[hyracer]

Has anyone in our community have experience running that 90 mile road course between Ely, NV and Las Vegas? I'm thinking I may enter this year and have a few questions on navigation, what MPH class you ran, etc.
One more thing to cross off my bucket list.

 

[BMoneyMan]

I've never heard of this before. This looks amazing.

 

[BigFatFlip]

I have a buddy who has ran it a couple of times. Might be able to relay questions if you post em up to PM me.

 

[big jim]

i just watched a show about this. guy had a 69 camaro fully built...1000 hp. only car that beat him was a NASCAR.
record AVERAGE time for this course is 219 mph...lol
the town Ely is really cool too. Like a time-warp into the 1800s.

 

[thirdgen89gta]

I remember wanting to do this a while ago. It was not cheap to enter, but that wasn't the kicker.

I found out that without credentials of some kind I would have been limited to the 110mph class with a tech speed of 124mph. And they do have radar all over that course.

Meaning, that my average for the entire course needs to be 110mph to win, but that I would not be allowed to exceed 124mph. At that point I gave up.

Why spend all that money to be limited to a 124mph top speed, when I can pay less money to hit up Road America during a HPDE and hit 150+ multiple times a lap.

 

[magnus]

I remember wanting to do this a while ago. It was not cheap to enter, but that wasn't the kicker.

I found out that without credentials of some kind I would have been limited to the 110mph class with a tech speed of 124mph. And they do have radar all over that course.

Meaning, that my average for the entire course needs to be 110mph to win, but that I would not be allowed to exceed 124mph. At that point I gave up.

Why spend all that money to be limited to a 124mph top speed, when I can pay less money to hit up Road America during a HPDE and hit 150+ multiple times a lap.

There have been some deaths in the Silver State Classic... I think the restrictions are part of a good safety strategy.

 

[thirdgen89gta]

There have been some deaths in the Silver State Classic... I think the restrictions are part of a good safety strategy.

For the money they charge to enter that race, the 124mph speed limit and slow 110mph class just isn't worth my time.

This is endemic of the US compared to other countries when it comes to Road Racing.

 

[hyracer]

You've got that right, it's pricey (around 2 grand the first year with entry/motel/schooling) and being. speed limited. Wouldn't be until the third year before I could run 140- 150 MPH class. That's not counting adding a roll bar and getting a new set of tires to qualify for the higher speed classes. However it's a 4 day event to cross off my bucket after having run twice at Bonneville, HPDE events, running over 168 MPH in a shootout, Hill climbs, etc.
Hmmm, maybe I should start a Go Fund Me account for starving racer wannabe's 🙄😜

 

[big jim]

You've got that right, it's pricey (around 2 grand the first year with entry/motel/schooling) and being. speed limited. Wouldn't be until the third year before I could run 140- 150 MPH class. That's not counting adding a roll bar and getting a new set of tires to qualify for the higher speed classes. However it's a 4 day event to cross off my bucket after having run twice at Bonneville, HPDE events, running over 168 MPH in a shootout, Hill climbs, etc.
Hmmm, maybe I should start a Go Fund Me account for starving racer wannabe's 🙄😜

I wanna say that when I watched that show about this event...they were talking about a way to streamline the process of getting level certs. like you can do 2 or 3 level certs in 1 year instead of just 1 level per year.

 

[thirdgen89gta]

The reason the 124mph speed limit really frustrates me is the GTA will do 60-120 in 10 seconds. Its not the fastest thing in the world, and certainly nothing like hypercars can do.

But its plenty fast surprises the hell out of people with its top end acceleration.

 

[nicklulu]

There have been some deaths in the Silver State Classic... I think the restrictions are part of a good safety strategy.

The restriction would be if you can control your car you die!

LOL

J/K

 

[magnus]

The restriction would be if you can control your car you die!

LOL

J/K

It's a long video but it's worth watching. Fascinating how cavalier they were with safety, multiple white-collared guys showing up in their new Testarossas and just letting it rip. They interview a nice gentleman and his wife early in the video with their one-month old showroom stock TR. Factory tire lets go at 180mph, they are both ejected, she dies, he lives, car burns to the ground.

 

[GmpaJimj]

The restriction would be if you can control your car you die!

LOL

J/K

There is something to be said about a closed course. ⬆
If the desert is your run off, that can get tricky at triple digits

 

[floridars]

It's a long video but it's worth watching. Fascinating how cavalier they were with safety, multiple white-collared guys showing up in their new Testarossas and just letting it rip. They interview a nice gentleman and his wife early in the video with their one-month old showroom stock TR. Factory tire lets go at 180mph, they are both ejected, she dies, he lives, car burns to the ground.

I knew Dr. Bartschi and his family after the accident. He was a “gentleman” driver but was more experienced than many, especially in the 80’s when there were far fewer trackdays and driving schools. Tragic failure of both the tire and the safety equipment in his factory prepped Ferrari.

Race licensing is common in most orgs. A hassle for sure, but for a reason...however, this case was not an example of an inexperienced guy where total inexperience was the issue.

 

[hyracer]

One of the reasons I quit doing Hill climbs, your on a road often with no guardrails or other safety measures. Every time I participated I saw one or two other drivers suffer damage. One event a guy totally destroyed his WRX when he rolled multiple times right in front of me. When you're not driving, you are required to be corner workers at Hill climb events. I was the radio guy on the first corner when the WRX lost control and hit an old cattle chute, the car and chute seemed to explode and the car then rolled multiple times. Driver was OK but car was totaled. So yah, HPDE events and autoX are much safer.

 

[magnus]

I knew Dr. Bartschi and his family after the accident. He was a “gentleman” driver but was more experienced than many, especially in the 80’s when there were far fewer trackdays and driving schools. Tragic failure of both the tire and the safety equipment in his factory prepped Ferrari.

Race licensing is common in most orgs. A hassle for sure, but for a reason...however, this case was not an example of an inexperienced guy where total inexperience was the issue.

I hope my reply wasn't insensitive, I apologize if it was. I mainly wanted to point out the speeds these cars achieved without safety equipment rated to the task. Even the best driver on earth would be a passenger with a tire failure at those speeds. I hope Dr. Bartschi was able to recover physically and emotionally after the crash.

 

[floridars]

I hope my reply wasn't insensitive, I apologize if it was. I mainly wanted to point out the speeds these cars achieved without safety equipment rated to the task. Even the best driver on earth would be a passenger with a tire failure at those speeds. I hope Dr. Bartschi was able to recover physically and emotionally after the crash.

Not at all, we need to learn from these things.

Their seat/harness systems ripped out of the car which, with the tire failure, is the cascade of failures that caused the fatality. Risks/outcomes to remember when we participate in these sports or are tempted to use junk (or the incorrect) hardware and stuff when we play with our toys.

Driver mods always important too, just wouldn’t have helped here!

 

[thirdgen89gta]

I have no qualms about safety equipment requirements for the various tech speeds. Thats just sanity checking in. Nor do I with tech inspections to ensure everything is in good order.

I'll be honest, I'm always on the fence about putting a cage in the GTA. The car is fast enough that on track its a life saver. Its also 30 years old and so its its crash test standards are woefully inadequate compared to modern crash test standards.

The GTA does have a DS safety loop, because I like my pole vaulting events limited to the olympics, I don't want to participate with my car.

However, if I move to 4.10 gearing like I want to with it, I'm also upgrading to a CF Driveshaft. Because at that point top speed will be with 6th gear, and at that point the overdrive will spin drive-shaft at about 10,800rpm. So I'd need a driveshaft rated for those sorts of RPM.