jenniferreinhardt wrote:JayG wrote:As far as the new open design, I was speaking with someone who commented that at one of the OC events a bunch of experienced SDR drivers were DNF because they could not stay on the course.
Hah that is funny! But, you could also say that when other region Drivers drive AX with us, they do not always shine as brightly either.
A driver always has an advantage driving on their home course. They are used to the layout, elements and grip conditions and they have tweaked their car setup for those conditions. For us, we are also fortunate to have gained experience with on and off camber turns.
I know PCASDR drivers that have gone up to PCAOCR. Initially they get lost due to the sparse cone layout.
I know PCAOCR drivers that have come down to PCASDR. Initially they get lost - they complain about too many cones and cone blindness.
The challenge of adaptation to new elements makes us better drivers. The challenge for PCASDR drivers is to improve their looking ahead skills and develop other fundamental autocross skills that are difficult to develop on a cone intensive course. The challenge for PCAOCR drivers is to learn to de-focus from the noise and learn to how to handle the on and off camber turns.
The hybrid layout is a stroke of genius. You can't have an entirely spare cone layout at Qualcomm due to safety (obstacles to hit). So a hybrid layout allows us to maintain something familiar and introduce something new to challenge you while still being safe.
From my experience, once someone gets used to a sparser cone layout, they do not want to go back to more cones. That would be like a kid putting training wheels back on after they have learned to ride on two wheels or a down hill skier, putting up a sea of flags/poles.