Jan 17 - 2010

[shakedown067]

What a way to start the new year...well except for finishing second in class and trying to take out the finish line again. Great food and a great time though.

Pics --> http://gwatdesigns.com/fast/fast-100117/

[Alizarin]

Still on the go but I yoinked some wifi to get the results up. See the FAST website and the results page!

[shakedown067]

Still on the go but I yoinked some wifi to get the results up. See the FAST website and the results page!

Wow, that's gotta be some kind of record for posting the results. Thanks!

[Loren]

You da man, Kenny!

Great event, Ed!

And now, while I'm thinking about it, two gripes from the safety department:
1. ALWAYS CHALK THE CONES ON THE COURSE. Even if it's "just a practice course". Do it. Cones that get misplaced after getting hit effect the design and safety of the course!
2. When we do this dual-course format, it's very possible that the event chairman, course designer or primary safety guru will not be available on the practice course at some point. We have plenty of experienced and/or safety trained people, there should always be a few of them around. WHEN THERE IS A PROBLEM WITH THE COURSE, FIX IT! FIX IT RIGHT! Just do it. Don't expect drivers to just be aware of the problem and back off there, it ain't gonna happen! It was brought to my attention that there were some issues on the practice course in the morning. Steve and I spent 10 minutes on it during lunch, made some very minor changes, and fixed it right up. No problem at all in the afternoon. That 10 minutes should have been taken by the morning crew as soon as they noticed a problem. (I might have caught the problem during the setup pre-run, but the course was very wet at the time and seemed okay.)

[puncturina]

Hi, this is Eva Chang. Doug Buckheim and I seem to have our results switched around. We got messed up with our numbers. I told someone, and it looks like they switched our names, but our results are somehow crossed up.

Anyway, I had the faster time of 38.8, and he had the slower time of 40.02.

Boy, did we have a bad day. I had a bad case of post-lunch brain fog, and never got going until my last two runs.

Thanks to all for a fun event.

My apologies--I don't think I got the radio duties right until the very end.

Thanks for incredibly fast posting of results!

[PaboShon]

Still on the go but I yoinked some wifi to get the results up. See the FAST website and the results page!

Nice job getting the results up so fast! I had a great time today. Thank you to everyone that helped put the event together.

[Jamie]

Definitely have to give Ed -- and the supporting crew -- a hand for a very successful event. No major glitches, no broken cars (other than Elliott's...but it breaks at any event!), and cleared off before 5. And the Flowers mobile kitchen is a hit!

That said, I'm not a fan of the two-course format. I think Ed (and Loren) did a masterful job putting together a good course that flowed well, but in the end, it was still a 30-ish second one slalom, turn around, a few offsets course -- a great test-n-tune course, but not too satisfying for competition. I'm told the untimed course was even shorter. A bazillion runs -- or half a bazillion if you only did one course -- didn't change that. Moreover, operating the second course relied on nothing going wrong. We don't have enough radios, fire extinguishers, or flags to equip two courses -- in this case, all that gear was on the timed course. Communication with the other course was via cell phone...if anyone picked up. Since we really ran two half-size two group events, we got the worst of both small groups -- no depth to cover for no shows (resulted in some one-man course stations) and no downtime (which everyone complains about when we run two groups).

Still...great job. I'm really looking forward to seeing Ed do a longer course -- I predict lots of fun. Looking forward to the school and event next month.

[Loren]

Jamie, you didn't run the last event, and I don't think you went to the practice course at this event...

The practice courses have been run "fun-run" style. No workers (other than the occasional volunteer if they feel like it), one car on course at time, just line up and run. Very casual, very fun.

The key there is that we don't need to send two groups down to the practice course as we did today. Instead, splitting into 3 groups and just rotating one group to the practice course at a time works a lot better than the short-staffed 4-group format. It's what we did at the December event, and it worked well.

So, don't write off the 2-course gig too quickly. Yeah, the courses are on the short side, but a lot of people seem to be really enjoying some casual practice time. We don't need to do it every time, but it's certainly a good tool to keep in our arsenal!

Edit: Regarding "downtime", you didn't see it, but A LOT of the time spent on the practice course is "downtime". We chitchat, hang out, ride along, etc. It's very relaxed and enjoyable. Wanna take a break? Sit in your car. Wanna blow off practice and do something else? no problem.

You're viewing the practice as being much more formal than we've been running it.

[Jeremy]

I had a good time. Thanks Ed.

[Native]

RESULTS
Dang, Kenny, what took so long? Thanks, man!

Eva, you and Doug each get 1 point toward the season championship, and the error doesn't affect anyone else. Thanks for pointing it out, but we'll probably leave it as is. Besides, you two know who was the faster! Yellow_Colorz_PDT_03

I have a feeling I drove the "practice" course better than I did the competition course, but so what - it was still a ball o' fun! I really enjoyed all the car-swapping - thanks, everyone, for all the rides!

Kudos to Ed (and Alexis). Thanks to the Flowers family for all the eats - hope there'll be an encore (soon)!


We still need a little help with courseworking the novice school. Easy way to earn 2 event credits. PM nc4me to volunteer, or if you have questions.
Chris - sent you an email.

edit:
Eric - nice pix. Thanks for shooting them, even though you got the wrong run group... Yellow_Colorz_PDT_06

[Jamie]

Jamie, you didn't run the last event, and I don't think you went to the practice course at this event...

