Author: Autocrosser

March 2023 Solo Report

Or maybe it is the February 2023 Solo Report, I can never remember which this is supposed to be so I am going to go with March.  Plllllth.  If you are like me, it is clear the solo season is right around the corner based on the fury of home projects I am knee deep in and trying to get done before April hits!  This is a far better indicator than the summer-like temperatures one day followed by below freezing two days later period of the year we are in, trust me!

On to more fun stuff…  

We had a solo committee meeting in Feb and have hammered out plans for the upcoming season.  Looks like we have great plans and things are lining up well, excited for the planned improvements.  I’m excited for the changes, let me know if you want to help us make 2023 even better .

The Cincy 2023 Solo Schedule is much more solid than last month and posted on our website:  http://cincyscca.com/autocross/2023-solo-schedule-results/

You will also find neighboring region, national level, and other program schedules of interest at the bottom of the page.  There are three night solos tentatively set on the calendar, but still need to finalize details.

First event is our Test & Tune, Apr 1st.  Registration is open, but please note it is already at the entry cap since it is a limited entry level.  Next event is our first Spring Fun Event, Apr 2nd, registration is open for it too, but it is not sold out yet.  

If you attempt to register for both you will be shown on the waitlist for both days even though you are likely in the fun event.  

Remember, if you are waitlisted go ahead and register as many times most of those waitlisted get in after registration closes.

Kent Weaver
Cincy SCCA Solo Chair

The Registration for 2023 Solo Season is now open on MSR.  Please read carefully below for our Permanent Number rules before you register.

Permanent Numbers are :
–  Intended for members who regularly compete in our event (At least half the events in past season)
–  First come first serve
–  Reset every championship season
– We adhere to the SCCA Solo National Events Numbering policy:
—  Only 1-99 are allowed for single driver cars
—  101-199 are for the second drivers of 2-drivers cars
—  No leading zeros allowed (i.e. 7 is allowed, but 007 is not)
–  If you do not know your class, find your class first and then register  (Please contact us with your classing questions)

* Registrations completed on/after March 1st has to be processed manually by the Event Registrar and it may take up to 1 week or longer .
* Cincinnati Region SCCA reserves rights to remove reserved permanent numbers at our discretion at any time during the season.
* Permanent number is reserved only for the events hosted by CincySCCA and will reset each season. (If the entrant does not register for the events 4 days prior to the event date, the reserved number will become available for any entrants for the event.)

https://cincyscca.motorsportreg.com/

Time for another Cincy SCCA Solo Report.  Last month I reported how June had been a busy month and said July didn’t promise to be any more relaxed.  I was right, and of course Aug and Sep will be busy too, no relaxing until Oct or really Nov.

July began with a bang, the SCCA Solo Summer Nationals in Bristol, TN, with a ProSolo Jun 29 – Jul 1 followed by a National Tour Jul 2-3.  For Cincy Region, Jul 3 was also a “Popp Up Test and Tune” at Traders World, Jul 9 was our second AutoX 101 of the season followed by Points Event #4 on Jul 10.  Of course if you didn’t run our events that weekend, there was the Great Lakes Div Solo Series in Toledo.  The next weekend was  .  July 23 & 24 was the Toledo ProSolo and the GLDiv events at Memorial Coliseum in Fort Wayne.  Lastly, if for some reason you cannot make it to our Cincy Region Track Day, Time Trials, Road Race Extravaganza @ Mid-Ohio, there is the upcoming DriveAutoX at Grissom Aeroplex on Jul 29-31.  Of course all of this is ignoring all the other non-SCCA events our people go to like Goodguys Summit Racing Nationals in Columbus Jul 8-10, UMI Autocross Challenge Jul 21-23, and the Subaru Challenge on Jul 23-24.

As I said, August and September promise to be just as busy.

