ER Autocross #4 - 5/22/05 Pennington Field

[apex2apex]

It was nice meeting ya'll Sunday I had a blast and looking forward to the next event! Special thanks to onething for pointing me out on assignments and Miatamoto for all the driving tips and a hell of a ride.

[Miatamoto]

It was nice meeting ya'll Sunday I had a blast and looking forward to the next event! Special thanks to onething for pointing me out on assignments and Miatamoto for all the driving tips and a hell of a ride.

My pleasure. Don't ever be afraid to ask for rides. It's a good way to get another look at the course and see someone else's line. You'll find that a lot of times people will pick a better line through sections of the course and you can learn a lot.

I'm glad you had a good time and it was good to see that you made improvements through out the day.

[Mark52]

On the subject of the Karts, I think is is fine for them to do all their runs first, BUT I wish that the karters (actually their PARENTS) would get their collective acts together so that we don't waste so much time between kart runs. I know the kart runs are complicated by dual drivers, too. We ought to be able to run the karts one after another just like the cars without the delays I saw at this event. What really pissed me off was that after all the karts had completed their runs, I wasn't able to get the first cars to the line until the karts and their parents had vacated the starting area. They did not seem to be in any great hurry to vacate the start area, either. All told, I figure there was about 15 minutes of unneccessarily wasted time. Perhaps the Powers can address this next time. It's not a big deal, but 15 minutes is 15 minutes!

[SpinOutF500]

The Karts have to be cleared before cars can move to the staging line for safety reasons. Period. Just because they didn't run to clear the area doesn't mean they weren't hurrying.

Usually the Karts take 2 runs at the end of the 1st heat and then their second 2 runs at the start of the second run. Because of the heat, we ran them at the start of the event and they took all 4 of their runs at that time. Thus some delay in getting them going 1 after another. Also, with the break between heats they get some time to think about how they just did on the run and where they messed up, if they did, and how to go faster. On Sunday that was not very easy to do. Maybe have them take 2 runs at the start of the heat and then 2 runs at the end of the heat, so that the timing crew is the same for them and they get a chance to form a plan of attack on their last 2 runs to improve their times?

How often is the event held up waiting on someone to show up for their work assignment? Or getting cars to grid? There will always be some kind of delay during an event, no matter how hard we try to avoid it.

I am a power to be in both ER and SCCA and I saw no problem with how it worked out on Sunday and the delay you saw. I saw bigger delays in other areas that happened during the day. Most are being worked on or will be worked on. And just remember, we are all volunteers here, so delays happen.

I just wanted to add my .02 cents worth on the subject.

And BTW, the results have been audited and are being cleaned up right now by me and will be sent to General Default tonight for posting. some major auditing had to be done, so if you see anything wrong, please let us know and we will look into fixing it. Removing cones not included.

SpinOutF500 (yes, one of those damn Mod cars with 3 drivers)

[POS Racing]

I was in the trailer playing the part of "Scribe" first heat, I saw what Mark52 reported. He was merely making a suggestion to help speed things along, no reason to get your fender-less panties in a wad.

[altiain]

While there were a few times that the karts probably could have made it to the stagin line a little sooner, I think things went pretty well overall on Sunday. You try herding half a dozen young kids while three or more chainsaws are running in the vicinity and see how organized you look.

Honestly, I think we had more problems with the grid personnel in 1st heat than the karts - they would either send way too many cars, or not enough. How hard is it to send one car every time you see a car cross the finish line, when you can see the finish line from grid?

[POS Racing]

While there were a few times that the karts probably could have made it to the stagin line a little sooner, I think things went pretty well overall on Sunday. You try herding half a dozen young kids while three or more chainsaws are running in the vicinity and see how organized you look.

Honestly, I think we had more problems with the grid personnel in 1st heat than the karts - they would either send way too many cars, or not enough. How hard is it to send one car every time you see a car cross the finish line, when you can see the finish line from grid?

Heck I still agree with Mark52 he had a valid observation, but you are correct about the grid. It could just be a sign of inexperienced workers. Seemed as if once you contacted them by radio they seemed to get it together a bit better (Altiain was also in the trailer 1st heat). Wonder if some of it could have been one of those 3 driver carts holding things up?

All in all it was a great day!

[Majik]

Heck I still agree with Mark52 he had a valid observation, but you are correct about the grid. It could just be a sign of inexperienced workers. Seemed as if once you contacted them by radio they seemed to get it together a bit better (Altiain was also in the trailer 1st heat). Wonder if some of it could have been one of those 3 driver carts holding things up?

All in all it was a great day!

Yeah it got done, and it got done quickly. I do understand making observations about what happened though. It is hard to work grid when you havent done it before though. It seems alot more overwelming than just working a corner when you do it the first time.

[SpinOutF500]

Now, now. Your going to take all of my fun away if you keep that up!

His observation brought up my observation. I just wanted to point out that there will be delays with the karts because of how we run them back to back to back. Both are valid and point well taken.

The biggest delay of the whole event, that I saw, was a BM at the end of the day, using the 5 minute rule (I think they had a few car issues during the day which didn't help).