Correct, since I dislike short courses, and I've learned that blasting around an untimed course in an uninstrumented car doesn't teach me much...probably reinforces my bad habits more than anything else. In fact, what brought me out to this one was lunch (and the soup was worth it). That's one vote. One of the strengths of FAST is that the event chairs get to organize whatever sort of event they want. Run as many two-course events as event chairs want to do...but let 'em count all the votes.

I still want to see Ed do a longer course -- I think he'd do a good one.

If (when?) it's done again, there needs to be at least one radio and one fire extinguisher on the second course. And if there's no one formally controlling the flow, no overlap. That's all just good safety.

[nc4me]

Good event. I had fun considering I was only able to take 4 timed runs before I had to call it quits due to my tire shredding itself up.

I always view the practice course as a get in the right mindset and practice the proper line kind of thing and don't really push all out all the time. It lets me familiarize myself with the car being pushed hard since it only happens once a month. Today I only took 3, maybe 4 runs. Of course I had the fortune of practicing first both events. If I was running first and then on the practice course. I wouldn't bail, but I would probably use the time only for socializing. Maybe 1 or 2 runs just to drive it.

Willemina, the food, both breakfast and lunch, was awesome. I loved the minestrone soup.

Steven, email sent, and I finally beat you. You must be under the weather. I hope you feel better.

[Native]

Steven, email sent, and I finally beat you. You must be under the weather. I hope you feel better.

Are you talkin' to me?

[leftandright]

Regarding the split course; I agree with points that each of you have made.
-Three groups is the way to do it - groups are an appropriate size of about twenty, plenty of workers, and done at a good hour.
-Communication on the radio net would be good with the practice course, if only for safety sake.
-In our fun-run group, everything was cool and safe, people waited their turn, cones were hawked as necesary - no problems.
-I agree it is not for every time; good long courses are good too. It is, however, great for the reperatory of car games.
- i thoroughly enjoy the fun-run atmosphere- trading car-keys and rides, shooting the breeze and hanging out. No, I don't "learn much", but so what- it's a good, good time on Sunday afternoon. I value seat time, and we get lots.

Thanks to Ed for pulling off a good one. Thanks to Adam Parke for another "lesson" in Jay-class (congrats).

C-ya at skool.

Mike

[Alizarin]

Eva, I am still learning how the AXWare software does certain things. I thought by switching your numbers that it would switch your names in the results for those runs. Apparently not. So I should have taken your original suggestion and just switched the names. Shame on me! It would have been just as easy.

Thanks for catching that.

[WAFlowers]

I enjoyed the split course format we ran these past two months at Brooksville.

Having said that, I hope the next time at Brooksville we have a long, LONG course that runs all the way out to near the white barriers for a change.

I like FAST because we keep changing it up: SPC to Brooksville, long course, short course, autoX, BattleX, etc. Variety!

[aparke]

Thanks, Ed, for chairing the event! Logistically, I was hesitant about the dual course, but it worked out much more smoothly than I anticipated.

Overall, I really liked the format. Like Loren said, during the practice runs, there was considerable down time. Most people were exhausted from taking runs and either hung out or headed back to the other side. Also, the trading of cars and rides was certainly a lot of fun and gave a chance at different perspectives (certainly more opportunity than just at the competition course).

The only down side I saw was being alienated from half of the folks there. I brought a new novice with me and didn't see him for most of the day or get to ride with him. (I suppose I had the option to leave the practice course early...so maybe that was my choice.)

That brings me to another point. At first, it was announced that once at the practice course, you must stay there until the competition groups are done. Many folks left anyway by staying off in the grass to drive over. As long as there is no issue with that, it makes sense to have the freedom to flow to and from. I didn't see any instances were safety was jeapardized here.

Also, a special thanks to Sam in the second practice group, as he shagged cones for us almost the entire time we were over there.

[Jamie]

At first, it was announced that once at the practice course, you must stay there until the competition groups are done. Many folks left anyway by staying off in the grass to drive over. As long as there is no issue with that, it makes sense to have the freedom to flow to and from. I didn't see any instances were safety was jeapardized here.

I guess that depends on whether the traffic becomes noticable or objectionable to the farmer who owns the field. Don't know how we'll found out about that. It wasn't a safety issue because nothing happened. We set no limits on how close cars coming back could approach the course -- it was up to driver discression and luck. Not a good risk management plan.

Also, a special thanks to Sam in the second practice group, as he shagged cones for us almost the entire time we were over there.

He enjoyed the chance to try out some different machinery in return -- a benefit of the setup.

Some alternative thoughts -- if the idea is to break out some less structured fun run or test-and-tune time, we could simply leave some extra time for fun runs -- do 4-6 timed runs, then anyone who wanted to remain could stick around for extra runs.

[Loren]

Really good shot of Ed flogging the Yaris:
http://gwatdesigns.com/fast/fast-100117" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false; ... large.html

[shakedown067]

Really good shot of Ed flogging the Yaris:
http://gwatdesigns.com/fast/fast-100117" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false; ... large.html

Who says only the hydro guys can do three wheel motion! That still cracks me up.