ZRubenson
04-17-2009, 02:00 PM
As a past FSAE guy, I realize that a lot of teams have trouble finding good venues for testing and tuning their cars. I happen to be in a unique position to offer free track time to any teams that could use it. I organize a racing event every year in Medford, Oregon (about 5.5 hours from San Jose, 4 from Portland). This year marks the sixth consecutive event (how the hell did that happen?), the weekend of May 29-31.
Long story short, here's the deal: I'm literally the only event organizer, so I get to make the rules (within reason). Consider this an open invitation to a butt-load of free track time. It's a hybrid kart/car track, so it's well sized for a FSAE car. We have cones and timing equipment, pretty much the whole nine yards. This would be a perfect opportunity to do both endurance testing and suspension dialing on your car. I've been driving this track since I was 16 and can typically tick off consecutive laps with a time variance of about 0.1 seconds, so the track times can be very consistent. I'll also have my 80cc shifter kart with me, which can serve as a good comparison tool. About half the track has also been repaved in the last year, so the surface is in great shape.
Ok, so here's the fine print: The event is technically a Toyota MR2 event, so you wont have free reign of the track for three days (wishful thinking). Friday is the best bet for track time because typically few people show up until mid afternoon anyway. I think it's safe to say that you could almost certainly get your fill of track time on Friday. Saturday will be difficult to get track time because that's when 40 MR2's are going to be waiting their turns for the track. Sunday is pretty much just a timed autocross in the morning, so you would have the second half of Sunday to flog your FSAE cars on the track. All I ask in return is that a few members of your team help out with the event a bit over the weekend, mostly small things like getting people checked in, getting people to sign insurance waivers, and helping with the timing equipment.
So that's pretty much it. Free track time handed to you on a silver platter. If you guys have any questions at all shoot me an email, and feel free to forward this to any relevant FSAE people.
Event Info:
http://www.pacnwmr2.com/
Event video:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FtOS0icNdmo
Long story short, here's the deal: I'm literally the only event organizer, so I get to make the rules (within reason). Consider this an open invitation to a butt-load of free track time. It's a hybrid kart/car track, so it's well sized for a FSAE car. We have cones and timing equipment, pretty much the whole nine yards. This would be a perfect opportunity to do both endurance testing and suspension dialing on your car. I've been driving this track since I was 16 and can typically tick off consecutive laps with a time variance of about 0.1 seconds, so the track times can be very consistent. I'll also have my 80cc shifter kart with me, which can serve as a good comparison tool. About half the track has also been repaved in the last year, so the surface is in great shape.
Ok, so here's the fine print: The event is technically a Toyota MR2 event, so you wont have free reign of the track for three days (wishful thinking). Friday is the best bet for track time because typically few people show up until mid afternoon anyway. I think it's safe to say that you could almost certainly get your fill of track time on Friday. Saturday will be difficult to get track time because that's when 40 MR2's are going to be waiting their turns for the track. Sunday is pretty much just a timed autocross in the morning, so you would have the second half of Sunday to flog your FSAE cars on the track. All I ask in return is that a few members of your team help out with the event a bit over the weekend, mostly small things like getting people checked in, getting people to sign insurance waivers, and helping with the timing equipment.
So that's pretty much it. Free track time handed to you on a silver platter. If you guys have any questions at all shoot me an email, and feel free to forward this to any relevant FSAE people.
Event Info:
http://www.pacnwmr2.com/
Event video:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FtOS0icNdmo