I can tell you from prior experience in dealing with large "paid" events thats its something thats hard to make work. Especially something where you need to have significant capital to put down deposits and such up front. Remember our FL S2000 group has $0 in banked funds, and a $0 operating budget, therefore to even put down a deposit someone needs to have a tremendous amount of faith in people following through and paying to come.

Aside from the costs of renting the track, you have to remember all the ancilliary things like ambulance crew, instructors, etc. All makes things go up.

I would guess that if you run Sebring or Homestead you would need at least 50-75 cars paid at $300-$400 a person to make it happen. Last I heard track rental alone at Homestead was $20,000 for the day.

If this was something we put together everyone would have to pay every dime up front, or we would need one generous sponsor.

 

Dave-ROR I had similar experience with PBOC. They are a bunch of tools. They made me run Homestead with my top up because they didn't care for the rollover protection of the car. I told them, you think running with the top UP is safer?

They don't care for anyone who doesn't have a P or B car. Especially those with cars that tend to show up their own members.

 

I think this may be the best plan so far. We should all sign up for a Chin event together.

 

 

It can be a start atleast...

 

 

i actually like GIR and think that it can be a great venue. Very few people have been there when it was NOT an SCCA event so they are only familiar with the course when there are cones aplenty.

If you take the cones away (that are intended to reduce your speed for the most part) then you have a pretty fast track with some great turns. Sure, its still not Sebring, Homestead, VIR, or Robeling ... but it is a lot of fun and i think a better fit for both cost and fewest restritions. For many of us (especially myself) who still are enjoying this car in a near-stock form ... this is a great place to feel safe yet still offer alot of fun.

Yes ... i'm pretty close to Gainesville and it helps me like it. But, i don't think it's more than 2hrs for those from Orlando, Tampa or Jacksonville either.

my 2cents


oh ... and it could also be a great bundle for another Mega-Meet. Having 20 S2000's running on the track is nice ... but, having another 20-30 there to spectate would be even better. Gainesville is a great town with plenty of 'resources' when it comes to hospitality.

 

KeithD: It's absolutely a lot of work. For the ITR Expo we spend from one month after the annual event until the next years event working on details, the level of work comes and goes but it's constant. Of course that's for a large national event, not just a track event, but still.

You can do it with $0 up front - sorta. You just need to get enough people to pay in time to pay the deposit

 

The top up rule is more for lack of arm restraints and primary purpose is to keep your hands/arms inside the car during a roll so a rollbar/hoop/windsheidl frame/etc doesn't crush it or remove it from your body.

On PBOC, yes, they only like their member cars... bastards. I know some of the guys that work for them, and they saw my car and said that it should be fine as it matches what the P & B cars provide stock, but the registration people didn't agree. I guess the word of the guys working the track don't count for as much.

 

The problem with GIR is track length and track width. It's not at all suitably for a HPDE, but is fine for small club days and such

As I said earlier, the besst bet is to run with an established group and let them deal with the details. If this becomes a national type of event instead of local/regional then it's best to do it yourself in my experience, otherwise let someone else deal with it.

FWIW, Moroso and Homestead are both fairly dangerous courses, Sebring is better, but still not great. Roebling Road and CMP would be the next closest tracks that are designed more for club events than spectator events.