Some open discussion on run formats

[Joel Payne]

Hi y'all,

Joel Payne here. I'm the guy with the white v8 powered rx7. I'm still relatively new to autocross but I've come out to ~6 practice events now and wanted to start some dialog about the pros and cons of various run formats. Disclaimer: To date I've ONLY come out to practice days because this is my first relatively high HP car and I'm mostly here to have fun and learn to drive. I’m not particularly worried about competition because the different motor puts me in some pretty hardcore classes anyways.

Let me start by saying there's an awful lot to like about the SoCal region's way of running things. On net I’m really happy. Courses are usually fantastic. People are helpful and events are well run in terms of camaraderie and rooting for peers. There's also a strong focus on being safe while having fun (awesome). That said, I do have a few points of constructive criticism that I thought I'd offer up…

By far my top priority at a practice event is seat time and run formats alter this drastically. At the last practice on Dec 11, I have to admit that I was a little disappointed to only get 12 runs via the pre-determined run format. Given we finished early it would have been nice to have put in a few extra laps but I recognize that’s not quite fair to those stuck out working the course. Compare that to the practice on 10/23 where work groups were defined by time rather than lap count and I put in a whopping 23 runs (come 4:30 there were only about 8 cars left taking laps so it seems everyone got their fill).

In addition to seat time, the other things I see folks placing value during practice are the following:
-Time to cool down tires (matters less to me but I know this is very important for others)
-Flexibility to ride with friends and/or drive other cars
-Flexibility to make adjustments on cars
-Ability to get all appropriate laps in for driver's sharing a car.

In all of the above I prefer the time-based session format. With everyone queued up in line there’s never in doubt that you got as much time as possible. The queue master (or whatever that role is called), just lets everyone from one color out, and then moves on to the next line. It seems like it’s easier to get back in the right place in line as well for those using spray bottles and the like. Furthermore I can go wrench on my car at any time and since the overall line is longer (but I run all day) I have much better odds of getting back in time. It seems to me that this works a bit better for those sharing a car too since they can just queue in alternating colored lines. The last upside to time based sessions is having a shorter final work group as it gives some upside to those who work last.

With rest/work/run I sometimes find I’m being required to rest when I have nothing to do. At other times I find myself driving when I’d really prefer to go make a change on the car (but I’m not sure I can squeeze it in and still get my laps particullarly as we get close to the end of a session.) The other bummer from the last practice was that I found myself driving exclusively while some close friends worked. This meant that I could never take those folks for rides nor have them try driving my car.

Clearly I have a personal preference, but I wanted to hear from others as well. Are there things I’m missing here? What are the advantages of rest/work/run that I’m overlooking? Obviously it's extremely fair for run count. If you’ll notice I tried to separate format from the club hosting the event (although some clubs clearly have preferences). Of course each club can and will continue choosing how to run, I just wanted to open the discussion about pros and cons and see if we can get folks thinking about how to be both fair and efficient in getting folks on track.

A few more odds and ends:

One comment that applies to any format: It seems to me that throughput on the course is primarily the responsibility of the flag man. I’m told the rule of thumb is about 20 seconds between cars. Depending on how many course workers you have I suspect we could go a bit faster than that (though I agree there’s a limit to how fast cones can be set back up safely). Still, if possible an average of 18 seconds per dispatch gives everyone 10% more laps. Furthermore I’d certainly request that flag men try to pay attention to who’s fast and who’s slow. If you have a bad ass followed by a novice maybe you could dispatch at 15 seconds. If the reverse is true maybe 25 seconds is the appropriate number. I know some folks already do this but it’s always an opportunity for improvement so I thought I’d make the request.

Finally I have a few minor requests on course layouts...
-When there are wide open elements like this past Dec 11th, (increasing radius chute followed by 100 ft of open space entering a slalom at 90 deg) it might help to have a few more cones guiding the way as arrow markers or more chalk. I generally like the variety of line options presented by sparse cones but it seemed to me that we had at least 3-4 cars get blatantly lost on course and that wastes everyone’s time.
-There have been a few past events where I could use quite a bit more run-off after the finish line. I've had times where it was REALLY hard time getting things shut down in time to make the turn toward the time recorder person after the line. Because I'm learning I still drive on street tires and with 400+ HP on tap I'm usually moving as I dart toward the finish line… ;) Yes, you can always drive a course as laid, but no one likes braking before you get to the finish it's just less fun.

