One Lap of America coming to Barbers

[jatow]

The One Lap of America circus is coming to town May 5th at Barbers.

For those unfamiliar this is a somewhat tamer and track oriented version of the original Cannonball Run founded by Brock Yates Sr. The newer version (run by Brock Jr.) involves a circuit of tracks around a portion of the country, usually around 5000 miles of driving that starts and ends at Tire Rack's facility in Ohio. Essentially it's a test of car endurance, deodorant and the gastro-intestinal ability to withstand gas station food for a week straight.

I met Brock Jr. at the 2009 TGPR stop and he's a great guy and puts on a great event, one that's on my to-do list (along with Targa Newfoundland, anyone want to sponsor me??).

I emailed an inquiry to see if spectators are invited to Barbers, I'll update when I find out.

http://www.onelapofamerica.com/Home.do

[bimmertech]

I planned to do One Lap 2012. I have a registration sponsor lined upand permission from the wife, but bmwcca decided to pull the club race school from Barber this year and kind of put a damper on my plans.

[chuck schultz]

Why is that a problem? There are other ways to qualify to run the on-track sessions.

From this year's rules: All racetrack competitors must submit an outline of his or her driving background. Racing experience or special driving schools (NASA, Bob Bondurant, Skip Barber, Jim Russell, BMW CCA etc.) is required for all on-track competitors.

I'd contact Brock directly with a plan, and get his approval. It should be pretty straightforward, such as either attending a Skippy school or a NASA comp school at Road Atlanta. In fact, NASA granted two comp licenses at TGPR, recently. It seems that a TT license with SCCA or NASA should suffice, since One Lap's stops are run as TTs. Some of the competitors I saw at TGPR in '09 were pretty slow. They only care if you're going to be safe.

[bmwe21]

I worked the last event @ TGPR and talked to Brock Jr. about that , I got the impression that track days with a reputable group, TT ect.( not necessarily a comp lic.) would do it ?
Like Chuck said , e-mail / call him and check!

[jatow]

From Brock regarding spectating at Barbers: "tell them at the gate that you're with One Lap".

[bimmertech]

Awesome. Apparently they have updated the rules. Last year when I began preperation the requirement was a club racing license from a recognized sanctioning body (SCCA, NASA, BMWCCA, etc.) so that was my goal for this year.

Now, according to the 2011 rules only two driving schools are required. From this years info:

" I've driven for years, do I need two drivers schools?
As the on-track speeds have increased over the years of One Lap, we need to know that all competitors have the skills to safely deal with anything that might happen on the racetracks. Two drivers schools with instruction in a racing environment is considered the absolute minimum. Most racetracks have this instruction available, many at a reasonable cost. Please contact us if you need some guidance to find some in your area. In rare cases, some have had equivalent experience. Any waivers to the two-school rule will be made on a case-by-case basis. Please contact us directly for clarification"

Hopefully that will stand for 2012.

[chuck schultz]

Here's a local, inexpensive school to receive a competition license with NASA, next month - http://www.nasaproracing.com/event/1246

[bimmertech]

Thanks Chuck!

[chuck schultz]

Just check with the event organizers and make sure you and your car are eligible for the comp school. They may want you to work up through the DE program, or at least do a check ride. I don't have an immediate interest in WtW racing, so I don't know the details of what they require.