Dear Fans,
Unfortunately it appears there will not be a re-match between my Madness prepared car and Randy Webb's at the next St. Louis race. Randy has announced his withdrawel from the series.
I for one was looking forward to a race against a similarly prepared car and Randy's was pretty closely matched. As you all know in Sebring, Randy's car had fuel pump relay issues and fell out of the race after one lap.
Hope some else is able to fill his spot in the unlimited class.
Dissapointed,
Steve

 

Steve, I hear ya! Spoken like a true competitor who wants to be challenged...

I feel for Randy though as he truly enjoys racing, but as I alluded to in another thread, it's just too much for him to design,test and bring products to mkt, serve as vendor of those and other products, customer service/support, travel the country (Pulley Parties), build a race car, and race it... Too much time, and money...

Hopefully whoever buys his car will join in the festivities!

 

Steve, I agree it is too bad there are a lack of "unlimited" cars.

As this series matures, I hope the rules on car prep are consistent to existing series here in the States. It is my feeling, the MINI Spec is very similar to what is done in the Cooper Challenge and is the direction to go. If the NAMCC rules could be developed where cars have several venues to run in (NAMCC, BMWCCA, NASA, ProAutosports), the number of cars will grow and the competition of the series will be elevated. As an attendee of the inaugural race at Laguna Seca, I would support the series.

It will be interesting to see what happens.

Randy we know you will be back for a few races.... I got some splainin to do

 

It is too bad Randy will not be able to race in St. Louis. He wants to compete more than anyone else I know, but the amount of time and money needed is too much right now. We either need some major sponsorship(our sponsors are great but don't provide the funds needed), or either me or Randy needs to win the lottery. CamelPilot was right when he said its very hard to find sponsorship in the US. I will hopefully be competeing in the enitre series, and am looking forward to seeing more out in class 4.

I think Mark has the right idea. We need more participants at this point. Maybe we need to whittle down the classes for next season. 6 classes in a brand new series is a little ambitious. I would like to see 2 or 3 at most. Not as much fun when all you can do is race yourself.

Also, what's up with the points? Why do I get 14 at Sebring when I didn't win overall? According to the rules given by Phil, I should have 24 points, 12 for each win in class, as should Waylen. Also, both Randy and Steve should be the only drivers recieving 14 points for their overall feild wins.

-Brian

 

The points make no logical sense at all. How can Waylen possibly be leading overall when he has only competed against himself at both races? As mentioned above, Brian and Waylen should be tied, followed by Randy, and then the others.

 

I was wondering about that too. They make no sense right now.

 

The points system need to be relooked into in my opinion.

There's just not enough cars to be doing it like that.

Plus, 1st, 2nd and 3rd Overrall should get more of a bonus ON TOP of the Class points.

 

If you go to Wicks site, it states bonus points for pole and for fastest lap. Our team had fun at Las Vegas, but I believe the series needs alot of improvement to attract more competitors. The problem is in Europe it's a spec series, all car the same. Over here Wicks has 5 classes.Cooper and S, stock, modified and unlimited With only 6 to 7 cars per race Wicks only has 2 maybe three cars in each class.

Right now I don't think there are more then 20 MINI's in the US that have full cages IMO. Nasa MINI Challenge has maybe 6 to 8 in AZ. SCCA might have a few for SS. thats about it.

Maybe "07" Wicks will have things worked out .

 

Funny how this series just started and many of you are asking "where are the modified cars?"
Like Rich said, there are very few major modified Minis out there as there was really no class for them to race once modified. It's just now that a few of us are taking the challenge in BMWCCA modified class.

If this Wicks series can get in gear and become a serious series, then you may find several new modified Mini S' out there next season. But at this point to travel half way across the country to race two other cars in your class is just not worth it.
I hope this series is successful, but to be it needs a good amount of work to be so.
Not sure why those who want to race their Minis just don't do so in SCCA, NASA, and BMWCCA.... ?

 

I was under the impression this seris brought the Spec MINI class into existance for NASA.

 

Well why did I get 13 points in Vegas? First place is 12 points, and the bonus for 1st overall is 2. I did not get the fastest lap. I have tried e-mailing Rich, but no response.

 

Once you start requiring 6 point cages and 5-6 point harnesses and window nets ....

Then enter tow vehicles, time and more time ... then comes threats of divorce ....

You eliminate 99.9% of MINI owners ....You are left with a few crazy SOBs !!!

 

Hang on... I can get a cage, a harness, window nets, a tow vehicle and a divorce all at the same time? I will have to think about that one.

 

I have to agree - I would love to go race my Mini, but it's my only car and has to serve daily driver duties, and also be amenable to having occasional passengers (and therefore no super loud exhausts, rattling components, overly harsh suspension, etc.).

I would love to set the car up so I could drive to the event, race, and then drive home without the added cost of a trailer, tow vehicle, extra gas, and other expenses.

At the same I understand safety concerns are of primary importance for racing organizations like NASA and SCCA...I just hope these safety requirements are not driven primarily because of fear of lawsuits on the part of sanctioning bodies in our overly litigious, "it's never my fault" society. IMO if you go race, the risk is yours!

 

My brother and I started SCCA road racing in 1986, and cages were required then. He installed a commercial bolt-in cage of that era in his VW GTI. Later that year he rolled his VW GTI at 90 mph at Laguna Seca and cracked two vertebre in his neck. The cage distorted just enough to injure him, but saved his life. He was very close to being paralyzed. In 1991 we were among the first racers in our area to use HANS devices, and I certainly would not race without one today.