That’s all I’ve got. Keep up the great work, I’ll see you out there.

Comments?
-Joel Payne

[Steve Ekstrand]

23 runs is a huge anomaly. 12 is the expected minimum. If the event starts on time and things run smoothly that can easily hit 14. I've gotten more sure many times, but you can never count on that. In a timed format, runs should really be marked off and balanced so nobody gets 23 runs when a person reasonably stops for breaks and gets 10. The October event is the perfect situation for timed runs and take as many as your tires can survive. Its GRA, and their core membership is in their 90's. Many of those only come out on GRA day, they take a few runs and go back to napping. Nice folks. None of them are going to take 23 runs. That opens up the starting line for those who want to run all day. Unfortunately, its usually a tough event to get into for non-GRA and non-core people.

[Kurt Rahn]

There are some back-end logistical issues that often affect what practice format is used. For instance, the number of entrants (and especially the number in the worker pool) has a direct effect on what format you can use. I actually wanted to use the work-once/run-all-day method, but we didn't have nearly the number of bodies to pull it off. Another important factor is run time. The event last weekend was a little over a week from the winter solstice. That combined with the need to switch to course so it can be run in reverse the next day really ate into the time available to run.

[Sebastian Rios]

One con to the timed run format is that things can turn unruly quickly when people jump lines. Even if it's only perception that some are getting more runs than others, that perception can be damaging. Having a set number of runs makes everyone feel like they are getting their fair share.
My favorite format is work once, run whenever, but with a person marking runs for even distribution.

Don't be afraid to come to the chap events though. It is what we are practicing for, and what the sport is really all about...getting it right in just 3 (sometimes 4) runs. Besides, it is not always this easy to get into practices, so at most times of the year, practice spots are filled first by the volunteers who put on the events, and the competitors.

[Mako Koiwai]

I think we've been getting four runs for the last four Champ events ... plus four X Runs, without having to work a 2nd shift ... and you've got a pretty good deal for the money.

One thing that I think needs to be done during the events when we have more daylight, is to announce in the morning that every attempt will be made to have Fun Runs at the end of the day. I think more folks would hang around if they knew there was a decent chance at Fun Runs. And there is nothing like Fun Runs to get plenty of clean up help at the end of the event.

[Rick Brown]

You asked for comments, here's mine (May not reflect the opinions of other members or the Board )

By far my top priority at a practice event is seat time and run formats alter this drastically. At the last practice on Dec 11, I have to admit that I was a little disappointed to only get 12 runs via the pre-determined run format. Given we finished early it would have been nice to have put in a few extra laps but I recognize that’s not quite fair to those stuck out working the course. Compare that to the practice on 10/23 where work groups were defined by time rather than lap count and I put in a whopping 23 runs (come 4:30 there were only about 8 cars left taking laps so it seems everyone got their fill).
12 is indeed the norm and the typical goal. Number of entrants is adjusted vs amount of sunlight to make this so. Some one can occasionally get more, especially if they run at the end of the day in an open format. However, there can only be a fixed number of runs in a day and you can only get that if others take less.

I get that your goal is seat time and that is the best way to improve in our sport. However, you choose to not compete in our sport. The competitive side is our primary purpose to exist, not providing a venue for those that just want to play in their cars. A practice, like for any type of racing, is mainly to practice for an up coming race. That's true of us, plus to let new people get an introduction to autocross. That's why most practice events have a hierarchy of who is let in.

In addition to seat time, the other things I see folks placing value during practice are the following:
-Time to cool down tires (matters less to me but I know this is very important for others)
Can be a negative in run all day format since time between runs can be much larger and you actually lose too much heat.
-Flexibility to ride with friends and/or drive other cars
Got the rest group to do that.
-Flexibility to make adjustments on cars
You can do minor changes in run/work/rest during your run group but still be guaranteed your 12 runs. If you need to make major changes, you have a rest group.
-Ability to get all appropriate laps in for driver's sharing a car.
Guaranteed in run/work/rest, not in the other format.

