jenniferreinhardt wrote:Jack Brennan mentioned that SCCA has strict rules on who gets to drive the track ahead of the event and how often. Perhaps he will reiterate the SCCA rule.
jbrennen wrote:jenniferreinhardt wrote:Jack Brennan mentioned that SCCA has strict rules on who gets to drive the track ahead of the event and how often. Perhaps he will reiterate the SCCA rule.
I might suggest a modification of that idea that might work a lot better for us -- nobody gets to pre-run the course in the car they will be using for competition, or in a substantially equivalent car. We have enough variety of cars available among autoX team members that you could even state that nobody gets to pre-run the course in a car with the same drivetrain layout. If you're going to be competing in a front-engined car, you have to do any pre-runs in a mid-engined or rear-engined car. That should eliminate a lot of the advantage to getting extra runs. I'm willing to bet that Mark or Marcus could learn a lot about the safety and flow of the track if they did laps in Leigh's car or Jerry's car, but they wouldn't take much away that would apply directly to their own runs in their own cars.
ttweed wrote:
After running with SCCA for many years, I was OK with the course once I learned it except for one element--the Z-turn across the swale was too painful for me. Even though it was very slow, my car dipped the front splitter into the asphalt every time I crossed it at speed. The swale is deepest right next to that large storm drain where the turn was placed, and even though the crossing was at an angle, the fact that you were forced to turn right as you crossed meant that one side of the car was lower from weight transfer. I would have preferred a different location for that crossing, at a shallower spot with the car in a level, settled attitude, so as not to be forced to crawl through the section in order to avoid damaging the car. After the swale crossing, the course really broke down, IMHO. The "curved slalom" was a failure. The first cone of the slalom after the swale crossing had no relation to the rest and actually required a left turn as you exited the "Z" section and then a full right turn as you rounded it. Offset slaloms are fine, but having the next slalom cone in a 90-degree different direction, 100 yards up the track from the first one, is beyond "offset." That first "slalom" cone needed a solid barrier around it to point you in the right direction on exit, combined with a curved line of barrier cones forcing you to the left on exiting from the "Z" to lead you to it.
That's my $0.02,
TT
jbrennen wrote:jenniferreinhardt wrote:Jack Brennan mentioned that SCCA has strict rules on who gets to drive the track ahead of the event and how often. Perhaps he will reiterate the SCCA rule.
I would note that SCCA National level events are very different than ours. I wouldn't want to see ours ever move to their format, which is: no practice runs, three timed runs and you're done.
Given that their format is "three timed runs and you're done", it's easy to see how even a single practice run could slant the competition to a driver's advantage. I believe that any driving of the course to check for flow and safety is done by a non-competitor. (The National staff members are mostly composed of accomplished autocrossers, so there's available expertise there.)
I might suggest a modification of that idea that might work a lot better for us -- nobody gets to pre-run the course in the car they will be using for competition, or in a substantially equivalent car. We have enough variety of cars available among autoX team members that you could even state that nobody gets to pre-run the course in a car with the same drivetrain layout. If you're going to be competing in a front-engined car, you have to do any pre-runs in a mid-engined or rear-engined car. That should eliminate a lot of the advantage to getting extra runs. I'm willing to bet that Mark or Marcus could learn a lot about the safety and flow of the track if they did laps in Leigh's car or Jerry's car, but they wouldn't take much away that would apply directly to their own runs in their own cars.
Just offering my input in that spirit, Andrew, as I'm sure you know. No 4-letter words included or necessary, and overall, I can still say it was a fun day of driving, without any major incidents. It takes a village to put on an autocross event, and I appreciate everyone's efforts in pulling them off. It won't be too long before we're looking back at the "good ol' days" at Qualcomm stadium, so we better enjoy them while we can. Congrats to Martin and Mark for great driving on a tough course to win TTOD and top BRI time, and I think everyone has to recognize what a phenomenal job Kathy and Bill did in running low 1:23s in a 2000 Boxster, not to mention Robert and WT in those pesky Miatas! And I have to give a big shout out to Robert Baizer for developing our electronic app for broadcasting timing and scoring for both TT and AX. I have run a lot of events over the last 18 years with many different organizations, and no one else has such a sophisticated and efficient method of delivering real-time results to participants.ScandinavianFlick wrote:We're here to make autocross the best possible experience for all of our drivers, and your input helps us make better informed decisions across a wide range of car types and experience levels.
ScandinavianFlick wrote:I agree that the curved slalom section did not work. I generally do not drive the course during setup, because I prefer to rely on the opinions of others who don't know the "intent" of the design. Usually, having 6-8 volunteers of varying experience level drive the track is valuable in this way.
Andrew
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