Plus, don't forget, we all started somewhere. My first event was (gulp) 23 years ago and I'm still learning.

But I think I figured out a bigger problem we had. We had at least 3 Miata drivers working in the trailer in the first heat. It's amazing we survived!!!!

Lets not

SpinOutF500

[altiain]

But I think I figured out a bigger problem we had. We had at least 3 Miata drivers working in the trailer in the first heat. It's amazing we survived!!!!
SpinOutF500

Actually, that was a nice gig. I liked working in the trailer on Sunday.

[altiain]

Pics are up!

[Mark52]

Yes, there were some problems with with the grid in the first heat. The guy was doing the best he could under the circumstances (no help, first time, newbie).
My point about the karts is that they were all right there within 20 feet of the start line, yet the flow was not smooth at all. Maybe breaking up their runs 2 before and 2 after would work out better - worth a try next time

p.s. Please don't think I'm a kart basher. If I had a kid that age, he or she would right there with them. Hmmm, my granddaughter just turned 15 months old........ :cool:

[general default]

Results Posted

[general default]

I think the CS drivers did ok with their close times. But I did notice that DS 98 Brian Fitzpatrick in an Integra beat your times by .8 seconds. I thought I had seen that name before. Turns out he is the 2004 DS National Champion. So it looks like we have another national champion trying for the pax money. He got 6th place in the pax. There where 4 former national champions in the top 10. We are going to have to peddle faster.

[Kestrel]

Yep, sorry SpinOut, but I've gotta agree with Mark52 (and POS Racing) on this one. In my opinion, there was a lot of [seemingly unnecessary] "milling around" by kids, parents, and "powers that be" that I think could have been avoided. It wasn't like people were grouped together in discussion (talking about how to run the course better, for example). They weren't banging on the karts (fixin' something, for example). They weren't in private consultation with an individual kid (calming nerves, or whatever). They were -- by appearance -- just... wandering around. Not for long/excessive periods of time, but it sure felt like we could have easily speeded things up.

Particularly after all the kids had finished all their runs. Folks [again, from my perspective/perception] just kinda stood around for no apparent reason. Only for a couple of minutes, but that was 5 minutes we could have used to grid up cars and get under way all the quicker.

Look, I'm not asking for a frantic pace -- either with the karts or cars. And I agree that more time was "wasted" in other areas (BMod dawdle, pathetic paddock/grid work). But I do think we could have trimmed an additional 10-15 minutes if the "kart action" had been... choreographed... a little better. The event was one of the smoothest, most enjoyable ER events of the season, so I’m not really complaining. But there are always ways to improve, aren’t there?

And look at it from another angle. The Kid Karts at ER are a new development. Most people are OK with the program, a few really hate the whole idea. Those that don’t like Kid Karts are a fairly vocal crowd, and will jump on anything to try and stop the program. We need to work particularly hard to make the ER Kid Kart program run as smoothly – and quickly – as possible so that we don’t inadvertently hand the “nay-sayers” any additional fuel for their fire. So let’s work on continuous improvement, and not dismiss constructive criticism when we get it.

BTW, I liked running all the kids runs first thing, and I strongly believe we should make that standard operating procedure. It was good for the kids, as they get to run when it is cooler. It was good for the Trailer, as we got used to their appalling numbering and could easily keep things accurate in T&S (yes, I’ve heard all the reasons/excuses why it’s appalling... but it’s still appalling). And I think it was good for the course workers, as I believe that we ran through the Kid Karts much more quickly than when we split it between to heats. It was a great idea, and I think it’s a “keeper”!

[altiain]

I think the CS drivers did ok with their close times. But I did notice that DS 98 Brian Fitzpatrick in an Integra beat your times by .8 seconds. I thought I had seen that name before. Turns out he is the 2004 DS National Champion. So it looks like we have another national champion trying for the pax money. He got 6th place in the pax. There where 4 former national champions in the top 10. We are going to have to peddle faster.

I knew I'd read that name before somewhere.

Yeah, he was smokin' fast. You'd hope so, if he's the reigning National Champion in that car, right?

The car had Nebraska plates on it, so I doubt (hopefully? ) we'll be seeing him on a regular basis.

[Kestrel]

Yeah, but he wasn't the only one that took our money altiain... we wound up coming in 17th and 18th in RPax, so gettin' rid of him wouldn't have put us in the money. We just gotta pedaly faster!

[Jim_H]

Iain, I talked to Brian with the yellow Type R. He just MOVED to DFW 2 weeks ago from Nebraska.

Looks like we have a new player in the PAX game.

[altiain]

Yeah, but he wasn't the only one that took our money altiain...

It's those damn Mod cars. They cleared out 7 or 8 of the top 15 PAX spots. Ban 'em all, I say!

Iain, I talked to Brian with the yellow Type R. He just MOVED to DFW 2 weeks ago from Nebraska.

Looks like we have a new player in the PAX game.

Well crap on a stick.

I know Mark Sipe recently moved here (Keller) as well, and bought a B Stock RX-8. I wonder why we haven't seen him out at any local events?

Oh well - just more "encouragement" to go faster!

[Majik]

Not that it really matters, but I dont see my name in the PAX results. Anyone see me?