by marcus981 on Mon Jul 18, 2016 10:50 pm
Greg,
You're probably right that we should have started your group while poor Andrew was getting his 3rd re-run in the prior run-group. I can't remember if someone explicitly asked us to wait for timing reasons. I got a new appreciation for the chaos of start/finish and the scanner when I took over from Roger for a couple of run groups. Between listening for relevant radio traffic, listening to PA announcements for reruns, listening for the scanner verification of car number and lap number over the sound of launching cars, talking to drivers, and manually calling in some car numbers that wouldn't scan (in-between cone calls from corner workers), it was a much harder job than I expected just to man the scanner. I imagine life inside the trailer during timed runs is 10x more chaotic.
You and Tom (and others) are correct that the key green cones of the Chicago Boxes were in line with the slalom and even had consistent spacing with the slalom, exactly as we intended when we designed it. I think experienced drivers figured that out, but not everyone did. And I think the visual experience of driving into and out of those boxes was much more fun than just having more slalom cones instead.
As you know, regardless of how many cones we place on the course, there are very few key cones that actually affect driving line. The rest are for visual effect, safety, or sometimes even a little misleading to give drivers an extra puzzle to decipher. Multiple drivers approached me yesterday and said they enjoyed that aspect of the recent courses. Another example aside from the Chicago boxes was the intentional false apex cone at turn "U." I saw a lot of people fall for that one, especially earlier in the day, which didn't set them up well for the entry into the final esses. It's another way to separate good drivers (reading the course, formulating a driving line strategy, and looking ahead) from the rest.
Marcus Kramer #591
2014 Cayman S (Agate Gray)
Equipment Team, Autocross Team, IT Support