What's the story here? I'm quite curious because they run lots of events that fit my location and schedule. I've been to a couple which were perfectly adequate from my amateur perspective.

 

Not sure about Codrus, but I've been held up, blocked, and dive-bombed under yellow even in the Intermediate groups in SpeedSF. Everyone treats the track day like its their personal time attack sessions. OnGrid is even worse. Not saying it doesnt happen in other groups, but SpeedSF and OnGrid attract a certain crowd.

 

NASA NorCal has HPDE groups at essentially every normal event weekend that isn't at Laguna (normal = not TREC / 25-hour / other enduro).

They run downloads after every session and at least put more effort into maintaining order than most groups. They do hot tows, open passing (often in multiple run groups), and will yell at people when they do weird and unpredictable things to let people pass out of misguided politeness, so I would say they take on-track behavior more seriously than most groups.

Downsides are that they only have 4 sessions per day (with weird gaps) and that the paddock is generally slammed with racers' trailers.

 

hard pass. NASA runs the worst HPDE events on the west coast. Long, mandatory driver's meetings, limited track time, ultra-crowded paddocks. I would rather stay home.

I have not run with SpeedSF in a while but I don't recall having a bad experience there. I have run with OnGrid a couple of times and know the owner, it's a well-run group (to be fair, getting dive-bombed by intermediate drivers is not an issue I would ever encounter).

HOD attracts the opposite crowd to SpeedSF/OnGrid, but that brings its own problems. The cost of their events means you end up with lots of P-car and porcupine owners who spend about half as much time watching their mirrors as they should, and the management is inclined to keep them happy. That makes for frustrating sessions in a car as fast as mine.

TMR is fine. Doug is a great guy, but his driver's meeting is utterly insufferable and his events seem to be more crowded. His no-passing rules at Sonoma (T7/T11) are also annoying, although based on prior experience they are also only enforced if someone complains.

NCRC is a good group, although they are under new ownership for 2020 AFAIK. Registration is smooth and it attracts a quick-ish group of drivers with good awareness.

My favorite group, by far, is Speed Ventures. Advanced driver's meetings are short and sweet and they attract a very racey, aware crowd. Aaron's been running HPDE events for nearly 20 years and it shows. They do at least one codeshare event a year with TMR at Sonoma, but AFAIK they don't go up to Thunderhill.

My preference would be NCRC, with TMR/OnGrid/SpeedSF tied for 2nd, HOD 3rd, staying home 4th, and NASA 5th.

 

Yep, no THill events for SV.

I would *absolutely* be willing to look at changing the venue to Sonoma and run with speed ventures. Sep 26-27. A bit further for the people up north but a very nice venue.

 

I'd like to remind everyone that this is most likely not going to be perfectly convenient for everyone and I'm sure someone will have a gripe with whoever/whenever we choose. But this is less about having the perfect trackday and more about everyone getting together. Hell, if we wanted the perfect trackday, WRLS was a **** option in the past, so I don't see how this is much different. Just try to keep that in mind while we discuss options.

 

Your comments on HoD are interesting because I have had the exact opposite experience with them as regards NCRC. Perhaps it's the crowd that shows up to particular tracks, but at all of the Laguna events I've been to with HoD the advanced/open passing group has been consistently faster and less in-the-way than NCRC.

My problem with SpeedSF is that there are loose cannons running out in the advanced/open passing group making unsafe passes and driving erratically, and as far as I can tell the folks who run the events know about it and don't care. I'd been told this from multiple sources, was talking into going to one of their events last year, confirmed it in person, and now refuse to go there again. I have been told similar things about OnGrid, but have no personal experience with it.

"The responsibility for ensuring a safe pass lies with the driver doing the passing". Every track day group says this, but in my experience SpeedSF does not practice it.

Anecdotally, there seem to be a lot more "watch this idiot" videos floating around from OnGrid/SpeedSF events than from other groups too.

--Ian

 

Sonoma in September with speed ventures though... I like the sound of that...

Also means that Supermiata and Super GT series should be running as well...

 

Completely agree with what Stewart said.

If y'all are set on thunderhill, that October event looks to be the best option.

If you're open to Sonoma, which is a ******* AMAZING track with tons of good food and such in the area, SV in September would be a pretty good time.

 

I am fine with just about whatever. My only non-starter is NASA events.

 

Nice title change mods

 

Now we just need a poll for T-hill October vs. Sonoma September showdown...

 

I'd prefer the drive to Thunderhill since Sonoma puts it on the edge of two days of driving, but September works a little bit better with my schedule. I don't have any experience at either track so, I guess I'll put my vote in for T-Hill?

 

If things line up, we might be able to find a couple of adjacent events at the two tracks and do both. For example, GGLC is at Thunderhill on Thursday 9/24 which is almost but not quite the day before the SV event.

--Ian

 

A Saturday at T-Hill and Sunday at Sonoma (or vice versa) would be super awesome, but that's a lot of stars aligning haha

 

SpeedSF just released their calendar. Not sure if it changes anything, other than a slight increase in the possibility of a two-track weekend. https://www.speedsf.com/blog/2019/12...-2020-calendar

For those who trailer, how big a deal is it to trailer up and change venues? Changing tracks would make for a memorable weekend for sure, and would also allow for the theme of this thread to continue by allowing a back-to-back comparison of track day orgs.

 

It seems to me the two-track method works best as Ian suggested - Thill Thursday, Sonoma Saturday/Sunday. Yeah that's a lot of time off, but with Friday in between and two days at Sonoma it makes it more worth it. Setting up at Thill or Sonoma for one day, then load back up and drive two hours just to set up for another single track day at another venue sounds like too much trick or treat.

Of the two options, my vote is Sonoma in September, though by quite a narrow margin - Would still be good with Thunderhill in October.

 

Doing one track Saturday and one track Sunday would suck ***. I want to chill and party Saturday night not pack up all my stuff and drive two hours to the next venue.

Like Ed is saying the Thursday at T-Hill and then Friday off and Sat/Sun at Sonoma would be pretty awesome though. Plenty of time to chill and hang out and lots of track time at two tracks that I've always wanted to hit. And if people want to do just one or the other instead of hitting both, that's always an option as well.


If voting for only one, I'm going for Sonoma. I'm thinking a lot more Miatas will be there. And watching the racing will be cool.

 

I'll probably pass on the multi-day set up, but I'll be down for the weekend either way!

 

Yeah I figure a lot of folks would probably just do the weekend only. But if someone has the free time to hit thill on Thursday, that could be tacked on.

Can the thread starter create a poll or do we need to create a new thread? Or just do it the old fashioned way...



9/26-27 Speed Ventures @ Sonoma (with prior thursday Thill add-on):
1. Andrew
2. Aaron
3. Ed (first choice)

10/2-3 Shelby Club @ Thill
1. Stewart
2. Ed (2nd choice)