Aug 6         GL Div Event 8 by SBR @ Grissom Aeroplex
Aug 5-7      Oscoda, MI ProSolo
Aug 12-14  CAM Challenge East @ Grissom Aeroplex
Aug 20-21  WOR PE 2 / Cincy PE 5 @ Traders World
Aug 28      
 
Sep 2-4       SCCA ProSolo Finale @ Lincoln, NE
Sep 5-9       SCCA Solo National Championships @ Lincoln, NE
Sep 8-11     LS Fest Bowling Green KY
Sept 17-18  GL Div events 9 & 10 / Cincy PE 6 @ Traders World

Back to July Recap
Popp Up Summer Test & Tune – Jul 3
Danny Popp helped organize a Test & Tune on Jul 3 as a fundraiser to help recoup the costs of having the parking lot repair we had done in June.  We had 54 entrants come out to enjoy the holiday weather and get enough runs most were done before the event officially ended.  What a fantastic idea Danny, thank you to all who came out and supported the event!

Summer AutoX 101 – Jul 9
We had 31 students at the second and last regional school this year.  The students all echoed the compliments we received after the first school.  Definitely a great event, rewarding to those of us who instructed or helped, and of course improvements for all of the students.

Points Event 4 – Jul 10
We had 170 entries, got everyone six runs and were done running at a reasonable time.  The course was unique in that it had a 100 ft diameter skid pad (or toilet bowl as I heard it called affectionately) right off the start leading into a five cone slalom and a decreasing radius hairpin turn leading into a Chicago Box.  Rob Clark took his SS C8 Corvette to the top PAX time by 0.645 secs over Dave Montgomery in his FS Camaro and Raw Time by 0.212 secs over Christian Moist in his Birkin 7.  Closest battle was in the hotly contested 8 driver DS class where Jo Jadeke in her Civic Type R held off Jim Zeisler in his BRZ by 0.162 secs.  Our Novice classes continued to be well attended with 13 in NS and 21 in NM, the largest class at the event.  Overall, another great points event.

Bristol ProSolo – Jun 29 – Jul 1 
Had plans for a much larger Cincy group at the Pro, but barious things arose leading to only a few of us.  Definitely a shame as this is a great 5 day set of events!

John Custer  8^th  STX
Krzysztof Zielinski  11^th CAMC
Lang King 2T L2, First Round Ladies Challenge
Cindy Duncan  5^th  L2
Tina Coil  8^th  L2
Rob Clark  1T S3, 1^st PAX, 2^nd Super Challenge
Myke Dziengel  3T S4
Scott Bourne  20  S5

Bristol National Tour
Rob Clark  1T  SS
Lang King  5  SS
Scott Bourne  9 DS
Cindy Duncan  2T DSL
Tina Coil  4 DSL
Myke Dziengel  4  STU
Krzysztof Zielinski  5 CAMC

Toledo ProSolo Jul 22-24
Ben Weaver  7  AS,  2^nd Bonus Challenge
Kent Weaver  8 AS
Charles Totten  9 CS
Gina Ma  9 GS
Sam Oakes  10 GS
Jessie Nash  12 GS
Nick Erlenbach  8 STR
John Custer  10 STX
Krzysztof Zielinski  4T  CAM
Lang King  2T L2, 2^nd Ladies Challenge
Cindy Duncan 5T L2
Jo Jadeke 7 L2
Rob Clark 3T S3, Winner Super Challenge
Myke Dziengel 4T S4
Dave Montgomery 4T R2

Talk with you all soon!

Kent Weaver
Cincy SCCA Solo Chair

There, I said it.  It’s that time again, time for my monthly solo report.  After all, it is Jun 30 and it’s due today…  We are most definitely in the meat of the season where one seldom has a non-racing weekend (if you don’t want to)! 

