Texas Winterfast Race?

Automotive
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Any thoughts about the Texas Winterfast race coming up in December?

There’s two enduro races of 9 & 7 hours, plus a pair of 1.5 hour sprints that are all separate races. Looks to be pretty inexpensive to run as well. We’d need a lot of drivers to run all the races for sure.

It’s at TWS so it’s a little bit closer to home base than MSR Houston.

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I’d be very interested in participating, even if just means helping prep a car. Can you post a link to the race’s details?

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Doesn’t look like they have posted the race details on their official site yet

Found this registration link:

Offtopic, but has the shutting down of TWS been postponed or cancelled?

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Looks like it’s been postponed: http://www.hotrod.com/news/1505-texas-world-speedway-temporarily-stalls-closure-motorsports-world-rejoices/ (article from May 2015).

Last year, Texas World Speedway (TWS) CEO Bill Mather announced that he was closing down the long-lived superspeedway for the sake of turning the 600-acre facility into a planned community outside of College Station, Texas. … Thankfully, due to complications with the project, Mather has extended the racing schedule into December 2015 as he sits through delays.

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Latest news (via my Boss who is very involved with SCCA management regionally) is that there has been another 6 month delay. Effectively the folks at WRL are the people who lease out the entire facility and run it full time so it’s continuing to be used as a track until the developer gets their act together.

DLB is a general site for a lot of racing registrations. I’m not surprised that they use it as well.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1-2VXzEHqW8 Info on driver requirements…

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-------COPY PASTED FROM MY EMAIL---------

You’re invited race the
TEXAS WINTERFAST
Dec 12-13, Texas World Speedway

TIME TO REGISTER!

It’s time to get registered for Texas WinterFast at TWS. This was a great time last December. TWS is a fast, fun and safe track. Join the fun this year!
For all you “snowbirds” who’s racing season is about to end, this is an opportunity to race one more time this year. Average highs at TWS in December are in the upper 60’s - flip flops and margarita weather!

Hey, that’s a great idea!

9 and 7 hours races. Race one or both, your choice!
Both races: $1,150 - save $150 if you sign up by Nov 14
Saturday 9 hour: $750 -
save $100 if you sign up by Nov 14

…and back by popular demand…

The return of the “mini-enduro” - perfect for sprint racers, small teams and those who want a lot of seat time without the full endurance effort. Start with the feature enduro, finish in 90 minutes, catch a ride with one of the other teams for the rest of the day.
Or take a break and watch the action!
1.5 hour race each day, $200 per race. Spaces are limited!

The Fast In period ends Nov 14th
Registration closes Dec 5th
Don’t wait, this event is capped at 65 teams total

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Dang their prices have gone up, though $1,150 is less than what I paid recently for Lemons. Note though that WRL does have an experience requirement (DE = Driver’s Edge). My buddy tells me Lemons wheel time counts. Any word on the minimum/maximum number of drivers allowed per race?

4 Racing Experience: The following is accepted as sufficient credentials to race without completing the Novice Program: SCCA, NASA, BMWCCA, PCA, NARRA, Vintage, or other major organization competition (racing) license; DE instructor or DE advanced solo driver (see website for verification instructions); completion of other nationally recognized racing school (Roos, Bondurant, Barber, etc). FIA, IMSA or other major sanctioning body license. Crapcan license, with proof of races (MyLaps results) may be accepted by World Racing League officials. Sorry, Forza, iRacing and GT5 heroics don’t count
5 Novice Drivers: Drivers with no wheel-to-wheel experience will not be allowed to race. Novice drivers must complete the World Racing League “Novice Program” before they are considered licensed by World Racing League. The Novice Program is designed to provide new racers with instructed track time and classroom sessions before they compete, and to monitor their first race to ensure they are qualified and safe.

Ref: http://www.worldracingleague.org/pdfs/2015_rules.pdf

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Looks promising, although I have a business trip that weekend, so I couldn’t make it, someone else from DMS would have to lead the team if they could get enough interest to enter this race.

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@Brandon_Green are there any rules and/or fee structures for reserving and driving the 240SX? On my team, we ran our first few races completely unstructured, but this let to surprise costs and resentment. We generally follow this format so that interested drivers know what to expect when they ask about joining (note though these requirements change almost every race, as decided by three permanent core team members):

  • One driver or crew member acts as Team Captain and is ultimately responsible for establishing a budget, registering drivers, communicating with race officials, and covering costs. The team captain is ultimately responsible for ensuring the car is returned in pre-race condition, or, if necessary, repairing the car (parts + labor) to pre-race condition.
  • All costs associated with a race are paid by the drivers for that race, including payments for partial use of consumables such as tires, oil, filters, coolant, etc. Everyone pays the same share regardless of laps (unless they’re a new team driver or arrive-and-drive, see below).
  • A written budget is formed before registering for an event. The budget is 110% of the estimated total cost of the race, and the extra 10% goes into an account used for improvements to the racecar and covering unforeseen costs. Unnecessary off-budget purchases are discouraged and the responsible member publicly ridiculed.
  • The entire budget (110% of estimated costs) is deposited into the car’s account before registration.
  • First-time drivers pay a non-refundable one-time fee (~$150) as insurance for poor driving and a higher likelihood of damaging the racecar. The fee is in addition to race dues and is deposited in the car’s account.
  • Arrive-and-drives (drivers who have not worked at least 24 hours on the car prior to the race) pay 50% more than other drivers and have fewer driving stints (usually just one stint). Any arrive-and-drive that receives an avoidable penalty cannot drive again that race. Avoidable is decided by the Team Captain.

Not saying y’all should do it this way, but this is how we’ve worked it out on my team after five races. In addition, DMS may want to consider a few extra limits:

  • Each driver must be a current member of DMS, and have been a member of DMS for at least 3 months.
  • The Team Captain must have previously been a driver on a DMS race team, since their familiarity with the car could be critical to performing any emergency repairs.
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*** repeating disclaimer that I do not race for DMS, these are mere suggestions ***

One very important thing I forgot to mention. No driver is guaranteed driving time. Our team (Intrinsically Unsafe, not DMS) strives to provide an equitable number of laps for each driver (or at least as much as you can stand), but officially, a driver might get stiffed. This happened at our very first race (we only lasted 2 hours before head gasket failure).

So, officially, being a driver on the team just means you get to attend the race in the capacity of driving, not necessarily doing so.