From a press release issued by Carter PR on behalf of J.P. King:
SPOKANE, WA (Jan. 22, 2008) — Spokane Raceway Park — a 588-acre complex with a 2.5-mile road track, drag strip and oval track — will sell at auction Thursday, April 10, with J.P. King Auction Company managing the sale.
It looks like the whole property including the track is going to be sold. There is some hope in that a group of racers (rich SCCA guys?) are one of the interested parties. They are not accepting race reservations for next year, WMRRA have canceled their races at Spokane for next year. But it is possible that the races might be re-instated if the track keeps being used as a track.
This is one of the venues that the SRA races at, and I’ll be sad to see it go. Check out this video of a typical SRA race at Spokane and you’ll fully understand why.
I’d like to personally welcome two new sponsors today to the BCR team.
First off is Scorpion Sports USA! Those cool matching Red/Black EXO-700 Burst helmets you saw Mike and I wearing at the end of 2007 came from Scorpion Sports. Many thanks go out to Teri Gorrell and the team at Scorpion for coming on board officially to support Bad Cat Racing in 2008. We’ll do you proud this seasoon.
Second I’d like to welcome SimBin Studios to the team. SimBin Studios produces some of the best motorsport racing simulations available today. The team at SimBin was nice enough to provide us with copies of Race 07 WTCC. There are several unique features about Race 07 that allow it to stand out from what some would probably call a driving game. For one, every single aspect of the vehicle, tires, drivetrain, suspension, gearbox, diff, ride height, camber, caster, toe in, fast bump, slow bump, sway bars, springs, splitter, wing, steering lock, brake bias, transmission lock, coast, gearing, tire pressures, tire temps from all three sections, true track feedback, an actual adjustable seat, they thought of everything you could experience at the track short of busting your knuckles slipping a wrench in the pits. Even bugs build up on your visor.
Mike has set up the Radical SR3 which is a (in real life) Hayabusa engine based budget racer. Since it has a six speed close ratio motorcycle transmission, and winds up like a bike, the engine feels like an F1 sidecar. Mike is able to set the chassis up on the Radical SR3 so that it mimics the sliding glide “steer it with the throttle and a little clutch” of a Fl long chassis.
Race 07 allows custom track packs to be added on. And here is where things pay off. We will be at Road America in Wisconsin in early June running the big Superside race AMA Superbike weekend. Neither Mike or I have actually set foot on Road America, so we literally need to spend hours on Race 07 “in the simulator” getting the track burned into our heads the best we can before we get to Wisconsin in June. We have four race weekends before Road America at Willow Springs on the Big Track, so we should have the CSR sorted out for going very very fast by the time we’re ready to pack up and head for Road America.
Mike took about 15 minutes to start cutting hot laps around Road America in the sim, beating the AI drivers for first place before a full lap was finished.
Me, I wasn’t so lucky. I’d bounce off some walls, turn in too soon, over correct and slide off into the grass. Start screaming at the other drivers, you name it. And by the time I did start to get the feel for it and started finding my shift points and brake markers, finally cutting consistent lap times and thinking to myself “Wow, maybe Road America won’t be that bad.” this happens.
We’re two months out from the start of the Superside/SRA season and then the madness begins again. The first race of the season is at Willow Springs Raceway March 14th ~ 16th on the Big Track. And the first four races of the Superside/SRA season will be at Willow Springs on the Big Track. A bit repetitive, but it will allow us to get the CSR dialed in perfectly and blow the winter rust off our skills.
The CSR is currently in the hands of Mr. Bill down at Becker Motor Works getting the carbon/kevlar body repaired for the 2008 season. Soon as it is finished Mike and I will shoot down to Apple Valley, CA and pick it up. We’ll drop it off at Blanco Basura where it will get it’s 2008 vinyl wrap and sponsorship decals, and then it’s into the garage for final prep before the first race of the season.
Mike is making some changes for 2008. He’s adding a Motion Pro 1/4 turn throttle for me and new throttle cables. And we’re replacing all the bearings in the swingarms and wheels. New brake rotors are being sourced, the engine is being gone through, and all of our spares/consumables are on order.
We’re working on getting our 2007 Sponsors back on board for the 2008 season, and picking up some new Sponsors to assist us even more. Racing at this level isn’t cheap and every little bit helps. We’re working on Scorpion right now, and we’re happy to announce that SimBin has come on board to help us out. SimBin produces many great racing simulation games, and was kind enough to provide me with product keys to Race 07 so that I could get some virtual track time in on the Radical SR3 on Road America before we run there with AMA Superbike in early June. http://www.race-game.org/race07/