June was a busy month and July doesn’t promise to be any more relaxed. June 10-12, thirty (30) Cincy members/regulars traveled to Grissom Aeroplex in Peru IN for the Peru National Tour.  During the following week TD Rack Paving came out and repaired 310 foot of asphalt including the one area which broke up at the previous event. On the next weekend, Jun 18-19, we hosted a SCCA Starting Line School on Saturday and had Points Event 3 on Sunday.  The next weekend (last weekend as I write this) was the DriveAutoX event at Traders World where again many of the Cincy members had a good showing.  This doesn’t include all the other events our crew went to either in mass or individually like the WOR/MVSCCC event June 5^th, the Finger Lakes NY National Tour, Jun 17-19, the Great Lakes Div Solo Series events at Grissom Jul 18 & 19 or at SWVR Jun 25-26, or the CKR event Jun 26^th, plus many others.   

As I said earlier, July promises to be busy too with a “Popp Up” Test & Tune this Sunday, and our second regional school “Cincy AutoX 101, on Jul 9 with Points Event 4 on Sunday, Jul 10.  Then, we will have Cincy regroup in force for the Toledo Pro Solo on Jul 22-24, DriveAutoX at Grissom Aeroplex on Jul 30-31, and the Oscoda MI ProSolo Aug 6-7.Jul 3^rd..  Again, there are many other choices our group will attend too like the GLSS event July 10 at Toledo, or Jul 23-24 in Fort Wayne.

Peru National Tour Recap – Jun 10-12

Had a great time playing on the concrete @ Grissom with not only a bunch of Cincy members, but friends from all over the country!  There were 235 entrants in total, 30 of which I count as Cincy Region members/regulars not including a few support people who came but didn’t run!  By my count we were tied for largest number of entrants with NWOR or at least close due to dual memberships!!!  Congrats not only to the five (5) class winners and four (4) trophy winners, but also to those of us who went and gave it our all but came up short!  <pun intended>

CLASS RESULTS
SS 1T Rob Clark	DSL 5 Tina Coil	CAMS 6 Mark Minge
SS 11 Langlee King	GS 3T Christopher Rudy	CAMS 7 Jamie Elliott
AS 8 Kent Weaver	GS 6 Cody Mills	CAMC 3 Krzysztof Zielinski
AS 9 Ben Weaver	GS 10 Keith Koegler	CAMT 6 Bob Armstrong
CS 6 Charles Totten	STH 5 Nate Chester	CAMT 8 Gene Pooler
DS 3T Jack Burns	FSP 2T Scott Giles	XSA 4 Brandon Sewell (1stTour!)
DS 5 Scott Bourne	FSP 6 Renee Hines	XSA 6 Halie Sewell (1stTour!)
DS 9 Brian Yee	XP 1T Dave Montgomery	XSB 1T Nick Erlenbach
DSL 1T Cincy Duncan (would have been 3T DS!)	DM 1T Christian Moist	XSB 3Dave Rudy
DSL 2T Jo Jadeke (would have been 4T DS!)	DM 2 Michael Wolf	EV 3 Tom Mills – (1st Tour!)

 

PAX INDEX (Top 20)	MASTERS INDEX
2 Rob Clark	7 Kent Weaver
8 Dave Montgomery	10 Jack Burns
	12  Renee Hines
	19 Keith Koegler
	28 Michael Wolf

SCCA Starting Line School – Jun 18 –  The school had twenty (20) students attend in various skill levels from a first autocross event level to those who have been running a couple years just trying to improve.  The school provides not only phenomenal instruction, but additional great value in an annual membership and waiver, entry to a Cincy region solo, a National Tour, and a track day.  All the students had great things to say about the school/instruction and really enjoyed themselves.  Tough to beat the value!

