5th Annual Reptile Roundup at Sebring!
 

5th Annual Reptile Roundup
October 5-8th, 2006 - Sebring Raceway

Sponsored by the Deep South Cobra Club and Backdraft Racing

DSCC Members, Cobra Enthusiasts and Friends;
Not since 1964 when Carroll Shelby and Ken Miles unveiled the mighty 427 Cobra has there been so much excitement at Sebring concerning the Shelby Cobras. Now is your chance to drive the Historic Raceway and be a part of Cobra history again. I am thrilled to announce that the location of the 5th Annual Reptile Roundup is at the Sebring International Raceway. The dates are October 5-8th, 2006.

Even if you don’t own a “Race prepared Cobra”, a special novice run group is available so everyone will have a chance to experience the thrill of Sebring (at any speed). Driver instruction will be available for the novice group so drivers of all skill levels are encouraged to attend. This instruction will ensure that you understand vehicle dynamics and help you to become a better, more confident and capable driver. A must for all Cobra owners. Here is your chance to drive the historic track that helped make the Cobra famous. Don’t miss this great opportunity.

The 5th Annual Reptile Roundup will consist of two full days of track events on Thursday and Friday followed by a Friday evening meet-and-greet party. Saturday includes a car show, additional parade laps, vendor display, poker run, banquet dinner and DSCC Annual meeting. Sunday morning concludes the event with a farewell breakfast and departures for return trips home.
You don’t want to miss this event! Come join over 100 Cobra’s and Cobra replicas as we gather at the Historic Sebring International Raceway.

To ensure we have enough participants to cover the $21,000.00 in track fees early registration is essential! The “early registration” cost per driver for the 2-day track event is only $330. Nowhere else will you find a
2-day track event for less money. The total cost to participate in the 5th Annual Roundup is $390. This includes all expenses, including Track, T-shirt, Dash Plaque, Banquet dinner, Car show, Parade Laps, Meet and Greet party and Poker run. The cost to participate without the Thursday and Friday track event is $80.

Please note: Track Event Registrations received after August 15th will incur an additional fee of $50 and “Last minute” track event registrations received after September 1st will incur a $100 additional fee.

Should we fail to enlist the number of drivers needed to cover the cost of the track rental, we will be forced to post-phone the Roundup until November. The November track event will be held at the Gainesville Raceway and the Saturday car show will be held at Don Garlit’s Museum of Drag Racing in Ocala.


Safety inspection checklist, additional registration forms, hotel info, maps, schedule, and other event information is available on our web site: www.deepsouthcobraclub.com

2007 DSCC Officer elections will be held at the Annual Meeting following the Banquet dinner. Please send nominations to us at: DSCC – 3668 Misty Woods Circle - Pace, FL 32571

Please forward this information to all of your Cobra friends as some may not be in our registry or their contact information may have changed.
Please check out web site from time to time to keep up to date on information.

We look forward to seeing you all again.
Drive Safe

Edward Kamptner Robert Donehoo Ruble Moore
President Vice President Treasurer



Event information

Track Event:
A list of applicable safety equipment for each run group is listed in this packet and is also available on our web site.
Tech inspection will be held Thursday and Friday morning from 7:00 – 8:30. A mandatory drivers meeting will be conducted at 8:30am prior to both track events.
The track event will begin at 8:50 am and conclude at 5:00pm. There will be a 1-hour break each day from 12:00pm – 1:00pm each day for lunch and parade laps. Lunch will be available for purchase from the DSCC each day. Pre-ordering lunch is recommended. See registration form.

All cars registering for the track event must pass Tech inspection. Please review the safety list in the Roundup packet and make sure your car meets the safety requirements based on the run group you are registered for.

If you are unable to make it to the DSCC track events on Thursday and Friday, DSCC Members are welcome to race with Chin Motorsports on Saturday October 7th. A single day event is $289.00 plus a $50 membership fee for non CMS members. Go to www.chinmotorsports.com for info and registering.

