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
![Exclamation :!:](./images/smilies/icon_exclaim.gif)
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