SPC - R.I.P.

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SPC - R.I.P.

Postby Native » Fri Sep 26, 2014 10:38 pm

Autocross at SPC has come to an end. :(

Over the course of the last 10 days or so, we've been dealing with SPC via several contacts there. The short version of the story is that there is a new provost, and he's been trying to get the lay of the land and to understand what he's dealing with. Part of that was learning about who is using, and how they are using, the driving pad. Well, he made a determination that any use of the pad, for anything other than law enforcement, was not worth the liability to the college. :no:

So, we've been shut down there, as has any other club that used the pad for driving events. Immediately.

The October event, on the 18th, and the novice school on 11/1, have been moved to Brooksville. The December 15 event is still up in the air.

I'm done for the night, but I'll certainly address any questions/concerns anyone has, later.
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Re: SPC - R.I.P.

Postby Solar » Fri Sep 26, 2014 10:48 pm

That sucks.
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Re: SPC - R.I.P.

Postby Loren » Fri Sep 26, 2014 10:57 pm

Solar wrote:That sucks.
Yup.
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Re: SPC - R.I.P.

Postby fastgsx » Fri Sep 26, 2014 10:57 pm

Very sad!! My favorite course by far. Although, TBD is a close 2nd in my book!
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Re: SPC - R.I.P.

Postby rojeho » Fri Sep 26, 2014 11:09 pm

My suggestion is that the leaders of the club draft a very polite thank you letter to him and the board or whatever the main group of their leaders is. Be gracious and don't ask for anything. Thank them for the years of use and support and explain the schools we did and how we feel that we are better road drivers because of our time there. It won't get us anything short term, but it is more than most users will do and might give us first chance to come back. Maybe even an offer of a demo day in the future to meet our group and see what we do.
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Re: SPC - R.I.P.

Postby Loren » Fri Sep 26, 2014 11:19 pm

Classy idea, Ron. I like it.

Kudos to Steve, and to Janice at Hernando County Airport. Steve was able to get on the phone this afternoon, and Janice was willing to help us schedule the dates that we needed almost immediately. It sucks to have to run most of our events at the same site... but, I'm thankful that we still have Brooksville as an option, and they're pretty good to work with.
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Re: SPC - R.I.P.

Postby Charles » Fri Sep 26, 2014 11:39 pm

Any other potential sites kicking around these days? Afraid that only Subarus will be able to run there soon with the condition of that runway :-)
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Re: SPC - R.I.P.

Postby Charles » Fri Sep 26, 2014 11:40 pm

Thanks Steve..
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Re: SPC - R.I.P.

Postby Loren » Fri Sep 26, 2014 11:45 pm

Charles, we've stoked the fires under our Site Acquisition Committee to see if we can come up with another site soon. There are actually a few potential options. It's just a matter of finding out who to talk to, and then convincing them that we're safe and well-insured and worth the little bit of money we can afford to pay them to rent their place for a day. If that sounds easy, it's not.

But, we're looking. (we're always looking... but, we're looking harder right now)
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Re: SPC - R.I.P.

Postby garage west » Sat Sep 27, 2014 7:18 am

rojeho wrote:My suggestion is that the leaders of the club draft a very polite thank you letter to him and the board or whatever the main group of their leaders is. Be gracious and don't ask for anything. Thank them for the years of use and support and explain the schools we did and how we feel that we are better road drivers because of our time there. It won't get us anything short term, but it is more than most users will do and might give us first chance to come back. Maybe even an offer of a demo day in the future to meet our group and see what we do.
Look at the big brain on Ron! This is a really good idea.
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Re: SPC - R.I.P.

Postby Native » Sat Sep 27, 2014 8:13 am

Yes it is a good idea. I kinda did that on the phone with the person i spoke to yesterday, but i will email the entire crowd ala Ron's suggestion.
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Re: SPC - R.I.P.

Postby BrandLoyal » Sat Sep 27, 2014 8:40 am

My first autocross was at SPC and was part of the reason I became "hooked" Hopefully the other clubs follow the advice Ron gave. Maybe the new provost will see the 400+ people impacted.

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Re: SPC - R.I.P.

Postby Tim_M » Sat Sep 27, 2014 10:37 pm

That is real unfortunate...my favorite location that is nearest and a fun drive to and fro.

Don't we have connections in the Police to muscle the Provost? j/k...seriously, we used to have a training police candidate as part of our clan...drove a red, supercharged Miata, if I recall correctly.

Brooksville is not my cup of tea for every autocross...an endless slalom...which Jeremy does so well at.
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Re: SPC - R.I.P.

Postby Loren » Sat Sep 27, 2014 11:05 pm

Carl is now a cop with the City of Clearwater. I don't imagine he has any pull at SPC.

Hopefully, one of the other sites we've been working on will pan out soon. Meanwhile, be glad that we at least have Brooksville. Any autocross site is better than none.
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Re: SPC - R.I.P.

Postby lddavis91 » Mon Sep 29, 2014 12:45 pm

Booooooooooooooooo

Though Brooksville is my favorite site, SPC was really convenient and fun for a change of pace.
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Re: SPC - R.I.P.

Postby jesup16 » Mon Sep 29, 2014 1:10 pm

SPC was my first autocross experience :lust: and is the closest regular site to those of us in the boonies of Sarasota. I love Brooksville, but do get burnt out sometimes with all the FAST and other club events there.

It's unfortunate, but maybe a necessary evil :x for us to try to secure a better (grippier and bigger) site in the Tampa area. Don't be afraid to cold-call into some place/org if we don't have a contact. If someone isn't comfortable, just give me the phone number and I'll get a face-to-face setup somewhere.
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Re: SPC - R.I.P.

Postby Carracer » Mon Sep 29, 2014 3:04 pm

My first event was at SPC, sad to see it gone.
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Re: SPC - R.I.P.

Postby blacksheep-1 » Mon Sep 29, 2014 3:28 pm

rojeho wrote:My suggestion is that the leaders of the club draft a very polite thank you letter to him and the board or whatever the main group of their leaders is. Be gracious and don't ask for anything. Thank them for the years of use and support and explain the schools we did and how we feel that we are better road drivers because of our time there. It won't get us anything short term, but it is more than most users will do and might give us first chance to come back. Maybe even an offer of a demo day in the future to meet our group and see what we do.


and if that doesn't work, we walk into his office with a flame thrower...

srsly getting tire of hearing the "liability excuse" when in fact, there is little exposure once the waiver is signed. I was president of a kart club that got sued along with the race track, once the waiver was introduced, the case was tossed.
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Re: SPC - R.I.P.

Postby Loren » Mon Sep 29, 2014 3:33 pm

FYI, Steve sent a very nicely worded email to them this morning thanking them for many years of service.

Keep in mind that they don't "owe us" anything, and it serves us in no way to get angry with them. Someday -- maybe soon, maybe not -- we may rekindle our mutually beneficial relationship with SPC and get access to this site again.
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Re: SPC - R.I.P.

Postby nathanwilliams617 » Mon Sep 29, 2014 4:53 pm

SPC was my first also, the challenge of getting my big girl to not slide all over the place was welcomed. SPC will definitely be missed. On the flip side, with this as motivation, I'm looking forward to what the FAST committee will acquire next!

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