Hotel:
The club is staying at the “Inn on the Lakes” Hotel and Spa. www.innonthelakessebring.com
King, Double and Suites are available at a discounted DSCC rate.
Parking Lot view King or Double Rooms are $75 per night.
Lake View King or Double Rooms are $80 per night.
Suites are available at a 10% discount.
(800) 531-5253

Dining:
There are a number of restaurants located in Sebring and close to the hotel. There are no formal dinner plans for Wednesday night so it is suggested that participants eat at one of the local restaurants. Thursday night we will likely eat at the Chicanes restaurant located at the Inn on the Lakes. Friday night is the Meet and Greet Party in the hotel parking lot. The Meet and Greet party will start at 6:30pm and run until 12:00. Dinner and drinks are FREE for all DSCC members.
Saturday night is the DSCC Banquet dinner. Please select a meal type from the 4 items in the registration.

Cedar Plank Salmon: Fresh Atlantic salmon with a delicious potlatch sauce of Brown sugar, butter and hint of Dijon. Oven roasted on a real cedar plank. Accompanied by potato and vegetable du jour.
Rosemary Pork Loin: Pork loin with a fresh herb pecan bread stuffing, oven roasted to perfection and finished with a delicious port wine mushroom sauce accompanied by potato and vegetable du jour.
Chicken Forestiere: Pan sautéed breast of chicken finished with a classic lemon Buerre Blanc sauce served with cranberry and almond infused wild rice vegetable du jour.
California Chicken: Boneless breast of chicken stuffed with seasoned julienne vegetables oven roasted with a splash of white wine and served on a bed of steaming pasta with a light tomato vodka cream sauce.

Parking:
Wednesday night there is parking at the Sebring Raceway near the Chateau Élan. Plan to park your trailers there if the Paddock is not available. The remainder of the weekend trailers may be parked at the Sebring Raceway either in the paddock or in the area selected for the Roundup car show.

Maps:
Maps to the Sebring Raceway and Inn at the Lakes can be found at our web site: www.deepsouthcobraclub.com


Schedule of Events (schedule subject to change if needed).
Schedule is listed in another post and is available on our web site.


Track Information

Safety: This is a drivers training event, NOT a race. The purpose of the event is to provide a safe venue for performance car driving. We want this to be a fun and safe event. Any participant that is operating their vehicle in an unsafe manner will be excused from the raceway. We reserve the right to place drivers in certain groups based on equipment and driver skill.
With the exception of the parade laps, all vehicles participating in the track event must have the following:

Helmet (full or open face, Snell approved 95 or later) with a face shield, glasses, or goggles, cotton long sleeved shirt, long pants and shoes (no sandals).
Open cars must have a functional roll bar bolted or welded to the frame of the vehicle.
Good tires, no cord or fabric visible. Suitable tread remaining.
No loose parts anywhere in car, including trunk. Spinners must be safety wired or (non functional type) removed.
No leaking fuel, oil, or fluids or excessive smoke from exhaust.
Seat belt or harness in good condition with no tears, cuts, or excessive fraying wear.
Brakes must be in good working order, have at least one working brake light.
Brake pedal must not pull from master cylinder.
Battery must be secured in safe manner that does not allow for movement.
Windshield / Windscreen must not be cracked or damaged.
Car must be equipped with at least one operable fire extinguisher permanently mounted or secured, accessible by the driver.
No radiator fluid other than water and/or water wetter mix.
Wheels lug torque to correct rating.
Radiator overflow catch can.

Intermediate Drivers: In addition to the items listed above, Intermediate drivers require an SFI 3.2A rated driving suit. Open cars require arm restraints. Neck support, gloves and driving shoes recommended but not required.

Advanced Drivers: Must meet acceptance criteria and have previous advanced track driving experience. Submit competition license number or previous track experience on bottom of the registration form. In addition to the items listed above, Advanced drivers are required to have a 5 or 6-point safety harness, arm restraints, SA 2000 or newer rated helmet, SFI rated gloves and shoes, neck support, covered or taped headlights, high performance R rated tires and emergency battery cut off switch. Roll bar must have 2” clearance from the top of the helmet with driver seated.

