PCA SDR

http://ax.pcasdr.net/

While you are there -- don't forget to register your cell phone!

The track looks fun Tom. If you get a little rain it will be even more interesting.

Just an observation looking at the class list. There are two cars currently registered as Boxster Spec but neither qualifies for that class. Boxster Spec is a class for 97-99 2.5L Boxsters that have been fully prepared, stripped and caged for PCA Club Racing. Other model years of Boxsters do not qualify and should choose a SS or CC class that better fits their level of preparation.

Thanks for the sharp eyes Dave.
Corrections are in progress.

Another class question. There is a GT3 in the SS05 class. I suspect that needs to be changed.

GoHerdSD wrote:Another class question. There is a GT3 in the SS05 class. I suspect that needs to be changed.

That car has not been classified on the classification site. Everyone needs to classify their cars on this site. http://zone8.pca.org/CarClass/Default.aspx
This is not optional. It's required by all registrants.

Assuming bone stock GT3 with 201 + tread wear tires, Minimum class is CC12 or SS08.

I have to say that with the low contrast in the track image, it prints like crap in B&W (barely legible). Perhaps a heavy black line for the course might show up better? Or lightening the photo background first...

Just a thought. Most of the time the track map hasn't been that useful anyway, lately, due to modifications from the surface breakup, etc., so it probably doesn't matter that much.
TT

Tom, that's a good point, I will alter the color scheme to something more printer friendly on future maps. Thanks for pointing it out!

Loved the original design Andrew. Too bad the pavement didn't allow for that to be translated to the actual track yesterday - although it was definitely challenging!

I did want to say that I liked driving the track beforehand, but still miss the track walk. Wish we could do both. We used to kind of check that the track was chalked, widened and corrected before we started, plus it was fun to socialize and dissect the corners.

Thanks for all the effort!

I am guessing the track layout was changed due to the poor Q pavement or safety chair call. But, the last 1/3 of the track was unnecessarily tight and narrow. After so many people kept hitting cones during the practice sessions, I think the last section should have been reviewed or changed to prevent the cone killing. I saw a few broken fender-liners laying around and drivers trying to polish their bumpers, so I know I am not the only one who has new front fender-liners on order. I also prefer the track walk over the parade lap for many reasons: socializing, marking unmarked cones, sweeping and clearing the track from debris / nails etc ...

Otherwise we had a great time and the first 2/3 of the track was fun once we figured it out, I also like the new 4 timed runs with best 3 laps count system during timed runs.

Thanks for the great event.

As usual a great event and the most efficient club I run with. No other club can get in 5,5,4 runs with only one work assignment.

There are two solutions to the "too narrow a track" problem. This is what I observe at the other clubs I run with.

BMW measure their track width with a long stick. So they will always have a mnimum width it can be. No suddent shutdowns that impdede flow while still maintaining safe speeds.

SCCA/PCAOCR - They only use about 25% of the cones. Some sections only have a pointer cone with no left and right wall.

My personal preference is SCCA/PCAOCR but I don't recommend that at PCASDR. There are things to hit at Qualcomm. That with PCASDR speeds, new student, high power car would be a disaster waiting to happen. So I think the BMW minimum width solution is a good one.

Jeff and Kenta actually did walk the entire track on Sat morning with the measuring rope to ensure minimum spacing. I'm not sure if things got tweaked after they made their pass through though, since we were so rushed trying to get set up and make the necessary pothole and safety adjustments, but at least that effort was made. And yes, we lost one fun looking straight section on the map due to safety concerns.

Of course cone spacing width is only part of the story.

Since we had to set up the course early Sat morning instead of the day before (due to the Race Legal event the night before), we had minimal time to set up and test drive the course to fix areas that maybe didn't flow well. Mark Curran has already said we're going to figure out how to allot for more time to do that in the future. That's going to be tricky since we don't always have a chance to set up the course the day before because of stadium event conflicts, but we'll try to figure something out.

I also really enjoy the PCA OCR minimal cone layouts at El Toro, but as Robert said, because of the obstacles at the Q, that probably won't work for us. I think it also takes time for people to get used to running those types of courses, so we would probably have a lot of very lost and upset drivers if we tried that in San Diego. It's nice to have the variety by going up to El Toro sometimes though, or driving the SCCA events.

As a first timer with the club (but a long time autocrosser) I was really impressed with the event and with the club. I'm still incredulous that you guys can fit in 1,300+ runs and still be done with plenty of daylight left. Kudos to everybody who makes it happen.

I do have a question whether the speed run into the northeast hairpin was supposed to be so fast. The autocross page on the website says that events are run at "speeds usually between 40-65 MPH" -- and yet I was hitting 80 MPH before braking according to my car's data display. I'm not complaining about it, and I certainly never felt unsafe there, but it's also probably a good 8 MPH faster than I've ever gone in an SCCA autocross.

So just wondering if that's a typical feature of PCA-SDR autocrosses, or if I happened to catch an outlier.

PS: I kind of liked the tight stuff from Worker Station 6 to the finish -- I thought it rewarded looking ahead and being precise with the car placement.

jbrennen wrote:So just wondering if that's a typical feature of PCA-SDR autocrosses, or if I happened to catch an outlier.

Welcome and I love the color of your car. You caught an outlier. The straights are normally longer and faster . Even the downhill ones . I beleive the course was slowed down due to new drivers coming in from the driving school and rain.