Event Pre-Reg... what to do?

[Jeremy]

Eliminate the lunch break. You can still provide food without bringing everything to a halt.
I think Doug mentioned a severe dislike for that, not sure why. I am not very social though, I could talk to no one all day and be perfectly happy.
I guess some people enjoy standing around eating with 70 friends (strangers, haha) in the sun.

Run 2 "events" per day. A morning event and afternoon event.
Raise the caps keep 6 runs.
Only show up for half the day if you want, stay the whole day if you want.
I think this is how big cities do it. you sign up for a work shift and run shift and you only have to be there during those times. And they run 200+ cars a day.
I am kind of getting burnt out on spending 8-9 hours in the sun. (get it? burnt / sun !!)

Start gridding in the paddock at SPC to accommodate the larger grids.

[twistedwankel]

But, please don't minimize John's efforts on the day of the event. First one there, last to leave, every event.

Yup, John rocks! All hail John !!!

Bah! If y'all loved me you'd send my outta-shape ass out to shag cones and get some exercise every once and then.

[Loren]

All good ideas. All add more stress to SOMEONE's day.

FAST was founded on casual, almost "lazy" events. What you're talking about is a fundamental departure from that. If we wanted to "rush" through every event, we could easily run more cars without changing much of anything, just running a tighter ship. And while it has filled me with a sense of accomplishment to have pulled off events with a higher number of drivers and/or an extraordinary number of runs... it's not something that I would find "fun" to do at every event.

Splitting the day is a neat idea, though. We used to sort of do that in the club I started with in KS. They did it because their events were traditionally on Sunday, and they wanted to cater to the church crowd. (bible belt, yano) So, us heathens would get there early and set up and start running by 10am (much like FAST does now), and then registration would stay open until 1pm to let the stragglers in. Of course, at the end of the day, we typically still only had 40-50 entries. And we somehow managed to work the course and fill all the positions with just 10-car run groups. Different times.

[Gregbj8]

I'll chime in here as a guy who runs about four FAST events each year, so I am not quite a regular. I would like to run more but other commitments prevent it. I tried SCCA but the attitude ran me off. FAST is a wonderful organization and a great asset to the auto community of this area. If it ain't broke don't fix it. You guys have it just right which is why you are having this discussion.

[Loren]

You guys have it just right which is why you are having this discussion.

I think most of us agree with that statement. The problem is that we've reached the point where we have to turn some people away. And we have the power to decide which group of people we want to turn away first.

But, earlier in this thread, it was pretty much decided (mostly through input of the people who are most affected... some of the regulars who sometimes miss registering before an event fills up) that the burden of registering on time is on the person who wants to register. And "on time" at present, means "within a few days of registration opening".

Our solution for the time being is just to implement a system to email reminders when registration opens. Aside from that, we'll probably leave things alone for a while longer and see what happens.

[Jeremy]

Splitting the day is a neat idea, though. We used to sort of do that in the club I started with in KS. They did it because their events were traditionally on Sunday, and they wanted to cater to the church crowd. (bible belt, yano) So, us heathens would get there early and set up and start running by 10am (much like FAST does now), and then registration would stay open until 1pm to let the stragglers in. Of course, at the end of the day, we typically still only had 40-50 entries. And we somehow managed to work the course and fill all the positions with just 10-car run groups. Different times.

I am starting a new religion based on autocrossing only in the afternoon. Please accommodate my religious needs. Thanks.

[nc4me]

Eliminate the lunch break. You can still provide food without bringing everything to a halt.
I think Doug mentioned a severe dislike for that, not sure why. I am not very social though, I could talk to no one all day and be perfectly happy.
I guess some people enjoy standing around eating with 70 friends (strangers, haha) in the sun.


Run 2 "events" per day. A morning event and afternoon event.
Raise the caps keep 6 runs.
Only show up for half the day if you want, stay the whole day if you want.
I think this is how big cities do it. you sign up for a work shift and run shift and you only have to be there during those times. And they run 200+ cars a day.
I am kind of getting burnt out on spending 8-9 hours in the sun. (get it? burnt / sun !!)

Start gridding in the paddock at SPC to accommodate the larger grids.

I like it because it gives me a chance to talk to everyone I want too. Sometimes run/work groups don't give you enough time to talk to certain people because they're running while you're working.


How do you run 2 events and get 6 runs with 200 cars showing up? I'd assume the first group gets there at 6 and starts running at sunup and the second event gets there at noon and runs until sundown? I'm seriously wondering. Can you explain how this happens in other cities for me?

[Loren]

How do you run 2 events and get 6 runs with 200 cars showing up? I'd assume the first group gets there at 6 and starts running at sunup and the second event gets there at noon and runs until sundown? I'm seriously wondering. Can you explain how this happens in other cities for me?

