the track in some places, which kept our drivers on their toes. However, our drivers masterfully kept everything under control and everyone seemed to have had a blast! I've attached the results from this event below. Please visit the website for complete results and updated standings: http://norcal86cup.mkivsoopra.com/

I'd also like to welcome a new participant, Jerry, to the GT Radial Street class! To anyone else who's on the fence about participating, it's never too late to join!

As always, thanks to the continued support from our sponsors for helping make all of this possible!
#cusco #winmax #gtradial #counterspacegarage #eliteperformance #86drive #scottgrassophotography #86Cup #NCRC

The next and final event of 2016 is at Mazda Raceway Laguna Seca again, on December 10. This will be a combined NorCal + SoCal event, so you don't want to miss this! For those of you who have not started driving with us yet, this would be a great time to come out and meet the group, ask questions, and see what's in store for next season. See you guys out there!

86Cup 2016 season finale will be on 12/10 at Laguna Seca. This is the combined seasonal finale with Socal 86Cup. Always a great opportunity to meet and greet drivers from both regions, put faces to names, and make a new friend(s).

And these will be awarded to the top six drivers! A change from the usual awards given. (Also available for order thru me - a change in design of course but the sponsors logo will remain. Choose your color and extra customizable features like your name, etc. Could be available by 12/10 if ordered soon)
http://i1066.photobucket.com/albums/...psgv6kflg7.jpg

Photos from the last event are up on my website, just in time for the last event this weeked

http://scottgrassophotography.com/86...6-laguna-seca/

https://static1.squarespace.com/stat...g?format=1000w

Thanks for coming out to the 2016 NorCal + SoCal 86CUP season finale! Also, thanks to our generous sponsors who have supported us throughout this season: Cusco, Winmax, GT Radial, CounterSpace Garage, Elite Performance, NorCal 86DRIVE, and Scott Grasso Photography! It was great having Tom @ GT Radial, Mike @ CounterSpace Garage, Gary & Eric @ Elite Performance, Plato @ NorCal 86DRIVE, and Scott @ Scott Grasso Photography join us for the final event of 2016!

The day started pretty wet and slippery, but luckily for us, the rain subsided and we were able to get a few somewhat-dry sessions in the middle of the day. Laguna Seca had some issues with their timing system, so for this event, we allowed the use of phone lap timers, but with an accuracy penalty of +0.75 seconds. AiM Solo DL units were subject to the usual 0.1 second penalty. The times listed below already have the penalties added. Congrats to the NorCal winners of Round 12!

As for the 2016 Championship, we're counting the best 8 out of 12 scores for each driver. Some positions were very close, so every event counts! Here's the top three winners for each class:

-GT Radial Stock Class-

-GT Radial Street Class-
1. Max - 57 points
2. Eric - 40 points
3. Sandy - 35 points

-Modified Class-
1. Wilson - 66 points
2. Neal - 37 points
3. Brandon - 22 points

-Unlimited Class-
1. A.K. - 74 points
2. Garland - 61 points
3. JJ - 46 points

For complete results, please visit the NorCal 86CUP website at: http://norcal86cup.mkivsoopra.com . For SoCal results, please visit SoCal's 86CUP Facebook group at https://www.facebook.com/groups/86cup or the http://86cup.us website.

Great driving by everyone though. I've seen marked improvements in everyone's times across the board throughout the season! One part of 86CUP is to enable some friendly competition, but the more important part is to bring us together to share notes, learn from each other, and get faster!

We're working on the schedule and rule updates for next year, so stay tuned. There will also be some changes to make it easier for new drivers to join us. Enjoy the holidays, everyone, then get your cars ready for an exciting 2017 season! Happy holidays!

Thanks @mkivsoopra for the results! You're doing great!

Thanks @Pwolf for the pics! As usual, they look sikk!

And for the participants, sponsors, and spectators THANK YOU THANK YOU THANK YOU!! It wouldn't be as fun without your involvement. Thank you for gifts and we'll see you in 2017.

Photos from the 10th have been posted to my websites:

http://scottgrassophotography.com/86...6-laguna-seca/

Some random samples:

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https://static1.squarespace.com/stat...g?format=1000w

https://static1.squarespace.com/stat...g?format=1000w

https://static1.squarespace.com/stat...g?format=1000w

Hello! I hope everyone is enjoying the holidays. If you have some free time, be sure to prep your car for the 2017 NorCal 86 CUP! We'll be announcing the 2017 rule changes and sponsor updates shortly, but for now, please see attached for the new schedule, or visit the official site at http://norcal86cup.mkivsoopra.com

We'll probably create a new thread for all the 2017 stuff, but until then, I'll keep the updates here.

In a nutshell, no.

If you've never been on track before, then yes you would need to do the Driving School with NCRC, or with another track organization such as Hooked on Driving. You only need to do that once, after that you will be put into the Solo (Beginner) group for future track days. Solo group has stricter passing rules meant to ensure better driver safety and awareness.

Once you've done about 6-7 track days in the Solo group with NCRC (or in the Beginner group of other organizations, they may each call them something different), if you feel comfortable enough you can ask to be moved up to the Point-By (Intermediate) group. An experienced instructor will ride along with you on a session and check to see if you have the skill, awareness, and courtesy to be moved up into the next group.

It is only at that point when you are in Point-By that you are eligible to be in 86CUP. The idea being that beginners should not be focused on competition yet, they should be learning the basics of track day driving and learn to be safe first.

If you have any questions about any of this you can always come out to one of the 86CUP events and ask one of us for more info, details, advice!

What PMOK said. It may sound like a lot, but don't think of it as a hurdle to join 86 CUP. We actually encourage beginners to do the driving school sessions on the same day as our 86 CUP events if available. This way, you'll get to meet the current drivers, get driving tips, car setup advice, and probably go for ride alongs too. Don't be shy! We're working on the 2017 rules right now to make it a little easier for new drivers to join too, so look out for that.