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Sports And Touring CAr Racing (SATCAR) is excited to announce the Formula Street Fall Series of road races in the upper Midwest. This series consists of four events at different tracks and points will be awarded to determine a series champion. Each of these events will have different run groups for driving school, practice/lapping, and race, along with lunch time touring - - something for everyone.

Sept. 1 Blackhawk Farms Raceway, South Beloit, IL
Sept. 27-28 Grattan Raceway, Grattan, MI
Oct. 17-18 GingerMan Raceway, South Haven, IL
Nov. 1-2 Road America, Elkhart Lake, WI

SATCAR racing uses a format that is very much like driving schools and open tracking in that passing is allowed only on selected straights, corners must be taken single file, and cars start single file from pit lane. This format creates a reasonable degree of safety for drivers and their cars so drivers can enter any track worthy car, from street stock to race prepared.

The safe format is combined with a unique, handicap based scoring system that provides fairness for all drivers, whether they bring 100 HP or 500 HP to the track. The result is a totally new form of road racing at a much lower cost than has been available in the past.

Further information about SATCAR and the Fall Series, including the Rules Of Competition, is available at the SATCAR web site: www.satcarracing.com.

Information is also available by calling or writing:
Kern Fischer
Phone: 630-232-6063
E-mail: kern@satcarracing.com

How can you call it a race when you are only allowed to pass in selected straights? Any racer can tell you that the corners are where you pass by outbraking or otherwise outfoxing your opponents. Sounds more to me like time trials than it does road racing.

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He is a wise man who does not grieve for the things which he has not, but rejoices for those which he has.

Hi Chetco... A group tried do something like that up here in.... Well it was stillborn...

I agree with you that it's not real racing... I'd rather be allowed to pass anywhere and have a 13-13 rule...

I don't agree with it, and since things happen on the Track well a race car should be towed. I don't know how it works in the states, but up here in Quebec, if you race your street car, your insurance policy is terminated right away... Not good and then good luck on getting insurance again.

Fred

Newbie here - What is a 13-13 rule?

-dave

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...nowadays people are so intellectually lazy and lethargic that they can't build ANYTHING with their hands. They'll spend hours watching whiny people marooned on an island, but won't spend a second adding anything to the world. -weconway
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Sounds like it might be a handicapped version of Time Attack - or, as we used to call it, "qualifying"

No problem Dave...
13/13 rule: If you have an incident, you are on probation for 13 months. If you have another during the probation, you are suspended for 13 months.

There's different version of it but that's bassically it...
I'd rather race my car than rebuild it after a race...

Fred

For you hard core racers.

Agreed, SATCAR is not racing as normally thought. However, it is competition in the sense that you are trying to catch and pass the cars in front of you while keeping the cars behind from catching and passing you. First across the finish line is the winner. Drivers who have tried it have commented that they feel a real sense of the competitive factor.

SATCAR is not meant to be racing in the normal sense. That is for SCCA, NASA, BMW CCA, PCA, etc. SATCAR was designed to bring more drivers into the sport by keeping initial costs low. Because we allow street cars, the whole focus is on preventing incidents, rather than focusing on a penalty if there is one.

SATCAR is the step between time trials, open tracking, driving schools, etc. and club or professional racing.

Gentlemen/women - choose your series, pick your weapons, and pay your money. SATCAR costs much less than club racing.

So how do you insure these events? As a race or as a track day? Your rules and procedures define the event as a competition, but yet you only require the minimum safety standards as a track day.

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-Jeff

Project Seven
Instagram: @RexRacer19

http://www.satcarracing.com/Home.htm

Says that stickier tires and other performance enhancers don't help you win because of a "pairity" system based on qualifying times. Sounds like a sandbagger's paradise and an enforcement nightmare.

When you make it an actual competition where folks are crowned champion for the day or whatever, you are going to have people who manipulate this system. (cheaters)

More troubling to me, it appears to have potential to be very frustrating. Get behind some guy with 800 HP in his ill handling 85 Monte Carlo and he is going to drive you crazy. Obviously he could be passed in the first turn by most decent road racers in a properly prepared car, but they have to stay behind him through the turn only to watch him blast away down the straight.

In this scenario the Monte Carlo driver's strength is straightline speed and accelleration. He is allowed to pass where he is at his best. The other poor saps with cars set up to handle with less straight line speed and acceleration are strong though the turns. They are masters of carrying momentum through the turns and using their nimble handling to pass less capable cars. Without being able to pass when they are at their best, in the turns, I predict it would make for a long frustrating day.

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He is a wise man who does not grieve for the things which he has not, but rejoices for those which he has.

I am glad to see this discussion going and you guys are asking some good questions.

In answer to R1Seven, SATCAR events are insured by K & K Insurance and they use a rate that is similar to that offered for Time Trials, open tracking, and drivers schools, since we use a similar rule structure. Relative to your personal vehicle insurance, check your company for exclusions. More companies are denying coverage for any activity on a race track, which means that if you even tour during lunch time, your car is not covered. I just received notice from my company about two weeks ago. Be aware!!

To chetcpo, the structure of SATCAR events has been carefully planned to eliminate the potential problems you mention. Sandbagging is eliminated by our Break Out, usually about 2 seconds per lap. If a driver runs laps faster than his qualifying time minus the Break Out, he serves a stop-go penalty in the pits. Think of it as bracket racing on a road course.

The horsepower and passing issue was addressed early on as I noted this problem at driving schools and open tracking events. The way our system works, if a faster car (Qualifying time) catches a slower car (Qualifying time), the slower car will be given a passing flag and MUST assist in the pass at the next opportunity. If the slower car uses horsepower on the straight and does not allow the pass, he will be penalized by a stop-go penalty.

I have been building this concept for over five years and much background and experience is being brought into the program by myself and my advisors. The advent of transponders and computers has allowed us to design a very sophisticated timing and scoring system that is as fair as we can make it. I intend to keep the competition driver oriented and insure that fat wallets do not dominate this aspect of road racing. To that end, our rules prohibit any in-car timing or radio communication equipment.

For anyone who wants to fully understand how the game is played, please read the Rules Of Competition carefully. There are many subtleties in there and if you want to do well at this competition, it will be necessary to fully understand them. If you have any areas that are unclear, just make notes and either write or call me and I will be glad to discuss the program in more detail. You can reach me by phone at: 630-232-6063 or E-mail at: kern@satcarracing.com.

Sounds pretty sweet to me, I just want cheap laps. Real wheel to wheel racing is crazy/expensive/risky enough in my gokarts much less in a street car. Is there a price listed somewhere?

The entry forms for our Fall Series in the Upper Midwest are now posted on the SATCAR web site: www.satcarracing.com on the Events page. Dates, locations, and entry costs are listed. We will be offering run groups for driving school, lapping/practice, and race, along with lunch time touring.

SATCAR is ultimately planned to be a nationwide series of races. If we do not have one in your area yet, please register for our mailing list. This allows us to know where interested drivers are located so we can prioritize our organizing activities. It also allows us to keep you powted on new developments.

I wonder what their definition of "street car" is? Is the fact that it's driven on the street mean that it's elegible, or, is it subjected to a full emissions test, DMV and police inspection? Seems to me that the second case is the only right way to do it, which I bet that they don't.

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Emissions? Many states don't test for emissions. Where would you suggest a racer from one of these states get his emission testing done?

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He is a wise man who does not grieve for the things which he has not, but rejoices for those which he has.

We don't need no emissions testing here in MI. Put a tractor engine in a car, beltch black smoke all over everything and no one will notice or ask any questions. You should see some of the POS ars that are still leagal to drive on the roads here.

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