March 18th.

[Anonymous]

Good event.
Here are a few pictures from my crappy camera.
http://web.tampabay.rr.com/freshnclean/autox/" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;
#20 is cool.

[Loren]

Correct on all counts.

Jamie's course with Howard's tweaks was very cool.

[WAFlowers]

Some comments:

Thanks for the pix Jeremy!

Awesome course!

Everyone came together to make this event happen despite many key people having to bow out -- life happens.

Lots of food (too much -- we threw out 2 whole pizzas despite a few people taking pizzas home).

Even though we had a late start we had 8 fantastic runs. Part of that was a course that permitted good overlap on 2 cars and part was the effort of everyone involved -- drivers and workers.

I'm getting tired of having almost no help packing up the trailer at the end of the day. Sure, we're all tired, and burnt by sun and wind, and we all just want to get home after a long day, but I can't leave for home until AFTER the trailer is packed and AFTER it is delivered to its storage site. Month after month when I and very few others are loading the trailer, seeing car after car peel out without anyone even offering to lend a hand gets real old, real fast!

[WAFlowers]

FOUND

Exhaust tip, 3" diameter, approx 9" long, angled (slash) end. Color can be described as black chrome (shiny black).

PM me if it is yours to arrange for return.

[Native]

I'm glad to hear the event went well, and that no one went hungry.

Just a general note to everyone who enjoys our events:

We want Bill happy.

Bill has the longest day of all of us - he must get up early enough to go get the trailer, which is not where he lives, drive it to the event, and, needless to say, be virtually the last one out, then take the trailer back to where it's stored before he can go home. There have been plenty of times he's towed the trailer to and from an event he himself has not been able to attend. His wife is extremely generous and supportive of the club as well.

If you see Bill packing the trailer, please stay and help him. In fact, help him before you pack up your own stuff, so he can get on his way and finish his day - odds are you'll still be home before him...

[WAFlowers]

Thanks Steve. I figure I was finally able to leave Brooksville about the time some people arrived home in Tampa or Clearwater. I finally made it home close to 2 hours after that.

To show what a supportive couple of people we (Willemina and I) are, we are rearranging the celebration of our 25th wedding anniversary so we can tow the trailer to next month's event. Really! :shock:

[Native]

[Wayne-Garth]We're not worthy, we're not worthy![/Wayne-Garth]

That's just awesome, man! Both the 25 years and arranging the celebration around a silly-ol' autocross.

Early congrats to you both.

[Clive]

Great event! 8 runs each with a super course. Great weather, good food ....and pulled off smoothly, despite the unexpected absences.

So thanks to the all FAST guys who put this together and made it happen.

And Bill, I'm sure folks DO appreciate what you do. I think a lot of folks would be glad to assist more, but maybe actually telling them what to do would help. People don't want to be in the way. I stacked up a bunch of cones, as did others, and loaded them into a vehicle, but back at the trailer no one appeared to need any further help.

At the school last week another guy and myself offered to help pack up the trailer but the offer wasn't taken. Anyway, next time I'll certainly make a point of it.

Clive.
'99 Miata Sport.

[Loren]

You're right, Clive. It's a fine line. The people that aren't real sure what needs to be done aren't going to just jump in and do stuff. The people who DO know what needs to be done, often don't want to seem "bossy".

I say, don't be afraid to be "bossy". If you're Bill or anyone else who happens to know how to pack the trailer and there are people close by, tap them and say "could you help me with this... thanks". (don't give them to opportunity to say no, of course!) And if there AREN'T people close by, yell for help!

(same goes for morning setup)

Steve, I think you still need a bullhorn on your shopping list. That bit of "crowd level" communication could be helpful for this sort of thing.

[Jamie]

Sounds like I missed a good event.... Thanks to everyone who pitched in and either made the plan work or fixed any mistakes.

I got tagged to go up to D.C. Friday -- was supposed to be an up-and-back trip, returning Friday night. Unfortunately, storms across the northeast U.S. Friday grounded every flight out of Washington that evening. Those of you who've spent any time as self-loading cargo on airliners know weather cancellations mean your ticket is waste paper until they find an unsold seat, and on this scale, that usually means days...US Air wasn't promising anything before Monday. Rather than wait, I managed to get the last seat on Amtrak's NY-Miami local yesterday evening -- better than Monday, but it's a 21-hour ride between D.C. and Tampa (and no, I didn't have a sleeper compartment). I finally got back late this afternoon.

Thank my son Sam, too -- I hadn't bothered to take my laptop for a one day trip. When I knew I wasn't going to make it, I called him and had him e-mail a note with the map and the run group file to Loren, Kenny, and Drew.

Glad to hear everything turned out well -- and really sorry I missed it!

Break...re: setup and cleanup. The last two events, we have asked for 2-3 people to specifically sign up for those duties. If the turnout allows, those are your work assignments for the day -- you won't be tapped to work a run group.

[Loren]

Jamie, the course was great. I think the biggest change Howard made was adding a cone to the slalom and making it a decreasing slalom, 65>50 feet. VERY interesting to drive.

[Jamie]

The course was the least of my worries! I knew Charles had lunch covered, and the registration box and forms would make it up that morning...I didn't want you all to have to organize the rest from scratch!

[Alizarin]

I got to see a rather nice wreck (again) on my way home. I think I saw Ron drive by also. Some lady spun out and slammed into that railroad crossing pole just south of Runway Dr. I happened to see the final stages, so I stayed to give my statement and assist if I could. She was fine, airbags did their job.

