Sprints

I think most of the issues with the BSpec cars are we are racing in a pack, at the sprints there was anywhere from 3 to 5 cars 3rd thru 8th, yup we might not be racing for the win, but we are racing and we each, just like everyone else paid the same amount of money to be there. In the case of the BMW I moved over but I was the only one that did so and I was awarded with a loss of 2 additional places in my race because of it.

Chris - It's clear that BS is racing close for position. This is why it is a bummer for all parties. Everyone's race gets affected.

One thing I observed as a spectator at the Sprints was the E & F were so thin by numbers (& speed) one could hardly without looking at class stickers tell the difference between them and H. The top three E cars & the top F car set sale and separated from everyone else. I could see where if the a column of B cars were caught entering or at a corner there would be an issue (same with the top E & F cars catching H cars under said conditions). Under said condition other classes could man up and not pass EDIT: each other under those conditions. A school comment referencing cars about to be passed, they should take the traditional track line. :think:

Chris Crisenbery":1iautrk2 said:

I think most of the issues with the BSpec cars are we are racing in a pack, at the sprints there was anywhere from 3 to 5 cars 3rd thru 8th, yup we might not be racing for the win, but we are racing and we each, just like everyone else paid the same amount of money to be there. In the case of the BMW I moved over but I was the only one that did so and I was awarded with a loss of 2 additional places in my race because of it.

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If this was in response to my comment about losing a race in T14 because of lapped traffic, this was not in regards to BS, or you for that matter. That occurrence was at the CAT major in 2020, and was an HP car. And to add, I had no issue with BS this year at the sprints, and most of the time for that matter. But the speed differential is tough to sort out, too much so for a fast EP car to park and wait very long behind a battle without significantly impacting one's own position or time. I try to be cognizant of "my race", but if I am +/- 5 seconds from my competition, I'm going to try to clear the lapped traffic promptly. Especially if I can capitalize on the pass. Lapped traffic is a key part of my race up front in EP, and is factored into my driving strategy.

I actually think the split for BS works pretty good at RA at least, for the leaders it puts BS on the radar to be lapped about 15-17 min into a session, so it gives a lap or 2 to sort out anything given up by the disruption in the short race, and a good 3-5 laps in the long race. I think we are talking rather specifically about RA, or at least I am, a track like Blackhawk is a s***show anyway you cut it with 40+ cars.

My beef is if HP also is a part of that split, the HP field is now also in-scope on the last lap or last half of the last lap, so if you had a hiccup clearing traffic, that was the deciding factor for your race and you have no time to recover.

Just to clarify to everybody on this board, the incident Tim is referring from last year to had absolutely nothing to do with the split start with the HP & BS starting behind the rest of the field.
It was due to an idiot HP driver (me) having a complete brain fart when Tim and Brakke came up to lap me.
I felt horrible about messing up Tim's race and apologized to him in impound and swore it would never happen again.

That said, I consider that one incident to be the exception rather than the norm...

While I can see how it might be minor inconvenience for the overall leaders to have to potentially deal with more lapped cars, it is far, far easier for them to deal with the slower lapped traffic than it is for the top running HP cars having to deal with the slower EP/FP cars. The in-car videos from Eric and I make that painfully obvious. I have a slew of other videos posted to prove it.

Tim might have had one race screwed up due to lapped traffic but I can't begin to count the number of races I have had ruined over the years due to 'slow' faster classed cars. For sure it cost me a win at the 2012 Sprints.

With the split start last year, it was so refreshing to be able to run flat out from the drop of the green.
You know...kind of what the overall leaders get to do every race.

It honestly felt like a Runoffs start.
For the record I have no problems running with the B-spec cars. If I come up on them during that later part of the race when the HP field is somewhat settled and strung out, I do my best to avoid screwing up their race. That can be a challenge as they tend to run in draft packs.

Greg, just to be clear as sometimes forum tone is deaf, I very much appreciated the apology and recognized that you were genuine in it. No hard feelings and I didn't mean to sound stuck on the topic.

I just wanted to note that the HP split didn't seem to me to be a silver bullet, and that each approach has pros/cons that should be weighed. Ultimately someone (everyone) is going to make some sacrifices to make this work, and I am all in on a solution that is best for the overall group.