With rest/work/run I sometimes find I’m being required to rest when I have nothing to do. At other times I find myself driving when I’d really prefer to go make a change on the car (but I’m not sure I can squeeze it in and still get my laps particullarly as we get close to the end of a session.) The session doesn't end until everyone gets their runs. The other bummer from the last practice was that I found myself driving exclusively while some close friends worked. This meant that I could never take those folks for rides nor have them try driving my car. Generally just a matter of picking run groups that will make this work.

A few more odds and ends:

One comment that applies to any format: It seems to me that throughput on the course is primarily the responsibility of the flag man. I’m told the rule of thumb is about 20 seconds between cars. Depending on how many course workers you have I suspect we could go a bit faster than that (though I agree there’s a limit to how fast cones can be set back up safely). Still, if possible an average of 18 seconds per dispatch gives everyone 10% more laps. Furthermore I’d certainly request that flag men try to pay attention to who’s fast and who’s slow. If you have a bad ass followed by a novice maybe you could dispatch at 15 seconds. If the reverse is true maybe 25 seconds is the appropriate number. I know some folks already do this but it’s always an opportunity for improvement so I thought I’d make the request.
This is how it's done, some starters may be a little better than others. Going much below 20 seconds simply does not allow workers time to set up cones so you end up red flagging cars and easily cancel out any time savings. Since courses vary, some end up being cone intensive and we have no choice but to run a slower pace. The reverse is also true and we can go at a faster pace. I'd say the exception is us not always trying to optimize the flow based on the conditions.

Finally I have a few minor requests on course layouts...
-When there are wide open elements like this past Dec 11th, (increasing radius chute followed by 100 ft of open space entering a slalom at 90 deg) it might help to have a few more cones guiding the way as arrow markers or more chalk. I generally like the variety of line options presented by sparse cones but it seemed to me that we had at least 3-4 cars get blatantly lost on course and that wastes everyone’s time.
-There have been a few past events where I could use quite a bit more run-off after the finish line. I've had times where it was REALLY hard time getting things shut down in time to make the turn toward the time recorder person after the line. Because I'm learning I still drive on street tires and with 400+ HP on tap I'm usually moving as I dart toward the finish line… ;) Yes, you can always drive a course as laid, but no one likes braking before you get to the finish it's just less fun.
Every event is reviewed at the following Board Meeting. We discuss what worked and what didn't. While there is a core group, there are always new people learning core jobs at events and they may not do everything perfect. And even the core people try doing things different occasionally, which sometimes work and sometimes don't.

That’s all I’ve got. Keep up the great work, I’ll see you out there.
Thanks for your feedback, the Board does notice and appreciate it.

[Giovanni Jaramillo]

Disclaimer: To date I've ONLY come out to practice days because this is my first relatively high HP car and I'm mostly here to have fun and learn to drive. I’m not particularly worried about competition because the different motor puts me in some pretty hardcore classes anyways.

Thanks for the disclaimer Joel. I too started like that but when informed of the true nature of a practice, well as my club rep (PSCC) Rick Brown mentioned to you, the practice is not just about seat time, it is about practicing/testing/tuning your driving and your car...FOR Sunday's championship events. The nervousness and adrenalin rush of trying to be the fastest on Sunday in only 3 laps with just 2 or 3 course walks before you start is what SCCA Solo autocrossing is about. And thus this dictates the pecking order as to who gets into practices (generally most host clubs follow this unwritten rule). It's only fair.

The queue master (or whatever that role is called), just lets everyone from one color out, and then moves on to the next line.

Aka - Grid person or Chief of the Grid

It seems to me that throughput on the course is primarily the responsibility of the flag man.

Aka - Starter

Again thanks for the fresh perspective and the E-Board will take note of your comments/concerns/suggestions.

[Arthur Grant]

[quote="Sebastian Rios"]One con to the timed run format is that things can turn unruly quickly when people jump lines. Even if it's only perception that some are getting more runs than others, that perception can be damaging. Having a set number of runs makes everyone feel like they are getting their fair share.
My favorite format is work once, run whenever, but with a person marking runs for even distribution.

I like the timed run format the way GRA ran it with assigned lanes. The November practice did have a fair amount of lane jumping and depending on who was running grid you could watch the same mulit driver car make two or three runs before the lanes came back around. My longest wait was 30 minutes between runs. It would seem however the time sessions are more practical late in the season when you have fewer people coming out. As I had it explained to me when I made a rookie earlie rain comment not as many people come out to practice at the end of the year when they have decided they aren' t running for a championship. Seemed to be a distinct fall off after nationals.

