ACT is going modern.

[ACT~THUNDER ROAD~TC FAN]

Has anyone noticed the conflicts in schedule between Thunder Road, ACT tour, Castrol Series and Tiger Tour?  Looks like ACT is going to have TWO sets of timing/scoring devices as well as enough transponders to cover events at two tracks at a time.  

Has anyone thought that maybe ACT is leasing the equipment themselves and therefore CAN'T SELL transponders because they dont own them?

When trying something new in my business, I want to lease it, before buying it....the same principal may be at work here.

Given these points, it seems that claiming Tom/ACT are lining their pockets if they charge $10 per team / per race event for a transponder is off-base.

All valid points... and just another reason why Crowbar and MR OG needs to cailm the F**K down!!

[driverX]

The ignorant part of leasing a transponder is this:
   If I own an AMB transponder I can race at DIRT sanctioned tracks, CVRA tracks and Airborne, and possibly many other independent tracks as well like Utica Rome, Fulton, Fonda etc. But then I would have to rent one to race at ACT.
   Second of all; If Tom rents 1 transponder to a race team for $10 for say 25 races ($250) then sells that team a transponder next year for $400 (likely a rental transponder from 2010) he makes $250 additional profit above and beyond what he makes for buying 100 transponders at dealer cost. Even if he discounts it some for being a rental unit, he still isn't discounting it below what he paid for it.You don't actually believe he is buying 100 of them for the sale price everyone else would pay for a single unit do you? Tom has not survived this long by being stupid, or by not finding a way to make an extra buck. He is not investing a dime in this system to lose money, nor is he leasing the transponders to the race teams to help the teams out financially. When pray tell, has he ever cared what it cost a race team to comply with a rule change?

[ACT~THUNDER ROAD~TC FAN]

driver X... are you crowbar?

[Outside Groove]

Has anyone noticed the conflicts in schedule between Thunder Road, ACT tour, Castrol Series and Tiger Tour?  Looks like ACT is going to have TWO sets of timing/scoring devices as well as enough transponders to cover events at two tracks at a time.  

Has anyone thought that maybe ACT is leasing the equipment themselves and therefore CAN'T SELL transponders because they dont own them?

When trying something new in my business, I want to lease it, before buying it....the same principal may be at work here.

Given these points, it seems that claiming Tom/ACT are lining their pockets if they charge $10 per team / per race event for a transponder is off-base.

All valid points... and just another reason why Crowbar and MR OG needs to cailm the F**K down!!

You seem to be the only one who isn't calm. Or by calm down to do you mean bow down?  These are after all DISCUSSION forums, not AGREEMENT forums.

[driverX]

No TCF I am not Crowbar. I have nothing against TC or ACT, just stating my opinion. I sometimes think that you don't think before you post , but I don't always agree with Crowbar either...for instance I don't think he knows everything he thinks he does in regards to the CVRA going pavement or what should be done there issue either. Unless you have owned a raceteam or driven a car in a top division, I don't think you really have a complete idea how these types of changes really effect a raceteam financially. I have been around racing as a crew member, driver, and a car owner for more than 40 years and believe me noone on here has all of the answers even though it seems many think they do.

[View from Maine]

Driver X - I'd say that ACT is fairly concerned about how much it costs a team to make a switch for rules....as ANY track/promotor should be.  After all, the number of cars in the pit area is a big driving force behind how much money they will ultimately make.

Rule changes arent made on a whim.  There are times when rules changes seem necessary in the long term, for a tracks survival, even if in the short term it costs a team money to make the switch.  Still, it is always up the team to decide if they want to play in that sandbox or find another one to play in.    

[driverX]

ACT just changed the engine rules from 1 Crate engine to another in the Tiger division. the new engine makes 25 hp more than the old out of the Crate. Anyone using the new engine will have a decided advantage. Ask any driver out there if they would like 25 more HP and see what they tell you. Changing this rule has put EVERYONE with the old Crate engine which has been used for the past few years at a disadvantage to anyone running the new engine just made legal this year. There was no need for an engine change, the Crate engines which have been being used are readily available, cheaper than the new ones, and have worked well. The economy still sucks, sponsors are still hard to come by, but now many car owners will need to buy a new engine just to stay even with those running the newer engine. If the ACT was concerned about the cost as you say why make a rule change like this at this time while the economy is so bad when what t hey have been using has worked so well?

