Lime Rock (August) -- Who's Going and a Poll

[WatertownNewbie]

Who will be at Lime Rock in August? We all had the pleasure of driving the slicks at Road America and Road Atlanta, and we will be on the slicks at Lime Rock in August too (weather permitting, of course). The question I have, along with who is going, is whether the drivers would prefer doing the classic Uphill or instead the Chicane for the uphill part of the track. IF you are going to be driving at Lime Rock in August, please vote. (To get a fair response, please do not vote if you are not going, and I am asking our crack admin staff to eliminate votes from any sources that clearly are not drivers.)

[GregS]

Originally Posted by WatertownNewbie

Who will be at Lime Rock in August? We all had the pleasure of driving the slicks at Road America and Road Atlanta, and we will be on the slicks at Lime Rock in August too (weather permitting, of course). The question I have, along with who is going, is whether the drivers would prefer doing the classic Uphill or instead the Chicane for the uphill part of the track. IF you are going to be driving at Lime Rock in August, please vote. (To get a fair response, please do not vote if you are not going, and I am asking our crack admin staff to eliminate votes from any sources that clearly are not drivers.)

Todd told me last week that there is no way he is doing classic 3x a year, but he wont be around so, im not sure who would make the call on the config.

[Slowhands]

The new chicane is fun and I don't mind it, in fact because it requires a hard brake I like it because it adds variety to a lap at LRP. However the original corner is a signature corner, an old school test of technique, nerve, car control, and testicular foolishness, resulting in more adrenaline per millisec than Al Gore would approve of. As Hemingway might have said, "The Uphill is a racing corner; the chicane is a turn." So it's got to be the original for me.

[Tireman]

I'll be there, and voted for the Uphill

Viz

[knightrider]

Uphill for me too.

[dalyduo]

Without voting either way yet... Does this presume that folks want to run classic Lime Rock 3 times this season? In the past we've run classic, then the alt. uphill and then classic for the finale. If we run classic this time do we want to run it again at the finale? Just looking at the long range picture.

[Slowhands]

Originally Posted by dalyduo

Without voting either way yet... Does this presume that folks want to run classic Lime Rock 3 times this season? In the past we've run classic, then the alt. uphill and then classic for the finale. If we run classic this time do we want to run it again at the finale? Just looking at the long range picture.

Yes. Yes.

[WatertownNewbie]

Originally Posted by dalyduo

Without voting either way yet... Does this presume that folks want to run classic Lime Rock 3 times this season? In the past we've run classic, then the alt. uphill and then classic for the finale. If we run classic this time do we want to run it again at the finale? Just looking at the long range picture.

You have run it this year, but not on the slicks. That will make the racing a different sensation and will not seem like what you did in June.

[GregS]

Originally Posted by WatertownNewbie

You have run it this year, but not on the slicks. That will make the racing a different sensation and will not seem like what you did in June.

good point
we should just run it 3 times the same way

heck us west coasters run laguna 8 times the same way

[cdh]

LRP configs, a fun, old topic. 2005 thread on whether to run 'T1 90 degree' - before the new changes, a tire/cone was placed on track at the middle
of the entry to Big Bend with some 2x4's laid across the track to keep us on the outside, never my fave. Best in that thread are Sid's comments. Man,
so priceless, lmao, can't you just hear him talking? :/

Then there was the thread about running it backwards (yeah, I know, predictable, but entertaining) Maybe just run a Backwards Memorial

Wish I could say I'll be racing, but hope to be there Friday to watch and kibitz looking forward to it...and if I were racing I'd vote Uphill x 3
I've not driven the new chicane, but from the sidelines the Uphill looks like...well, the Uphill one of the reasons we love LRP. The chicane
offers another passing opp but doesn't look particularly exciting, dunno which I'd prefer.

[LimeRockRacer]

Hey, lets all go to Laguna!

[GregS]

Originally Posted by LimeRockRacer

Hey, lets all go to Laguna!

im in!
its 10 hours closer to me!!

[OLDMAN]

Not that I race anymore (eye problem, money shortage, age!) but to me LRP is all about The Uphill and West Bend.

The Uphill is the signature turn at LRP. Anyone that's ever done a lap at Lime Rock has a story about the Uphill turn. Years ago I was lapping with Marco Andretti in the rain. I remember as he passed me on "No Name" thinking how will he ever get that car to go up the hill at the speed he's going - he didn't! Three laps later his wrecked car had been remove by Tommy Merwin.

By not using the classic West Bend you remove any issues with the Downhill, even I have no trouble with it. While faster classes may need to tweek the layout, the Skippy car is perfect for the classic LRP layout.

