OptimaJim

The Ultimate Street Car Association will be launching a 10-event national series next year for street-legal cars and trucks, following a format similar to the OPTIMA Ultimate Street Car Invitational. These will include a cruise on public roads, a judged style & design competition and timed events on a road course, autocross and acceleration/braking course. All of these events will be filmed for broadcast on MavTV and these are all qualifying events for the OPTIMA Ultimate Street Car Invitational.

The first event will be at Laguna Seca on March 7-9th. They'll have registration information in the coming weeks, I just wanted to put it on everyone's radar now.

Jim McIlvaine
eCare Manager, OPTIMA Batteries
www.pinterest.com/optimabatteries

FruiTay

Strict noise restrictions, correct? I think I shot myself in the foot with my new exhaust...
I've always wanted to get on that track!

hungryhippo

90db unless it's a special event.

OptimaJim

Laguna Seca does have noise restrictions (this is a street car event). We've been told there is a fee that can be paid to exceed it, but it might be cost-prohibitive for just about anyone out there.

Jim McIlvaine
eCare Manager, OPTIMA Batteries
www.pinterest.com/optimabatteries

FruiTay

There used to be NO noise restrictions. Those were the days....

Werks

Jim, this is something that you guys as the event organizers are going to have to give some thought to. If I understand the event correctly this is basically a "tuner car" type challenge with a race track component of it that is being held at a facility with a 90db noise limit. A noise limit which if you exceed it results in you being black flagged the first time and not allowed back out of the track after the second time.

To give you an idea box stock Corvette Z06's, 911 GT3's etc. right off the show room floor often have difficulty passing sound there. A stock Corvette (and just about every other type of car) with the simply addition of any brand of aftermarket exhaust will not pass sound there. The only way for most modified cars to pass sound there is to fabricate special exhaust systems with multiple muffles and tips turned away from the sound booth. Not an easy thing to do and also why most people no longer track at Laguna unless it is one of the less common 95db track days or one of the very rare 100db track days (think there were 2 or 3 this year total).

Not trying to be a nay sayer but I think that you are going to find that if the event is going to be run with the 90db limit in place hardly any cars are going to pass sound and it is going to be a mess. As an fyi here is comments about sound limits from Borla Exhuasts site:

http://www.borla.com/support/faqs/#21

As they point out they build their exhausts to meet SAE standard J1492 which is 95db and is also the limit that most states use. So you can pretty safely assume that any car that shows up with a Borla exhaust system will not pass sound.

Here is a comparison chart on DB levels so that you can get a better idea of how loud (or I should say quiet) 90db is.

http://www.gcaudio.com/resources/howtos/loudness.html

As you can see city traffic measure inside of a car is 85db. A train whistle at 500' or truck traffic is 90db. So to put it in a better perspective unless these cars being driven as fast as they can be on a race track are quieter when they pass the sound booth than a truck driving by you on the street they are not going to pass sound there.

I'd like to participate but I know that my car with headers and stock mufflers will not pass sound so it's a mute point. I think you are going to find a lot of the more active racers/track day participants that are somewhat aware of sound limits are going to realize this problem before hand and not even bother to sign up. The less knowledgeable street oriented guys are going to get there and more than likely have some serious problems when it comes to the track portion of the event.

FruiTay

Well put
Thank you so much for that.

mikeCsix

I stopped by Laguna Seca earlier this year and now I know why the cars were so quiet. Mazda had a couple of classes going, the cars on the skid pad and in the parking lot were making more tire noise than the cars on the track. The last time I was there was for an F-1 race back in the early '70's with the Corvette club.

Bluefire

My car is as loud as a subway train.

Russkier

I did a track day with HOD at Laguna, my Z 51 has the dual mode exhaust. Coming out of turn 5 is where the noise ***** are set up. I was ok earlier in the day but was black flagged a little later when I got faster. Speaking to other drivers experienced with Laguna, one suggested to just keep it in fourth gear through turn 5 and just use the car's low end grunt to go up to turn 6. That solved the problem!
Laguna is a great track, turn one will make a man out of you.

