Originally Posted by Kestrel
My momma told me if I couldn't say something nice, I shouldn't say anything at all... but then, I don't always listen to my momma... :lol:
Constructive criticism is helpful.
The event was not one of the SCCA's banner events, but in fairness, not all of it was completely controllable. The hold-up at the start was apparently caused by computer gremlins. The SCCA's "King Computer Guy" says he's going to get another computer, and opines that storing the computer in the trailer is probably not a good idea (goooood thinkin').
Sloppy corner work is a problem at every event I attend -- including my favorite, NTS2KOC events. I believe that control needs to take firm action if they hear about sloppy corner work, including halting the heat to have someone go over to the corner and speak to the workers. A little peer pressure might help get people back on their toes.
Would you be interested in helping do a corner work demo at the drivers meeting. I have done them in the past, but since I tend to be long winded Peter has done the last two, and erred a bit on the other side. Personally, I think everyone should hear the cornerwork lecture everytime. Repetition is the Mother of learning (Russian proverb)
On the other hand:
- Registration was a complete cluster-you-know-what. I'm pre-registered and pre-paid for the year, but still had to wait in line for about 20 minutes just to get the same story I get every event: registration: "That'll be $20". me: "No, I'm pre-paid for the year". registration (for the 7th time this year): "Oh... OK... well, we had problems blah, blah, blah...".
The annual prepaids have been kind of screwed up all along. I don't believe it was until after the third event Lauren and I had a list of who was prepaid. It is also a bit difficult to plan when you have a bunch of prepaids and online registration folks who may or may not show.
- I pre-paid for the year so that I wouldn't have to get in line at 5:30am to get a good Worker Assignment. But they didn't have the pre-paid's assignments... ah, er, um... assigned, so I got a lousy assignment. This is NOT the Worker Chief's fault -- he was unable to attend, so the assistant WC needed to step up to the challenge. The challenge won... and we lost.
Identify yourself as an annual prepaid when you come up to worker assignment, and I would accomodate. Lauren may recognize you, but I don't.
- Nobody likes 3 runs. We had three runs because we didn't want to risk paying a few people a little extra for overtime. Probably worked out to something like $100 or so if they had to work 2 hours longer. :roll: Good decision boyz...
- Heat balance was the worst I've ever seen. Heat One (admittedly due in part to computer problems) took 2 hours, while Heat Three -- the one I ran in -- couldn't have lasted more than 30 minutes. I barely had time to get out of the car and check tire pressure before they were sending me back to the starting line. And with only 3 runs, my "fun" was over in about 15 minutes... :x
Heat balance was intentional, though a bit skewed more than my target. Everyone wants to work first heat since its cooler out, to balance out the desireablity of the heats, as well as have folks out shorter times in the heat of the day the first two heats are setup to be longer than the last two heats
There are a lot of reasons why I'm almost certainly not going to run SCCA events next year. Small things... like I still haven't been able to get my 2003 year-end trophy (2nd in Tire Class). Bigger things... like their seeming inability to effectively run an event. And most importantly, their lack of concern and support for new people trying to step up and make a real difference. I tried to step up and help with the computer -- learn all the ins-and-outs, be able to step in and fix problems of all kinds when they arise, etc. -- but was squashed by the person currently in charge of that work. I suppose he thought I was trying to take his job rather than seeing that I was only trying to learn and help. :roll:
To be fair, a few people on the SCCA Board -- most notably Phil Osborne -- are strong and vocal supporters of new folks trying to make a difference. But while I believe the current Board is trying to do the right things, they apparently have a number of prima-Donna’s that feel nobody can do things as well as they can. They don’t seem to really want my help (look, I have to feel welcome, or I’m just not going to play). I've got better things to do with my time than try to effect change with that bunch, and I've got plenty of other autocross options... which I will be exercising next year. I’m sure the SCCA Board will cry a river because I’m not there.
We've had 15 to 20 Miatas out at each SCCA event this year (and last year, for that matter). I wonder if anyone would notice if none showed up next year? Probably not... and worse yet, they probably wouldn’t care. :roll:
