TORCS 2026!

[woodsguy]

I'll be waiting, lol.

 

[jamesohoh7]

Here's my report.

Goals met: finished w/out hitting the dirt. did 4 laps.
Tribulation: wound up having my front tire go down... not 100% flat, but when I was loading it up in the truck after the race, I noticed it was squatting. It had 2lbs of air in it. It is known to leak, but usually I get a day or two out of it. It had 13.5lbs before practice. I didn't check it before the race, but I should have. I am sure it had good amount of air to start the race. But, by mid/end lap 3 and all of lap 4, the bike felt sluggish-handling. I figured it was just me being wiped out... which I'm sure a lot of it was, but a soft front tire would explain why I felt the bike wandering so much late in the race. I chalked it up to me just being worn out at the time. My 4th lap was a few minutes slower than 3rd.

I liked the course layout, it was closer to the flat kind of stuff I get to practice on. It wasn't technical like Powell or Goertz with all of their elevation changes. It was instead very choppy, which is a different kind of challenge. If you like braking bumps and accel bumps.. and then lots of small'ish whoops in between, then this is the place for you!

Justin, you'd have liked this.. put in on your list of TORCS event to do. It's about as flowy/open as I've ever seen a TORCS event be. Buckholts had a lot of wide-open stuff, but its no longer on the schedule.

There was good moisture in the sandy/silty soil. I'm glad we didn't have to find out how it'd be w/out that recent rain. Since I think this location is new, these trails don't have a 'base' under the loose stuff... its just loose all the way down. As a result, there were a few spots that developed some peg-high ruts.

There was really just one 'sizable' thing to climb, and then one or two other small ones. The one big one was pretty easy though.. you had a good long run up to it so all you needed was just moderate run-in and you'd go right up it. There was a rocky hill-climb that was more technical to get up, but not sketchy such that if you fell/stopped you'd fall down. Just had a lot of lose rocks. I would swim up it every time... never had a solid-feeling go... but it was fine.

Really only one sort of technical descent.. which was marked with a lot of X's and confused me a bit until I watched someone take the 'good' line one lap. It wasn't huge, but if you took the 'middle' line that I did my 1st 2 laps, it was slower... and had a couple of drop-offs. I got passed there each lap until I switched lines on 3rd and 4th lap.

The real 'star of the show' was the hard/easy split right before the finish. The hard line had 4 large log-crossings, then a wall of big tires. In practice when I got to that spot, there were 6 or 8 dudes in various stages of 'wiped out' trying to get through it, and that was enough for me to make up my mind not to even try. The easy line added 45-50sec to your lap though, but of course it was easy/safe. I have zero log-crossing skills, so I wasn't going to risk injury. There is a log-matrix where I practice, so I may give that a shot and see if I can learn it in a low-pressure environment. Mark made it over with no problems.. made it look easy! Mark has skills.

Overall, a fun though exhausting day.

I finished 8/17.. there was a guy on a Stark who's video says he ran Open C ... but the prelim results posted on-site showed him in Open D.... so I guess if they move him to C, then I finished 7th.

 

[portero72]

I'll be waiting, lol.

Ok!

Daughter lined up in a class of 2 in Women’s C. Seems to be either 6-8 ladies or 2, depending on the month. She had a bad, boggy start (we need to practice that), and hit the first flag several bike lengths behind. She was still there going into the wood. Towards the end of the first lap they had traded spots but the separation was about the same. Somewhere in the next lap or two she opened up a big gap; the girl behind her came around pretty slowly and doing zero shifting. I saw her at the finish in tears and holding her left hand. I assume she had an off, banged up the clutch hand, and rode it out. Hope she’s okay, and kudos to her for finishing. Daughter gets the #1 plaque this month.
Luke sat out this race, and likely the next, after his Zars concussion. Not all was lost on the dirt bike front, as we spent Sunday at Spoaks drilling proper form and skills at low speeds into his hard head. He picks it up like a sponge and was looking and feeling 1000% better by the end of the day.
As @jamesohoh7 said, the course was a challenge. It really whooped me, but I had a blast. It did have a good mix of everything (elevation was minimal, but they incorporated what was there). Plenty of mistakes but no crashes this weekend.
Got a decent start (in a big C class) and found myself mid pack by the entrance to the woods. I burned a ton of energy trying to keep that spot for most of the first lap, but heard the bikes behind me and felt myself wearing down quickly. I pulled over for a second and proceeded to watch 6-7 dudes in my class fly past me. Ugh.
The redemption I found was clearing the log and tire obstacle cleanly 3/3 times, only taking the easy line on lap 4 because there was carnage strewn across the path as I approached. Screw it. No need to biff it on the last lap. It’s always cool to lap a few dudes, which I did, and have dudes that passed me in the woods have to do it again because they lost ground to me taking the easy line. Small victories!

I believe I finished 16/21. Meh, but I’m okay with it.