Remember to prepare your car prior to the event. Be sure to check for loose nuts and bolts, inspect chassis and suspension parts, brake components and pads. Replacing all fluids before the event is recommended. The Tech inspection will check for basic safety items but it is the responsibility of the driver to bring a prepared vehicle to the track.

A copy the track layout can be viewed at the Sebring Raceway web site:
www.sebringraceway.com/track_lay.lasso

Please contact any of your DSCC officers if you have any questions concerning this event.

Sounds great Ed, but 70 cars?? How many have we had at the track in past round ups? That should give some idea if its possible.:confused:

Paul Liparoto

Post edited.


Ed

Ed, last November I believe we had 22 - 23 at Gainesville for Thursday driving school and 50 (approximately) on Friday for open track. I will sign up for any one. I've only done one track event and that was Gainesville, which was a blast. I've had it on my calendar for '06 since I got home from '05. Rickd, Miami, FL.

What about running the club course at Sebring?

Rick,
I'm glad to hear you are looking forward to the Roundup.
I can't wait either.

Jim, I'm assuming that the "Club Course" is the North course.
I thought about that too.
Tomorrow I'll look into the cost comparison.

Ed

Ed - You told me how much it cost to rent Sebring in May and it was considerably less than the $24,000 plus insurance that it will cost in November. Why the big increase? Just wondering. As I recall you said that the cost for the weekend was $12,000 plus $1,000 for insurance, or was that $12,000 per day?

There was a rumor going around when we were at Sebring that the Roundup would be at Road Atlanta this year, and perhaps permanently. Any truth to that?

All that being said, I would pay the $400 plus to drive at Sebring again. Name the date and My check will be in the mail.

Bumpster

Yo Ed,

I'm in. :3DSMILE:

When you get the Sebring/Moroso/Gainesville location nailed down, let us all know. I have some Yankee folks who might sign up for the bigger track days.

Tom

Back in May we had in incorrect figure for racing at Sebring.
Now that we have been thru it, the "true" cost has been learned.
October is also in the "high season" where as May was the beginning of the low season.
The cost to run the full course at Sebring in October is $25K for two days with insurance. The cost for instructors has not been factored in yet.
It is a $3K cheaper to run the North course only.

We have booked Sebring and will be racing there in October for the Reptile Roundup. I am drafting a news letter to send to our members and will be sending our emails soon as well as posting on the forums.

What I need from you guys is to spread the word and get a lot of Cobra's interested. We need 60 Cobra's signed up to make ends meet.
I would hate to have to invite other cars to fill the field.
The DSCC has over 400 members with just over 300 in Florida.
Certainly we can get 60 drivers or more signed up to race at Sebring.

I am still working out the details for the hotel.
There are only 25 rooms available to us at the Chateau Elan.
There is a beautiful resort located 6 miles from the track "Inn on the Lakes".
I have inquired as to a cost to have our group stay there and also our banquet dinner. Presently there are planty of rooms available for us to stay there.

Look for more information to be posted here and please tell your friends.

I look forward to seeing you all at the Roundup.
Ed

Hey Ed, thanks for booking Sebring. What is the North track? I went to Sebing web site and it appears that the existing course is shortened. Did we reserve the whole track? Thanks

North Course, Short Course, Road Course it is called several different things. There is a connection between turns 13 and 14 back to between 2 and 3, if that makes sense. The only problem with this option is that all parking is in the grass/dirt between turns 9 and 10. Is there a flyer on this event??? Myself and several of the SVTOA types are interested in an October event.

This event is shapping up to be the best Reptile Roundup in DSCC history, dont miss it. Clear your calendars for Oct 5-8, and get your registrations in.

Ed and I have been working on the registration form and info packet. Emails have been sent to many members. I'll check things out and make a post in this thread or start a new thread soon with the details in case you aren't getting the emails. Also you can go to our website to make sure your membership info is correct. We get many emails that are invalid. We have been able to fix some, others just don't work.

