Pennington Field approved for autocross use

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03-10-2011, 04:32 PM
nomadtrash

Pennington Field approved for autocross use

I just got off the phone with the administrator at Pennington. We have been granted access to the parking lots to conduct autocross. As many of you know we have diligently persued this outcome and are pleased that we were sucessful. There are a couple of small changes that will have to take place. Clubs using the parking lot will need to apply for a general use permit from the city of Bedford. They want us to not start running cars till 12:00. I think starting at 12 won't be too bad. At ER events we have been starting cars around 10 and getting done at 2 or 3 this would push us back to around 4 or 5. If we were to push trophies ahead of loading the trailer then we would only be about an hour difference. Personally, I would rather sleep in a little bit more and get home a little later.

Thanks to all those that helped us retain this site.
03-10-2011, 04:45 PM
CosmosMpower

Quote:

Originally Posted by nomadtrash

They want us to not start running cars till 12:00.

It's good that we didn't lose a site but this is BS.
03-10-2011, 05:02 PM
Robert

That's great news. Starting at 12 is OK. We need to stay on top of any sound issues and not try and push the limits of the 100 db rule.
03-10-2011, 05:15 PM
Kestrel

Some events won't end until after dark... (think FSAE)

Quote:

Originally Posted by nomadtrash

...They want us to not start running cars till 12:00. I think starting at 12 won't be too bad...

nomadtrash, you are ever the optimist! Definitely better than losing the site altogether, but not starting until 12noon is really going to be painful. Any possibility of trying to get them to soften this stance a little? Honestly, 10:00am shouldn't be too early in the morning to "make noise" (who gets to sleep that late?), but even an 11:00am "first car out time" would be better.

Oh, and THANKS VERY MUCH for doing all you (and others) have done to keep the place available at all!
03-10-2011, 05:25 PM
OZMDD

This is good news overall, and is a workable solution, especially for capped-entry events.

I suggest we hold the Trophy Awards before 12 to expedite the event. ::Rimshot:

Also, the later start time should allow Garcia to conduct his driver's meetings without dealying the runs. ::Banana::
03-10-2011, 05:46 PM
nomadtrash

I haven't had time to discuss the starting time with anyone on the school board. It is on my list of things to do. We may just start the driver's meeting at 9 as usual and ask Garcia to go in-depth on why Ralt's have such a high pax number.
03-10-2011, 06:03 PM
ken o

Congratulations. You guys did a great job securing the use of the site. With the change in daylight savings 4pm or 5pm should not be too bad. Perhaps cap the number of entries to the event? I look forward to another in depth discussion of sound waves and modulation with JG.
03-10-2011, 07:04 PM
jrj512

Great job, Andy. Of all the AX clubs, you put the most into getting this site back and we all appreciate it. Thanks for your work on this.
03-10-2011, 07:50 PM
modernbeat

Quote:

Originally Posted by Robert

That's great news. Starting at 12 is OK...

Just wait until July. Then tell us how "OK" it is when you're still out there shagging cones at 3:30 in the heat.
03-10-2011, 08:12 PM
nomadtrash

It will cut down on the complaints about who had to run in the morning in the cold.
03-10-2011, 10:41 PM
tailchaser

Quote:

Originally Posted by nomadtrash

It will cut down on the complaints about who had to run in the morning in the cold.

NOW he's being optimistic...
03-11-2011, 01:45 AM
MadMonkey

Quote:

Originally Posted by Kestrel

(who gets to sleep that late?)

A cropduster over my apartment woke me up at 3PM yesterday :(
03-11-2011, 02:14 AM
Bigsrturbo

Awesome great news!!
03-11-2011, 09:13 AM
Robert

Quote:

Originally Posted by modernbeat

Just wait until July. Then tell us how "OK" it is when you're still out there shagging cones at 3:30 in the heat.

It still beats losing the site. Maybe we can do the July/Aug. events at another site.
03-11-2011, 09:35 AM
altiain

Good news Andy. The important thing is that we've still got the site. With that secured we can work on the start time.
03-11-2011, 11:06 AM
nomadtrash

Quote:

With that secured we can work on the start time.

Iain has just volunteered. Now we just have to figure out how to get him to enter an ER event.
03-11-2011, 11:28 AM
modernbeat

Just out of curiosity, were the drift events approved? Any other motorsports approved? Is just ER approved, or all autocross clubs like SCCA?
03-11-2011, 11:59 AM
ratt_finkel

Quote:

Originally Posted by modernbeat

Just wait until July. Then tell us how "OK" it is when you're still out there shagging cones at 3:30 in the heat.

How is that different from any other event?
03-11-2011, 12:12 PM
nomadtrash

Quote:

were the drift events approved?

The word I got was that the school board was not recommending a change in policy. The only new requirements are 12:00 start time and obtaining a permit from the city.
03-11-2011, 12:22 PM
autoxmax

Quote:

Originally Posted by modernbeat

Just out of curiosity, were the drift events approved? Any other motorsports approved? Is just ER approved, or all autocross clubs like SCCA?

All the clubs are allowed.

The unknown right now is the issue of the City Permit.

With the new start time restriction, I'm not sure if SCCA's attendance numbers will allow us to run at Penn Field. With entries over 100 we would have to limit the runs to get out of there at a decent time. I'd rather give folks at least 5 to 6 runs & have a larger course area.

SCCA is already booked at other locations for the rest of the season. We didn't want to risk not having a sites to run at for the rest of the year.

We might run Penn Field for our August event so folks going to Nationals have a concrete surface to run on.

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