NERDS RACING - North East Recreational Driving Schedule

I took Monday off and helped the SJ Region SCCA organize an alternate fueled vehicle autocross... ala Tour de Sol in Trenton at Sovereign Bank Arena Parking Lot. The Tour, lasted a few days, May 22nd thru the 25th, and was organized by the Northeast Sustainable Energy Association (NESEA). Monday was spent partially putting the cars/other vehicles through an autocross competition.

Jim Tornetta, Jim Wakemen, Chris Bethmann and I (David Hess) arrived early and set up the course. Tornetta, VP of SJR, brought his VW Jetta so we could play before the "Tour" arrived. We took a few runs and modified the course in a few places to make it simple enough so no one would get lost. I also tried running the course backwards using only the mirrors. That didn't work out too well... getting my left and right confused by doing so and not being able to look far enough ahead via the mirrors. I finally resorted to using both the mirrors and turning my head around. I'll have to try that again sometime.

Jim Wakemen who landed FTD in his Subaru WRX, as he and Tornetta went back and fourth finally getting down into the mid 24 second range... stopwatch timed by Bethmann. Tornetta would post a time, and Wakemen would match it, then Tornetta would place and even better time, and again Wakemen would match it... this went on for about 20 minutes or so. It was actually pretty fun to watch... no pun intended (timing system).

Chris, who rode his motorcycle, gave it a try first in Jim's v-dub, then on his cycle. He, I think, ran somewhere in the high twenty-second range on the cycle. He did not push it much, but made quick work of the slalom just the same.

The "Tour" started arriving around 2:00pm-ish. Competitors saw the normal autocross-type logistics, driver's meeting, then course walk. However it was usually one of us four who were setting the cones back, roughly in the spot they were. The course was not chalked, but there were lots of cones, so placement was pretty easy since the cones formed an imaginary line.

Before the driver's meeting I gave one guy, Kurt I think was his name, some pointers about how to take the 4 or 5 cone slalom, "Hit the backsides of the cones". He and the rest of the competitors would not see the 4-8 runs we regular Solo2-types see, would only have two runs, with their best run counting, so getting a good run up front was key. Kurt thanked me for the advice.

The first man out was an organizer-dude on a fold-up bike. His time was the best for the first 6 or so runs. We saw everything from an articulating tri-cycle to a, small Pick-up with it's bed entirely covered with a solar panel, to a PVC/Carbon-fiber gas/electric hybrid car with gull-winged doors. Fitting enough, this last vehicle mentioned had a Del Sol seat... get it Tour De Sol, Del Sol. Anyway... It was a great atmosphere hearing claps and cheers when someone ran a good time, or visually ran quickly. There was this one guy who was running a rather large diesel truck who did get that big, honkin' thing loose and somehow managed to slip through the tight turns without hitting any cones. He most deservedly received applause.

After the competitors each took their two runs, there was time for fun runs. Both Jims took some more runs in their car, but instead of continuing to flog Tornetta’s V-dub, I was approached by Kurt, the guy who I gave advice to about the slalom. He offered me a drive in his car. "Sure", I said, "sounds like fun".

We talked a little, I offered him my N80 almost as a token of collateral to take some pictures of whatever he wanted as I felt a little uneasy driving a project car... you never know when something might break. He and his team-mate helped me into the car by opening the gull-winged door for me, and helped me learn where all the controls were. The car was battle-ship gray, the seat off center of the steering wheel, the seat also sat way down and the dashboard was high... instant Evo-school-looking ahead exercise, and the gas engine was not working correctly, so the electric engine acted alone. The sound of the electric engine was all too familiar, ala Jetson’s.

My first run I turned a 30.something-or-other, and realized that braking did nothing but slow the car down too much, so this car was all about momentum. The next run I turned a 29.something-or-other and decided to park it before I outlasted my welcome.

I took a few pictures of the all the cars/bicycles/tricycles that ran, as well as a more in depth look at the car I was offered to drive... 1 | 2 | 3 | 4

The four of us volunteered our time this past Monday to drive up to Trenton and help out the Tour De Sol. Our reward was lots of free seat time, and the experience of seeing some very unique one-off physics-experimental vehicles put through their paces.

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NESEA_Tour de Sol | SJ_SCCA | Photos | Results

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Favorite Links:

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South Jersey SCCA

AUTOX4U.COM

Honda-Tech.com

ImprovedTouring.com

WheelWeights.net

teambodega.com

OPMmotorsports.com

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UncleFesterMotorsports

SixFootTiger R/C Racing

PhotoReflect.com

GTPLANET.net

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Yahoo Groups

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NERDS_racing

Mid-Atlantic SE-R Club

South Jersey (Solo 2)

Philadelphia (Solo 2)

Susquehanna (Solo 2)

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Miscellanious

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New Racing Class?

SJR promo

Video - Cooper Minis

Video - Evo too much fun

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