Live thread | 2022 Tire Rack One Lap of America Presented by Grassroots Motorsports Magazine

CrashDummy said:

Can you explain a little bit about how this is scored? Total time of the three laps is your time for that session? Is there an outlap or is it a standing start?

5 cars go out at a time. The cars are launched from pit-road a few moments apart, to give reasonable separation.  The cars then come to the track Start/Finish line and stop. That lap that happened (pit-road to Start Line) is called the recon-lap. Your chance to see the track. The starter will now launch the cars, standing start, one car at a time. Again a reasonable distance between cars.  Three timed laps.  Your time is the total time of all 3 laps. Not just your fastest lap.  Every lap counts. 

What's the total amount of track mileage over the course of One Lap?

Morning 3 counted laps. Afternoon 3 counted laps. So, 6 counted laps per day. If a lap is 1.5 miles then 9 miles of track per day. 

 

It seems like it would be equivalent to or less than a single typical track day, which if true makes it surprising that tire wear and reliability are such an issue.

After your track laps then those tires need to drive 6-10 hours per day on real roads or about 3,500 miles in one week .  That's real hard on super soft tires. 

Maybe my math is off? 

Looking at the results page there's 13 track sessions at four laps (out lap plus three timed laps), plus the two skid pads, autocross, and drag race event. Plus 3k street miles. And you probably want to have some amount of tread left in case there's some rain at the end of the week.

In reply to Tom Suddard :

A 4000 quattro is a sunday cup car?

docwyte said:

In reply to Tom Suddard :

A 4000 quattro is a sunday cup car?

The Audi 4000 is not a true Sundae Cup (SC) car but it would seem logical that the Audi 4000 might be sent on the track about the time the  SC cars are sent out given their likely similar capabilities.  

And TIME. We just made it to our hotel about 45 min from CMP for the night.

Sorry for the gap in posts--I was driving.

Today I got in my very first traffic jam in a McLaren! 

I was also teased with the prospect of a luxurious 20 minute dinner with table service. We pulled off to eat at a Cracker Barrel, and on the way Andy was filling me in on what I was allowed to order based on what is already cooked and scooped out of a vat vs. what is cooked to order. 

Then we walked inside and there was a 20-minute wait. Nope! We left and ate Wendy's instead. Total time lost: 15 min. 

Being in one of the fast cars at One Lap is almost cheating in itself, they get a multi hour head start over "all remaining cars".  One day you need to swap with someone in the Sundae Cup class to see how the other half lives.  That will be a interesting part of the article. 

In reply to Sonic :

We are back of the pack and have been at the hotel 20 minutes. Granted we stopped to help a broken one lapper at the side of the interstate for 40 minutes but then cannonballed (see what I did there) to the hotel in a 4.5 hour straight nonstop drive. Here in time to shotgun a couple adult beverages, talk with friends and head to bed to start all over. 
 

Tom already mentioned to me today he'd love to try a cool car like the Rio for this. (Paraphrased for my own benefit!)

Lunchtime Laps with Tom were a highlight of the day. Lovely company. 

Good morning from One Lap!

So far the highlight of my day is this fancy pancake maker. 

In reply to mazdeuce:

Thanks for taking me out! I had a great time. 

Almost to CMP:

Let the unloading begin!

Now it's time to walk the track. Andy doesn't need to because he pre-ran this (and every other) track, but many of the other competitors are out walking now. 

It's pretty cool/eerie to have so much track and so few people on it. 

And here's today's route book entry:

CAROLINA MOTORSPORTS PARK
3662 Kershaw Highway
Kershaw, SC 29067
803-475-2448
Day 3, Monday, May 2nd, 2022
Gates will open at 7:00, please park in the paddock and unload the car and be ready for
to start as close to 8:00 as possible. This day will have an event later in Lanier Raceplex
in Braselton, GA so we'd like to get our events done as early as we can so we have
plenty of time later.
CMP is Alan Wilson track so there is lots of run-off but there are some places that need
special attention. The kink is one of those places to gather up the car prior to the corner
and stay on track or a lurid off may occur as the car may be unsettled by the bump at the
apex. For drivers new to this track, unless your car is really, really slow, do not drive the
kink flat out even if another competitor says so. On one occasion here, a driver was told
he could do it and it led to one of the most spectacular spins I've ever witnessed,
deflating two tires and traumatizing the driver. Another area to watch is the exit of Turn
3 where dropping a wheel could be trouble. The track is relatively flat and featureless
with few landmarks so there may be a tendency to be lost for those folks new to the
facility. We will be running both long course configurations using the old way through
Turns 12 and 13 in the morning and the new in the afternoon.
Some folks may want to watch your oil pressure in the series of hard fast right-hand
corners, 5, 6 and 7. I have been told that oil-starvation can be an issue for some cars.
The line for concessions tends to be quite long. Some may want to eat a bit early to
avoid the rush.
After your second run, hurry off to Lanier.
Race Fuel: available
Concessions: open
Showers: available
Spectators: donation

Cars are about to go out, and gridded by fastest time in yesterday's first session. That means the Tesla is in front today. 

Andy's performance in yesterday's first session was actually advantageous. A fifth place finish means he's first in the second run group, which means he should have a cleaner track than our competition and not have to worry about traffic. 

Currently sitting in fourth place.

Over in the SuperK garage, they're dealing with a minor tire problem. 

They'll be searching for a tire plug soon. 

And the Camaro had an unfortunate incident with a tire wall. Driver is fine and gave me permission to share the photos. 

OOOF.  Never good to see a long crow bar and a dead blow mallet as your track tools of choice!  

Shade is a hot commodity at CMP. Getting here early means we grabbed one of the few garages, but not all teams were that lucky. 

Interestingly, half of CMP's kitchen seems to be a tent. Still made a decent burger.