2014 SCCA schedule, no COTA round...

COTA not on SCCA 2014 schedule:

Additional dates and locations confirmed on 2014 SCCA Majors Tour calendar - Racer.com

 

from what I've heard they're seeking a 50-100% increase in track rental fees.

 

Increase?!?!?!?!?!?!?!?!?!?!?!

I guess they're actually trying to drive events away. Looks like they're successful in that regard so far.

 

From what I've heard about the previous COTA SCCA event, and from what I've seen at others (like the 21 minute caution for a 1-car cleanup on Sunday at the SVRA event), price probably wasn't their only concern.

 

track days are being priced out too.

Rob, do you know what the entry fee was for the COTA major? I know a lot of people from CA and east coast who went once as a novelty...I don't see them coming back, especially with increased costs.

 

hard to convince a FV, F440 or ssc guy to part with 1k for an entry alone. besides, I knew that track would be out of reach in short order.

funny but I remember when sebring and RA were going for 4k/day w/ ambulance. we thought that was absurd. how times have changed!!!

 

someone needs to teach the COTA guys about this wacky thing called "price elasticity".

 

why the 21 minute cleanup? What happened?

 

at the WEC race, COTA workers took 15 minutes to get a P2 car onto a flatbed.

that's a 5 minute job, tops.

they just aren't very good at what they do, and their first priority is to take care of the facility/track surface (even off racing line). they care not one whit if your race or run group gets trashed because of their "rescue" efforts.

 

I raced COTA last March in SM and SRF and it was a great experience, but had lots of challenges and too little track time. Entry fees were not that bad as I recall (well under $1000) and fields large (85 cars in each of SRF and SM). The last group to qualify on Saturday did not get to race since they ran out of time, and cleanups for cars in gravel traps and so on clearly took too long. I also was informed that time ran out on Saturday in part because they wanted to allow 18-wheelers into the pit lane to load in for an upcoming event the next week. Luckily, SRF was green flag racing both days.

All of the problems are very fixable with the right attitude and cooperation, but I get the impression (hopefully mistaken) that COTA thinks they should and can cater only to those willing to spend at least $50K per day to rent the facility and that they can do pretty much as they please in terms of running the event. I suspect the main driving force is the simple arithmetic to recoup the hundreds of millions invested (e.g. a $500 million loan at 5% requires about $3.3 million a month for debt service alone).

The problem is that just because F1 races there does not make the track fundamentally more inviting to all racers, and certainly not at a huge premium over the myriad other locales like Watkins Glen, Road America, VIR, Road Atlanta, Laguna Seca, Sears Point and on and on.

Finally the COTA attitude (or at least my perception of it) can breed bad will. I am just one person, but I won't be back to F1 or any other spectator event next year in part because I won't attend a venue that shuns me as a club racing participant. The SCCA is an important source of support for racing in general, and I am pretty sure SCCA corner workers help run the pro races at COTA.

My prediction: The blush is off this rose beginning 2014 and fewer, not more, racing events take place there with decreasing attendance. The predatory pricing bites them because folks move on and make other long term plans and the track sits idle more in 2014 than 2013.

 

I'm in 100% agreement with Keith. The best way to describe COTA is a neighbor who wants the status just bought a new Ferrari. They have no idea what to do with it. They think it is an investment. They worry about the sun shinning on it ruining the paint. They make out of context decisions not grounded in any sense of reality because they just don't really understand what a Ferrari is.

I was at cota in march and was one of the groups screwed the most. Cota is a fantastic track but there are others. One day they will be crying for users and we will be waiting. Until then we got other great tracks all around the country. Iirc the entry fee was about $650 this year. I don't think SCCA needed the black eye being associated with cota as it trys to swallow the new majors format and dissension within its ranks over class consolidation and battles with the CRB. Some of the dirt that was really cota management was blamed on the organizers SCCA when in reality SCCA had their hands tied.

SCCA does not need cota. Cota needs the SCCA.

 

Took about 5-6 minutes for the crash truck to even get to the car on the front straight, then another 15 to get it on the flatbed and off the track. 21 minutes of a 90 min race.

It's common here. Similar things have happened at most race weekends here.

 

Yep. I was there for that one too. I'm a firefighter and have been to hundreds, maybe thousands of collisions in my career. We've cleared multi-car crashes on the street quicker than these guys do a simple one-car off.

 

Kverges & billybob, as a local I agree completely with both of you. Can't really respond appropriately now, but I'll get back to y'all later.

 

LOL! COTA management got their undies in a bunch if your jack in on the paddock asphalt without a plywood board under it. They have near heart attack if you spill oil or gas too. They have special toilets because many of those are locked too. In their defense they got out houses. I got chased out of a building caught with my ding dong hanging out peeing in the wrong toilet.

 

Like I said, the place will be bankrupt within 5 years.

 

That is ridiculous! I have been Racing historics for a decade and have never experienced anything close to that with a single car incident

 

sooner than that is they have a 3 million a month debt payment...

 

Jerome, I was at COTA for the PCA Club Race in May AND for five days last week racing in the SVRA event. I can assure you that the response times and cleanup were excruciatingly slow at each event. Really tough, but like the Glen, the track is in charge, not the Chief Steward for the organization that is operating the event...

 

So far, the market has been there for them...

 

Thanks for the info Peter! See you at HSR Daytona in 2 weeks?

 

See you there! I'll be under 901 Shop's tent!