Why no NorCal PCA Club Racing?

pgeorgeson · 01-21-2007, 07:07 PM

Why aren't there PCA Club races in northern California? There are lots of active drivers and lots of tracks available, so it seems like there should be an active Club Racing schedule.

Dave at Pelican Parts · Dave at Pelican Parts's Garage

There have been a few in the past--I have ridden the safety truck for all but one (I think?) of them.

I think there has just not been enough will to put a club race on. It takes a lot of hard work for a CR, and with the local Time Trial and DE series, the local regions have had enough on their plates. Club politics (and local and national PCA personalities) appear to have also played a part.

--DD

Mahler9th · 01-22-2007, 06:59 AM

There have been several PCA Club races in Norcal through the years. Thunderhill, Sears Point and even Laguna Seca. I think the last one was at Laguna Seca in 2004 as a part of the U.S. Road Race Invitational. I was there. It was a fun event.

This was a paid spectator event, with two PCA race groups. Some mega-dollar Porsches were brought in transporters from other parts of the country. Both races were won by homemade 911s, built by Mat Lowrance. It was kind of funny to have some of our guys signing autographs. It was even funnier to see the crowds watching Mat load up his car on his open trailer after having beaten the megadollar efforts.

Mat's car was a 700 bhp+ 3.8 twin turbo with a license plate for commuting to work. That car now has a 4 liter n/a motor and has a new owner.

We'd love to have some more Club races if someone wants to do all of the work. Practically speaking, however, it would be tough to schedule because of the enormous and growing popularity of the Porsche Racing Challenge Series/Porsche Racing Club.

Eagledriver · 01-23-2007, 09:04 AM

www.porscheracingclub.com

-Andy

pgeorgeson · 01-23-2007, 09:26 AM

Andy:
I am familiar with PRC and have enjoyed watching Mat, Bob, Masuo, and the others battle it out. As a long-term plan, I have my eye on joining (I am particularly looking at the toyo cup/GTS group). However, I haven't seen any racing with that group in relatively stock cars (like the PCA Stock classes), which is where I would like to get started in the nearer term.

jaydubya · 01-23-2007, 09:49 AM

You might want to consider attending our Club Race at Miller Motorsports Park in Tooele, UT. It's about 7 hours from Reno.

Mahler9th · 01-23-2007, 11:03 AM

Make no mistake about it... the Porsche Racing Club welcomes cars that would fit into the PCA stock classes. We just haven't seen too many people in the area with the desire to race those cars. Our class structure is similar to PCA, except we collapse a bunch of similar classses because we don't have a lot of (or any) cars in them.

From time to time I have heard that folks are a little "discouraged" from running with us because their car would fall into one of those collapsed classes, and they do not feel they'd be competitive. In every case I have come across, the people involved usually tell a different story when I speak with them.

A few, very few, race with other "fun" groups, as they are a little intimidated by the cars populating the PRC. Green Flag and Checkered Flag are two examples. I am sure they have fun, but that is a completely different type of racing. For them, those groups are a little less intimidating, and they admit it.

In other cases, the folks I have spoken and/or corresponded with just aren't ready to race, period.

Anyway, we welcome cars that would fit in the PCA stock classes. Just check out our rules/requirements and come out and run the cars! If we get enough cars we can break into more classes as appropriate.

- Mike
PRC #4

Eagledriver · 01-23-2007, 06:52 PM

As long as there is one other car on the track that is running similar lap times then you can have a great race. We had a basically stock SC running in Toyo Spec last year and he had fun with some of our less experienced/slower cars. There are several 944's that run with us and they can be fun to race with for a street 911. From the looks of your car description you could have a competitive spec car if you put carbs on and took out some equipment.

-Andy

Eagledriver · 01-23-2007, 06:54 PM

You would need a cage however. I bought an Autopower kit that attached to my roll bar. Had a local welder install it with me.

Dleong · 01-23-2007, 08:50 PM

PCA Club Racing requires that National officials be flown out and are somehow involved. I haven't been involved enough personally, to understand the details, but they may even be in charge, I'm not sure. I don't think this has been a popular requirement for anyone who has the experience and skillset to put on a club race locally.