I hope to be at the track on Thursday (practice day). Noreen and I will be heading to NHIS for the Whelen Modified and Indycar races that weekend.

Bob

[cdh]

Hey old friend, good to hear from you Bob ...all good points you make. Have fun at NHIS and our best to Noreen - cdh

[cisilp]

Originally Posted by dalyduo

Without voting either way yet... Does this presume that folks want to run classic Lime Rock 3 times this season? In the past we've run classic, then the alt. uphill and then classic for the finale. If we run classic this time do we want to run it again at the finale? Just looking at the long range picture.

I'm with you...for those of us doing the 3 LRP this year would be nice to race 2 or even 3 different tracks/layouts..and keep it the same if possible every year in whichever order...See you all there

My 0.02.


Pablo

[Fred K]

I hope to do a lapping session at LRP that week, and I really hope they'll use the classic. I hate the chicane uphill, although the only real qualifying experience I have was the first two days of the 3-Day last year and standing and watching the Ferraris destroy themselves there last Tuesday. I've never found a line through it where the car was settled, and comparing that lurching and banging with the existential experience of getting the classic halfway right and finding yourself at the top still alive, I'll take the classic.

And some years from now, I'll be boring the nurses at the home with endless tales of the uphill in the sheeting rain last Monday.

--
FredK

[Dalytrio]

Not racing so I cant speak to the track configuration but I will be there... with cookies

Any requests as to type of cookie?

[GregS]

Originally Posted by Dalytrio

Not racing so I cant speak to the track configuration but I will be there... with cookies

Any requests as to type of cookie?

whatever makes u happy and ill take 2

[Slowhands]

Originally Posted by Dalytrio

Not racing so I cant speak to the track configuration but I will be there... with cookies

Any requests as to type of cookie?

Either white chocolate walnut or chocolate chip pecan. Or maybe brownies with pecans. Dang. Now I don't think I can wait till next week.

[Magical Trevor]

FYI, heard today from Scott M. and R.B. that both remaining race weekends at Lime Rock Park will be on the classic course.

Cookies!

[GregS]

Originally Posted by Magical Trevor

FYI, heard today from Scott M. and R.B. that both remaining race weekends at Lime Rock Park will be on the classic course.

Cookies!

i sure hope so!!


i want plain chocolate chip on one day pls J!

[Slowhands]

Originally Posted by GregS

i want plain chocolate chip on one day pls J!

Of course you do. Getting the classic Uphill isn't enough?

[dalyduo]

In addition to the informal poll seen here the company sent us their own poll to take the temperature of those signed up. Clearly it wasn't close as both next week and the finale will be "Classic".

Originally Posted by Magical Trevor

FYI, heard today from Scott M. and R.B. that both remaining race weekends at Lime Rock Park will be on the classic course.

Cookies!

[GregS]

Originally Posted by dalyduo

In addition to the informal poll seen here the company sent us their own poll to take the temperature of those signed up. Clearly it wasn't close as both next week and the finale will be "Classic".

why be different to be less fun?

if it was equally fun both ways...

[WatertownNewbie]

The Chicane configuration is the choice among those driving according to the email from Diana. Maybe I missed something, but it seemed that all comments so far were in favor of the Classic Uphill, or at least no one voted for the Chicane. Ugh.

[GregS]

Originally Posted by WatertownNewbie

The Chicane configuration is the choice among those driving according to the email from Diana. Maybe I missed something, but it seemed that all comments so far were in favor of the Classic Uphill, or at least no one voted for the Chicane. Ugh.

why dont we just ignore the cones and drive uphill anyway?

id love to know who voted for it since there were zero votes here for the chicane.

[KBruSBRS]

Originally Posted by WatertownNewbie

The Chicane configuration is the choice among those driving according to the email from Diana. Maybe I missed something, but it seemed that all comments so far were in favor of the Classic Uphill, or at least no one voted for the Chicane. Ugh.

There were definitely some votes for the Classic Uphill, but ultimately, the Chicane won out. It was a close battle, though!

[Slowhands]

I thought racing was supposed to be about speed, car control, technique, confidence, courage, and adrenaline. The new chicane tests... um... brake-turning, I guess. I don't know. That's all I could come up with. Oh yeah, going uphill slowly. Forgot that one.

[GregS]

Originally Posted by KBruSBRS

There were definitely some votes for the Classic Uphill, but ultimately, the Chicane won out. It was a close battle, though!

do you mind sharing the counts?

I know pretty much 70% of the people going and zero people told me they voted for chicane. That is a significant sample size

Meanwhile, on SF we had 9 people vote to switch and 0 people keep it with 4 abstains. This is nearly 1/4 of the people that are going, for the other 3/4 to overcome that led it would have to be 80% of the votes going the other way, which I just dont see happening.

