May 13th - Brooksville

[Native]

Fantastic! Jeff did a marvelous job as event Chair, and an even better one considering it was his first time. Good job! He was helped by a cast of, well, not thousands, but there was a lot of good assistance, and several folks went out of their way, literally, to do so.

Happy Mothers' Day and a big thanks to all the moms who supported our event today by letting the kids out to play, and/or by coming along. Yay, MOMs!

We were also treated to a visit by our local One Lap of America champs, Loren and Jeff, who stopped by for a little back-patting and a few fun runs on their way home. Congrats, again, guys.

It was brought to my attention that some folks had concerns about Loren and Jeff's visit. They asked permission before they came, so if anyone is upset with them, please redirect it over here. It was a judgement call, and as such, not everyone can necessarily be pleased. I admit I didn't communicate it well, and for that I apologize. I'm willing to discuss it further, either here or in PM/email, if anyone feels the need.

For those who were unable to make it, imagine a 10:40 start, a real lunch break, and done by 2:30. Oh, did I mention 8 runs on a smooth and fast course?! Woohooo!

Man, I love this stuff!

Who wants to chair next month?

[d_rasp]

Yeah, that event was JUST RIGHT!!! Granted, I showed up lateish, but the day moved at an excellent pace, I enjoyed the heck out of my new Honda, I got to spend a little time with the new computer timing interface & went home right as I was starting to feel tired.

For me, seeing Loren & Jeff "do their thing" was awesome. The One-Lap wouldn't be easy to spectate, and it was cool to see a little of what they've been preparing for all these months & doing for the last week. I can't imagine a reason we wouldn't, as a club, want to have them at the tail-end of our lunch break.

Hooray everybody!

[Dave-ROR]

Another successful event

Course was awesome, pretty fast (no more than 60mph of course ) and flowed very well. It was good to see a lot of novice's again too... maybe another novice school is in order this year if that keeps up?

Anyways, thanks to everyone who worked/helped out/etc, and especially to Ryan for 1) bringing the trailer, 2) helping to setup the course, 3) helping in tech, 4) helping to tear down the course, 5) taking the trailer "home", 6) all the work he did to the trailer before the event and 7) whatever the hell else he did.

We did have a few difficulties during the second run group, cones not being reported to the person writing on the board, a switch in the person writing on the board and most importantly some potentially dangerous situations where flags were either not waved at all, or so far off the course that we didn't even notice so the driver would have never noticed. That may need to be reinforced some more next time. All of these were resolved pretty quickly except for the flag issue, despite a few radio calls (by dan and by jamie) on the issue.

In the end though, no on-course incidents so it was a good day

See ya all in July.

[Loren]

I can see how our mysterious appearance would be a bit "bewildering" to those who didn't know who we were or what we were doing there. We did our best to get in and out as quickly as possible... and I even picked up my own downed cone!

Great course, btw. Very fun! Fast, but not too fast. Challenging, but not difficult to follow.

[Dave-ROR]

I can see how our mysterious appearance would be a bit "bewildering" to those who didn't know who we were or what we were doing there. We did our best to get in and out as quickly as possible... and I even picked up my own downed cone!

Great course, btw. Very fun! Fast, but not too fast. Challenging, but not difficult to follow.

I have to admit I was a bit annoyed at the removal of everything in the car in the grid area, but I understand it more after reading your post in the other section. It was good to see you two though and congrats on the 2nd place!

[Loren]

Our intent WAS to make a spectacle of what we were doing, and as you saw, we had the car unloaded in about 5 minutes, and reloaded in less than 10. We'd been doing that all week! The first day there were 3 events at 3 different locations, we had to do it THREE times that day! I was really glad I'd taken the time to invest in those bins and consider how things would fit in the car in advance, it really payed off.

One Lap is an incredible experience, I highly recommend doing it. I expect I'll be doing it again.

[Alizarin]

Seeing that Loren appears to be up and about, I guess I'd better get some results over his way

[Loren]

Seeing that Loren appears to be up and about, I guess I'd better get some results over his way

I don't expect I'll be up TOO late this evening. Copy Steve on them, he can post them up as well as I can. He's "the man", don'cha know.

