This past weekend, the Kansas City and Kansas Regions of the SCCA held their first of three joint Solo Event weekends at Heartland Park Topeka. For the Kansas City Region, the Saturday/Sunday double-header were Events 6 and 7. If was the first two events of the year for the Kansas Region. Both the Saturday and Sunday courses were designed by Ron Williams and incorporated many of the elements from the 2013 SCCA Solo Nationals course. It was a very different experience to compete on 20 acres of wide-open asphalt for…
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SCCA – Double-Header at Heartland Park Topeka
IndyCar wasn’t the only racing series doing a double-header last weekend, the Kansas City Region and the Kansas Region of the Sports Car Club of America held a joint double-header event at Heartland Park Topeka. While the Kaw Valley Race Group played on the road course, we held a Solo event on Saturday and Sunday on the south lot, a nice wide-open swath of asphalt that was a nice departure from the confining orthogonal grid layout at our usual site. This joint event was also our Military Appreciation Weekend where…
Read MoreSCCA – Fun In The Sun at Heartland Park Topeka
The third round of the Kansas City Region SCCA Solo Championship took place this past Saturday at Heartland Park Topeka on the infield tarmac on the south end of the course. With all that wide-open tarmac, the course was much faster and open, with broader corners than most autocross courses tend to be. There was a nice mix of lengthy straights, high-speed sweepers, double-apex corners, tight hairpins, and of course a couple of slalom sections. Being held jointly by the Kansas Region and the Kansas City Region, the turnout was…
Read MoreOP-Ed – Support Your Local Tracks
As fans of IndyCar racing, Formula 1, MotoGP, WRC, we constantly hear about these fantastic venues. Who doesn’t want to go to Indianapolis to see the IndyCars, or to Spa to see Formula 1, or to Phillip Island to see the MotoGP race, or to Cyprus to the WRC? Many of us live cheap and save up over the off-season, giving $5 McDonald’s gift certificates as Christmas presents just so we can afford those big trips to those exotic venues. While doing this, though, we often overlook the true gems…
Read MoreMoto – AMA Tornado Nationals in Topeka – Race 2
The weather for final day of the AMA Tornado Nationals at Heartland Park Topeka could hardly have been better. Sunny skies and temperatures mid-80s with a breeze from the south made for very comfortable conditions. The endurance class, MotoGT, had finished its business yesterday, but the Supersport class gave the spectators a third race to watch in addition to the second American Superbike and Daytona Sportbike races. Supersport The Supersport class is a development class for riders age 16 to 21 running a variety of 600cc bikes. Usually in a…
Read MoreMoto – AMA Tornado Nationals in Topeka
I know that motorcycle road racing isn’t our main thing here at Open Paddock, but this weekend I’m at Heartland Park Topeka watching the AMA Tornado Nationals. If you’ve not been hooked on motorcycle road racing yet, then watch this video of the Rossi/Stoner battle at Laguna Seca last year. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sfPM77TsGaA Like what you see? Ok, now go and listen to two of the most entertaining gentlemen in the podcasting business, Bob and Jules, at MotoGPod. Great stuff! Ok, back to Topeka. Its not MotoGP, or even World Superbikes, but…
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