Small correction Ian. The length of the course doesn't matter. Only the cadence for sending out cars determines the number of runs. You could have a 10 minute course, and if you send a car every 30 seconds you'll still essentially get 120 runs per hour. If you send 'em every 25 seconds you get 144 runs per hour. If you start every 24 seconds you get 150 runs per hour. At a practice, 25 second intervals are probably the best goal we can attain.Ian Stewart wrote:I was refering to the motorsport Z event specifically. Think of it from a time perspective and # of runs. We had 3 cars on course at a time with an average time for the Zs of 90 sec give or take so thats 30 seconds per car plus the 180 seconds to fill and empty the course per session so with 80 cars is 2600 sec which is about 45 minutes per run for 80 cars.
The problem in hitting that average is knowing which cars are fast and which are slow. If everyone drives essentially the same pace, it's easy to send them out. When one person needs 115 seconds and the next needs 80, you can't blindly send out the cars on a 25 second interval without creating a safety problem.
We actually have *more* drivers, and many of them are complete novices. The pace slows substantially vs a "regular" practice. Splitting the run groups so the participants only run in one of three AM and PM sessions helps them cycle through in a reasonable time though. My target is generally 70 minutes per run group, but that requires everything flowing like buttah.Ian Stewart wrote: For Sunday, it doesnt matter so much with fewer people and faster drivers
Mike
