Northeast GT recently decided to cancel or at least rethink their new racing series after just one race. A lot of people were initially interested, and the 30+ cars that entered the first race at Thompson was a good sign. But only 8 cars signed up for the second race, and so they’ve cancelled the series.
It’s difficult to understand why this failed, but it’s possible they didn’t get the classing done correctly. Originally there were five divisions: 14:1, 11:1, 9:1, 7:1, and unlimited. I remember the early discussions on Facebook, and I was one of the minority that said they needed a slower class than 14:1. I also felt that 7:1 and Unlimited were silly, because of closing speeds with other cars. Six months later they removed the Unlimited class and added a 18:1 class, but by that time, I wonder if people even noticed the pivot.
So it got me to thinking, If I was going to design a new racing series, how would I do it? Well I wouldn’t have people build cars to a new and untested set of rules; I would make a series for cars that are already racing in the most popular classes.
I’d have the same rules for both wheel-to-wheel and time trials. This is just like NASA has done with ST and TT series, that use the same rules for both racing and time trials (TT). This is also similar to GLTC and Club TR, with the time trial division being a feeder class into racing. The classes would go something like this:
- B-Spec and Sundae Cup – The fastest growing SCCA class, plus the popular Grid Life time trial class.
- Clubman – Spec Miata, SE30, 944 Spec, ITA, ST6, HC2, and others of around 18:1 lbs/hp. Plus a time trial version of the same.
- Touring – A combination of the GLTC and NASA ST4 rules, with Club TR and TT4 for the time trialers.
- TA – Faster time attack cars.
B-Spec / Sundae Cup
In my fantasy racing series, the slowest class would be combination of B-spec and Sundae Cup. B-Spec is a class for front-wheel drive hatchbacks like Honda Fits and Minis, and it’s the fastest growing SCCA class. The number of cars on the grid is astounding, because the enthusiasm for these little cars far outweighs the performance.
You can see the same thing in Grid Life’s Sundae Cup time trial class, with lots of people excited about racing the slowest class. Sundae Cup doesn’t specify FWD cars, but most of them are, and with a 25:1 lbs/hp cap, the performance is quite similar to B-Spec. If you put a B-spec and Sundae on the same tires (or vice versa), they’d be very close in performance, and whatever difference could be adjusted with a small amount of ballast.
So there’s your first class, which would encompass one wheel-to-wheel division, and one time trial. Competitors could start in the time trial class and then as their skills improve, they can cage the car and enter wheel to wheel racing. Or not.
Clubman
If you go to a NASA or SCCA race, the most popular class is Spec Miata, and so it makes sense to have a class based around Spec Miatas, and any car with the same level of performance. If you look at lap times, SE30, and 944 Spec are nearly identical to Spec Miata, so right away you have three different cars racing in this class, and that should fill the grid.
So what else fits here? SCCA has classes like ITA and H Production that are similar in performance to Spec Miatas, and I’m sure there are other classes in NASA (H2 maybe) that do similar times.
This class would also include pretty much any car with 18:1 lbs/hp. I’d include NASA ST6 here as well, even thought it’s a 19:1 class. But because they measure average horsepower over several data points, it’s closer to 18:1 anyway.
Naturally, there would be a time trial division for this class, which serves as the feeder series for wheel-to-wheel racing, or as the end point for anyone who simply wants to race in a time attack format.
Touring
The fastest wheel-to-wheel class would be a combination of two very popular classes, Grid Life Touring Cup and NASA ST4. If you don’t know what GLTC is, you must be under a rock, because it’s got more excitement and momentum behind it than any other wheel-to-wheel racing series. Grid Life has a time trial series called Club TR, which has similar performance to GLTC, and it proves how popular cars with this level of performance are.
GLTC is based on 12.5 lbs/hp, with various modifications taken for engine performance, aero, and the like. This allows cars from Miatas to Corvettes to compete equally, and number of interesting builds is remarkable. The racing is close (at least in the mid pack), and it’s just so fucking obvious that this is the way forward.
NASA ST4 is a class with similar performance, and the time trial version, TT4, is even more popular. In fact I believe Hyperfest is based on the TT4 rule set. So if you add the GLTC and Club TR people to the ST4/TT4 people, you have a winning formula. I wouldn’t have a faster wheel-to-wheel class than this, because Grid Life doesn’t, and they are fucking killing it.
Time attack 1 and 2
I’d also have two classes for faster time trial cars. These probably would be based on NASA TT2 (10:1 lbs/hp) at the lower level, and then one unlimited class, but I’d be open to ideas. I don’t really follow this level of time attack racing, so I’d have to see what is the most popular, and then make two classes based on that. But it’s clear that time trial racing is popular, and 12.5:1 ish isn’t fast enough in the non-racing category.
Conclusion
I guess Northeast GT expected people to build cars from scratch to their unique rules, rather than allowing people who are already racing to simply show up and race. Do you race in Spec Miata? Show me your log book and you’re in Clubman. Do you race in GLTC? Show me your log book and you can race in Touring. Have you built a time attack car that fits into one of the classes? Let’s fucking go! My fantasy racing series would bring together the most popular race cars into an endurance racing format, without reinventing the wheel.
Aside from the classing, I think Northeast GT had some great rules and a neat weekend format with short endurance races. Every weekend included a free race school as well. I especially liked their aero rules, and would work some version of that into my fantasy race series.
The people behind NEGT, Nick and Armin, are good people. They hosted a free two day Instructor Fest earlier this year, and were brave enough to try something new, from scratch. I know more great things will come from this idea factory.
The most recent communication is that there may indeed be races next year, so the series isn’t yet kaput. This year there will be a Corner Faster day at Palmer on Sept 22. There will be racing, time trials, and tracking, and it looks like a fun time. I guess I have to finish Falconet if I’m going to make it there in time!
Occam's Racer 