[nicebloke]

We're doing PP for the first time, so I'm curious how this event works for us rally folks. The competition bulletin outlines a number of pace-noting and recce sessions, which raises some questions.

Are the sessions only for the section of the course to be used in the following stage/s or are they for the whole mountain?

Could we go out on the Wednesday and pace-note the whole thing?

Are there stage-notes?

Thanks for the help...
Neil.

 

[flatOVERcrest]

Sorry, but where did you see those pacenoting and recce sessions?
http://www.scca.org/_Filelibrary/File/04-06-fastrack.pdf

 

[Foghorn]

It does list open practice on Friday morning (although a couple of the stages have already been run at that point).

 

[nicebloke]

Must have been reading the January bulletin. I didn't realize that it had been updated in the June Fastrack. Do we know if there are stage notes, though?

Neil.

 

[Dave Kean]

You can go onto the mountain any time during regular opening times (after 10am during race week last year) and write pace notes. There is no set recce times and no limit on the number of passes you can take.

If you are there Wednesday you can take a rental car (no rally cars during recce IIRC) on the hill and drive up and down as often as you want to make your notes.

No stage notes.

Dave Kean

 

[KevinG5Hahn]

One thing that hasn't been mentioned is that before SpeedWeek you can drive the hill all you want, exact same roads, just pay the toll and drive it and make your notes. Could probably go up and down 10 times easily if you got there when it opens.....


Maybe someoen did mention it, I dunno, I am tired.

 

[WRX424]

A lot of the long time hill climb guys start "learning" the road as soon as the snow melts off. They get there before the toll gate opens so they have an open road in front of them, in order to learn the road at speed. There have been some pretty impressive unofficial times up that mountain. This type of thing is also available to the Rally guys.

 

[KevinG5Hahn]

Would be a good idea to figure out how much grip the pea gravel I mean lower tarmac might just have to offer. Its going to be damn near impossible to get it swept before racing unless they made some changes I haven't heard about for this year. The starting cars are probably going to be at a disadvantage but then again they might get even lack of traction instead of the thick piles, who knows!


If you don't want to run the hill at speed should get many many passes at low speed to work on notes if you so desire.

 

[Dave Kean]

>Would be a good idea to figure out how much grip the pea
>gravel I mean lower tarmac might just have to offer. Its
>going to be damn near impossible to get it swept before
>racing unless they made some changes I haven't heard about
>for this year. The starting cars are probably going to be at
>a disadvantage but then again they might get even lack of
>traction instead of the thick piles, who knows!

There are 5 morning practice sessions during the week before hand (5:15 to 10am each day), plus all the regular traffic. The road is well swept before race day.

The road also seemed to hold up really well last year, with a few stutter bumps appearing in some of the hard braking areas (edit: in the dirt part of the course) but other wise it seemed like really good surface on race day.

Edit: I was talking about the regular startline to top course. I recall the toll gate to start to have been pretty god tar, but did not take too much notice

Dave Kean

 

[KevinG5Hahn]

Dave, I was talking about the lower sections, below the start line that will be run at night. Please tell me you know what I am talking about.

That asphalt is in rough shape unless its been repaved and nobody told me about it. Gets tons of gravel on it and in someplaces sweeping gravel off of the road will just bring more on it from the mountain. The traditional route should hold up better then last year, although it will be a route to eat tires as this year much more of it is paved.

Only place I'd be worried about gravel more so than this year is on the lower tarmac stuff, its going to be hard to find a clean line unless they made a lot of changes....


Edit to add, they are running you guys up 2 times and on 3 mini stages before one from toll booths to halfway picnic area, one star line to glen cove and one cove creek to summit (not in order) then 2 full runs on saturday........

that is a kind of old schedule though...