Cincy Points Event 3 – Jun 19 – The Sunday after the school we had 179 entrants, tying it with PE 2 for the largest event so far this year, but under the record of 189 for PE 8 in 2019.  The event went very well with 6 runs completed by 4:35 even with an hour downtime to clean up the course from an oil spill.  Thanks again to everyone who pitched in during the 4th heat and did the “Salina Shuffle” scrubbing in the cat litter/oil dry and sweeping it up in the heat.  Kudos to all getting us back running so all got their runs.  The closest battle was in CAMC (9 entries) where 7 of the 9 set their fastest run on the last run with the top four within 0.242 secs having Brad Davidson taking the win in his 2019 Mustang over Nathan Johnson in his 2018 Camaro.  CAM accounted for 41 of the 179 entries and the largest class was CAMS with 22 entries where Danny Popp took the emotional win by 0.142 secs over Marshall Reinert marking an amazing step in his comeback from a year ago!  Christian Moist took FTD in his DM Birkin with a 38.453 and  Chris Rudy took the top PAX time in his Honda Civic S with a 32.911, 0.305 secs over Myke Dziengel n his Subaru STi.

Finger Lakes National Tour – Jun 17-19

This event was held at the Seneca Army Base, Romulus NY.  Rob Clark and Langlee King had outstanding representation for Cincy taking first place in both of their classes, SS and SSL, respectively.  As I understand it, Rob made it interesting only having two clean runs all weekend, one each day, and coming back from 2^nd after day one for the win.  He also placed 4^th overall on the index.  Langlee also made it interesting day one, only having her 3^rd run clean.   Congrats Rob and Lang, way to go!

DriveAutoX at Traders World – Jun 24-26

This event is focused on CAM type cars but also has classes for non-CAM cars and is not an SCCA sanctioned event.  Competitors got 11 runs Saturday on one course, 5 runs on a different course Sunday, and then the Challenge brackets with the top 8 qualifiers in each class over the two days combined.  Great time was had by all!  Cincy Region was represented well and quite a few got into the challenges and even won!  Congrats to those who qualified for the challenges and special recognition to the Cincy Region winners: 

Tim Schoch – GT
Marshall Reinert – GTU
Brian Coney – GTV
Tavis Spencer – SCN

 

Upcoming July Events – https://CincySCCA.MotorsportReg.com

Popp Up Test & Tune – July 3 – The idea and opportunity for this event came up after our last points event as a fundraiser to help reimburse the pavement repair and of course help our competitors before their upcoming big events.   Note:  This is a limited entry event

AutoX 101 – Jul 9 – This is the second (and last) novice school we are hosting in 2022.  As of today, all of the 32 spots are filled; however, there is always the chance for cancellations if you are on the waitlist.

Points Event 4 – July 10 – Just like the AutoX 101 school, we met our entry cap of 175 entrants yesterday (29 Jun).  If you haven’t registered yet and are wanting to enter, please register on the waitlist.  Many waitlisted entrants end up making it in the event, but if you don’t enter it is unlikely for you to get in.  If you are registered but know you cannot make it, please go in and cancel to prevent being charged and help others get in the event.

Toledo ProSolo – If you have never run a ProSolo, you really, really should.  It combines a Christmas Tree start like at a drag race and two mirror image courses with challenge brackets on Sunday afternoon.  Toledo is already at its entry cap, but the Oscoda ProSolo Aug 5-7 still has openings.  By my count, we have 17 Cincy members/regulars attending the Toldeo ProSolo event.

SCCA ProSolo Finale (Sep 2-4) and Solo National Championships (Sep 5-9)
– Registrations – Registration is open for Tier 1 and 2 for the National Championships already on MSR. 
– Cincy Region Paddock – I have already started collecting names for our paddock area this year, last year we had 22 entrants.  Speak up soon so we aren’t scattered about and I can reserve a big paddock space for us.

Reminder: Numbers (8” min) and Letters (4” min), 1-1/2 to 2” stroke, must be on the car at tech, must contrast the car, be on both sides, and cannot be on the windows. See AutocrossDigits.com for great selections of vinyl or magnetic sets.

Solo Chair
Kent Weaver

Wow, the season has barely started but is cranking already.

