ASCAR race at Rockingham

Did anybody else from here go to the ASCAR race at Rockingham (UK) yesterday? I went, thought the facility was pretty good, though it definitely needed more vendors! Had to queue about an hour to get any food - as Homer S said "That's not America - that's not even Mexico!". The track itself looks fun. Square-ish, they were doing 145mph laps, but ASCAR really has to re-consider running two short races. We had a mere 16 cars for the first race and, thanks to a couple of crashes, only 12 in the second, both races at 70 laps only, took about 45 minutes. The pit crews need to get their acts together, too! First race, the leader went in, changed two tyres (note: TYRES, we're in England!), took some fuel I assume, and took 26 seconds to do it! The standard of driving was broad. There seemed to be about 5 of them who knew what they were doing, and another 5 who were out on a Sunday drive, but it's a fledgeling series, so that's understandable. Rockingham itself looks about 90% finished. The exterior still has a touch of the building-site about it, the track had no car-number pole (I'm sorry, I don't know the technical term for it, but I mean the one that has the positions of the cars in the race), the commentator, Keith Huewen, had no clue about the rules ("Now WHY didn't those guys a lap down pit at the same time as the other cars? They've missed a chance there!") the recovery vehicles didn't seem to be sufficient, taking far too long to recover wrecks under the yellows, but the track itself looked in great condition. CART's going to have a fun time there! Mostly, I saw teething problems, I reckon, nothing more. I think we're so lucky to finally have a facility like this in the UK, and I reckon I'll be joining Rockingham as a member pretty darn soon. -- Colin ICQ 25485061 Fast Food Racing: http://homepage.ntlworld.com/fastfood/index.html FFRL: http://homepage.ntlworld.com/fastfood/ffrl/index.html

yeah I was there too - went to Coys meeting in May as well and a lot of progress made since to the facilities. Compared to US stock cars the thing which struck me was the difference in the competitiveness of the field. Cars were soon spread so far out there was no semblance of a pack for drafting at all. My feelings are that the crowd were very enthusiastic and liked what they saw , and it could all become mega with a bit of luck. If there were some more 'name' drivers in ASCAR it would really take off. My feeling about the CART meeting is that they have seriously over-priced the tickets though. We shall see. On Tue, 28 Aug 2001 13:19:20 GMT, "Colin Harris" <[email hidden]> wrote:

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>Did anybody else from here go to the ASCAR race at Rockingham (UK) >yesterday? I went, thought the facility was pretty good, though it >definitely needed more vendors! Had to queue about an hour to get any food - >as Homer S said "That's not America - that's not even Mexico!". > The track itself looks fun. Square-ish, they were doing 145mph laps, but >ASCAR really has to re-consider running two short races. We had a mere 16 >cars for the first race and, thanks to a couple of crashes, only 12 in the >second, both races at 70 laps only, took about 45 minutes. The pit crews >need to get their acts together, too! First race, the leader went in, >changed two tyres (note: TYRES, we're in England!), took some fuel I assume, >and took 26 seconds to do it! > The standard of driving was broad. There seemed to be about 5 of them who >knew what they were doing, and another 5 who were out on a Sunday drive, but >it's a fledgeling series, so that's understandable. > Rockingham itself looks about 90% finished. The exterior still has a touch >of the building-site about it, the track had no car-number pole (I'm sorry, >I don't know the technical term for it, but I mean the one that has the >positions of the cars in the race), the commentator, Keith Huewen, had no >clue about the rules ("Now WHY didn't those guys a lap down pit at the same >time as the other cars? They've missed a chance there!") the recovery >vehicles didn't seem to be sufficient, taking far too long to recover wrecks >under the yellows, but the track itself looked in great condition. CART's >going to have a fun time there! > Mostly, I saw teething problems, I reckon, nothing more. I think we're so >lucky to finally have a facility like this in the UK, and I reckon I'll be >joining Rockingham as a member pretty darn soon.