Another issue has been Laguna. It seems that to draw enough people to make it financially feasable, we need an open sound date at Laguna. Even Sears (Infineon) is not enough of a draw to bring people across the country to N. Calif.

PRC usually has one or two production classed cars, and they usually get a trophy! I think they usually find someone to race with, even if it is from another class.

Keithr726 · 01-24-2007, 06:59 PM

I know POC and PRC has events at infineon a few times a year.

pgeorgeson · 01-31-2007, 10:31 AM

PRC Guys:
If you had a few people that were interested in running cars classed as stock under PCA, might you consider adding such a class?

It seems like there are a lot of people running SCs and Carreras out there, and maybe there would be enough of them interested in racing for another class below GTS/toyo challenge. Something to consider for 2008?

Dleong · 01-31-2007, 10:46 AM

Nothing to add. The class exists. We just have very few participants. Usually one or three per event.

jaydubya · 01-31-2007, 11:07 AM

I wonder if PRC would be interested in putting on an event at Miller Motorsports Park in 2008?

We have a very active PCA group here and as of last year about 20 PCA race cars. You could count on pretty much all of them signing up to race. More coming this year now that the track is here... There are another 30 PCA cars over in Colorado.

Mahler9th · 01-31-2007, 12:42 PM

Two things: We have classes for ALL Porsches. Nobody is excluded, so if guys have stock class cars, they can race with us. The only potential issue is that NASA will not allow cars with roll bars. That is all cars must have cages that meet PCA specs. I think PCA still allows roll bars in stock classes.

As David said, we have classes for people, they just don't show up in any meaningful numbers. They are very welcome though.

Also please note that we are not a sanctioning body. This is clearly for liability reasons. NASA sanctions our races, with one annual exception that is sanctioned by HSR. Even if NASA had an event at Miller, I doubt that many of us in the PRC would attend. Too far. I think that some of our guys did race there last year, and had fun.

I am sure there has been or will be a PCA event at Miller. That's great, and maybe some of our guys would go. If there is a local and active NASA group, there is really nothing to stop a bunch of local Porsche owners from trying to work out something similar to what we have with the PRC.

- Mike

pgeorgeson · 01-31-2007, 01:09 PM

Dave, you have a pm.

logician · 02-02-2007, 05:28 PM

ARC, the racing arm of NCRC, also has a nice 13/13 race series that seems to attract less modified cars, usually in very nice condition:

> http://www.amracing.org/events.html

I did one race with them in 2004, and found it to be a lot of fun.

You might want to consider the risk aspect of the series also, i.e. 13/13 or not.

-Juan

Dleong · 02-02-2007, 05:40 PM

Some of the confusion may be in semantics. PCA has Stock classes and Prepared classes. Prepared cars are just Stock cars with small modifications causing them to move up within the stock classes. I think I have that right.

Anyway, PRC does not have a class that is called "stock" We call them production, and we do not distinguish F, D, A, etc., but they're the same cars that would be in G, E, etc. in PCA Club Racing.

Mahler9th · 02-02-2007, 06:30 PM

Yes that's correct. PRC lump all of the PCA "alphabet class" cars into one class we call PRC-PROD for production. If more of the PCA "alphabet class" cars show up, we can always break into some or all of the PCA alphabet structure. We haven't so far because few folks have shown up during the past 5 years of PRC racing. We don't want to hand out a lot of trophies for single-entrant classes.

If folks with these cars want to join us, please do so. Read the rules, get prepped and come out and race! There is always someone to race against.

And be aware we do not run under 13/13 in the PRC.

I have raced with ARC as has my wife. A great way to gain additional racing experience that is friendly to nicer cars.

- Mike
(writing the 2007 PRC this weekend)

Tom W · Tom W's Garage

I started with ARC and still race with them when dates permit. It's a relaxed group out to have fun with a bit of competition. It also an interesting mix of cars - anything from cup cars and a viper (or Luc's Mustang) to a spec Miata. An excellent way to get started.

I also think PRC with an "alphabet" car would be fun because you are still likely to find someone to race with.