Overall, a great day! Hope everyone had as much fun as we did.

 

[woodsguy]

Kudos for the hardline choice! I'd probably skipped it but read it was a big penalty, I don't get that. But his playground not mine. Some penalty for easy obviously but 50 seconds is silly.

 

[TNC]

I'd take it real easy on my site lap!

Rob, I didn't realize TORCS allows competitors to prerun the course. As a TSCEC guy, I always thought one of the challenges of off road racing in general was the ability to read terrain as you went without prerunning. This is just a thought on my part and not a smack against TORCS.

Edit to add: I'm probably misreading what TORCS is. I thought they were an enduro format, but maybe they're more of a cross country format. Rob?

 

[woodsguy]

Rob, I didn't realize TORCS allows competitors to prerun the course. As a TSCEC guy, I always thought one of the challenges of off road racing in general was the ability to read terrain as you went without prerunning. This is just a thought on my part and not a smack against TORCS.

1st, yea they have an hour practice on Saturday, not quite that long on Sunday. And now they have open ride on Friday at most properties.

2nd, I'm with you, GNCC style. Plus think how much wear and tear that saves!

3rd, part of the issue for so many guys this is their ride for the month, so they want seat time.

 

[woodsguy]

Edit to add: I'm probably misreading what TORCS is. I thought they were an enduro format, but maybe they're more of a cross country format. Rob?

Definitely c/c stuff. Some courses as short as 3 miles, almost never over 6. Originally started with help WORCS. At that time almost every venue included m/x and woods. That was the plan and more less followed it. Somehow he's moved on from that format except for Spoakes, not sure if they use mx track there tho. I wasn't a fan, me likes them woods!

Now in the summer he will do 1 or 2 sprint enduros, no practice.

 

[TNC]

Definitely c/c stuff. Some courses as short as 3 miles, almost never over 6. Originally started with help WORCS. At that time almost every venue included m/x and woods. That was the plan and more less followed it. Somehow he's moved on from that format except for Spoakes, not sure if they use mx track there tho. I wasn't a fan, me likes them woods!

Now in the summer he will do 1 or 2 sprint enduros, no practice.

Fascinating...I did not know that. Old dog learns new tricks...or at least info...LOL! Yeah, I like that challenge of dropping into a place to ride...and back in the day, race...and use my eyes and experience to read unknown terrain as fast as possible. My true racing days are over, but especially when riding with buddies in rough terrain, we all know old habits tend to surface and the juices flow to display how fast we are.

 

[TDtrans]

Fascinating...I did not know that. Old dog learns new tricks...or at least info...LOL! Yeah, I like that challenge of dropping into a place to ride...and back in the day, race...and use my eyes and experience to read unknown terrain as fast as possible. My true racing days are over, but especially when riding with buddies in rough terrain, we all know old habits tend to surface and the juices flow to display how fast we are.

Tnc from following your post I take it you previously worked for Jhon pour at Max,s in abilene had a 2002 Cr 250 Jhon built pro circuit motor race tech suspension bike was fast and Dialed in. Friend of mine in Granbury has 68 yamaha 350 twin 2 stroke Jhon built it work of art

 

[jamesohoh7]

Yep, TORCS is short-course woods (hare-scramble), so do as many laps in the time as you can vs a point-to-point Enduro. At least, that's how I've seen it. Longest course I've seen is right about 9mi at Spoaks... they did use most of the 'big' MX track when it only had tabletops on it... dunno what it has now, I heard they re-built the big MX track.

I'd be fine with the no practice before race, TBH. It's just one extra lap that puts wear on me, but also I'm a slow learner and don't benefit -that- much from seeing the course once vs some folks that seem to be able to memorize it in one pass... putting dummies like me at a further disadvantage.. lol.

Then again, I'm figuring some of the thought-process to giving a practice session is to let people see what may be a bottleneck ahead of time to sort of figure it out before clogging up the works during the race.

 

[TNC]

Tnc from following your post I take it you previously worked for Jhon pour at Max,s in abilene had a 2002 Cr 250 Jhon built pro circuit motor race tech suspension bike was fast and Dialed in. Friend of mine in Granbury has 68 yamaha 350 twin 2 stroke Jhon built it work of art

John is a very good friend of mine, and we still stay in touch. He and Al Miller, co-owners, have been great friends over the years. I went to work for Max part time as a mechanic back in the early 70's aside from regular career field. I had to pay for my bikes and enduro racing...LOL! I loved working there. Five of us working in the back raced the enduro circuit which yielded one open A state champion, one open B state champion, and one 250-B state champion. I was low man on the totem poll with only an occasional win or top 4 or better place in B-class in open, 250, and 200 engine size. They called me Mr. Consistency.

TD, if I recall John Poor may have even been a state champion MX winner or at least high up in standings back in the day. We tried to get John to join us in our off road pursuits, but he did not like rocks...LOL! I'll tell you one thing about John Poor...he is a master builder and restorer of motorcycles...super talented in that venue. For some reason I can't link the pic of his latest project, a pristine 70's era Husky MX bike like he used to race. His work is extraordinary.