Rockingham seems to be in for a good future. The circuit has stepped into support the ASCAR series which went tits up after a very poor showing at the beginning of the year - they had major problems at the beginning of the year, but they've now adopted the Chevy Vortex engines used in the ARCA championship. The circuit needs championships like ASCAR to succeed and AutoSport said that they'd be trying to get a European Indy Lights type championship going with Lausitzring and the proposed Scandinavian oval. Theres some good drivers in there, but I'm sure they're having problems adjusting to racing big V8s around an oval - Michael Vergers - raced in various British championships including race winner in F3 Neil Cunningham - raced in loads of different championships including ARCA Colin Blower - TVR Tuscan specialist and GT driver Were Tiff Needell (Top Gear Presenter and former F1 driver) and John Cleland (former British Touring Car champion) racing? Check out www.ascar.co.uk for more info about this series. "Colin Harris" <[email hidden]> wrote in message news:sTMi7.21691$[email hidden]... > Did anybody else from here go to the ASCAR race at Rockingham (UK) > yesterday? I went, thought the facility was pretty good, though it > definitely needed more vendors! Had to queue about an hour to get anyfood -

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> as Homer S said "That's not America - that's not even Mexico!". > The track itself looks fun. Square-ish, they were doing 145mph laps, but > ASCAR really has to re-consider running two short races. We had a mere 16 > cars for the first race and, thanks to a couple of crashes, only 12 in the > second, both races at 70 laps only, took about 45 minutes. The pit crews > need to get their acts together, too! First race, the leader went in, > changed two tyres (note: TYRES, we're in England!), took some fuel I

assume, > and took 26 seconds to do it! > The standard of driving was broad. There seemed to be about 5 of them who > knew what they were doing, and another 5 who were out on a Sunday drive,but > it's a fledgeling series, so that's understandable. > Rockingham itself looks about 90% finished. The exterior still has atouch > of the building-site about it, the track had no car-number pole (I'msorry, > I don't know the technical term for it, but I mean the one that has the > positions of the cars in the race), the commentator, Keith Huewen, had no > clue about the rules ("Now WHY didn't those guys a lap down pit at thesame > time as the other cars? They've missed a chance there!") the recovery > vehicles didn't seem to be sufficient, taking far too long to recoverwrecks

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> under the yellows, but the track itself looked in great condition. CART's > going to have a fun time there! > Mostly, I saw teething problems, I reckon, nothing more. I think we're so > lucky to finally have a facility like this in the UK, and I reckon I'll be > joining Rockingham as a member pretty darn soon. > > -- > > > Colin > ICQ 25485061 > Fast Food Racing: http://homepage.ntlworld.com/fastfood/index.html > FFRL: http://homepage.ntlworld.com/fastfood/ffrl/index.html > > >

> > > > My feeling about the CART meeting is that they have seriously > > over-priced the tickets though. We shall see. > > "Matt Lanzer" <[email hidden]> wrote in message news:[email hidden]... > How much are the tickets? Good seats at the Michigan race (R.I.P.) wentfor > $85-$110 a piece, and that was just for the CART race alone. Quallies andthe > NASCAR-style race on Sat had Gen Admission for $20. > Compare that to a weekend (Fri-Sun) General Admission pass for theMid-Ohio CART > race at $40, Michigan seems overpriced as well... > > Warlock! A LOT! www.rockingham.co.uk has the details, I think I saw �85 for the day (about $120ish). Tell you what, though, have a look at the ASCAR forum! http://ascar.motorsportforum.com/ The actual drivers post in there and are currently in the middle of slagging each other off, big time! It's like some online leagues I've been in! Imagine if NASCAR had the same - fans and drivers on the same forum :-)

How much are the tickets? Good seats at the Michigan race (R.I.P.) went for $85-$110 a piece, and that was just for the CART race alone. Quallies and the NASCAR-style race on Sat had Gen Admission for $20. Compare that to a weekend (Fri-Sun) General Admission pass for the Mid-Ohio CART race at $40, Michigan seems overpriced as well... Warlock! Ian Greenwood wrote: > > My feeling about the CART meeting is that they have seriously > over-priced the tickets though. We shall see. > > On Tue, 28 Aug 2001 13:19:20 GMT, "Colin Harris" > <[email hidden]> wrote:

james <[email hidden]> wrote in message news:9mjgc5$c4q$[email hidden]... > Rockingham seems to be in for a good future. The circuit hasstepped into > support the ASCAR series which went tits up after a very poorshowing at the > beginning of the year - they had major problems at the beginning ofthe > year, but they've now adopted the Chevy Vortex engines used in theARCA > championship. The circuit needs championships like ASCAR to succeedand > AutoSport said that they'd be trying to get a European Indy Lightstype > championship going with Lausitzring and the proposed Scandinavianoval. Are they still running silhouettes of three cars which aren't available for sale over here? And what happened to... what did they call it... Eurocar? Jonny