I have run a couple of nearly unlimited run events, and missed one with a toasted clutch but I would be reluctant to do that with R-Comps. Mine of course are used but I still want to get the best out of them and they can only take so many runs. In fact the tire change form street to R-comp has reduced my desire to do X-runs, especially if I have been fortunate enough to get into a practice, which wasn't very easy early in the year.

[Joel Payne]

Good commentary. I really do appreciate the frank discussion. I should mention that I work as a mechanical engineer for Disney in the theme park world. Suffice it to say that we spend a lot of time thinking about queueing theory and anything we can do to increase our hourly ride capacity tends to improve the Guest experience.

I can see how jumping lines would be frustrating, I'm all for attempting fairness and I'm fine with consequences for stuff like that. Literally, if you wanted to set up the expectation that we have one warning (be fair to the newbs) and then a forfeited lap for line cutting I'm all for it. That said, I'm personally happier getting 15 runs when someone else gets 20 than everyone getting an exactly even 12.

I guess the thing I like most about the time based format is that it gurantees you use the full time alloted. If lap based formats are preferred by a given club maybe the day could start out with 7 laps per session for the morning and then jump back to 5-6 (or jump up to 9 or whatever) for the afternoon sessions depending on how time vs. target schedule is running. That would at least give a better chance to give even laps while still using the full day. That said, part of the reason I think I've gotten so many runs via the time format is that by the end of the day a lot of folks are already calling it quits (they've tuned enough, want to conserve tires, maybe they're just tired and want to pack up, etc), in both events I've run like this at the end of the day I found I was taking laps 3-4 minutes apart. That opportunity was available to anyone and is therefore "fair" but not everyone will choose to use it. I managed 18 laps in the other time based day I've run despite putting my car on jackstands three times to pull my exhaust and change out swaybars.

I'm also game for out of the box thinking. If you need extra workers I'd be more than glad to work extra in exchange for extra runs. I'm a fairly young guy (31) and when they're passing out course assignments I always ask to be where the action is. I'd rather run A LOT than stand around in a dead section. (Plus this helps me study how the fast guys are negotiating the hard sections.) It'd take a bit to organize but I'd gladly volunteer to exchange my rest sessions for an extra work and extra run session.

As for my not competing as of yet... I'm a full time engineer, I own a business on the side, and I'm a new father. As such, I don't see a way to forfeit a full weekend. For now it has to be one or the other and practice is a more effective way to learn. I've already mentioned that it feels a bit like I built the wrong car to compete in because I'd run with the big dogs. To be honest even if I wanted to compete I'm not quite ready to make the compromises that trying to make my car competitive would entail... I still have a full interior w/ extra sound deadening, a stereo, and A/C to go with the widebody, roll bar, and big brakes. That combined with the fact I'd rather learn on street tires (budgetary, consistency, ease of heat management with AD08s) and there's simply no way I could forsee being competitive.

Hypothetical question... Does the competitive side of this sport truly benefit from non-competitive folks running? It seems to me that it's a bit like your local high school football team taking on the Chargers (forgone conclusion with not much benefit for either side) but maybe I'm wrong. I would argue that for autocross the sport you mostly need fresh blood and folks to pass the torch down to. By learning in the practice venue I have much better odds of being a decent competitor down the road. Furthermore, I really like sharing my days so I always invite friends out to join me (passenger weight doesn't matter when you drive to learn and drive for fun). Whether you know it or not, I've already introduced more than a dozen folks to autocross who might never have even heard of it otherwise.

Like I said, I'm glad to be part of this scene and for the most part I'm a very happy camper. Just thought some feedback might be valuable. Glad to find folks willing to listen.

Regards all,
Joel Payne

[Steve Ekstrand]

Joel-

Remember that locally we have a class, CST, that stands for California Street Touring. Its a catch all class, but its intentions were for exactly cars like yours. I think you might find some pretty close competition there for your car though the fields vary month to month. Its not at all like having to run against Toby's Taxi or Keisel's Kermit in prepared or mod. In fact... Locally, those guys run in pax. Your car as say XP running in Combined Preps and Mods probably wouldn't be that bad.