I am sorry, but something doesnt smell right with this.

[GregS]

Originally Posted by Slowhands

I thought racing was supposed to be about speed, car control, technique, confidence, courage, and adrenaline. The new chicane tests... um... brake-turning, I guess. I don't know. That's all I could come up with. Oh yeah, going uphill slowly. Forgot that one.

this corner, due to way it is built is about pounding the rumble strips.
nothing more
nothing less

if you dont use the rumbles u over slow
if you do use the rumbles the car takes an awful pounding.

because this is not fun and certainly not about skill - this is a terrible decision :/

[GregS]

Originally Posted by dalyduo

In addition to the informal poll seen here the company sent us their own poll to take the temperature of those signed up. Clearly it wasn't close as both next week and the finale will be "Classic".

who told u this? :0

[Ryan Hall]

It would be interesting to see who voted and who is actually racing. Either way... see you guys this week. Greg, if your doing Computer Car, Im sure it will rain.

[dalyduo]

Was working a drivers school on Saturday at LRP and it was mentioned, but the discussion was based on what we'd all seen on the SF poll.
The reason I would guess the Skippy polling is accurate is that the cars get less suspension, transmission and brake abuse running "Classic" so it would benefit the company from a wear and tear cost basis to run "Classic as well. Why would they run the alternate unless more people wanted it?
This is much ado about very little folks. Just drive the cars.

Originally Posted by GregS

who told u this? :0

[GregS]

Originally Posted by Ryan Hall

It would be interesting to see who voted and who is actually racing. Either way... see you guys this week. Greg, if your doing Computer Car, Im sure it will rain.

only people who are coming voted, but perhaps some of the 9 who voted here didnt vote again on the skippy internal vote because they thought it would be a landslide?

i have no idea how or who voted the other way..

im not doing computer car - i added this race weekend because i was so busy with work at atlanta that i couldnt enjoy it (so there is a good chance of no rain )

[Slowhands]

Originally Posted by dalyduo

Why would they run the alternate unless more people wanted it?

Maybe because they think there will be less risk of crash damage? (and probably they would be right) I'll drive the cars, but that doesn't mean I'm not disappointed. I sure hope West Bend on the slicks is not easy flat. I guess I am going to have to go twice as hard into Big Bend to make up for the adrenaline loss...

[GregS]

Originally Posted by Slowhands

Maybe because they think there will be less risk of crash damage? (and probably they would be right) I'll drive the cars, but that doesn't mean I'm not disappointed. I sure hope West Bend on the slicks is not easy flat. I guess I am going to have to go twice as hard into Big Bend to make up for the adrenaline loss...

o well! :/

[KBruSBRS]

Well said, Pat. Thank you.

Originally Posted by dalyduo

Was working a drivers school on Saturday at LRP and it was mentioned, but the discussion was based on what we'd all seen on the SF poll.
The reason I would guess the Skippy polling is accurate is that the cars get less suspension, transmission and brake abuse running "Classic" so it would benefit the company from a wear and tear cost basis to run "Classic as well. Why would they run the alternate unless more people wanted it?
This is much ado about very little folks. Just drive the cars.

[Dalytrio]

I command everyone to stop bitching and have fun damnit!!

[GregS]

Originally Posted by dalyduo

This is much ado about very little folks. Just drive the cars.

ok this will be my last post about this beaten puppy.

i dont know about 'much ado about very little'

the reason that this stinks is that we are losing one of the 2 signature corners and imo the most exciting corner on the track after thinking for a week or so that we would be getting it back.

anyway, play on - lets do this.

[cdh]

Yes, classic Uphill has been known to chew up a car or two as well. From trackside, the chicane sure sounds nasty on the cars, and that affects every car out there, not just the occasional Uphill crash. Does the toll booth chicane make West Bend a lot slower? I think Greg makes good points.

[Fred K]

Since the chicane is in, I'll pass on what I was told by the flagger (sorry, I don't have his name, but I think he's from Mohawk Valley) who is a regular at that corner, and who worked it during the ALMS weekend. The ALMS hot shoes came out to inspect the corner and to figure out a way through and still finish an endurance race. According to the flagger, they concluded that the first two curbs, the right and the left, should be straddled (the inside wheels running squarely over the flat concrete apron on the insides of the ripples) and on the final right, the concrete should be avoided altogether.

I watched the Tuesday lapping sessions for the Ferrari Challenge cars there, and the strategy certainly looks plausible. The Ferraris took a terrible beating in the chicane, all the concrete dust was scattered off the third curb, and all the steel (titanium, aluminum?) scrapings were there too.

