Having been to the first national in St. Louis, and the last in 2000,
plus some in between, I have noticed that the speeds have gotten higher,
since we've been running the same car at every event (except a couple
when we "borrowed" rides).
At the first one, there were two courses, one very tight--1st gear for
part at least, and the second very fast, over a road course with a few
"slow down" cones tossed in.
I've noticed the courses tend to expand to fill the space. On the
smaller lots, as in Salina (original site), we never even considered
going into third gear. At Salina at the newer site, a larger lot, I
believe we still used 2nd as our highest gear.
But once we got to the huge Topeka site, we had to go into 3rd gear on
several of the courses. No radar, just experience. We don't have a
speedometer (who has time to look?) and no tach (rev limiter takes care
of that)... :)
We did put in a taller rearend ratio at our last two ventures to Topeka
to eliminate some of the shifting into third, but still used it.
We have since returned to the original rearend ratios (no grunt with
the taller gear) so I anticipate we'll be using 3rd more.
My general conclusion, yes the national courses are faster than they
were. Are they safe? Yes. I just hate finding third gear. :) BTW, my
car's top speed is 85 mph downhill with a tailwind, no joke.
--Pat Kelly
"Mark J. Hirt" wrote:
>
> Radar has been proven not to be the "last word" in speed measurement
> and an uncalibrated gun is useless. So exactly when was the last time
> the radar gun SCCA uses calibrated.
>
> The Narbys wrote:
> > Seriously, the whole speed creep thing is entirely unverified, and until I
>hear
> > more numbers from radar guns, I am going to continue to dismiss it,
>personally.
> > Driver estimates of how fast they were going are notoriously unreliable (and
> > inflated). I consider a glance at an uncalibrated factory speedo during an
> > autocross run an "estimate". Same for rev limiter/tacho/gear combos. Rev
> > limiters and tachos have error margins, too. This is without even getting
>into
> > course design, although your points there were excellent.
> >
> > Second point: someone in this thread said "the powers that be" are concerned
> > about speed creep. Which powers? I have not heard/read any official concern
>on
> > the subject. Concern is being generated by a few members, IMO.
>
> --
> Regards,
>
> Mark J. Hirt
>
> nxracer@mediaone.net
> http://people.ce.mediaone.net/nxracer
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