Okay, attached is the course as it actually went down. Aside from doubling a few key apexes (mostly the ones that needed to be spotted from faaaaar away), adding a few more pointers, and more cones marking the finish, the only material changes we made were at #1 and #3.
#1 - We felt that going all the way around that 3-cone wall to the left was too extreme, and also likely to put a newb driver's focus on the other side of the course, which could be dangerous. So, we left the 3-cone wall there to define the OUTSIDE of the turn, and put a well-marked apex on the inside. There were some DNF's here from people missing the gate that we created and going around the wall... not sure why, maybe they studied the map too much? But, otherwise, as you can see from watching the vids, getting over to the left through this gate and back to the right for the next apex was quite a challenge as it was... so I think this was a good change.
#2 - If you were to make one single change to make this course better in general, I think this is the place. This area was so intense because it was a challenge to get into, and then to drive (especially if you entered it a little "behind", which was VERY easy to do), that it was difficult to think about the fact that you needed to enter the crossover. A lot of people then wiggled around the wall of cones at #3 instead of shooting cross-course. So, not only would smoothing this section have eliminated one of the tightest parts of the course, it would have made the seeing the crossover a lot easier. Probably could have eliminated half of the DNFs with changes here. (but we didn't make any)
#3 - We removed the gate in the middle here. Things seemed busy enough in this section without another gate there adding clutter and more cones to hit (and they would have been hit!) or causing more DNF's by being missed (which would have happened, too). We extended the row of pointers to attempt to obscure the apex beyond (the exit apex of the turn-around), but that didn't work for some people. Again, I think it goes back to the area at #2 being so busy that drivers didn't have the time to think about how to get into the crossover or where it was, they were just reacting.
- December_Actual.jpg (66.92 KiB) Viewed 22528 times
To add to the discussion of "how people drove the course", I can tell you that the first-timer that I rode with was struggling to keep up with the course at all. Very busy course, not novice-friendly. He DNFed I think 3 or 4 runs, and I was with him each time! He DNFed by going around the gate that we put in at #1, and by skipping the exit apex of the turn-around, as I recall.
Me, I drove the course in three cars. Course check in my car (fairly slow, traction control on, just to get a general idea of speed... 49 mph max on that run), on which I felt like a lot of things came up REALLY fast, but it was navigable. Then I took a run in my student's car, a Z3 Roadster, which was uneventful. I was focusing on maintaining line (and avoiding left-foot braking) for his benefit rather than being "fast".
When it came time for competition, I drove the course "okay" in Brian's 240 right out of the box, and improved a little over 3 runs to 56.0, I think. Having mondo grip made the course fairly easy to drive if you weren't too far off-line.
I took two runs in my Z4 with traction control off. First run was wild, but I didn't hit any cones or get lost. Second run I had to "slow down to go faster", which was quite effective, knocking my 54 seconds down 52.9.
Then I took my final run in Brian's car, needing to knock .5 seconds off to win our bet, in which I gave him a .8 second handicap. I was doing okay off the start, but hit one of the slalom cones early on. Of course, that pissed me off, so I drove the rest of the course "angry" just to see what kind of time I'd get. Me driving angry in a car with more grip than I'm used to is a good thing. I did 54.2, but hit another slalom cone on the return side.
Conclusion: The course required a high degree of looking ahead and setting up for the slaloms (by design). It also required a high degree of precision do manage that and not clip any of the slalom cones, and a high degree of grip to do it and return a fast time. A little bit of power could actually be put down in several places, as well.