[Mike Simanyi]

Joel,

Thanks for your comments and firing up the discussion! I won't comment about those specifics since others have covered the subject quite well, but I want to echo Sebastian's and Mako's invitations to join us on a Championship day as well. With X runs, you'll double the fun without doubling the work, and the competition itself will ultimately drive your focus, which will focus your driving.

Besides, running twice as many days will rapidly accelerate your improvement. If it's not too inconvenient for you, I encourage you to visit a couple San Diego events as well. You'll be shocked at how rapidly your driving improves when you run frequently.

Mike Simanyi
CSCC Solo Chair

[Joel Payne]

Thanks for the invites and for the mention of CST. I'll have to look up more info on the class as I didn't built my car to be legal for anythying in particular (wing extends past rear bumper etc). I know I need to come out and try it, I just feel like I have so much to learn as a driver that with the time crunch in my personal life I've been hesistant to do so... I do hope to try pro solo this year as the format itself sounds awesome.

As reference, last Saturday I started at about 59 seconds and eventually drove a best clean lap of ~55.7. We had 5 guys out using my same FC chassis (damn cool). I'm not a total slouch as I believe I ran the fastest of the four street legal FC's but I was still miles away from Steve Obleen's car. He ran at least a 51.1 that I know of and that was just the morning sessions.

Pic of my car... Thanks Mako!

my autocross 2010-12-11_1056.jpg (67.92 KiB) Viewed 12208 times

[Doug Kott]

It seems like trying to police the lane-jumpers would add a whole 'nuther layer of complexity...difficult to enforce too.

If I get a solid 12 runs, I feel I've gotten my money's worth. I don't really care for the work-once/run-all-day format because the morning run groups tend to be enormous.

Here's a thought (and I'm sure there are problems with this that the elders will point out): Why not run the practice like a championship, where you both work and run either before or after lunch? I really like the half-day approach that either allows you to sleep in a little, or have the afternoon free to do something else.

[Robert Puertas]

Joel, if you haven't already done so, ask for driving tips!
Most everyone is happy to show you the tricks of the trade.
On Champ days, you can have an instructor ride along on every run, and even have them take a turn behind the wheel to show you the proper line, and that run won't count against your total.
Riding with others in their cars is a great learning tool, but having someone else drive your car almost always results in an "Aha!" moment.

[Randy Chase]

For the opposite point of view from an old timer.. I hate time based practice events. And I have had my share of less than 8 runs on a practice day. Sucks because some starters are not very good and they are the key to intervals...which is the number one variable. On that note also, some view starter as a cush job and really, it is one of the most important. You can also fall victim to how cars are staged. A very slow car followed by a very fast car means I have to increase the 20-25 second interval to 40 seconds or even more. So the worst case is a fast, then slow, then fast, then slow, then fast car. And it happens.

The other downside of timed practices is you never know where the cut off is. Get in the wrong line and you will have one less run than the adjacent line. I dislike thinking about that. The other downside is things that can delay the event. And I understand significant delays typically mean that the run group will be extended. But small delays... not so much. But you may lose a run or two.

More than 12 runs is great.

[John Stimson]

Hi Joel,

I think you have hit it exactly that on the days when you got more than 12 runs it was because others have quit early. As you've figured out, there can only be so many runs in a day based on the 20 second start spacing. The event chairs seem to do a pretty good job of figuring out how many people they can admit into the event at 12 runs each in order to fill the day. If there were time left at the end and enough people who wanted to keep running, I expect they could keep going. I was at a championship event a few months ago where fun runs were offered. As many runs as you want to take in 1/2 hour -- I ended up cooking my brake pads. Actual smoke! But that hasn't happened at the practices I have been to, because the sun was going down by the time the scheduled runs were completed. People usually want to get in all the runs they are entitled to, so consider yourself lucky that you were at an event where people voluntarily stopped early.

As for the worker requirement, there is a minimum number of workers required to run the course at a practice. At least one person running timing, a gate person, a starter, a time slip writer, and at least two workers per station. Taken together with the number of people attending, that determines how many work/run groups they can be divided into. Four groups is great, because it allows you to work/rest/run/rest, and it makes it possible to ride with your co-driver and have them ride with you, without both of you running in the same group (12 runs in 1 session is asking a lot of most tires). Three seems to be more common at least with shorter fall/winter days. Unfortunately, having individuals willing to work extra so they can drive extra doesn't change this -- you still need enough bodies to populate the minimum number of work stations for every run group.

