Your club needs your help!

Nominations for Board of Directors candidates are still open, but time is running out. If you are a New England Region SCCA member and have an interest in helping to shape the future direction of your club, please consider running for the Board of Directors. Each year, 5 of 10 seats on the Board come up for election. A Board member is expected to attend monthly meetings and the role requires a few hours a month of other responsibilities. For a valid nomination, you must fill out the linked form and have it signed by ten New England Region members. Additionally the candidate must also sign the form.

For questions, ask any current Board member, or email Chris Franson.

NOTE: The nomination form in Pit Talk had an incorrect deadline. The postmark deadline for nominations is November 23, 2009. You may continue to use the nomination form in Pit Talk even with the incorrect date. We apologize for the confusion.

__________________________________________________________________________________________________________

Just released! Winning: The Racing Life of Paul Newman

Unpublished

WinningPaulNewmanBook.jpgWinning: The Racing Life of Paul Newman – By Matt Stone and Preston Lerner. Forward by Mario Andretti

Special NER Price: $22.00 + 7.00 S&H = $29.00! Proceeds will benefit Paul Newman’s ‘Hole in the Wall Gang’ Camp. To order – send check ($29.00) to NER Merchandise Program.

“For Paul Newman, (a past member of the New England Region, SCCA) getting behind the wheel of a racing car was an escape-and one at which he excelled. Read the fascinating story of Newman’s full-throttle racing career as both driver and team owner. Punctuated with first-hand accounts and remembrances from those who raced with him and against him, plus many previously unpublished photographs. Winning offers the first-ever documentation of Newman’s many racing successes.” 176 pages Hardcover.

Thank you to all those who contributed with photos and stories.

 

 

 

__________________________________________________________________________________________________________

Racing Against Leukemia 2009!

ral-2009.jpgThis year’s Racing Against Leukemia is coming up soon. August 28th – 30th. Start raising money and let’s see if we can beat last year’s fundraising efforts!

 

 

 

 

 

__________________________________________________________________________________________________________

Formula Hybrid 2009: May 4-6 @ NHMS

Formula Hybrid, held in early may at NHMS, has grown out of the Formula SAE collegiate design competition. In both competitions students design and construct formula style race cars. Formula SAE cars are small with a minimum wheelbase of 60in. and maximum engine size of 600cc. Formula Hybrid takes this design problem one step further by making the cars electric-internal combustion hybrids. At the competition the students get judged on their cars in categories such as cost and overall design, but the best part these cars are actually driven. And better yet, driven in anger. The students get to take the vehicles they’ve spent the past year building and compete in timed events. This is where the NER and You come in!

Over the past three years the Formula Hybrid competition has been held the NER has provided workers to staff these dynamic events and we’re looking for even more this year. For the second year in a row the event is set to double in size. In 2007 there were 6 teams. 2008 saw an increase to 14, and this year there are 30 teams registered!

The 3 dynamic events for Formula Hybrid happen the second and third day of competition. They are Acceleration, Autocross and Endurance. The acceleration is a drag race, plain and simple. The autocross, while significantly tighter, resembles your typical SCCA Solo event. The endurance event is a much longer run with multiple cars on track and controlled passing. Every SCCA member knows the value of course workers in ever discipline of motorsports, so come on out help this great event run smoothly. Lunch is provided for all volunteers. If your interested in volunteering send me a private message or respond to my form post.

For more information on the 2009 and past Formula Hybrid competitions click here

Dave Hyman

____________________________________________________________________________________________________________

So, what are you waiting for…the Drivers’ School?

As you all settle in for what looks like a harsh winter, you are hopefully preparing for the 2009 racing season. If you have even been reading the new updated 2009 GCR, you probably have the usual questions and maybe you might have some new ones.

Anyway here is the schedule for this years preseason techs…I highly recommend that you attend one of these before your first event. Now remember that some of you folks don’t need to be there…remember that your Annual inspection is good for 365 days…so go dig out that log book and check the date of your last inspection…go check now!

Here are the dates and locations…

March 21st from 9am-3pm
Location: 3D AutoWorks
Rt 111 / One Industrial Drive
Hudson, NH
603-882-3400
www.3dautoworks.com

April 4th from 9am-3pm
Location: Brians Garage
43 Fremont Street
Needham Heights, Ma.
781-444-3300
www.briansgarage.com

The 3rd location, if needed, will be at the On-Track Karting facility in Wallingford, CT. after our April School-one day regional on 4 / 17-18 / 2009.

