SCCA Solo Event #8 @ TMS Road Course - 10/17/2010

SCCA's annual event on the infield TMS Road Course is on Sunday. This is not the Bus Lot or the oval, but the road course inside of the oval.

There are some restrictions, so please read the following from the SCCA Texas Region web site carefully. More info at http://www.autocross.com/tr.


As several of you know, the TMS SCCA Solo road course event is coming up. There is a very important restriction on this event! You must have participated in at least 3 prior autocross events. The 3 prior event requirement can be satisfied by not only attendance at an SCCA autocross but also any of the other local autocross clubs.
You can find their schedules at www.dfwautocross.com

The reason for the experience restriction on the road course is for safety concerns. Not so much from a drivers perspective, but from a course workers perspective.

The road course event has historically been one of our biggest attendance draws. In years past many of the folks who attended the road course event hadn't attended any other events - ever. Because the venue is so large and spread out, the road course requires a very large number of course workers. With so many first timers in the worker pool, we weren't always able to structure the heats and work assignments so there were experienced people working all corners. This meant there were very inexperienced workers shagging cones & dodging cars, and more importantly making decisions about red flags.

We decided to enact the experience requirement as a way to minimize the risk of incurring a safety incident and protect the workers, drivers and the club.

After you register, don't be offended if one of our board members calls or emails you to verify your experience, though. If we don't recognize your name or can't find you in any recent local results, we'll be checking up to make sure you're eligible.

** One more important note about the Solo TMS road course event - This event will be ONLINE registration only! There will be NO “WALKUPS” allowed onsite!

Going to miss this event for the first time ever this year. Going to Apex on the 3.1 the following day, and "She Who Must Be Obeyed" sez one race per weekend now that we've got the kiddo. :wink:

Y'all have fun!

Remember, This event is Online Registration ONLY!

Not the typical situation for Texas Region events. But for this event "walk-up" registration will not be allowed!

(By the way, next year Texas Region SCCA will more than likely be using another online registartion service. More about that at the end of the season.)

Quote:

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Originally Posted by autoxmax

(By the way, next year Texas Region SCCA will more than likely be using another online registartion service. More about that at the end of the season.)

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:clap:

Registered and ready to go! The last 3 weekends were my 1st three events. This will make event #4.
I ordered my new helmet this morning and I ordered my new Falken Azenis 615 tires today as well. I changed my spark plugs and solved my bogging issue I think.
Now lets see if I can work on my driving skill. sigh...

I need a little help from the Miata community...

I'm trying to track down Neil Aggarwal. Neil drives a red NA or NB based on his ES class. I'm trying to verify his 3 event pre-requisite for the road course event. My emails to him are bouncing - looks like a pretty stout junk mail filter.

Neil if you're on this board please shoot me an email with links to your results so we can get you set up for the road course. matt dot lucas at corning dot com or solorx7 at verizon dot net

Can't say as I've seen him at an event recently, but i'm not the most observant person on the planet...

Quote:

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Originally Posted by GregW

Registered and ready to go! The last 3 weekends were my 1st three events. This will make event #4.
I ordered my new helmet this morning and I ordered my new Falken Azenis 615 tires today as well. I changed my spark plugs and solved my bogging issue I think.
Now lets see if I can work on my driving skill. sigh...

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just make sure you've scrubbed those new tires in well before the event. There is stuff to hit at the roadcourse..... and it ain't just cones.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Steve E

just make sure you've scrubbed those new tires in well before the event. There is stuff to hit at the roadcourse..... and it ain't just cones.

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I should have a good 100 plus mile son them by then. Maybe I should do some donuts to help beat them in. hehe

So is this going to be on the road course? Or will it be coned off there? Or both?

yep they put cones on the road course

Sample video:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8R0V1sEtSU4

Wow cool!

Yup! I'll be there! :)

Another reminder...

Registration for this event is ONLINE ONLY!

No walk-up registrations will be accepted!

Online registration will be kept open unitl Saturday at Noon.

Entry into the infield area at TMS will be at the South Tunnel ( Gate 8 ). The gate will open early at 7:00am so we can get a jump on the waiver sign-in process. You'll have to sign both a TMS waiver & the usual SCCA waiver.

Registration check-in & Tech will be open the normal time period of 7:30am to 8:30am.

Make sure you check to see if your name is on the registration list. The list will be taped to the side of the Timing Trailer. Please check you name off the list so we know you are actually at the site.

If you have a change that needs to be done to your class or car #, please let the folks in trailer doing registration know. Weekend Memberships can be taken care of there also.

Looks like great weather for this weekend.

We'll see ya there!!

Well Onething my neighbor helped me and swapped out the tires on the POSIV so your off the hook for the AM tire swap! ::Bleh::

McD's anyone??

Sounds good. Which one, and what time?

The McDs at 170 and I35 across from Cabellas sounds good to me.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by GregW

The McDs at 170 and I35 across from Cabellas sounds good to me.