Randy made some good points on time based sessions. I'll add that if one run group has more drivers, they will get fewer runs than the other groups. With run-based sessions, the unfairness comes out as the workers for that group having a longer work session (like, oh, working the green group on Saturday!).

[Ron Tsumura]

Thanks for the invites and for the mention of CST. I'll have to look up more info on the class as I didn't built my car to be legal for anythying in particular (wing extends past rear bumper etc). I know I need to come out and try it, I just feel like I have so much to learn as a driver that with the time crunch in my personal life I've been hesistant to do so... I do hope to try pro solo this year as the format itself sounds awesome.

As reference, last Saturday I started at about 59 seconds and eventually drove a best clean lap of ~55.7. We had 5 guys out using my same FC chassis (damn cool). I'm not a total slouch as I believe I ran the fastest of the four street legal FC's but I was still miles away from Steve Obleen's car. He ran at least a 51.1 that I know of and that was just the morning sessions.
(Have Steve drive your car and see how far you are behind him)Pic of my car... Thanks Mako!

my autocross 2010-12-11_1056.jpg

Practice is good but you owe it to yourself to do a Championship. It is helpful to see what it is like to run under race conditions. }:)

It is like being on the driving range and never playing a game for score. You will hit your target every time if you don't aim at anything.
It takes less time to run a Championship vs practice too.

Note: Have Steve O. drive your car and see how far you are behind him..

[KJ Christopher]

... some starters are not very good and they are the key to intervals...which is the number one variable. On that note also, some view starter as a cush job and really, it is one of the most important. You can also fall victim to how cars are staged. A very slow car followed by a very fast car means I have to increase the 20-25 second interval to 40 seconds or even more. So the worst case is a fast, then slow, then fast, then slow, then fast car. And it happens.

The other downside of timed practices is you never know where the cut off is. Get in the wrong line and you will have one less run than the adjacent line. I dislike thinking about that. The other downside is things that can delay the event. And I understand significant delays typically mean that the run group will be extended. But small delays... not so much. But you may lose a run or two.

This is precisely why, at the pre-nationals practice at El Toro, I hand selected the starter and grid person for each group and reached out to them with specific instructions prior to the event to make sure there were zero misunderstandings and everyone was willing to do what I was asking them.

This is the actual email I sent them:

Howdy,

I've pre-assigned you to either the Starter or Grid worker position. These positions are probably the two most important in regard to keeping the event running smoothly and on time. Please check with either me or George to get final instructions, but the basic idea is we need to get cars off at 25 second intervals. Going to 27 seconds does make a significant difference in the overall day - 38 minutes extra in fact. So, we really need keen people who can keep the pace even and not be chatty or fall asleep. And we need people who can think on their feet and not send an XP car 25 seconds after an HS car. Averages and all.

In order to keep that going, we need a grid person who can keep 4 cars in line. Not 6, not 2. We want to give them minimum time waiting in line - more time in grid to water, talk to competitors, enjoy the day, make adjustments, etc. Usually the best way to handle this is to be very active and stand in front of the grid, pointing at people to come to you to be checked off. This allows you to pick from multiple lines if you happen to get to Bill Schenker and he needs another 20 minutes.... Just kidding, but you know what I mean. Be active, let people know you're picking them. But don't spend 20 seconds chatting about how their run went or whether they are enjoying the weather.

So then, you might be wondering how the hell you got on this list? Well, George and I went through and picked people we thought would fit well. If this doesn't work for you, let me know so I can go to the bench and pull someone else. I really want this event to go smoothly. And while I'm not naive enough to think that it will go perfectly, I do know there is no chance if we don't start on the same page of music. So, let's keep it efficient, but keep it fun. And thanks in advance for your help.

To make the events go smoothly and have a bunch of runs with a ton entries, the Event Master has to think ahead. I wanted to switch workers on the fly - that requires 4 groups. Four groups requires more people to have the course properly staffed. More entries take away from the total number of runs. (It so happened that we had a hard deadline to leave that day due to a concert - more pressure.) But it also means we didn't have to break for lunch since everyone had a 'break' near lunch time.

