Laguna Seca Warning
08-24-2011, 12:09 AM
#31
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08-24-2011, 01:13 AM
#32
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Tony, the people that live there make the laws. In NorthEast Bakersfield they had a nice little facility that NO ONE lived by. When the built it you would have to take a Greyhound Bus to get out there from Downtown. Now there are all kinds of "Ranchettes" that got built closer and closer to the track that was called Mesa Marin. They slowly but surely started putting in more and more covert little laws and restrictions till finally it got the axe. We could go over and watch a NASCAR WEST race all the time and it was good famliy time and all those guys who came AFTER the track finally killed it. They finally passed enough "laws" and restrictions that the owner gave up. I bet thats whats slowly happening to LS. We would need F. Lee Bailey to get out of this one.
08-24-2011, 01:50 AM
#34
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Michael we have PLENTY of other tracks. Fontana, Buttonwillow, Willow Springs, Thunder Hill and Sonoma Infineon. Honey hill in the Reno area along with Reno Fernley raceway. Those should keep you busy untile the wife figures out your gone.
08-24-2011, 03:04 AM
#35
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08-24-2011, 06:04 AM
#36
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Yes, that is kind of true. Here is what happened. Ran the first two sessions without incident. In the third session (probably when Sloppy Joe arrives to work), I get meatballed for a 96 and my buddy in a GTR gets nailed for a 95 who also didn't have any issues in the first two sessions. At lunch, Sloppy Joe (who works at Laguna Seca)drives by our cars and stops. He looks at my Laguna Pipes and unprovoked says "you're cheating, unless you can show me a physical mod you are making to your car you're done for the day." I tell him I'm going to close the bypass--he says not good enough. I was running with Hooked on Driving, and really like them and Dave, who is the owner is a great guy. Rather than stir it up, we work out a solution with HOD and I park the RS for the day; Hooked on Driving and my buddy are gracious enough to let me run his GTR in another run group.
No harm no foul, right? Wrong, when Sloppy Joe is asking me about my "cheating" Laguna Pipes, he asks my buddy about his GTR. My buddy tries the straight shooter route with him and tells him he has the ability to change the bypass on his exhaust on the fly with a button. Up and to this point, not a contentious conversation at all. Unlike the Porsche sport button, the baffles don't open up at higher revs for the GTR, it's manually controlled with his setup. Next session out, my buddy asks for a sound check running the stock GTR exhaust configuration and isn't playing any games. I'm in the car with him. He's supposed to get three laps for the sound check. And, as we're leaving for the sound check, we can hear Sloppy Joe speaking on the walkie, "he has a button, he's cheating." On the out lap, as we're approaching turn 6, the meatball flag is already out. We go to the pits and Sloppy Joe tells us that we're now louder than before, I think he said it was 98. So, now the reading is even higher with the bypass closed, no frickin' way, the car was purring and we weren't even up to speed yet. I'm pretty sure the Hooked on Driving guys knew Sloppy Joe was a clown, but their hands were tied. For the record, I totally respect how HOD handled themselves.
This is where the conversation gets heated. I ask to see the read out, gun, what ever and he tells me it doesn't exist; and this comes a few minutes after he told me that we could be fined $1,000 for every lap we exceed the db limit. The bottomline is that Laguna Seca is clamping down even harder on the db limit and Sloppy Joe has no qualms making up the rules and db readings as he goes. Although I question Sloppy Joe's integrity, the root of the problem is in fact, the homeowners--most notably at Pasadera, who bought high end homes knowlingly next to a race track. Now they're rewriting history, and in the process, a great track is being ruined. It's really a shame.
No harm no foul, right? Wrong, when Sloppy Joe is asking me about my "cheating" Laguna Pipes, he asks my buddy about his GTR. My buddy tries the straight shooter route with him and tells him he has the ability to change the bypass on his exhaust on the fly with a button. Up and to this point, not a contentious conversation at all. Unlike the Porsche sport button, the baffles don't open up at higher revs for the GTR, it's manually controlled with his setup. Next session out, my buddy asks for a sound check running the stock GTR exhaust configuration and isn't playing any games. I'm in the car with him. He's supposed to get three laps for the sound check. And, as we're leaving for the sound check, we can hear Sloppy Joe speaking on the walkie, "he has a button, he's cheating." On the out lap, as we're approaching turn 6, the meatball flag is already out. We go to the pits and Sloppy Joe tells us that we're now louder than before, I think he said it was 98. So, now the reading is even higher with the bypass closed, no frickin' way, the car was purring and we weren't even up to speed yet. I'm pretty sure the Hooked on Driving guys knew Sloppy Joe was a clown, but their hands were tied. For the record, I totally respect how HOD handled themselves.
This is where the conversation gets heated. I ask to see the read out, gun, what ever and he tells me it doesn't exist; and this comes a few minutes after he told me that we could be fined $1,000 for every lap we exceed the db limit. The bottomline is that Laguna Seca is clamping down even harder on the db limit and Sloppy Joe has no qualms making up the rules and db readings as he goes. Although I question Sloppy Joe's integrity, the root of the problem is in fact, the homeowners--most notably at Pasadera, who bought high end homes knowlingly next to a race track. Now they're rewriting history, and in the process, a great track is being ruined. It's really a shame.
Yes, most people can see the writing on the wall all the way from China that USA will no longer be strong and soon the mighty US dollar will not be the monetary standard of the world much like British pound in the 1940's. Who to blame? EVERYBODY! Greed runs this country and we no longer take pride in keeping jobs in America and see our kids succeed in school. Everyone is too busy counting their entitlement and whine bloody murder if they are short change a penny. Yes, let the high school drop out praise their country "We ARE the best country in the world ... USA, USA, USA". Soon I too will land at aircraft carrier Enterprise with a large banner behind me "MISSION ACCOMPLISHED"
Here is my thought about sound restriction. OK, loud noise can cause many harms such as hearing loss, insomnia, stress etc and you can even argue that the grass is not as green at LS due to noise and the squirrels there are found to mate 15% less compare with Monterey Bay. So, the wise thing to do is set a sound limit to make everyone happy and healthy.