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We frequented that on in the past but since it is also a truck stop we gave up on it.

We have been going to the one on Heritage Trace Parkway.

Map

Proposed Run/Work Order
Run 1 / Work 3
XP, AS, BM, BS, BSP, ESP, FM, GP, SM, SSM, SS, ST, STS, STR

Run 2 / Work 1
CM, CS, DP, DS, EM, EP, ES, F125, FP, FSP, FSAE, T, W

Run 3 / Work 2
AM, ASP, BP, CP, CSP, DM, DSP, FS, GS, HS, STU, STX, X

STSL: Run 2 / Work 1 to avoid 3 driver car

Link

Wow, I didn't realize they built one there. Cool. What time?

Quote:

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Originally Posted by POS Racing

We frequented that on in the past but since it is also a truck stop we gave up on it.

We have been going to the one on Heritage Trace Parkway.

Map

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McD's on Heritage around 7ish it is.

Stoopid AX. I may just eat and go back home ;)

7am it is! See you there.

I'm excited it's only 10 minutes from my house. Heh

I'll be there, another day up at o'dark-thirty.

Had a good time at TMS today, and still had time to watch the Cowboys. Oh well, one out of two ain't bad!

My times are still decreasing every course, but still with a big difference in times between the first and last run, I'm far from consistent. Didn't help much that my BumbleBee started choking on run #4, sigh.

Full Event Results:
http://www.autocross.com/tr/modules/...dex.php?id=113

PAX Results:
http://www.autocross.com/tr/modules/...dex.php?id=114

So, I need a question answered.

Do people want to continue to have the Road Course autoX??

The Road Course rental is over $1,000 more than the Bus Lot. The admin side of doing the Road Course is a "major pain-in-the-rear"! Our Saftey Steward(s) want to get rid of the event all togteher.

Brad, any chance to have something similar at MSR or Eagles Canyon? Personally the last couple years road course event is fun, but there simply are too many entrants and the day takes a long time. Last year (or maybe the year before) there were, what, 200 entrants?

Quote:

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Originally Posted by autoxmax

Do people want to continue to have the Road Course autoX??

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Since you asked, I would take the bus lot over the road course in a heartbeat. The road course is different, but what it takes
to make it AX safe sucks the fun out of it.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by goofygrin

Brad, any chance to have something similar at MSR or Eagles Canyon? Personally the last couple years road course event is fun, but there simply are too many entrants and the day takes a long time. Last year (or maybe the year before) there were, what, 200 entrants?

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This year was under 125 entrants and they day went smooth lots of cone calls but all in all a fun day!

I enjoy going inside TMS for the road course event! ::Banana::

The Road course is one of the highlights of the year for me. I agree that its a long day, but I love it. I would understand if we kept the number of runs down to 3 at this event in the interest of time, but I still think its worth the time/effort.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by goofygrin

Brad, any chance to have something similar at MSR or Eagles Canyon? Personally the last couple years road course event is fun, but there simply are too many entrants and the day takes a long time. Last year (or maybe the year before) there were, what, 200 entrants?

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We had 107 entries this year. We gave 5 runs. Last timed run was at 3:40pm.

One of the reasons that Texas Region Solo is able to continue the TMS road course event, is that we have previous "event history" at the site. The division Saftey Steward & the current Motorsports Insurance of SCCA want to see "event history" for such events that take place on road courses. Infact a "re-certification" of our event had to take place before SCCA would sanction the event this year. This is the day & age of insurance companies being beyond nervous about motorsports events!

On a finacial standpoint, MSR & Eagle Canyon are certainly not cheap either.

I like the Road Course event, but I would be just as happy at Loan Star Park, or Mineral Wells, and maybe Paris, but I have not run Paris yet. I have had more than my fill of the Bus Lot this year, but Bus Lot is still a good site.

I like the atmosphere of the road course event but i feel the way the courses are laid out makes it more dangerous then it would be to just drive on the road course without cones. I would rather see the road course event kept but the courses left more open. Yes the power cars will have an advantage, but I think it would be safer and still fun.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by 762

I like the atmosphere of the road course event but i feel the way the courses are laid out makes it more dangerous then it would be to just drive on the road course without cones. I would rather see the road course event kept but the courses left more open. Yes the power cars will have an advantage, but I think it would be safer and still fun.

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While there are quite a few people that would argree with you on this subject, the problem boils down to allowed speeds under insurance coverage. Almost all of the autocross clubs have specified speed ranges in their insurance coverage.

I have run the bus lot a ton this year, and it has its drawbacks (long drive, limited grip), but it offers a good size for course variety and excellent facilities. It is my current favorite of the available "regular" sites. I'm happy to drive the extra 20-25 minutes instead of using Pennington, which is just sooo short and design-limited. I'd still take Pennington over MW any day, as MW is just too hard on tires, no matter how awesome the size and lack of noise /traffic/obstacle restrictions are. I'll still do a couple of MW events each year, but not many.

