Pitt Race endurance round 2023

Just got the e-mail from N2 about the event. Yes, I went back to the WERA rulebook to RTFRB and questions remain. Especially considering the mixed bike makeup of the Relay class. If only 5 Relay entries are allowed is that determined by fastest 5 Relay teams in qualifying? By top 5 in series points? I feel this should be clarified. We all know the financial commitment endurance racing takes and our team is running LWT bikes when every other team is mostly on big bikes. IMO, it should be determined by series points. Our team has made the financial commitment to run every round and have run and finished every endurance round thus far. Or, I guess we add a top gun rider to the team and he goes out and throws down a fast lap so we can make the show??? BTW, not worried about the 120% cut off rule because our fastest rider on a LWT bike is under the limit by a good 6 seconds when compared to the outright fastest lap time set last year by any team or bike size.

 

I believe the max grid size is 45. My guess is if they don't fill out the grid, they will add relay team slots. If you got your entry in and are one of the 5 then you should be fine if you don't have an issue with the cutoff time.

 

I am looking to join a relay race team for this event, if anyone needs another teammate or fill in. Would love the extra track time at an unbeatable price! Not afraid to get hands dirty n help out with anything. I am an expert rider on a 2016 R6 and would likely be running consistent 50's (without chicane for reference) during my stints. My conditioning is good and wouldn't have any trouble with 30 min sessions at this pace.
Tried to sign up Monday with our own team, but slots were all full already.

 

Same day the e-mail from N2 went out, we tried to pre-enter. We couldn't or maybe we are doing it wrong? Any advice?

 

Pretty sure the Pitt track day in August has been sold out for the last 3 years too. I signed up for the practice and the endurance back in May too make sure we got a spot.

 

Waited on funds to arrive.

 

One thing I 100% agree with you on.

 

The Friday "track day" is no longer a trackday, per se. I got a notice that they are refunding money to the regular riders who were not participating in the Saturday or Sunday races. I was thinking of signing up to coach the intermediate class but that seems pointless now. It's all good as that saves another discussion with the boss.

 

IMO, it's a good idea to keep it race only. It felt a bit more frantic in the past.

 

I don't disagree that it should be race practice only, but N2 should have made that decision a long time ago...not two weeks before the event. I know quite a few trackday riders personally who are pretty ticked off that they made plans, took PTO, etc to ride on Friday and now they are just kicked to the curb two weeks before. I'm racing Saturday so it doesn't effect me personally, just a bunch of my friends.

 

This is one of those decisions that sucks, But given the amount of pro riders that will be out there in the group, its the safest bet. And agreed. It doesn't make it suck any less and those that cannot attend have every reason to be ticked off.

 

No argument from me - that would be frustrating.

 

I am curious how the 120% rule is going to be enforced... Will we be black flagged if one lap is over the 120% time? Consistency over the 120% time?

Just thinking since none of my team's riders have been to Pitt and the track day is already sold out (so the first time on track will be Saturday morning), we could be near that time.

 

Assuming if your best lap in qualifying isn't within 120% of the leaders time for your class you might not make the show.

 

Based off LY qualifying- 120% times

ULW 2.17
LW 2.09
MW 2.08
HW 2.04

No offense, but if you can't click off a lap some time in qualifying better than these you shouldn't be out in a national 6hr endurance race.

 

If it is just qualifying times, I'm not too worried other than having no experience on that track. This year, our team's slowest laps have been in the 117%-119% range (vs the fastest lap of LW) so I'm not overly worried if it's not a hard cutoff throughout the race.