Streets of Willow Photos

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Streets of Willow Photos

Postby Greg Phillips on Mon Feb 15, 2021 1:11 pm

OK, it was a cold, windy and bumpy track this weekend but the Boxster ran fine.
Can we just use Big Willow next year?

Congrats to Vinh Ly for taking the win over Steve and I, now we are all tied at the top of CC10.
Videos to follow.
Photos are up on Google at :
Friday
https://photos.app.goo.gl/RE9RWXrD8wqhoCea7

Saturday
https://photos.app.goo.gl/JUs9jvjbdHD2gg5XA

Sunday
https://photos.app.goo.gl/5xies18sWagr74Cq7

Greg
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Re: Streets of Willow Photos

Postby Andrew Raines on Mon Feb 15, 2021 2:16 pm

Thanks for sharing Greg!
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Re: Streets of Willow Photos

Postby mrondeau on Mon Feb 15, 2021 3:49 pm

Greg Phillips wrote:OK, it was a cold, windy and bumpy track this weekend but the Boxster ran fine.
Can we just use Big Willow next year?

Greg


+1
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Re: Streets of Willow Photos

Postby keefer on Tue Feb 16, 2021 7:02 am

Why not run Streets next year? I think it's a great track.

Cons:

Bumpy in spots
Punishing if you go off
Low attendance

Pros:

Good track for students given low speeds
Very techical
Waterfall is one of the more unique aspects of any track we go to.

I know there have been concerns about attendance at Streets, but historically it out-sells WSIR (marginally). Personally I like Streets, but I could also see it being tossed once Buttonwillow and CVR finish their new tracks. I'll never complain about more CVR, that's for certain.
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Re: Streets of Willow Photos

Postby Krylow on Tue Feb 16, 2021 8:05 am

Thanks Greg! These are always worth checkin' out.
I'm for keepin' Streets in the line up. Diversity! Lets do it
CCW next year!!
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Re: Streets of Willow Photos

Postby keefer on Tue Feb 16, 2021 8:45 am

I don't think I'd ever run Streets CCW. That track was totally designed to go CW. I see a lot of outfits running it CCW, but in my opinion the waterfall is what makes Streets. I think a lot of those groups do ccw specifically to eliminate the waterfall due to their range of driver experience. Plus, not sure I'd want to be in the timing booth with people coming down 1 on to the straight lol.
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Re: Streets of Willow Photos

Postby mrondeau on Tue Feb 16, 2021 10:33 am

keefer wrote:Why not run Streets next year? I think it's a great track.

Cons:

Bumpy in spots
Punishing if you go off
Low attendance

Pros:

Good track for students given low speeds
Very techical
Waterfall is one of the more unique aspects of any track we go to.

I know there have been concerns about attendance at Streets, but historically it out-sells WSIR (marginally). Personally I like Streets, but I could also see it being tossed once Buttonwillow and CVR finish their new tracks. I'll never complain about more CVR, that's for certain.


Run it in an actual stiffly sprung race car with manual steering and no ABS and get back to me. Every year the track gets rougher and less friendly. First time back since 2014 and last time I'll ever run it. Every other track we run is so much better in every way.
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Re: Streets of Willow Photos

Postby Integral on Tue Feb 16, 2021 9:06 pm

While I can appreciate Streets for what it is...I don't enjoy it in my 996tt and prefer not to run it (easy one to sit out for me).

I'd love to add ANY other track instead of running SOW...but, again, I thoroughly understand its existence and its usefulness for the full driver pool.
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Re: Streets of Willow Photos

Postby afilsinger on Wed Feb 17, 2021 9:37 am

mrondeau wrote:Run it in an actual stiffly sprung race car with manual steering and no ABS and get back to me. Every year the track gets rougher and less friendly. First time back since 2014 and last time I'll ever run it. Every other track we run is so much better in every way.


I agree with Mark on this one. The track just keeps getting rougher and more dangerous. 2 out of 3 times we have run the track, we have broken something on one of our cars (control arm one year from dropping a wheel, rear differential another without going off).

The one corner that makes streets unique (the waterfall) is incredibly dangerous, especially in faster cars. Drivers in GT3s are coming over the waterfall at 115+ MPH, in some cases 120+. Not only is that just really fast in a blind section of track, but it is also mechanically punishing (we've all seen a wheel come off here and end up on the hot pit wall). There is this romanticized idea that Streets is great for beginners since it is "like a giant autocross", but I disagree heavily with this. Beginner friendly tracks are ones where in the event something goes sideways and you go off, you aren't guaranteed a big bill from broken parts. Chuckwalla is the right venue for new students on our calendar.

I wouldn't be opposed to switching streets out for another Big willow, Buttonwillow or Chuckwalla weekend. Maybe this is a good event to go further afield and run somewhere like Laguna Seca, Spring Mountain, or Inde Motorsport Ranch in Arizona to add some variety to our calendar.

I won't be running streets again if I can avoid it.
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Re: Streets of Willow Photos

Postby Tom Helvey on Thu Feb 25, 2021 9:03 pm

afilsinger wrote:I wouldn't be opposed to switching streets out for another Big willow, Buttonwillow or Chuckwalla weekend. Maybe this is a good event to go further afield and run somewhere like Laguna Seca, Spring Mountain, or Inde Motorsport Ranch in Arizona to add some variety to our calendar.

I won't be running streets again if I can avoid it.

+1
I think we should do a bucket list track once a year, Laguna Seca qualifies and has comfortable weather in the summer months.
Streets is not for beginners.
It's still fun to drive.
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