The final rally of the year brought out 8 teams on a beautiful fall day. First timers Angie Taylor and Duncan Latta brought home first place honors. Many Warren County cemeteries were visited, and the Little Miami River was crisscrossed multiple times. Complete results, as well as the final points standings, are available on the cincyscca.com website.
Beginning with the 2020 season. A foolproof drive (with mileages of turns and without questions) will be available for those wanting to enjoy the scenic routes we set up without the competitive aspect. We expect to offer 6 rallies in 2020, but scheduling is still in process. Check back after the first of the year for the dates to block out on your calendar!
We are always happy to hear any ideas you have for a fun drive. Contact me to volunteer or if you have questions.
Oh darn, it’s Halloween evening after Baggar’s Night activities! That means my solo report is due…whoops! So let’s see if I can remember everything.
Points Event 8, Oct 20 – First off, thank you to all who came out and enjoyed our last points event on Oct 20th. For those who didn’t hear, it was our largest to date with 227 preregistered, 200 let in off the entry and waitlist, and a few walk-ups resulting in 189 entrants after all was said and done!!! Thanks to our great solo committee, all those who helped, and of course all the entrants, we were able to fit everyone in paddock, get everyone five (5) runs, and finish running at 4:05. A great cap to a very successful 2019 Championship Series. The tightest battle was in CAM-T where the top four were all within 0.368 secs with Nathan Johnson edging Tavis Spencer by 0.043 secs, Nathan Popp 0.263 back from Tavis, and Brian Coney another 0.062 secs farther back. On PAX, Danny Popp (the course designer) abs his C5 Z06 Corvette edged the Subaru STi driven by both Myke Dziengel by 0.003 secs and Nick Isaacs by another 0.260 secs back.
Congrats to Ben for his first autocross in a full-size car!
Year End Points – Year end points are based on the entrant’s best five events with a minimum of four needed to qualify. Year end trophies are primarily awarded based on the same guidelines as the event trophies along with Solo Chair discretion for close competitions where warranted with 1 trophy for 1-3 qualified in class, 2 for 4-6, 3 for 7-9, 4 for 10-13, 5 for 14-17, and an additional for each 4 more qualified in class. I’m not going to cover year-end points races here, come to the banquet (Feb 2020) to listen to the stories, get your trophy, or cheer on your fellow competitors / friends. Points are loaded for your review.
Fun Event, Nov 3 – Okay, I realize it’s Halloween, Thur evening, 34 F, windy, with light snow. (Egad!). Thankfully, as of now it’s supposed to be much nicer Sunday, upper 40s/low 50s and sunny. Make sure you register and come enjoy the last event of 2019, maybe talk a friend or fellow competitor in letting you take a run in their car. Remember, Sunday is also the return to Eastern Standard Time (Spring forward, Fall back) so don’t be late.
2020, Thoughts for next year – Many people thank me for what a great job I’ve done building the program into the successful, fun program it has become. I’ve said it many times and I really mean it, it really is because of the great team we have on the solo committee, not me. I could never do this without my great team! It is really very rewarding to play a part in making our program so great. We are always looking for others who are interested in joining the team, becoming a Specialty Chief or a deputy chief and getting to help guide the future. Really doesn’t take much more effort than what you already do on one of our event weekends other than maybe answering texts for many of the positions. Let Tact, any of the committee, or me know if you are interested, love to keep getting new ideas and energy.
Scheduling is still tentative for the road racing, track event, time trial and bracket races in the Great Lakes Division, but things are coming together. So far on the schedule are three weekends that will provide for non-competition licensed drivers to put their safety compliant car on road courses in the division, and talks are still underway with Cendiv for additional opportunities.
Check out the cincyscca.com website for an article from one of Cincinnati Region’s own highly successful drivers, who recounts his experience at the Runoffs this year.
We strive to make our race, which will probably be August 7-9, better every year. Anyone with ideas or requests should let us know. We can ALWAYS use more hands-on-deck to make the load lighter for all. I travel to all the GLD races and I frequently overhear comments that Cincy puts on a great event and the membership comes out to support the region. I don’t take the credit for membership turnout, but I’m very proud of it. Join the fun!
The last rally of the season is Saturday, November 2. We will depart the Mason-Montgomery Road Frisch’s (right at the exit off I-71) around 10:30. This is a defined route event, with some cemetery stops to search for answers. Don’t be afraid – most answers can be found from your car. The weather looks to be dry and the leaves will be beautiful for this trek that includes several sections along the Little Miami River. There will be a special set of (foolproof) instructions without questions to allow those just looking for a nice drive, without the competition factor, to join us (reduced rate to cover insurance). Come enjoy this last outing and find your rally story.
We are always happy to hear any ideas you have for a fun drive. Contact me to volunteer or if you have questions.
We arrived at the picturesque Virginia International Raceway (VIR) on Saturday October 5th. This was our 33rd SCCA Runoffs that we were to participate in.
As we set up our paddock spot several race teams were finishing up their second day of testing. Already there were teams repairing damage and swapping motors and race day was a week away. VIR is a 3.27mile track that is very technical and very fast. Catching traffic at the wrong place will cost you dearly with the result of many ugly offs. We were testing on Sunday and Monday. Testing went very well with little issues and the Tiger showing speed. On Monday’s test I pushed too hard coming out of the climbing esses that resulted in a spin. Lap times were not what was expected but reviewing data showed promise if the driver could put it all together. Tuesday was the first qualifying session and it was just the GT2 cars. We arrived at the track with 29 entries in GT2 but thru the test days attrition 24 GT2 cars took a time. We had the misfortune to find a trail of oil dropped by fellow competitor as we started the 3rd lap. The Tiger’s right rear tire finds the oil and next thing I know I am backwards off the track between 2 and 3. The tires were severely flat spotted so our session was over.
