NASA vs SCCA - Which association is best for 818R on west coast?

[Brando]

I haven't raced in half a decade and i'm out of the loop. In the past I have raced with TCRA, Redline racing, speedventures and a few other smaller clubs. I want to step it up into something a little more organized and legitimate. After viewing both sites for NASA and SCCA i'm torn between the two. Since there are a few hoops to jump through for new drivers I want to get that rolling now.

Which association do you think will suit the 818R best?

[FFRSpec72]

My daughter will run the 818 in ICSCC (NW league) in the ITE class and also in NW NASA league ST? class, I'm not an overall fan of SCCA except for the Vintage Class, which is just all I run in with SCCA up here.

[Brando]

FFRSpec, would you mind elaborating why the choices?
Side note, I lived in Kirkland for 2 years. Only 4 hours to board the epic Whistler/Blackcomb. Ahh yhea

[JeromeS13]

NASA and Global Time Attack for me. There's also Extreme Speed (http://www.extremespeedtrackevents.com/).

[Santiago]

Brando, maybe you should make a short list of what your priorities might be. Both organizations are solid places to run. I run/instruct w/NASA mainly because of the folks I met along the way, but (aside from a friendly jab in the ribs) I wouldn't say there's anything bad about running with SCCA. I'm not 100% sure, but I don't think the registration expense is much different either.

If I was making the decision now, I'd consider:
- Number of events near me per year (on ave.)
- Competition classes offered (and the health of those classes you're interested in, i.e. how deep is the field)
- Range of classes I might be interested in (in case I change my mind about how I'd like to run)

The serious players first pick a class they can afford to dominate, then they find the car best suited to the class (and build to the rules). If you're going car-first/then class and you want to be competitive, I'd be looking very closely at what classes you'd fit in that maximizes your car's strengths. Since the 818R is so new, we're doubly disadvantaged in this regard. So that makes me personally interested in the range of classes I might look at as well as the flexibility of the classes in place.

I don't know what SCCA offers, so I'll plug what I know NASA offers.

First, NASA and FFR have been doing business for a while now. So you're not going to get tons of stress classing the 818R or passing it through tech (assuming it was built proper).

NASA's ST-# classes are extremely flexible since they're based almost exclusively on power-to-weight. There are only a handful of "modifiers" that influence your legal power-to-weight ratio (tire type, tire size, and competition weight), and from there the floodgates are wide open. There are no aero restrictions, no chassis modification restrictions, etc. You want mondo-sized wings, go for it. You want on-the-fly adjustable aero devices, fine. You want in-car adjustable sway bars, ok. You build the car the way you want it (so long as it doesn't violate global restrictions - like a nitrous bottle, etc.), then go race it. Pretty simple, super flexible, and a strong appeal I think.

NASA-Midwest has started (pioneering?) a race format they call "a matrix race." This is basically a time-based door-to-door race similar to what the drag racers do with bracket racing. You throw down a qualifying time and get put into a bracket with anyone else who did similar. That means you get to race against cars you would never see (or at least compete against) on track. Try to sandbag and trick the competition? Better make sure you don't break out of your matrix-class times or you're DQ'd. So say some hot-shoe in a Honda Challenge car is putting down times similar to some back-of-the-pack Super Unlimited guy. One guy always kills his class while the other always comes in last, but now they've got a dog fight on their hands. Folks running the matrix races are loving it, and there's even talk of contingency money coming in this year or next. They also do other cool stuff with the races to continually mix it up - it's about as close to run-what-you-brung racing as you can find. I'm not sure if the other regions are offering the same, but if not I wouldn't be surprised if it doesn't catch on.

I vote NASA! =)

Best,
-j

[Doowop]

Thanks Santiago. I needed some of that info too. I raced SCCA for 3 years. I will go with NASA this time.

[Sgt.Gator]

If you are in the Pacific NW I'd say ICSCC is better than both, but down in Irvine CA I have no opinion.

[FFRSpec72]

FFRSpec, would you mind elaborating why the choices?
Side note, I lived in Kirkland for 2 years. Only 4 hours to board the epic Whistler/Blackcomb. Ahh yhea

SCCA has the highest prices here in the NW, ICSCC has the lowest prices in the NW, NASA has the most track time for the price NW.

NASA is new to the NW last season, I had a lot of fun running with them, easy going could get on the track at any time I needed, good after track BBQ and beer, very accommodating and enjoy the staff. ICSCC has been here in NW forever, I like my run group, nice set of folks, some of the other run groups not so. More rules driven then NASA, not flexible (since this is a championship league). SCCA, just very odd ere in the NW, as we have a SCCA NW and SCCA Oregon, if I run with SCCA it is with SCCA Oregon as they have a great vintage group, we have a blast when we run as there is up to 40 cars sometimes.

I like to have fun but still compete.

[C.Plavan]

NASA- Because you will be racing with me! :)