Where do you prefer to autocross and why / why not?
PMS - Pennington
TMS bus lot
Mineral Wells
Rangers Park
Other?
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Where do you prefer to autocross and why / why not?
PMS - Pennington
TMS bus lot
Mineral Wells
Rangers Park
Other?
#1 TMS bus lot + Surface + Location +Decent Size
#2 Mineral Wells + Massive approx 30 Acres -Surface
#3 PMS - Pennington - Size
Hasn't there only been one AX at Rangers Park?
This is a bit dated and some of the locations shown are no longer available but this gives a pretty good overview of some of the sites available.
http://www.harrisonindustrial.com/im...arkingLots.JPG
PMS - Pro: Location, cost, surface
Con: Size
TMS - Pro: Location, surface, size
Con: Cost
MW - Pro: Size, cost
Con: Location, surface
Quote:
Originally Posted by ken o
1 Mineral Wells, always wanted to be a rally driver:burnrubr:
2 Bus Lot, large enough for a good course
3 PMS, I suck at Pennington
4 Rangers Park Don't know about it
Lone Star park would make a great location, but I guess it's to much $$$$
Why are so many people saying yes to Mineral Wells. Have you all not checked your tires after a good day out there????
Ya gotta wonder with the new owners if they would be more receptive to AX events.Quote:
Originally Posted by Robert
Quote:
Originally Posted by BenRomans04
I have a deal with Hoosier. They will make all the tires I want to buy.
Just part of the cost of the sport.
Cheap speed. For anything more open you are looking at track time for more $$$$.Quote:
Originally Posted by BenRomans04
I go throw tires quicker at mineral wells then on the track by far with much less time at mineral wells per day. Just saying.Quote:
Originally Posted by ken o
You go through tires because you have zero camber. Fix that and you'll at least triple your tire life.Quote:
Originally Posted by BenRomans04
Might be over driving the car at MW.Quote:
Originally Posted by BenRomans04
I would love some new venues, just for variety. We kinda over-did the PMS thing this year in an effort to prepare for the new nationals location, but most people told me the concrete in Lincoln was nothing like PMS. Just saying.
That being said, I love the size at MW, but the surface and location hurt it. I'd like to do about 3 events a year there.
TMS is the best all-around site to me, but the location isn't much better than MW for anyone south of I-30 or east of the Tollway. Also, so much slicker than others that I really need more events there to get used to it. God I wish we could use the west lot...
PMS is killer location and surface is fine, but 4 weeks in a row sucked.
I would REALLY like to try Lone Star Park and the Ballpark, if anyone can work that out.
Is LaGrave even a venue any more? I know it has poles, and I only ran it once as a total noob, so I can't recall what the surface was like, but it is a different venue. Maybe 2 times a year would be ok?
Has anyone had any further discussions with the JRB, Red Bird airport, or any other ideas? What about the Motorplex in Ennis?
I'd rather kill my tires and drive an extra hour than not autoX at all, so I'll live with MW, but I wish we didn't use it so much. Doesn't anyone have a rich uncle who wants to buy and repave it? Where is Obama when you need him??
It will take a VERY compelling reason for me to ever drive to Mineral Wells again.
Pennington
Pro: location (~30mins from Frisco), facilities, surface isn't degrading
Cons: size, a touch hard on tires, sick of McDonalds for lunch (:lol:)
TMS
Pro: location isn't terrible (~45mins from Frisco), surface allows me to drift-king it if I choose
Cons: size, surface is degrading now, nothing to eat without a 10 minute drive
LaGrave
Pro: decent size, facilities (when open) are decent
Cons: location (about 65-70 mins from Frisco), HUGE dip separating the lots, facilities are a long walk, NOTHING in the area, light poles
Another concern, which is somewhat related to venue, is the complaint that I heard from the people that went to nationals that the courses we have here are not sufficiently complex enough to give people the needed skills to be competitive at national events. While it's total here-say from me, I wonder how true this is. While this weekend's event was a fun course, I don't think it was all that technically challenging.
LaGrave has issues beyond the poles. The mgmt (or lack thereof) is a huge problem if you're trying to schedule events. There have been numerous times we've been double scheduled come event day. Add to that the city's feeling that it can excercise temporary eminent domain by parking city trucks, busses or 18 wheelers without any notice and LaGrave is a no go, at least for TX Region SCCA. The perception and anger that participants carry away when they have to wait for stuff to be moved off the site gets projected onto the hosting club, not the bozos who caused the cluster in the first place. It's not that great of a site to take the chance.
We've been working on the new Cowboy's stadium, but JerrysWorld is trying to set the world record for greed. The price we were quoted at the end of the summer is now 10x higher that it was, without any explanation. The cost of doing a one day event there would buy a really, really nice Miata. Almost brand new. No thanks.
We're working hard on finding some new sites. We're talking to some that are mentioned in this thread, and a couple that aren't. Hopefully we can put something together. In the grand scheme of things we have it pretty good here compared to other places in the country. Most places only have 1 site for EVERY event.
We definitely have it good here, both in venue choices and club variety. Competition is great, too. I have wondered about the difficulty-level of the courses (in-general), as Sean mentioned. Still, DFW events are fun, affordable and plentiful.
+1Quote:
Originally Posted by Solo RX-7
Sometimes we forget how good we have it with 3 very good sites. Keep looking for sites the more options the better.
Quote:
Originally Posted by OZMDD
It's a fine line on the difficulty-level. If you make it too hard then no one has fun and it's just painfull. To easy and we don't get the practice for the Nat level events. In general I think SCCA, ER and S2K does good courses. If you have a design for a course fell free to show it to Greg or jrj. It will get changed some but they may use most of it.
For me I'd have to say my favorite site is Mineral Wells. It is by far the longest drive for me (2 hours), but it's awesome because of the size and the surface. There's so much flexibility with course setup. Sure there are a few spots you'll generally try to avoid, but there's just so much space to work with. The surface is awesome because it sucks. There's no better place to learn about the consequences of not driving the popular (read: clean) line.
As to any comments about our courses not being similar enough to Nationals, I'd say they're completely unfounded based on my [limited] experience. We have great courses and great course designers in the Texas Region. I did my first Nationals this year and was surprised to see that the courses were not super huge, or uber complex. No loops, jumps, or rally maneuvers required.
Are you and Jimmy trying to start something with all these questions?
I'll say it again, "Dixie Nationals FTW"
1. Bus Lot - surface & size & facilities vs no grip
2. Mineral Wells - size & price vs too far & surface
3. PMS - close to home & concession stands vs too small
4. Road Course - sucks too many cones
5. LaGrave - too many 18 wheelers & holes
6. Grayson Co. - only 2 cars wide Never again I hope
^+1
After reading his list, I agree, except I LOVE the road course.