For those of you of you who have not read the GCR, I recommend that you read it! Here are some areas on interest…

  • Driver Suits, 9.3.19.c, page 76
  • Roll Cage changes, 9.4.D, 9.4.F.2, and 9.4.5, on pages 92, 93, and 95 respectively.
  • Tail lights, 9.3.31, page 86
  • Formula towing and lifting, 9.3.46, 3rd paragraph, page 86
  • Minimum Event Safety Inspection/ Tech Sticker, 5.9.2.B, page 37

These are a few of the important items of interest that go pretty much across the classes. Be aware that just because your vehicle was inspected late last year, the vehicle still needs to be compliant with the 2009 GCR.

You all have heard me spout out that safety is your first job. This is still true now and it will always be! If your vehicle is not safe, it will not run! Remember that this is for fun, not money. Yea, ok maybe bragging rights too, but I don’t hear a lot of bragging about someone who got hurt trying to win a race.

Remember…
	“To Be Safe, You First Need To Plan To Be Safe”

 

I’ll see you at the track. Should you have any questions in regards to racing, drop me an e-mail at NERScrutineer@comcast.net.

_____________________________________________________________________________________________________________

Just Another Weekend

Download Movie

A look into a typical race weekend with the New England Region SCCA Club Racing enthusiast. Filmed at New Hampshire Motor Speedway this video takes you along for a typical day of racing in New England. After unpacking and registration, it’s off to Tech to ensure your car is safe for a weekend of racing. Once on the track the racing is tight and most of all fun. Congratulations to the race winners, and thank you to the workers, it’s off to celebrate as a group with the weekend worker party. It’s free food, drinks, and most importantly a way to end the day as a family united by the love of cars, racing and friendship.

Thank you to the Members of the New England Region of the SCCA.

Produced by Mark Wentworth
Filmed by Brian Megliola
On Location at NHMS
Music: “Vaseline Machine Gun” by Leo Kattke

_____________________________________________________________________________________________________________

NER at the Speedway Expo

NER will be at the Speedway Expo. We need volunteers to represent the club and work the booth. Contact Brian Megliola (413-575-3932) for information.

SpeedwayEXPO returns to The Big E on February 27, 2009, for three days of cars and stars, special events and seminars, racing gear and goodies. The Northeast racing world gathers at SpeedwayEXPO and we hope you will be part of it. XPO’09 will feature new events and attractions including the Riverside Park Speedway Reunion!

XPO’09 Dates & Times
Friday, February 27, 5:00PM – 9:00PM
Saturday, February 28. 10:00AM – 9:00PM
Sunday, March 1, 11:00AM – 5:00PM

_____________________________________________________________________________________________________________

2009 SSM Car Preparation Specification for the New England Region

All,

First my apologies for taking so long to get this rule set published. We, the SSM Ad-Hoc committee have decided that all 4 major race series’ (MARRS, NARRC, NERRC, and NYSRRC) will run under the same rule set for 2009, and therefore, we have requested the rules be “division-wide”. We are presently waiting for final approval on this rule set from Topeka, but I wanted to get this info out to everyone ASAP since it’s already so late in the game. I do not anticipate any changes going forward at this time.

The new rules can be found on our Rules Page

The actual differences from last years SSM rules are relatively minor. However, the differences to the 2009 SM rules are a bit more significant. In general, the SSM rules are more restrictive, and are intended to promote a low cost, evenly matched race series. For example, a specific spark plug is now required, you must use pump gas (94 octane max), heads cannot be shaved below factory specs, the new SM shock hats are not allowed, etc. I encourage everyone to read through the new rules completely. If you were running SSM last year, I believe all you’ll really have to modify are a few “tune-up” type items to be good to go this year.

See everyone out on the track.

Marc Martin

______________________________________________________________________________________________________________

Notice of Annual Meeting (UPDATED 1/13/2009)

The Annual Meeting of the Members of New England Region, Sports Car Club of America, Inc. will be held at 2:00 PM on January 24, 2009 at the Courtyard by Marriott, 75 Felton St., Marlborough, MA for the purpose of electing Directors and other business as may come before the Membership.

Banquet and hotel reservation information will be published in Pit Talk magazine and posted on https://ner.org or may be obtained from the secretary.

Official notice of the meeting will be mailed to all members of New England Region at the mailing address on file with SCCA.