In spite of that (which made an already long day even longer), the event was a blast. I totally drove the tread off my front 2 tires! At least I have until May to figure out what I'm going to do with that.

Notes:

Looks like the software ran pretty smoothly until the generator ran out of gas. I managed to recover almost all the first 4 runs for everybody (we ended up missing 4th run for about 5 people) and entered the rest manually. If I can get some time before April's event (probably can) I'll write up a simple user's guide. Hopefully between that, and people who've used the AXWare software before can run April's event with no paper!

Re: loading up the trailer. That was something I was scheduled to do, and I ended up packing up the timer, helping stack cones, and then I went to swap my tires back. Bill, my deepest apologies. I would like to point out, to help me save a little face that you could have just yelled and I would have come over! After getting here early, running registration, setting up timing, running timing with Howard for the 1st group, etc, I guess I was just in a hurry to get home, like you were.

Charles did an outstanding job on picking the place for lunch this time. I think we have a winner.

There will probably be more notes as I can process everything that happened. Currently working on getting the results to Loren.

[kickslop]

Voice amplification is sorely needed, IMO. Even a CONE should be used if we're not going to buy something. Anything.

Bill, I'm sorry to hear the group fell short.

I was the first to leave. Registration with Kenny from 7:15-9AM, bringing ice+drinks, and a normal work assignment was enough for me.

"Sorry" said, Loren is right on. If someone (anyone) has been to 6+ events with FAST/NASA-X/Sunriders, they have every place to be politely yelling when something needs to be done and it's not getting done. If you (whoever) don't, it's either not going to get done, or it's going to get done "whenever" which throws our (or your) entire schedule off track.

People DO need to stop being afraid of appearing bossy. Especially regulars. I've thrown appearance to the wind and have started yelling politely any time there's a need.

Remember, too, that had we had a chairman for the event, there was supposed to be specific people assigned for post-cleanup. So, this being our 3rd official event... if it's happened at the last 2, then we have a serious problem... but if it was just this 3rd one so far... ehhh...

[Bone]

Guys, that's the most fun I've ever had auto-x'ing - Thanks to everyone that had a hand in making it run so smoothly, and thanks to Jeff and Loren for helping me suck less.

Just an observation, but I thought the run groups had fewer interruptions and problems than last month. Things seemed to run smoother, and faster. I don't know about other folks, but if I knew I was only going to get 4 runs, I doubt I'd take the day off to do it. 6-8-10 runs though - hell yeah!

I was happy to go over and help load up the trailer, along with AScoda (I think) and Howard. Those of you who left early missed out on Howard's witty trailer loading humor (he reminds me of Click or Clack on CarTalk) and Bill's subtle wryness.

Example - I asked "So, Who had the best time?" Bill's retort - "I had a very good time. I don't know if I had the BEST time, but I had a good time. How about you, Howard?" to which Howard replied, "Oh. I had a VERY good time too...... and I had a good time."

See what you miss by leaving early???

I did see Kenny stopped at the wreck - it was at the train track crossing just S of the access road to the airport. Looked like she lost control and hit the RR crossing gate pole. As I passed, I saw the person in the wrecked car talking on her cel, and lots of help around including Kenny, so I didn't stop.

Again, thanks to everyone for making this event run so well.

RC

[kickslop]

Just an observation, but I thought the run groups had fewer interruptions and problems than last month. Things seemed to run smoother, and faster. I don't know about other folks, but if I knew I was only going to get 4 runs, I doubt I'd take the day off to do it. 6-8-10 runs though - hell yeah!

I'm with you 100% and I think everyone else is as well.

The 4-run day was an anomoly.

In 4 years' time I have been to 1 event that had less than 6 runs: That one event 2 months ago or so.

[Solar]

Had a great time, having 8 runs really helped me get some well needed seat time in my Mustang. Thanks to Jeff for giving me some very helpful pointers. My best run was probably ranked in the lower 5 times, but I improved on every run, and that's what matters to me right now.

We really needed a can of gas, the tank on the Gen is pretty small, it needs to be topped off after every run group.

Bill I'm sorry I didn't stay to help you with the trailer, when I went over to pick up the Reg box there were quite a few people around and it appeared everything was under control, I'll make sure to ask from now on.

Jeremy those are some great pics, I love the one where the cone is nicely flattened under the tire.

Brian

[Loren]

Kenny did the results up for us, and without further ado:
Here Are The Results

[kickslop]

Jeez Kenny, you did the work of about 3 people on this event. Thanks.

[WAFlowers]

Thanks for the help that did step up with the trailer.

A couple of final comments and then I'll stop beating this dead horse: while I drove the truck down the runway and back, picking up cones, a lot of people took off instead of helping out. When I got back and the cones were unloaded from the truck, I stepped into the trailer to check on it's state of readiness for packing. When I walked back to the door and looked out I was alone, with the trailer surrounded by all the gear. I could see another 3 cars driving away and hardly anyone left to yell to.

Just after that Howard walked over and made a comment about the lack of help and then pitched in. Thanks Howard!

One person in the trailer and two to pack stuff up and pass it into the trailer, with another person (or two) to police the grounds and bag the trash is all that is needed. But those people are really needed!

Remember, at Brooksville we don't have trash cans and someone must bag all the trash at the end of the day to be tranported to the dumpster.

Enough of this!

So much went right at this event that I don't want to dwell on this point; it detracts from what went well.