I would not recommend road racing a daily driver; assume when you sign up to race that your race car is going to be destroyed, and go from there.

 

A successful series needs to provide competition, case in point Spec Miata. I believe the main reason the Cooper Challenge is successful is because it is a Spec series that provides close competition. Front of the pack, mid pack, back of the pack, close racing all around. This is what people want to see and participatents race for. Win or loose, if you have had good close racing, it is a good day for all.

For me the real question is will there be one class of cars or several classes. Also, will the series just be support races to driving schools attended by 8-10 regional racers. Time will tell.

Rich, there are 14 Spec's in AZ built over the last 3 years. About 7-8 of us are serious and attend most events. I agree, I doubt many MINI's have cages, maybe half are out here.

 

2006 is the first year for any kind of MINI/Mini only race series event in the US. 2007, specs will require FIA type cars exactly the same as the MINI Challenge in England. Everyone has been made aware of this. There are no FIA MINI Challenge cars in America at this time. We are trying to run a race series to accommodate what cars are available.

The point system is the point system. No matter how it is derived, it will seem unfair to someone. This system follows the same system as the UK MINI Challenge. We would love for there to more cars competing. That is the purpose of this start-up year. Next year, specs will be adhered to because it will be the sister series to the MINI UK Challenge and televised on MAV TV along with that series. The press release is posted on the NAM site and on our website. Please look at the results very carefully. Brian Black received 14 points for winning his class, achieving pole position in his class, and having fastest lap in his class. Waylen did the same. Waylen also beat others that were in higher classes, but he received no points for that.

We have had only two races of eight scheduled for this year. There is still plenty of time for others to join in the competition. I would love to talk to Randy about his decision not to race this year. Hopefully he will call me soon and we can discuss.

Phil Wicks
Phil Wicks Driving Academy
Phil Wicks Racing
www.mindiriving.com

 

Phil,

Can you please explain why Brian Black got 13 points in Las Vegas? I believe that is the main result that is a bit confusing.

Thanks!

 

Here is the problem as I see it. This year anything goes to build a series. But next year it will be a spec series. For those building cars this year or thinking about next year, what will the spec's be. The series works this year, race what you have, well find a place for you. That's fine. But for others out their be myself, Onasled, Randy, and others that have modified cars beyond stock, I say stock because most spec series are not that modified from stock, we areout of luck.

I might also say it takes some time to build a car and if that needs to be FIA SPEC MINI, the rules need to get out now.

Or might it be that the cars are built by one shop and rented for the whole series, Arrive and Drive. Costs would be higher but all the cars would be the same. my $.02.

 

Dear Phil, as we discussed, the point system still needs revising. It makes no sense to award bonus points for pole or fastest lap to a car that has no competitor in it's class. Those bounus points shoild only go to a class with at least 2 cars. Furthermore, a win in a class with two or more cars in it's class should weigh more than a car that has no competitor in it's class. Therefore, a win in a class with 4 cars should earn more points than a class with 3 or two and especialy 1 car.
I have contacted two LSU Math professors to seek help in acheiving a fair points awarding system based on the number of races and entants.
Best regards,
Steve Diniz

 

Math Professors ? .....LOL, that is a good one !!! I can see these guys calculating fractions, pixels, nano-points and quantum theories now

Phil is going to use the SAME stuff the England MINI series uses, same rules, same point system ...Good or Bad

 

Next year there will be two classes of cars: MINI Cooper modified to 135 hp, MINI Cooper S modified to 212 hp. For full FIA specs, go to www.minichallenge.co.uk. We will grandfather in the unlimited modified cars; however, they will not count towards the championship which is a reciprocal arrangement with MINI Challenge UK. Both series -- US and UK -- will be televised by MAV TV Chet Burke Productions in 2007.

We are scheduling 2007 tracks now. Our goal is to make an East/West series with a run-off in the midwest.

Brian received 13 points because he had pole in his class. But he did not have fastest lap.

We appreciate your comments, but it is early in the seres. There are 6 races left. There are other people preparing cars to run in this series. As always in racing, anything can happen. Read the rules and determine the best class for your participation. MINI UK is taking a great interest in this series and, in fact, is sending journalists to MINI Meet East and the Summit Point race to report for five UK based magazines.

We are promoting this series in many ways. You, the MINI owners, can help build the series by promoting it, too. The next race is in St. Louis on June 10 with another on June 11 -- middle of America -- so let's get some racers there!

Norree

 

..... oh well.....
Guess that leaves me, Steve, Randy, and a few others out.

 

Hey Greg, you can still join BMWCCA...your car should do well in D-Mod.
Jason raced my car 2 weeks ago at VIR and came in 2nd in class & 9th overall out of a field of 45 cars. His best time was a 2:15.6....Tony Nuzzo's best time the following weekend was a 2:18.
Nasa is another option for our cars, I believe you need a Dyno result & car weight to fit into one of the GTS classes.
As for our participation in next year's NAMMCC, we can still run with (I mean run away from them) as feature class, it just won't count towards earning a drive in Europe.
Regards,
Steve

 

Phil and Norree

Thank you for letting us know the direction the series will take. We all realize the first year of a series is difficult to launch. As you can see there is interest in what you are doing and to date, I had no idea what direction the series was going to go. If the above announcement was already made public I was not aware of it. The guildlines will provided direction to anyone who wants to race in the series.

Time to look at the rules and see how a Spec fairs with regard to modification/changes to meet the Mini Challenge regulations.