Do you have any information about the proposed Scandinavian oval ? PerL "james" <[email hidden]> wrote in message news:9mjgc5$c4q$[email hidden]... > Rockingham seems to be in for a good future. The circuit has stepped into > support the ASCAR series which went tits up after a very poor showing atthe

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> beginning of the year - they had major problems at the beginning of the > year, but they've now adopted the Chevy Vortex engines used in the ARCA > championship. The circuit needs championships like ASCAR to succeed and > AutoSport said that they'd be trying to get a European Indy Lights type > championship going with Lausitzring and the proposed Scandinavian oval. > > Theres some good drivers in there, but I'm sure they're having problems > adjusting to racing big V8s around an oval - > > Michael Vergers - raced in various British championships including race > winner in F3 > Neil Cunningham - raced in loads of different championships including ARCA > Colin Blower - TVR Tuscan specialist and GT driver > > Were Tiff Needell (Top Gear Presenter and former F1 driver) and John

Cleland

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> (former British Touring Car champion) racing? > > Check out www.ascar.co.uk for more info about this series. > > > "Colin Harris" <[email hidden]> wrote in message > news:sTMi7.21691$[email hidden]... > > Did anybody else from here go to the ASCAR race at Rockingham (UK) > > yesterday? I went, thought the facility was pretty good, though it > > definitely needed more vendors! Had to queue about an hour to get any > food - > > as Homer S said "That's not America - that's not even Mexico!". > > The track itself looks fun. Square-ish, they were doing 145mph laps,

but > > ASCAR really has to re-consider running two short races. We had a mere16 > > cars for the first race and, thanks to a couple of crashes, only 12 inthe > > second, both races at 70 laps only, took about 45 minutes. The pit crews > > need to get their acts together, too! First race, the leader went in, > > changed two tyres (note: TYRES, we're in England!), took some fuel I > assume, > > and took 26 seconds to do it! > > The standard of driving was broad. There seemed to be about 5 of themwho

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> > knew what they were doing, and another 5 who were out on a Sunday drive, > but > > it's a fledgeling series, so that's understandable. > > Rockingham itself looks about 90% finished. The exterior still has a > touch > > of the building-site about it, the track had no car-number pole (I'm > sorry, > > I don't know the technical term for it, but I mean the one that has the > > positions of the cars in the race), the commentator, Keith Huewen, had

no > > clue about the rules ("Now WHY didn't those guys a lap down pit at the > same > > time as the other cars? They've missed a chance there!") the recovery > > vehicles didn't seem to be sufficient, taking far too long to recover > wrecks > > under the yellows, but the track itself looked in great condition.CART's > > going to have a fun time there! > > Mostly, I saw teething problems, I reckon, nothing more. I think we'reso > > lucky to finally have a facility like this in the UK, and I reckon I'llbe

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> > joining Rockingham as a member pretty darn soon. > > > > -- > > > > > > Colin > > ICQ 25485061 > > Fast Food Racing: http://homepage.ntlworld.com/fastfood/index.html > > FFRL: http://homepage.ntlworld.com/fastfood/ffrl/index.html > > > > > > > >

"james" <[email hidden]> wrote in message news:9mjgc5$c4q$[email hidden]... > Were Tiff Needell (Top Gear Presenter and former F1 driver) and JohnCleland > (former British Touring Car champion) racing? > > Check out www.ascar.co.uk for more info about this series. No, neither were there. Not sure why Needell wasn't, but the forum's quite sniffy about Cleland's non-participation....

"james" <[email hidden]> writes: > Were Tiff Needell (Top Gear Presenter and former F1 driver) and John Cleland > (former British Touring Car champion) racing? I'm a big fan of Tiff, but I'm not sure I would use F1 as the highlight of his career. If I remember (And after checking the f1 databases I do.) correctly he started in one race, but retired, so he never actually finished a race. I think he has done pretty well as a sports car driver, though. -- -asbjxrn