NASA

[Guest]

Gordon, I read a couple of articles about NASA not long ago and was curious if you all are ever likely to have a class that would allow GT40 replicas to run? It sounded like the comparison to "stock" was too prevelant to really allow us to race in any of the present classes. Was my perception correct?

I didn't want to side track the event efforts of MkIV, so I started a new topic on this.

 

[Gary Gibbs]

I noticed at the track event last year at Charlotte that they had several Cobras that were not part of the spec FFR series running.

Not sure how they were classed.

 

[Gordon Levy]

Here is how it works with NASA. You have several groups to choose from. Let's start with the HPDE groups. HPDE stands for high performance driver ed.
HPDE1- These are first timers on the track. There is a required school and instruction that goes along with this. Very limited passing zones. Most of these guys and girls are bringing their street cars out to have a little fun.
HPDE2- have alredy done the scool and have a couple of days under their belts. Still limited passing zones.
HPDE- This is for people with quite a bit of experience in faster cars. Not real racing. Depending on track and regional director there may be limited passing zones.
HPDE4- These are the fast guys. Generally unlimited passing as long as it can be done safely. We also offer a time trial championship for these guys if they are interested. As with the rest of the HPDE groups, most of these cars are street driven. Every once in a while you will see a race car in the group, usully doing testing or sort out.
Next up is the race groups. You have to have a comp license and all required safety equipment in the car to compete. The GT-40 would fit in a class called Super Unlimited. You fine Cam-Am, Trans-am, Stock cars, and others that don't fit into a standard NASA class.
A NASA membership is $30 a year. You can all the registration, membership, and schedual info at www.nasaproracing.com.

 

[Steve Toner]

It's been a while since I did any NASA events, but they used to have a competition series that was open to any car. Everybody would figure out their "dial-in" time, and the slowest cars would be started first such that if everybody ran their exact dial-in time for the whole race, there would be a big pileup at the finish line. If you ran too much faster than your dial-in time, you'd be penalized. I don't know if they still run these races or not...

There was also something they tried that they called CHERIOT racing - it's an anagram, but I don't remember what it stands for or even if that's the correct spelling. I don't think they had enough interest to continue this, however...

Funny thing: when I moved to Utah from Northern California, NASA handed me off to the Phoenix region. Turns out it's about 750 miles or so to Phoenix. Distance to Sears Point is also about 750 miles. I'm actually closest to Southern California tracks if you don't count Las Vegas...