OK, I think I get the idea behind solo racing, autocross, track days, competitive road course stuff. But when it comes to speed limited, closed public road, one way, many mile runs, I don't quite understand. I like driving fast as anybody, but how close to driving 10/10's can you do, or is just picking a speed, and then cruising and telling everybody you ran across some section of desert highway at xxxmph? I mean, lets face it, its public highway, is not that safe for hanging it out runs at triple digits, you don't get to practice, you never have the same turn twice, there are no other reliable cars/drivers ahead to reference corner entry speed, surfaces change, and how other then a wild guess/max adrenaline rush do you find the cornering limits? I mean certainly don't want to total my car with an off course` excursion at over 100mph?, it's not nascar caged, I really don't want to be airlifted, etc. It just seems so winging it, with no basis as to how close one might be to the edge, until you get to try it again the following year. I kinda like running laps, deciphering corners and lines, braking points, touching the edge, etc seems like open road runs are much different, am I missing something?

Except for the unlimited class, these are actually more like TSD rallyes with target speed classes that people are trying to nail down a theoretical "perfect" time in.

Plus running wide open on a public road is a becoup adrenaline rush.

I suppose it is a different thing all together, more of an instinct kind of a race. You can go drive that section any other time of year you wish, you do not have to schedule track rentals, spend money on rentals like you would at a closed course like watkins glen, portland international.... It is not crowded just you and the open road and how big a pair of "you know whats" no one else to screw it up for you.

Also if you look at the map it does not look like a lot of technical turns, just a few really long sweepers ( I have heard it described this way ).

If I could afford to do any racing this is what it would be. I have driven 150mph on a road somewhere in a car that handles way better than average and it is one of the biggest rushes ever

I guess its just not for you jcc.

There's a couple of us on here that run this type of race, and yes, it is an entirely different animal than the road course/autocross. If you ask any of the promoters, it is NOT a "race" but a "challenge." Our first run we were trying to average 110 mph exactly for 90 miles. There are no set rules for navigation/timing for the competitors, anything is fair: GPS, stop watch, speedo, whatever. Using nothing but road-side mile markers the digital tach and a stopwatch (speedo broke the night before), after 50 something minutes we crossed the line 4.2 seconds off our target. We were jacked, thinking top 5. That was only 13th placeout of 20 in the 110 class. The next run we ran the 125 class and got red flagged due to a n accident. The race, when flagged, will eliminate the 1/3 of the course you were un when you stopped and use your moving average for the other 2/3 after the restart. This destroyed our notes and flight plan, so shooting from the hip and manually recalculating on the fly, we crossed 8.2 secons off. That was good for 8th place since everyone else had the same problem too. The last run I did was only 1.9 seconds off flying solo using just the stopwatch method again and that got me into 5th place. We're running the 150 class in a new car this May and we've revamped our navigation and communication methods.

The winners are usually within 0.0XX - 0.1XX seconds.

The challenge lies in it being a long enough course you don't actually memorize it but drive it. Compound that with trying to match your triple digit speed with small fractions of a second accuracy for each of your own waypoints. During the entire run, your senses are peaked. It isn't the 10 second blast of drag racing, but a 55 minute (down to 20 something minutes in the upper classes) sustained experience and yet the win and loss margins are on the same order.

Yes, there have been 2 fatal accidents in a 20 year span, so I suppose you could say you are risking it some, but how many fatals are there in our beloved drag racing? Cages don't begin until what, 11.50? Your doing nearly 120 there anyway.

I'm assuming this post was sparked by my post on rear suspension. It really comes down to "To each their own." Drag racers don't necessarily see eye to eye with the autocross crowd. I was one of those until a few years ago. The I ended up letting my car get converted so my dad could try something he wanted to do for many years. I've still got all the parts to do both types of racing, I just haen't gone back to drag because I LOVE using my car. I mean really getting out there and running it.

We have a similar event here in Nebraska called the Sandhills Open Road Challenge. http://www.sorcrace.com/ it is a 55 mile road race against the clock that is extremely challenging,is on a closed public highway with no shoulders. There are many different classes for street legal or full race cars with a variety of average speeds and max tech speeds. They also have 1/2 and 1 mile shootouts as part of the event. I have been building my car slowly to compete in this type of event as I think it would be seriously intense and high pucker factor. Im bored with drag racing and am ready to do something more challenging. Only problem is there is a pretty long waiting list but this year I am going to volunteer during the event and hopefully may get in for 2013 we'll see.

Yup, Sand Hills, Big Bend (Texas) and Silver State Classi Challenge.

There's no wait for Silver State right now. The economy killed enough off that we're turning about 150 cars per event and everyone is getting in.

I forgot to mention a few very important factors abot ORR vs Autocross vs. Drag.

Money does not win the race. Those $3000 wheels and $45000 crate Hemi will not make you any more competitive in your class than the guy in a stock Mustang If the car can run the speed, 99.8% of it is the driver. The races are won by the guy with the best overall control of his car, not the guy who can pull an extra 30 mph through any given corner.

There are speeds that determine your average for the entire loop. Say you enter the 95mph class, then for the 55 miles your time will be by a 95mph average speed, doing the math. The kicker is you cant go over your "tech" speed at any time during the loop which I think is 120mph for the 95mph class. If you break your tech speed its automatic DQ'd. Ask Bill Goldberg last year he learned that one the hard way. SO you cant just lolly gag around corners then pin it to 170 in the straights, thats where the challenge is.

A bunch of years ago I exchanged a couple of emails with the owner?/promoter of the race .... about entry fees and "prize money" ......

His response was like I asked for naked pics of his wife....

jcc,

I noticed in your first post you mention there is no practice or reference, only risk. That is a factor they have heavily taken into account. Aside from the fact you can run the road until you're bored silly at legal speed, your first run, after the mandatory Rookie School in Vegas on their road course, is restricted to the Touring division, which is 95, 100, 105 or 110 mph average with a max tech speed of 124. Upon successful completion you can then enter the Grand Touring which is 115, 120 or 125 with a max tech of 140. After that race is Grand Sport with 130, 135, 140 145 and 150, max tech of 165, Finally there is Super Sport which is 160, 170 and 180, tech either 25 over or unlimited depending on your safety gear. When Danica Patrick decided to run the race, they still limited her to 110 class first go round.

That means then it takes a number of events (years?) to step up to the higher speed classes?
And that sounds prudent on the promoters part. A few hotshots on fire in a ditch driving over their heads could ruin it for everybody.
Isn't another rule that if an entrant is cited for speeding on the course prior to an event, they are banned?

Yep. And fined as well.

Yes, but for either 1 year or 1 event, I forget which. Bear in mind, SSCC runs twice a year, once in May as the Nevada Open Road Challenge and in September as the Silver State Classic Challenge. You theoretically could hit "Unlimited" in 2 1/2 years if you really so desired, but most people just move up to a class they are comfortable in and try to get good at it. The tightest classes are 125 and 150. Last September the 1st 3 places in 150 were under .06 second error, and the winner in 145 was .0047 seconds off.

Trust me, it IS a challenge to be competitive in these things.

...especially when you consider that you also have a minimum tech speed of 20-under-target too. Too slow and you are a road hazard. You can't just max it out for the majority and crawl across at the right time.