200-car events happen. 200-car events with 6 runs do not. (they typically have 4, sometimes 3)

[Jeremy]

Yeah, I wasn't saying that's how they did it. I was just rambling on in that post.

I think they have signups based upon hourly slots. So you would sign up to run between 11-12pm and work between 1-2pm for example. You only need to be there during those times.
Which I would like, but I am not suggesting that we do that.

[Jeremy]

Correction, that is exactly how DC does it, 2 "sessions"...
http://www.wdcr-scca.org/SoloAutocross/ ... fault.aspx" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

220 people got 4 50-60sec runs, that's 880 runs = 806 minutes of racing.
http://www.wdcr-scca.org/SoloAutocross/ ... fault.aspx" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

We are doing 70 people x 6 35-40sec runs, that's 420 runs and turning people away = 262 minutes of racing.

They are over twice as efficient as us.

*This is just informational, please note, no actual suggestions were made in the above post. I just decided to look up how they did it.

[Loren]

I have absolutely no doubt that it can be done. Just have no interest in doing it.

They're definitely running more efficiently than we are, and surely not stopping for lunch. But, they're also starting earlier and ending later than we are.

Running max efficiency is about 25-second run overlap, no breaks for worker changes, no lunch. Just straight running a car every 25 seconds all day long.

That's 144 runs per hour. If you started runs at 8am and ran until 5, the most you can do on a single course in a day is 1,296 runs. What's with those slackers only getting in 880 runs?

Realistically, 30-seconds is an easier overlap to maintain, and with the usual timing issues, reruns and other unforeseen circumstances, the most you'd get is maybe 120 runs per hour. And you're more likely to get 7 hours of actual run time per event without running dusk-to-dawn. So, 840 runs is a pretty good "efficient, but not quite worked-to-death" number. And that's pretty close to where they are. Good on 'em!

(I bet they have a larger site than SPC, and don't have a 75-person limit like we do at Brooksville.)

[Jamie]

Eliminate the lunch break. You can still provide food without bringing everything to a halt.

We've tried that several times at SPC...everything came to a halt anyhow. By the time we get to lunch, everyone wants to eat. So we gave up on "rolling lunches" and just stop.

How do you run 2 events and get 6 runs with 200 cars showing up?

4-3 runs, like Loren said. Set up the course the night before. Driver's meeting is at 9 instead of 10 (yes, that means if you're in the first run group, your butt's out there when the site opens to set up your car, go through tech, and walk the course). Larger sites, so it's possible to have a pre-grid and a grid, plus a course where it was possible to have two and even three cars on course simultaneously. Start a car every 20 seconds, and a 30-40 car group could comfortably get 4 runs in an hour. Stagger the run/work order to make a rolling turnover, so the event never really stopped.

When I was in San Francisco and D.C., we'd run 8 groups -- half in the morning, half in the afternoon, with a break in the middle for the afternoon groups to walk the course. First car off around 9:30, done by 4. The core folks -- event chairs, chief safety steward, worker and equipment chiefs -- would be there all day, but everyone else was either just morning or just afternoon. Great events, but they did take some serious work up front.

[Jeremy]

Eliminate the lunch break. You can still provide food without bringing everything to a halt.

We've tried that several times at SPC...everything came to a halt anyhow. By the time we get to lunch, everyone wants to eat. So we gave up on "rolling lunches" and just stop.

Yeah, I don't get it. Ft. Myers is even worse, they break for a solid 1+ hour for lunch. Such a waste of time. If you want to socialize, get the people's numbers and call them up any day and hang out. Just throw some footlong sandwiches in a cooler and tell people eat whenever you want. I bet a lot of people would be grabbing food early/late.

Or

Just tell people to register earlier or find another event to go to.

[Loren]

Or

Just tell people to register earlier or find another event to go to.

I think that's where we are for now. The good news is that there is no shortage of events to go to around here.

[nc4me]

If you want to socialize, get the people's numbers and call them up any day and hang out.

We should go bowling one day!

[Jeremy]

If you want to socialize, get the people's numbers and call them up any day and hang out.

We should go bowling one day!

Sure, want to go this Sunday? I'm not doing anything.
In the future though, please register with me 30 days in advance. My weekends fill up quick.

[Cpt_Rum-bo]

I say go-karting, so I can get another opportunity to get upset at losing and would get utterly depressed since I can't mod the go-kart .... arghhhhh

[Loren]

As promised, we now have a provision to subscribe to email reminders to notify you when event registration opens.

You'll find it on the right side of the home page: http://drivefast.org/" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

[puncturina]

Thanks Loren for the email update feature.

...and thanks in general for all the time that you moderators and registrars and behind-the scenes guys put into making the club fun and accessible.

[shakedown067]