It seemed to me that the cars hit the uppermost curb still fully rolled to the right from the lefthander, had used up all their ground clearance and had to grind new.

This Skippy cars have such a low polar roll moment of inertia that maybe they can be timed better. I dunno.

So all of that is just what the guy told me.

--
Fred

[GregS]

Originally Posted by Fred K

Since the chicane is in, I'll pass on what I was told by the flagger (sorry, I don't have his name, but I think he's from Mohawk Valley) who is a regular at that corner, and who worked it during the ALMS weekend. The ALMS hot shoes came out to inspect the corner and to figure out a way through and still finish an endurance race. According to the flagger, they concluded that the first two curbs, the right and the left, should be straddled (the inside wheels running squarely over the flat concrete apron on the insides of the ripples) and on the final right, the concrete should be avoided altogether.

I watched the Tuesday lapping sessions for the Ferrari Challenge cars there, and the strategy certainly looks plausible. The Ferraris took a terrible beating in the chicane, all the concrete dust was scattered off the third curb, and all the steel (titanium, aluminum?) scrapings were there too.

It seemed to me that the cars hit the uppermost curb still fully rolled to the right from the lefthander, had used up all their ground clearance and had to grind new.

This Skippy cars have such a low polar roll moment of inertia that maybe they can be timed better. I dunno.

So all of that is just what the guy told me.

--
Fred

Fred - its a teeth chattering experience to drive it 'fast'.

[WatertownNewbie]

Originally Posted by GregS

ok this will be my last post about this beaten puppy.

i dont know about 'much ado about very little'

I just got back from vacation, so I will throw in my two cents.

The reason I wanted the Classic Uphill is because we Skippy drivers just got through two great weekends at Road America and Road Atlanta running on the slicks, and it would have been a treat (and perhaps my only chance for awhile) to run the original course on those tires. That is no small potatoes. It is certainly not "much ado about very little" either. That sounds like a corporate line to me.

[dalyduo]

Ted,
I'm not the corporate mouthpiece nor did I have anything to do with this decision.

In the history of the company I don't believe there has ever been a season when we ran three "Classic" Lime Rock's in a row. (And I'm happy to be corrected on this by those with decades more SBRS history than me.) Before the track was repaved, the old chicane would be used or a tire and cone would be placed in big bend to make turn one a 90 degree turn just to change things up. This pre-dated you, me, Todd and Divi. It was always done to change things up over the course of a season and it didn't matter what the drivers thought. If Todd and Randy were still running the series we'd be running the alt. uphill. It wouldn't be up for negotiation. I'm assuming from Kelly's comment that the polling was real and there were enough respondents to make the decision fall the opposite way from the poll shown on this thread. The reason it's much ado about very little is even if they cooked the books and arbitrarily decided to privately poll everyone and then not be honest about it... The end result is what it would have been before the company changed management and polled us about it.
If you were looking to run "Classic" this weekend because this would be your only chance for awhile then you aren't a student of both long and short Skippy history. It would have broken an over 35 year tradition of not running the same configuration on consecutive race weekends at Lime Rock. Do I think this decision was made to preserve the history of the company? Absolutely not. But I do think the alternate configuration on slicks will be both rewarding and challenging in ways you've never experienced at Lime Rock before and in my opinion, that's a good thing.
No matter what we think about the decision and how it was decided... It's time to drive the cars.

Originally Posted by WatertownNewbie

I just got back from vacation, so I will throw in my two cents.

The reason I wanted the Classic Uphill is because we Skippy drivers just got through two great weekends at Road America and Road Atlanta running on the slicks, and it would have been a treat (and perhaps my only chance for awhile) to run the original course on those tires. That is no small potatoes. It is certainly not "much ado about very little" either. That sounds like a corporate line to me.

[GT-Subject]

Too all my good friends from Skip Barber racing at Lime Rock this weekend - have a great time!!!! Whatever the track configuration, I am sure you will all enjoy yourselves!!!!

[LimeRockRacer]

Originally Posted by WatertownNewbie

The reason I wanted the Classic Uphill is because we Skippy drivers just got through two great weekends at Road America and Road Atlanta running on the slicks, and it would have been a treat (and perhaps my only chance for awhile) to run the original course on those tires. That is no small potatoes. It is certainly not "much ado about very little" either. That sounds like a corporate line to me.

[KBruSBRS]

Since the talks of a giant track configuration conspiracy are STILL being brought up here at the track, here are the survey results directly from my computer screen.

Dry your eyes and let's race.