[Don M]

I think renting one is the way to go. And god forbid if Tom is trying to make some money. It is a business that he is running, I'm pretty sure that he is not just trying to brake even.

[View from Maine]

I dont know....could be one of those 'long term thinking - vs - short term thinking' things but why would they create rules that would drive racers away, that would be a bad business model, wouldnt you say?  Here's an idea, call 'em and ask.

[driverX]

No need to call and ask, the standard ACT response to any rules questions hasn't changed in 20 years : Don't like the rules, race someplace else. there is never a discussion. I do know one thing, the rule change absolutely kills any chance of an AIrborne Tiger racing there now that the engine rules have changed. but who cares I dont own a tiger and wouldnt race ther if I did. Having raced for Tom before I know how all of this works, his rule change is either designed to make his cars compatable with cars someplace new he wants to get involved with, or to make them incompatable with someone he has a problem with. It has never been about the future, the rules change to often for that.

[#77]

Apology?

Yeah sure, right after I get one from Tom for verbally attacking me last year. Or one from him to Patrick for screwing him over last fall. Or... well you get the picture.

Not trying to hijack this thread, but you had to be there or see the tape that someone has about the patrick issue. He wasn't screwed over. His crew failed to comply with a rule of act. I don't agree with this so called rule. But his team did leave thier pits to go to another..   he was a poster child for that rule.  

[mproy]

If no one owns their own transponder numnber, then they can not go onto mylaps and look at the lap by lap scoring of a race. You ahve to be a registered owner of a transponder in that race to get that data.

Now, if I am wrong on that correct me MP Roy, but I am fairly certain I am not. As i just logged onto mylaps using our account and looked up data on races we ran, then tried to without an account and could not.

That is correct.  You would also require the track/sanction to upload the data to the Mylaps server.  That is if it is the Mylaps system.  Like I said previously, TC has not yet confirmed if it is the Mylaps system.

Has anyone noticed the conflicts in schedule between Thunder Road, ACT tour, Castrol Series and Tiger Tour?  Looks like ACT is going to have TWO sets of timing/scoring devices as well as enough transponders to cover events at two tracks at a time.  

Yes, that is correct.  Because of the conflict a minimum of two decoders and software licenses(*), maybe two or more timing loops (Does Thunder Road's karting club look run at the start-finish line and is it still there?) as well.  And several transponders... the Castrol series ran in the 25 - 30 cars.  The tour in the 35 - 55 cars.  That would mean a pool of at least 80 transponders unless you will get help from tracks that have leasing programs in place (Oxford?  Lee?)

M.P.

[View from Maine]

X - maybe I'm mistaken but I thought that the Airborne tigers had a HP advantage, is the new ACT tiger motor taking that away?

[crowbar]

Has anyone thought that maybe ACT is leasing the equipment themselves and therefore CAN'T SELL transponders because they dont own them?

When trying something new in my business, I want to lease it, before buying it....the same principal may be at work here.

Given these points, it seems that claiming Tom/ACT are lining their pockets if they charge $10 per team / per race event for a transponder is off-base.

IF it is the mylaps system,You can buy these transponders from a number of sources, All ACT has to buy is the equipment for the track. They are buying the transponders because THEY want to not because they have to.

Here is what the price is for both versions of the transponders. We run the direct wire unit which is cheaper and does not need to be recharged all the time.

http://www.behrents.com/c/Electronics-Transponder.html

[driverX]

Until the ACT rule change occurred, thunderroad and airborne were using the same engine rule. now the cars at thunderroad can use the 25hp bigger engine. After this rule change took place at thunderroad, airborne decided it would allow its tigers to run headers since the two tracks were no longer going to be compatable.