Lone Star is a good surface and the undulations make it unique and fun, but I worry that the obstacles make the course options pretty limited. Hopefully the designers will see some more possiblities over time. I live 20 minutes from LSP, yet I'd make the drive to TMS.

I guess this discussion comes-up every year, and every site has its pros/cons. I am hopeful that clubs will make use of the new Paris option so that 3 or 4 good events will happen there each year, and other clubs will try not to get Pennington-obsessed. One of my favorite things about autox is the variety of courses/venues. I hope the Road course lives-on.

That is something I had not realized. I thought the course this time was better from last years, but when the sweepers get those awkward gates that force you to drive over the camber changes it is dangerous.

Either way I still enjoy it, I just know it is the one event where I have to convince myself to not try and drive quickly because the risk is not worth the reward for me.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by OZMDD

I am hopeful that clubs will make use of the new Paris option so that 3 or 4 good events will happen there each year, and other clubs will try not to get Pennington-obsessed. One of my favorite things about autox is the variety of courses/venues.

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Glad to hear someone excited on the Paris, TX site idea. As a matter of fact...

There areTexas Region plans in the works for the new Paris site as we speak! :D

More to come on that subject... hopefully in the not too distant future!!

I could do without the Road Course event. Yep, it's unique and some of our members get excited about driving on a road course. However, it's also full of compromises and safety concerns. IMO if folks want to race on a road course they should try a DE, open track event, etc. This is SCCA Solo and it would be great if we ran on as many courses as possible that are representative of what we'd see at the National level. :)

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Clovis

I could do without the Road Course event. Yep, it's unique and some of our members get excited about driving on a road course. However, it's also full of compromises and safety concerns. IMO if folks want to race on a road course they should try a DE, open track event, etc. This is SCCA Solo and it would be great if we ran on as many courses as possible that are representative of what we'd see at the National level. :)

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This!

I enjoy the road course event. I wasn't able to make it this year due to a schedule conflict, bit I hope it's still around next season.

David and Stuart, if you guys want to practice for Lincoln go run at the Annex. I'm glad we have such a wide variety of venues and event styles here in DFW. Most regions would be happy to have just one of our sites (well, maybe not Pennington...)

/soap box

Honestly I like running on the road course. It is fast, you actually get some semi-constant radius turns, it is easy on tires, and you get a lot of practice at slalom's. Sure the variety of some courses isn't there but it has it's own challenges. As for the extra cost, it is still cheaper than doing a HPDE or Driver's Edge. In terms of entry and maintenance. For those of us that don't want to, or can't, take the plunge into these types of events the Road Course auto-x is one of our few chances to actually be on a real course. Anyway, long paragraph shorter, I enjoy running it.

The idea of a Paris auto-x doesn't really excite me much as it takes me nearly an hour just to get to Plano. It would almost have to be a hotel stay for me to go. Maybe if there were a divisional or something along those lines there that requires a couple of days investment, I could justify it a bit more.

/end soap box

I enjoyed the event yesterday. Fun course, flowed well, speeds were actually a bit slower than I remember from last year. Here is my fastest clean run of the day:



Looks like tire class is going to be another fun finish. Last year going into the last event Sam Mauro, Hal Collins, and I were all tied in points for 2nd place. For all of the races through the year, 2nd, 3rd, and 4th would be determined by one event. In the end 2nd was taken by Sam. Hal, 1.07 seconds behind him for 3rd. I was .038 seconds behind Hal for 4th. For us to run all of those events in the season and three places to all come down to one event seemed crazy to me.

Well, guess what folks. It has happened again. By my unofficial points tally there is a three way tie for 2nd place. Brian Buchanan, Michael Cobb, and Walter DelRio will all three be battling it out at our final event of the season. It promises to be another exciting finish to the season!

Below is my very unofficial points tally for tire class. Green cells mean that a driver is currently eligible for a trophy. To be eligible you must have half the points of first place and have attended at least 5 event's for the season in that class.

http://i305.photobucket.com/albums/n...ctober2010.jpg

I think this was my 4th or 5th time at the infield and this one was was the best (so far). 5 runs made it worthwhile. I did not care for the larger crowds and 3 runs in the past and if it stayed that way I would have stopped going. I know the lower turnouts are not financially the best for the club, but we do pay a bit more to help ofset it. The restrictions on novices is a good thing for safety (and crowd control) and if the safety guys want to eliminate it altogether, they will likely just keep slowing down the course even more. That being said, the safety guys are usually right and I appreciate them looking out for us.

Seems like the course is pretty spectator friendly and the only downside for me (as long as we keep 4 runs min.) is the Nascar noise, which must be a pain for the radio guys in the corners. Overall, if we can keep attendance down, I'd vote to keep it. ::2Cents::