Shortly after I last made a report, we had our first event weekend Apr 9 & 10. As we came closer to the weekend the weather forecast wasn’t good for Saturday and only got worse the closer we got. Based on the forecast we decided it was best to ask you, the entrants, what you wanted to do and the answer was a resounding please cancel the event. We listened and that was a good thing, because by the time we got there (if you remember), Apr 8 and 9 were flat out freezing cold, wet, windy, and just downright miserable. We did course set up that afternoon and even had snow/sleet to validate the decision to cancel. Kudos for common sense…well, as much as any of us have such a thing… Sunday dawned far, far better; it was even sunny, and t-shirt warm. Heck, many of us came home with pretty solid sunburns! I’ll take that over cold frozen precipitation any day! Back to the event, we had 149 entrants on Sunday, got six runs and finished running by 3:00. Great job by all, thank you! The tightest battle was in the 17 entry Street Open index class where Keith Koegler edged out Joel Zeller by 0.024 secs. Top time of day went to Richard Sawicki in the FSAE car and top PAX went to Devin Taylor in Street Touring Open. Enough of the season opener tribulations.

Moving on to the next event weekend a mere two weeks later and true to Ohio, whereas we had accumulating snow earlier in the week, it was very sunny and we had temps in the upper 80s for both Sat and Sun, Apr 23 & 24 respectively. Saturday was the Miami Motorsport Club Fun event where the 68 entrants got to run it in a test and tune format the whole time instead of a fun event in the morning and test and tune in the afternoon. By 4:00, by far the majority had stopped running, because they had gotten all the runs they wanted to take.

Sunday, Apr 24, our first points event dawned just as nice weather wise with temps in the upper 80s/low 90s for the 178 entrants. The course was essentially the opposite direction as Saturdays’ course and had been designed with this direction in mind, but I have to say I enjoyed Saturday’s course a bit more personally. This event had so many tight competitions it was tough to keep track of as things changed by the moment all day long. SMF had Brian Gard edging out Brent Walsh by a mere 0.114 secs. In CAM T, Nathan Popp took the win by 0.173 secs over Cam Joseph. in STH Mike Kruetzkamp edged out Jake Favaron by 0.178 secs. D Street had mom over daughter by a “whopping” 0.180 secs with Jo Jadeke using that age and treachery to finish just ahead of Aleshia Findley. G Street followed suit with Jim Hardesty over Sam Oakes by 0.201 secs. CAM C had Ron Schoch over Ryan Wilhelm by 0.232 secs. CAM S had Paul Curley a snitch ahead of Marshall Reinert by 0.236 secs in our largest class with 22 entrants. In Street Touring Alexander Prand took first over John Custer by 0.260 secs. Open Street Open had Lang King putting the smack down on the other 17 entrants and beating Dean Rindler by 0.285 secs. Fastest Raw Time and PAX Time both went to Rob Clark in Pro class with a raw time of 39.208 secs just ahead of Crhistian Moist with a 39.390 and PAX time of 32.609 over Myke Dziengel with a 33.419 sec time.

As I type this, we are preparing for the Phase 1 and 2 Evolution Performance Driving School events this Sat, Apr 30th, and Sun, May 1st respectively. Twenty-four students are signed up each day to get some of the best instruction across the country.

Upcoming Events:
– Our next event (after this weekend) is our Autocross 101 school for novices on May 14th followed by Points Event 2 on May 15th. Please go to MotorsportReg and register before we hit the entry cap for both. (CincySCCA.MotorsportReg.com)
– The following event is a Starting Line school on Jun 18th and Points Event 3 on Jun 19th. (CincySCCA.MotorsportReg.com)
– Peru, IN (Grissom Aeroplex) National Championship Tour is open for registration already and is coming up Jun 10-12 where I hope we will bring a large Cincy showing and trophy raid.(https://www.scca.com/events/2000312-2022-tire-rack-scca-peru-national-tour-grissom-aeroplex)

That’s enough for now, I’m sure you are bored with my meanderings. See you on site sooner vs later!