Now we establish the evil of noise so why does county of Salinas allow certain groups and events to pollute sound at LS? Is there a magical cloak shielding the populace when ALMS comes to town? Do they put tiny little ear plugs in squirrels during Ferrari challenge so they can carry on making babies and not be disturbed? Sound is sound and it is loud coming from a Ferrari or a Honda civic so why do they allow people to pollute couple times a year?
Perhaps there is a double standard backed by $$$$. So it really is not that loud at LS after all. We don't allow certain cars to drive 120 mph on the freeway just because they pay more on license plate registration. How do you like to be pass by a Ferrari F430 on I-5 at 150 mph then you get pull over by CHP doing 67 mph?? Angry? who ... me? Not at all.
08-24-2011, 11:46 AM
#37
Would my 996 GT3 with a totally stock intake and exhaust not pass sound at LaGOONa? I never wanted more sound, just more speed. My car is very quiet even at 8,000 in 3rd.
08-24-2011, 12:10 PM
#38
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Now we establish the evil of noise so why does county of Salinas allow certain groups and events to pollute sound at LS? Is there a magical cloak shielding the populace when ALMS comes to town? Do they put tiny little ear plugs in squirrels during Ferrari challenge so they can carry on making babies and not be disturbed? Sound is sound and it is loud coming from a Ferrari or a Honda civic so why do they allow people to pollute couple times a year?
Perhaps there is a double standard backed by $$$$. So it really is not that loud at LS after all. We don't allow certain cars to drive 120 mph on the freeway just because they pay more on license plate registration. How do you like to be pass by a Ferrari F430 on I-5 at 150 mph then you get pull over by CHP doing 67 mph?? Angry? who ... me? Not at all.
Perhaps there is a double standard backed by $$$$. So it really is not that loud at LS after all. We don't allow certain cars to drive 120 mph on the freeway just because they pay more on license plate registration. How do you like to be pass by a Ferrari F430 on I-5 at 150 mph then you get pull over by CHP doing 67 mph?? Angry? who ... me? Not at all.
In Montreal we have an F1 race right next to downtown. The sound goes all over the city. But it only happens two weekends a year (we might lose the NASCAR event so it will be once a year). Having noise pollution once or twice a year for a special event of international importance trumps my need to run straight pipes at a DE.
Our local track (Tremblant) has fairly strict noise limits but most stock cars stay within it (even Sharked GT3s seem to run ok). But for 5 weekends a year they get to have no limits for race events that charge for spectator admission. It's a compromise.
Noise pollution starts being a much bigger issue when it's constant and frequent. Occasional noise doesn't cause nearly as much harm and discomfort and if the event is important enough can be tolerated. Yeah, some people bitch about F1 car noise in Montreal. The vast majority doesn't.
08-24-2011, 12:31 PM
#39
Drifting
I once had a girlfriend (back in 2000) in San Francisco who was an "Environmental Consultant". Driving down the 101 to Gilroy, we noticed a single tree on the top of a lush green hill (still there btw). She commented, "what a beautiful visual resource". I asked her what the hell was a 'visual resource'? She noted that it was any unique feature of a landscape that people would identify as attractive... I pressed her on this, and asked if the owner of that land could cut down that tree to burn the wood to heat his home to warm his family during a cold winter...
"No - because the law protects that resource for everyone to enjoy"
I'll never forget that story. I think we need to change some laws....
Sorry to hear about LS. It's such a landmark track - it needs to be fought for...
-B
08-24-2011, 12:47 PM
#40
There are gong to be some (a lot) of drivers at this event in for a very rude surprise. 90db will result in a track littered with all manner of jack-rigged exhaust pieces falling off onto the track during run sessions. No fun running LS as an obstacle course instead of a race track. It's f*cking dangerous and costly in damaged cars and cut tires. Ask me how I know.
Mikymu on the warpath (rightly so) as he is writing post above:
08-24-2011, 01:57 PM
#41
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Now, you guys have me worried that I'm going to have the same problem at Thunderhill. A stock GT3 got nailed for blowing the new db limit there? Frickin'-a, were the cows being disturbed or what? I might have to move to Texas, no db limit, no state taxes, and no granolas.
08-24-2011, 02:10 PM
#42
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I don't know why but my Cup car pass sound at TH where other GT3 get yanked and we have the exact same exhaust. Sharky pipes will work at TH. LS **** don't have money to travel to TH
Texas ... not my cup of tea. I will put up with some sound limit to stay in CA
08-24-2011, 02:21 PM
#43
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Now we establish the evil of noise so why does county of Salinas allow certain groups and events to pollute sound at LS? Is there a magical cloak shielding the populace when ALMS comes to town? Do they put tiny little ear plugs in squirrels during Ferrari challenge so they can carry on making babies and not be disturbed? Sound is sound and it is loud coming from a Ferrari or a Honda civic so why do they allow people to pollute couple times a year?
After all, money talks.Speak of which, I was at the Ferrari Challenge race at LS. I was able to hear the F1 cars going pass T1 while standing around T5! Now that's loud!
08-24-2011, 02:48 PM
#44
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There's also an abundance of fun tracks to drive, although H2R has a noise limit just like Laguna, to placate a renter who literally moved into a house that's in between a race track and an airport and now has the gall to gripe about the noise.
