marcus981 wrote:Andrew and I are also at an advantage by designing the track, and knowingly including some specific challenges.
Instructors also have an advantage for riding with their students for their 10-14 laps, particularly if they have more advanced students.
Instructors without assigned students also have an advantage if they ride along with other experienced drivers (or vice versa) on as many laps as they want.
My lap times improve more from these advantages compared to me driving extra laps on my own.
So, where do we draw the line for reasonable fairness for our club? I'm not suggesting we don't create a clear policy on setup test laps, but I'm just raising the point that fairness is in the eye of the beholder.
Marcus, the goal is to make it as fair as possible within the structure and needs of the event. Instructors and students are going to get more laps. They'll be driving the same amount of laps as the other drivers, but they do get to ride with each other and that's necessary for the development of the student and one of the advantages of being an instructor. Riding in another car, while educational, is not the same thing as driving your own car at speed. All of us were students at one point and benefited from having an instructor. All of us can, theoretically, become instructors and enjoy the advantage of seeing the track from our students car while doing the very important job of instructing. Depending on the skill level of your student, you may be too busy to learn much at all.
Track Designer's will always have an advantage. It's their track. Instructors may have an advantage. It's one of the perks of being an instructor and a necessary evil. Students have an advantage. They're typically in a car that's being driven more skillfully than they can drive and this can bring their skill level up.
Driving 10 laps or so the evening before the event is an advantage. This is not one that is typical due to the fact that not everyone can skip out early or take additional time to help throw the track and play afterwards. Even if they could, I imagine the stadium would put a stop to an impromptu AX with that many people after designated hours on a lot that was not rented for that purpose on that day.
As an added note, my biggest complaint about the track layout had more to do with the surface of the lot. Not much we can do about that. I thought the track flowed well and was a lot of fun. I haven't done an AX since last August and I always enjoy challenging layouts. The few issues of the track have already been noted. I look forward to seeing continuing innovation in the design of the track and applaud your use of technology to set it up that way. Keep striving for change and improvement. Just remember that not every change is an improvement.