 

[TDtrans]

John is a very good friend of mine, and we still stay in touch. He and Al Miller, co-owners, have been great friends over the years. I went to work for Max part time as a mechanic back in the early 70's aside from regular career field. I had to pay for my bikes and enduro racing...LOL! I loved working there. Five of us working in the back raced the enduro circuit which yielded one open A state champion, one open B state champion, and one 250-B state champion. I was low man on the totem poll with only an occasional win or top 4 or better place in B-class in open, 250, and 200 engine size. They called me Mr. Consistency.

TD, if I recall John Poor may have even been a state champion MX winner or at least high up in standings back in the day. We tried to get John to join us in our off road pursuits, but he did not like rocks...LOL! I'll tell you one thing about John Poor...he is a master builder and restorer of motorcycles...super talented in that venue. For some reason I can't link the pic of his latest project, a pristine 70's era Husky MX bike like he used to race. His work is extraordinary.

Agree 100 percent he's very talented he sponsored our vintage race's at was it spring valley back around 96 and raced so you're probably very familiar with Brian Jackson vertical adrenaline ministry another class gentleman from your area

 

[TNC]

Yep, knew Brian and his dad back in Cisco, TX. MX wasn't my thing, but I did a few out at Spring Valley. Of all things weird, I won the street legal class back in the 70's sometime.

 

[TDtrans]

Yep, knew Brian and his dad back in Cisco, TX. MX wasn't my thing, but I did a few out at Spring Valley. Of all things weird, I won the street legal class back in the 70's sometime.

I have done a little both I am best in the cross country arena but raced night Mx at Mosier valley then lost of TCCRA and Torn series now just lots of dualsport and Colorado New Mexico trips with my friends.

 

[woodsguy]

Next up! Note no practice Friday this time!

 

[jamesohoh7]

They probably figure its already gonna be a duster and want to preserve whatever moisture might still be in the dirt. Fine by me, I never get to go to the Friday practices anyway.

I will have better tires this round, or that's the plan!

 

[portero72]

They probably figure its already gonna be a duster and want to preserve whatever moisture might still be in the dirt. Fine by me, I never get to go to the Friday practices anyway.

I will have better tires this round, or that's the plan!

Thankfully, Goertz doesn’t present a ton of places for crowds and dust to accumulate. Still praying for an inch of rain!

 

[woodsguy]

Shouldn't be a dust bowl. Still one of the funnest places around.

 

[TNC]

Rob, I know little about TORCS but was curious what kind of overall competitor numbers the events usually get. We just had the Concho Enduro this weekend and had about 238 entries. I realize from the info you provided earlier that the two venues are not exact, but I was just curious. We did a 2-day format this year and even shared the event within the Rocky Mountain series. The race went well overall. Had one broken leg requiring a helicopter ride due to it being a compound fracture. At my check on both days, an over 55 class guy from Arizona on row one was one of the fastest guys out there.

 

[woodsguy]

I haven't been in a while but I'd say numbers are similar. They do run it as a 2 day event totally separate. You can chase 1 or 2 championships. There's that new series that probably dented their attendance a little. I think for a little bit after covid they had really big numbers.

 

[Irishcoffee]

Concerning the dust factor, I just watched some vids of the recent Camp Coker GNCC. Obviously the drought is affecting a large area of the country. Serious damage. Anyone loving offroad owes a huge serving of gratitude to the land owners allowing us to destroy some beautiful properties. This sport would die quickly without them in areas without public lands.

 

[portero72]

South Austin got some good rain this morning, with more expected for Saturday! Hoping Cedar Creek gets some!

 

[woodsguy]

"It’s with a heavy heart that we need to let you know this weekend’s race is postponed. The downpour we hoped would miss us hit harder than expected, and conditions just won’t allow us to run the race. We apologize for the late notice and appreciate your understanding.

We will now race at Spoaks MotoPark on 5/2, Goertz on 5/30, and we’re adding June 20 to keep the series at 10 rounds.

We will get the Spoaks MotoPark flyer up soon. All pre entries will be forwarded to Spoaks. Please spread the word."

 

[portero72]

"It’s with a heavy heart that we need to let you know this weekend’s race is postponed. The downpour we hoped would miss us hit harder than expected, and conditions just won’t allow us to run the race. We apologize for the late notice and appreciate your understanding.

We will now race at Spoaks MotoPark on 5/2, Goertz on 5/30, and we’re adding June 20 to keep the series at 10 rounds.

We will get the Spoaks MotoPark flyer up soon. All pre entries will be forwarded to Spoaks. Please spread the word."

Bummer, but understandable. Was just about to check rain totals for Cedar Creek.

Thanks for the heads up.

 

[woodsguy]

New flyer