Didn't really mean to start a SVRA bashing session. Summit Point
would be fun but is a bit far - I'm doing VIR in April (Wild Hare,
FANTASTIC race) which is a 2 day tow, Summit would be another 2 day
tow. Gingerman is looking like the contender at this point.
Now that I said I hadn't planned on this being an SVRA bashing
session, I'll mention specifically my issues with the last SVRA
event. I've race with them before and was fine with them - a bit
expensive but we're not in this because it's cheap. At Tech
inspection, they found a possibly serious issue with my car. I was
very grateful for that. But the also nitpicked the heck out of other
stuff, said my 2.1 year old belts were expired and I'd need to
replace them before running with them again (that cost me a couple of
hundred for "FIA" belts which I hate, but have the 5 year
SVRA-approved life), made me get my HANS device recertified ($140 for
nothing that improved my safety), made me plug up a water drain hole
in the floor of my car because it was a firewall fire issue (this is
very outer edge just behind front tire, would have to have a frickin'
bonfire going before it made it to THAT hole). It was an SCCA
inspection, not a Vintage inspection. Multiple guys in white
coveralls for good visual effect. He had to check with the chief on
whether they thought my fuel cell was OK (it was). To be fair, they
DID supply me with tape to cover the firewall holes and did stick
around a few extra minutes for round 2 of tech so I could actually
race (at 8 am the next morning).
One of my buddies at the track was going for "Era Correct"
certification (or whatever they called it) and they said his gauges
looked too "modern" and they would all have to be replaced to get
that rating. They are correctly sized gauges, nothing notably
"modern" looking about them but not white faced jaeger gauges. While
it didn't directly affect me, it angered me - why make someone spend
$500 or more on gauges that work the same and look slightly
different? And, the scheduling of the sessions made it clear that
our group was not what they wanted to feature. We were first or 2nd
out, racing was done very early in the day on Sunday.
They did do a "podium" for the top 3 in each race, I was going to
make that in one of my races before I broke a rear axle. That was
cool (the podium, not breaking the axle). What's interesting is the
tech guys who I didn't take a real shine to stuck around and were
part of the cheering section for guys who made the podium. The party
they had was fine, the head of SVRA (Tony P) wandered around and
seemed to be a decent fellow. So it was an odd mix of high hassle
factor upon arrival, weird scheduling but some extra touches that
were nice. I guess it proves the old "first impressions" saying.
Wow, I wrote a book I hadn't intended to.
Cheers, Tony Drews
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