Kent Weaver
Cincy SCCA Solo Chair

Can’t believe the season is almost here! In some ways it seems like forever, in other ways it seems like we just barely wrapped up last year and we are scrambling to get the car ready… Yesterday, Mar 30th, the weather was warm, heck fantastic albeit a bit windy, and I couldn’t wait to go play. Today and tomorrow are going to be cold again and it makes me glad I’m inside. Okay, enough about that, let’s get to the important stuff:

Off-Season Solo Preparation
We had a solo meeting and trailer repair/clean out party. Hope our planned improvements for 2022 work out as well as we think they will. Event registrations are all listed on MotorsportReg; however, registration won’t open for each event until six (6) weeks prior to the event.

2021 Solo Championship Trophies
For those of you who couldn’t make it to the 2021 year-end banquet and award presentation in February, or for those with corrections, we will have your trophies at the trailer at the first event in about a week from now. Please do not ask the registration workers for them, we will handle that separately.

Upcoming Events (the thing you are probably most interested in):

• Thankfully we will be returning to Traders World in 2022, been a great partnership which is only going to get better.
• All our region managed events are available here: https://cincyscca.motorsportreg.com/

Apr 09 Test and Tune

• The Test and Tune has already had 25 entries on waitlist for a while, we are no longer accepting additional waitlist entries. Waitlist entrant will be notified upon acceptance when registration closes Thursday, Apr 7 @ , 9:59 PM. No walkups will be accepted.

Apr 10 Spring Fun Event

• The event still has room under the cap, register now before it fills up, we currently have 141 entries with the cap at 175.

Apr 23 Miami Motorsports Club (MMC) Event

• The event still has 20 spots left. Plan is to run it as a Fun event format in the morning and a Test & Tune format in the afternoon. Please sign up before sells out.

Apr 24 Points Event 1

• Sunday’s Points Event still has plenty of room, but register now.

Apr 30 / May 1 Evolution Performance Driving Schools

• Excited to be bringing back the Evolution Performance Driving School Phase 1 school on Apr 30th and a Phase 2 school on May 1st. These are a great tool for improving or honing your driving skills, even if you have been running autocrosses for way too many years like me (37 years…) I took the Phase 2 last year and have taken the Phase 1 school three other occasions, I highly recommend them.
  Phase 1 School
  Phase 2 School

May 14 Spring Autox 101

• Registration for the novice driver school will have a very limited entry cap as in the past so we can provide best balue for the entrants. Registration will open today, March 31st. Looking for experienced drivers who would like to help with driving instruction or other event skills like course working.

May 15 Points Event 2

• Registration opens March 31st. Please note the registration for May 14-15 weekend will be processed manually, so everyone will be put on “hold” status at first.

Jun 18 TireRack SCCA Starting Line

• Registration doesn’t appear to be open yet for some reason (my understanding is it was supposed to be), but look here soon or at MotorsportReg. This is another great school and opportunity with many extras.
  https://www.scca.com/pages/starting-line

See you soon!

Kent Weaver
Cincy SCCA Solo Chair

Welcome to February! The off-season is zooming by already. We have our solo schedule 99% set for this year, unfortunately there are conflicts with other events I was hoping to avoic, but doing the best we can for the majority of our Cincy autocross family. You can check out our schedule and an “area schedule” on the CincySCCA.com website which includes events from nearby regions, Great Lakes Solo Series, SCCA National events, and other major events.

Of course our 2021 Season Banquet is this coming Sat, Feb 5, where we will be awarding the 2021 Year-End Solo Series awards along with great door prizes, regional level trophies, and great camaraderie. BY now you have missed the sign up for the meal, but you can still attend and pick up your trophy if you contact the organizer. Along that line, if you cannot make it, please try to make arrangements for someone who is going to pick up your trophy if at all possible.

Other than that, our first event of the season is a Test and Tune Apr 9th with a fun event on Apr 10th. It will be here sooner than you think, look forward to seeing everyone there!

Kent Weaver