The FIRM’s new Track Attack Series: Compete at our test track

Want to see where you stack up against your competition AND the GRM track test leaderboard? Starting next month, you’ll get your chance as the Florida International Rally & Motorsport Park kicks off its five-event Track Attack series for 2025.

With events in February, April, July, October and December, the TA series will see drivers face off against the clock …

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Time to start studying. 

I'm super excited about this series. It's like a local bowling league but the balls are cars and the pins are apexes.

In reply to JG Pasterjak :

Does that mean I can have a run with the bumpers up?

Ohhh!  I wanna do this!  The first 2 dates I have open!

(April 20 is Easter fyi).

Hmmm.

I would love to do this but it's a bit of a tow from Vegas.

Should have a leader board for times, car type, tire type and driver. People could then see where they stack against the rest of the GRM world. 

kevinatfms said:

Should have a leader board for times, car type, tire type and driver. People could then see where they stack against the rest of the GRM world. 

Ooh like like this idea. We'll noodle some ways to maybe integrate TT class leaders into the leader board or something. That would make for an interesting comparison.

I plan to get better brake pads and actually do a track alignment for this.  Look out TT4.

wvumtnbkr said:

I plan to get better brake pads and actually do a track alignment for this.  Look out TT4.

Ooh nice. Depending on how the final rules shake out the BMW will probably end up there as well, so we're 2/3 of the way to making a class.

Do we know how the tires impact classing?  I don't see anything about that in the rules.  But, it is mentioned on that page (as shown below)

Also, I tried to sign up and can only sign up for the track day, I don't see an actual TT event registration.

JG Pasterjak said:

wvumtnbkr said:

I plan to get better brake pads and actually do a track alignment for this.  Look out TT4.

Ooh nice. Depending on how the final rules shake out the BMW will probably end up there as well, so we're 2/3 of the way to making a class.

Uh oh.  That BMW is gonna crush me.  Must be a heavy car!  I think I'm about 3 or 4 seconds off the laptime of the project BMW.

I'm registered!

Didn't the project BMW do like a 1:17 or 1:18 at the firm?

I'm closer to 1:23.  Hmmm....  more work to be done.

They're still working out tire rules and figuring out how to balance 200s and race tires. It wil probably end up being something like a one class drop or a 10% hp credit for 200s or something like that. 

And, yeah, the BMW is porky. It's close to 3900 with driver and fuel. Big ol' honker.

Curious to see if someone shows up with a purpose built race car like a Radical.

Tom1200 said:

Curious to see if someone shows up with a purpose built race car like a Radical.

Yeah I'm curious to see where it draws entries from.

I'm really hoping a lot of the local autocross community sees this as an opportunity to try out the format. The great thing about the FIRM is it's way more low-risk and equipment-taxing than someplace like VIR or Road Atlanta. It's really the perfect opportunity to move into track competition for someone who was on the fence.

In reply to JG Pasterjak :

As a member of the local autocross community, I'm interested in seeing how this works out. 

Update: The April 20 date is now April 27.

J.A. Ackley said:

Update: The April 20 date is now April 27.

Thanks for fixing the data JA!

Ironically I just got off the phone with Lance at the FIRM. I've been helping out a bit with the ruleset and competition format, and the whole crew is really excited about the interest it's generating. Really looking forward to some new folks trying out our test track. I think it will give people a whole new perspective on our track tests to experience how we actually put them through their paces. 

I'm trying to figure out my classing...

The tire rule seems interestingly worded...

My car weighs probably 3000#.  I have 240hp.  So 12.5 ratio. (TA4)

I am running 200tw tires.

Do I get to choose if I take a 10% hp reduction, or bump UP a class?

If I bump up a class, that puts me in TA3.  If I choose a 10% reduction in power, that puts me at 13.9 lbs/hp.  Which would still be TA4.

I assume it means a 10% increase in hp, not decrease.  10% increase puts me at 264hp.  And would give me a weight to power ratio of 11.4.  Which would be TA3.

I'm curious why 200tw tires are lumped in with r comps and slicks.

Also, the date change to the 27th of April means I will miss that event.  Poo.  I think that means there are 2 events that I can't make.

wvumtnbkr said:

I'm trying to figure out my classing...

The tire rule seems interestingly worded...

My car weighs probably 3000#.  I have 240hp.  So 12.5 ratio. (TA4)

I am running 200tw tires.

Do I get to choose if I take a 10% hp reduction, or bump UP a class?

If I bump up a class, that puts me in TA3.  If I choose a 10% reduction in power, that puts me at 13.9 lbs/hp.  Which would still be TA4.

I assume it means a 10% increase in hp, not decrease.  10% increase puts me at 264hp.  And would give me a weight to power ratio of 11.4.  Which would be TA3.

I'm curious why 200tw tires are lumped in with r comps and slicks.

 

Also, the date change to the 27th of April means I will miss that event.  Poo.  I think that means there are 2 events that I can't make.

Yeah the wording is goofy but the point is this:

R-comp will be bumped one class from the same car with 200s. So once they fix the final wording it will likely reflect that 200s will just obey the listed weight/hp table and R-comps will bump up one class (numerically down, but up in speed).

I got confirmation of exactly that from Lance.  The cutoff will be 100tw.

I'm here to suggest an unofficial 2.5 swapped NC subclass. 🙂🙂🙂