I have a spreadsheet built that takes the total entries, removes identified core workers and specific positions and gave me the number of course workers per group. I told the course designer that I expected a course that was national style and not cone intensive because there were only 15 people for each group on course. (She delivered beautifully - Thanks Christine!) Talk to your people - don't expect them to read your mind. You can't expect them to deliver if you don't tell them what you need. The spreadsheet also told me how many runs per group and how long each group would take in minutes.

I came up with some specific instructions for the gate people - what tell the people to do when they get there so they aren't wandering around wasting daylight like some hippie who still needs his morning coffee. Mako took that one step further and created little business cards with the instructions printed:

Special eBoard Practice Instructions:

1. Please go to Registration / Tech immediately
2. Course Closes for Walking at 8:00
3. Workers and 1st cars to Grid at 8:15
4. 1st Car out at 8:30
5. Be Ready to Leave El Toro by 5:30 !
6. Have Fun!

We put 96 people through 12 runs (plus a junior kart at lunch - had to adjust the schedule a little) on a short day. I was quite proud of that. We could have done more if it weren't for the curfew.

Things like this don't happen without proper planning and teamwork. Who ever stands up to lead has to think ahead and actually lead. Get people to support you who are willing to step up with a little lagniappe - like Mako, Christine and the people I selected for starter/grid. Two seconds per car was 38 extra minutes! Amazing how it adds up.

Oh yeah - you never get everything down pat. By 7:30am I was wishing we had included the run group/order on the gate cards.... But in the end we were done in time and I got more after event kudos than ever before. People notice a quality experience.

If it hadn't been for the curfew we could have gone 14 runs with 96 people. But that would put the session length at 75 minutes, which is a tad long for course workers. Twelve runs was 65 minutes.

[Robert Puertas]

We should sticky this thread so every new person reads it...

[Joel Payne]

And let me be the first to praise KJ and the rest of the folks doing the behind the scenes work for making things go as well as they do.

[KJ Christopher]

Thanks Joel. I appreciate that even if my post was intended just to document somewhere tips for future people. One other thing I did, which I neglected to mention above. I sent emails (four, I think) to the participants in advance of the event, giving them updates and advance notice on what the game plan was.

[Arthur Grant]

[quote="Doug Kott"]It seems like trying to police the lane-jumpers would add a whole 'nuther layer of complexity...difficult to enforce too.

I think GRA's use of colored wrist bands seemed to do the tirck?

[Steve Towers]

I don't GRA's use of colored wrist bands seemed to do the tirck?

He says after his fourth glass of wine. ;)

[Jesus Saucedo]

Thanks for the invites and for the mention of CST. I'll have to look up more info on the class as I didn't built my car to be legal for anythying in particular (wing extends past rear bumper etc). I know I need to come out and try it, I just feel like I have so much to learn as a driver that with the time crunch in my personal life I've been hesistant to do so... I do hope to try pro solo this year as the format itself sounds awesome.

Joel, I'm very much on the same boat. I run in whatever class my car happens to land in. Im doing this for fun, and eventually I'll try and "compete." My Yaris is in CST when my girl comes out, but I usually drive in CSM with my CRX. And last time I checked, I was first in points!!! Yes, sounds cool, but it's only because it's a relatively dead class to run in. Not so much because I'm an outstanding driver.

Although I'm in this for fun, and been at if for about a year and a half, I've only actually run in Champ events. Mostly, because the budget ;) Recently, I did attend a practice event in Dec (supporting my girl) and thought it was awesome. It was good for her to do that. It was even better for her at the Ladies School. She's come a long way from her first session. Look into taking a school event. Let some of the pros ride with you: they provide nice feedback.

Come out to the Champ events and join the guys at CST. Your car should fit right in, provided it's on street tires and not R-comps. Most of hall, come out and HAVE FUN !

[Robert Baltazar]

As reference, last Saturday I started at about 59 seconds and eventually drove a best clean lap of ~55.7. We had 5 guys out using my same FC chassis (damn cool). I'm not a total slouch as I believe I ran the fastest of the four street legal FC's but I was still miles away from Steve Obleen's car. He ran at least a 51.1 that I know of and that was just the morning sessions.

Pic of my car... Thanks Mako!
55.1