For Wednesday’s qualifying session we started at the rear and with the addition of the GT1 cars on track we had 37 cars on track. The car was working well as I worked my way through the traffic and got decent lap time of 1:56:818. The time was good enough to have us 9th on the time sheets still off 2 seconds of my rolling lap times on data. Thursday was the last qualifying session once again just the GT2 cars and warmer temps which will help get the slicks up to temps. The Tiger felt great and we quickly got up to speed. I was following the Lou Gigliotti’s Corvette thru the esses and he was throwing up a dust cloud every lap. I decided to drop back and get a gap so I good get a clean lap. I had no one behind me so I let the Vette get 20 seconds up the track. I started the hot lap coming out the last turn known as the hog pen when I heard a loud pop. The car pivoted right towards the guard rail and I got off the power and onto the brakes and the car went off track to the left. I got on the radio that we were hit in the rear. Janet radioed back that there was no one behind me but that I had to keep going or may catch fire as the grass was extremely dry. I made it back onto the track but when I applied power the car steered right when I let off it steered left. I made it past the flag stand and parked out of the way. As the Tiger was loaded on the rollback wrecker, we could see that the left rear lower trailing arm and shock mount had separated from the axel tube. We get the car back to our paddock spot and decide on action plan to remedy the issue. We decided it was best to swap rear ends as each rear end is setup with their trailing arms and shock mount. We had the back up rear end assembly into the Tiger within a few hours and off the dinner we went. Friday was the 1st day of championship races and we did not race until Saturday. We had all day to finish the swap and then prepare for the race. After finishing preparing the Tiger, I took it out for a hardship lap between races on Friday, the car felt good. We watched the A Sedan and GT3 races then off for dinner and to get a good night sleep for our race on Saturday.
It has been a week since we arrived at VIR and finally at 2pm we would have our race. All week long we had a very easy time of it. Thursday was the worst but compared to the carnage that we observed we had it very easy. We were to start 12th out of 24, right in the middle. The weather was excellent with not a drop of rain to be seen. The start was slow and the outside line seemed to be having a better run into 1. A Mustang behind me makes a wild move up the inside and slides in front of the car I was following into 1. It was a miserable start for us we lost at least 6 spots thru the first 3 turns. I get by one of the cars on the back straight and as we enter the “roller coaster” the sequence of corners after the long back straight there were 2 cars off the track. That was 1 lap! Coming out of turn 1 on second lap the 2 black Corvettes that started on either side of me were spinning. I lose 2 spots as we work our way thru the carnage. On lap 3 I got the Tiger moving forward and pass 3 cars however a car had dropped oil on the exit to hog pen and 1 slid but catch it. The Silver Corvette behind me hit the same oil and his left rear collects my right rear (another tail light). The Tiger continues the Vette had to pit to replace a flat tire. As the Tiger goes up thru turn 1 the right rear tire is billowing out smoke. I take it easy thru the esses and the back straight but the smoke seems to have diminished so I pick up the pace. We move forward through the field and consistently set fastest trap speeds in excess of 160mph (a first for the Tiger). The rest of the race was uneventful with consistent lap times at 1:58s. We finished 9th which was disappointing but like the crew says the car was able to be rolled into the trailer. I was amazed at the damage when I finally climbed out of the car but the car worked well.
Preparations have already started to ready the Tiger for the 2020 season.
2019 has been another great year for the region and we are winding down to the end of our activities for 2019…
This is a reminder that our last meeting for 2019 is our General Membership/Board Meeting @ 7PM on Tuesday, November 19th at the Mill Race Banquet Center. At this meeting we will be electing our 2020 Board Members. The following members were nominated at our last meeting in October for this coming year and are on the ballot:
Region Executive – Tony Brown
Assistant R.E. – Gordon Benson
Treasurer – Christy Graham
Secretary – Scott Bitzer
Board Member at Large 3 elected to a 2 year term
– Jack Burns
– Jim Clark
– Jeff Loewe
– Thomas Tomlinson
Please save the tentative date of February 1st, 2020 for our Annual Awards Banquet. More details are to come!
Once again our next General Membership/Board Meeting is coming up on Tuesday November 19th @ 7pm, look forward to seeing you there!
The Mill Race Banquet Center is located at: 1515 W. Sharon Road, Cincinnati, OH 45240
Saturday’s Halloween Adventure Road Rally registration is OPEN! Visit cincyscca.motorsportreg.com to sign up.
This is the last rally of the year, November 2, starting at Frisch’s at the Mason Montgomery exit off I-71. On-site check in and registration starts at 9:30 with first car out at 10:30. It is approximately 100 miles and will take about 4 hours. You will be visiting several Warren County cemeteries to see if there are any leftover Halloween ghosts lurking.
There is also a non-competition, fool-proof route available if you want to just enjoy the drive and the fall colors on some awesome roads without looking for answers to questions.
Cost for non SCCA members is $25 with a member discount available, and $10 for the non-competitive drive instructions. Visit the registration site for more details and if you have questions, just ask.