DarkMastyr

C6 Z51 here... no issues with sound at LS. Solution: bone stock exhaust!

Werks

I take it you have a bade model C6 without NPP exhaust, not a lot of those being tracked. It's pretty well established that even a box stock C6 GS or Z06 with factory NPP exhaust is going to have problems passing sound (if driven at any pace) as confirmed by the poster above you. Also as pointed out on another thread on here the new C7 stock is rated at 92db at WOT. This is all pretty much a mute point though, how many 100% box stock cars do you expect to enter and show up at a "tuner car challenge" lol? Not really their target market I would think.

The bottom line is that what is being discussed here is having an event that is tailored towards customized, performance oriented cars at a race track where you will be hard pressed to even be able to participate in the track portion of the event with a completely stock car due to noise regulations. That does not make a lot of sense. Do this on a 95-98db day and I can see it, do it on a 90db day and you are wasting your time. There is just something wrong with going to a track event where your car needs to be quieter than an electric drill lol

OptimaJim

Werks, I'm actually more familiar with decibel levels than most, as I ran the dB meter at Englishtown for a couple of GMHTP's shootout events. I believe the limit in the burnout box there was 94. When we did the first shootout with just the LT1s, one guy showed up with a gutted exhaust system and couldn't make the cut. Everyone else did and when we followed that shootout out up with and LT1/LS1 shootout, everyone passed.

90dB is quieter, but I watched several cars in both of those shootouts do burnouts in the 80s and none of them were stock, so I know it is possible. This is one of 10 events in the USCA series and if there are West coast folks who don't think they'll pass the dB level there, they are welcome to run at the other events at Fontana or Portland.

However, this is a qualifying event for our Ultimate Street Car Invitational and I've watched people go to great lengths (and great personal expense) in past years to find a way into the OUSCI. If those folks see an opportunity at a venue that might scare away some of the louder cars, they'll probably pounce on it. I've heard one of our past competitors is already working on some kind of system to bolt-on the day of the event.

This is a street car event and open to anyone who wants to sign up, so I don't want folks to confuse it with the OUSCI, which is invitation-only. We routinely have stock or very close to stock competitors who show up at our Faceoff event at Road America, just to get on the track or get on TV or both. I know there are no noise restrictions there, because I'm one of the track's neighbors and I regularly tell George (the track President) that if he ever needs a neighbor to go to a meeting in opposition of someone who might whisper a thought of a noise restriction at RA, all he needs to do is call me and I'll bring along several of my fellow neighbors, who all support the track 100%.

Jim McIlvaine
eCare Manager, OPTIMA Batteries
www.pinterest.com/optimabatteries

Werks

Gotcha and please don't think that I'm trying to down the event (even though I can see how it might come across that way). I'm all for this type of thing and with it being local would have liked to participate. It's just the venue that represents too much of a hassle with the noise regulations. It's really sad because it is a great track, that unfortunately is becoming less and less useable for track enthusiasts in the area. If you have any involvement in planning for next year you might want to consider Thunderhil as an alternative. Much less restrictive noise regulations, lower track rental fee's, cheaper hotels, still close for everyone in the Bay Area and a very safe track with plenty of run off room.

mikeCsix

Have you guys considered Sonoma or are there noise abatement issues there too? One would think these tracks are in the middle of a city when reading this thread. When I visited Sonoma, they had some F-3 cars running but I noted they were pretty quiet.

OptimaJim

I totally understand where you're coming from. These events are all being run in conjunction with Chumpcar World Series events, so any track the Chumps run at is a possibility, depending on the length of the Chumpcar event at that venue and other logistical considerations.

I know they wanted to make sure the events included some iconic locations and were geographically diverse, so folks from all over the country could have an opportunity to participate.

Jim McIlvaine
eCare Manager, OPTIMA Batteries
www.pinterest.com/optimabatteries