Send me an email if you want more info and I'll get back to you after the 4th.

Robert
Vice President DSCC

FYI guys McMichael Motorsports LOST money in May.

Yeah but they had fun doin' it **)

just trying to help explain why it cost more for this event. Plus you get a T-Shirt. ;)

OK, to update things on Sebring.
Thursday we are running the "Club Course" which does not include turns 14 - 17 and 1 and 2. The Club course is the more challenging part of the course with turns 3-13. Only running the Club course on Thursday saves us $3K in expenses.
Another reason I chose to run the club course on Thursday is because there will be novice drivers attending their first road course event. I want to get them at least one day of track experience before sending them out on that monster backstretch. Speeds exceeding 150mph are possible between turns 16 and 17. Not the sort of thing we want to subject to a green driver....

Thursday afternoon I picked up the information packets from the printing co.
As soon as I get all 450 packets folded and into envelopes them will be put in the mail to all of the DSCC members. Look to receive yours in the mail shortly.
If you are not registered with the DSCC of if your information has changed, please let us know and we will ensure you get a copy of the packet.

Sebring is open to all types of cars (to help ensure participation).
We have also invited members from the SVTOA to join us so hopefully slots will fill quickly.

The DSCC website (www.deepsouthcobraclub.com) has now been updated with all the event information. Thanks to Jason Moore for all his help with the web site.

Please be aware:
I FINALLY go a copy of the invoice and contract from Sebring raceway.
Much to our dismay, the event must go on Rain of shine. If rain is forecasted we cannot cancel the event for any reason. 30 days prior to the event the track must be paid in full and we are locked in for the two dates.
Robert, Ruble and I tried our best to negotiate a better contract reducing our risk... Sebring of course said no. The contract is what it is....
Robert, Ruble and I pondered cancelling the event. We did not want to risk losing $21,000 of our member’s money if it rains in Florida :LOL: Like that never happens...
Instead we are looking into "Event Cancellation Insurance".
Basically we can "insure" the event against rain. The policy cost is not yet known (I have contacted a few companies and awaiting quotes). Early estimates are around $500 - $800 depending on how many "Dry hours" we request and the amount of rain we are gambling against.
This would amount to approx $10.00 more per participant to receive a refund of the event is rained out.

At this time we are looking for volunteers to help with registration, signing waivers and handing out welcome packets at the gate each morning. Additional volunteers are also needed for serving lunch on Thurs, Fri and Sat.
Volunteers will receive a "DSCC Racing Team" polo shirt for their services.
If you are interested in becoming a participant, please contact me for information.

More info will be posted as I get it.

Our next project is to design the T-shirts and post the artwork on the web site. Anyone with an artistic talent is welcome to contact us to submit ideas.

See you all in October

Ed
President, DSCC

GREAT WORK GUYS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
I GOT MY PACKAGE TODAY.
The timing really sucks for me, as that time of year is probably the prettiest with the leaves turning up here in the mountains. It also is when everyone wants to visit.;) ;)
Carol and I will sit down and go over our calanders to make sure we can make it - HOW CAN I PASS UP SEBRING?
You know Carol and I will help out however we can.

TL :MECOOL:

Crap... here comes another one of Terry's excuses.
Sounds like Terry is more interested in watching the leaves change colors than racing his Cobra at Sebring.
See, I knew that mountain air would warp his brain... or what's left of it.
:D

Leaves.....?
For Gods sake man, load up that trailer and get your arss to Sebring.
Enough with the girly talk.
Your starting to sound like Jim Pomroy.

Ed

My money is on it's way.

Let's get signed up everyone. I'll even show you the fast way around the track if you need help. Not you Ed, if you haven't learned it yet it's hopeless.:LOL: Maybe you should take up golf.%/

Golf...?
Lets just say I've got birdie for ya...
This one uses a finger, not a putter.
Lets see if your still smiling after I lap your sorry but in your pinto powered jalopy.

Ed