Glad to hear the timing system is coming along, too. Good job, guys!

[Anonymous]

Shut down area was too small. I think I flat spotted my brand new tires trying to get stopped on my first run with cold tires . Also with 8 runs in a row, my last 2 laps were on glazed pads making it even more dangerous. Every run was a challenge for me to get stopped and make the exit of the chute in time. Poor design of that area.

Everything else was pretty good though. Fun course and the event went pretty smooth and quickly with the short course.

Would have liked to have seen the PA fired up. Then I wouldn't have to run to the trailer after every run to see my times. That would also help clear up any miscommunication about cone penalties that was mentioned above.

[rippin mazda]

Was a success IMO. Dave deserves alot of credit too, since he busted his butt in the morning and stayed to very end to help with break down. I didnt pay much attention to Loren and JEff emptying the car at first, but than realized that everything not bolted down was on the pavement in minutes I was impressed to say the least. :shock:

Good Course, Good People, Good times, Good night....

Ryan

[Loren]

While I didn't find it problematic, I did think that the braking area after the finish was too short... and what I saw looming large as I finished was a parked Miata. Definitely an area that could have used better planning.

[kickslop]

My natural inclination is to comment in detail about what's been mentioned, but I don't think there's anything to be had from that.

So:

Thanks for all the great help from everyone. I don't like doing this because it can make other helpers feel less appreciated (truly not the case), but I want to point out that Dave-ROR and rippin mazda (Ryan) worked their ASSES off from ~7AM to Trailer Leaving. And Brian (solar 90GT/03Si) and Charles also went above and beyond.

Sorry the braking area was a problem for some.

[Jamie]

I can see how our mysterious appearance would be a bit "bewildering" to those who didn't know who we were or what we were doing there.

Probably would have been better announced (and played up) at the drivers' meeting, rather than as it was happening...at 10am though, we weren't sure exactly when or even if Loren and Jeff were going to make it. As it was, the timing was perfect.

Shut down area was too small...Every run was a challenge for me to get stopped and make the exit of the chute in time.

Point taken...and please bring observations like that up prior to the event start if you have them. We should be ultra-conservative about post-finish runout room, given the narrow space we have to work in.

Anyways, thanks to everyone who worked/helped out/etc, and especially to Ryan for...whatever the hell else he did.

Beating me in my own car by a full second...at least I know there's more speed in the car....

We did have a few difficulties during the second run group, cones not being reported to the person writing on the board....

As a reminder, the times on the board are completely unofficial, and the board itself is expendable if the timing crew gets really busy inside. I'll also admit I normally assign a novice as the writer, with hopes that watching and listening to the action in the trailer will teach and interest a few in working timing...we need to grow that talent.

potentially dangerous situations where flags were either not waved at all, or so far off the course that we didn't even notice so the driver would have never noticed.

This is why I make sure there's at least one non-novice at each station...evidently that broke down a bit.

Some insight: the "novice" designation has no competitive meaning within FAST -- we don't run a separate novice class. It's really an aid to identifying those people who may want or need assistance sometime, and to help in distributing worker assignments to insure as smooth an event as possible. I intentionally pick experienced people for timing, starter, and grid, because those three positions more than any others determine the pace of an event. I also tend to put novices in as writer (a timing crew assistant) and grid assistant (if there's a body available) to try and grow experienced people for the key positions. At the course stations, having an experienced person or people in the group is supposed to provide guidance to novices working the course. By-and-large, this seems to work...but maybe we need to make it a drivers' meeting reminder to make sure it's explicit.

One other item: a driver came to me during the second run group and mentioned a courseworker appeared to motion him to slow down as he approached a cone that wasn't reset. Sounded odd to me, but that's why I radioed a reminder during a generator fuel pause. There are only two speeds on course any driver will recognize during an active run: as fast as possible, and (if flagged) full stop. If a courseworker can't reset a cone before a car gets there, get out of the way. The driver has the option of stopping for the downed or out-of-place cone and getting a rerun, or continuing and hoping that the courseworkers don't mistake the cone as freshly knocked down and call it in against him. There's no need to flag the car for nothing more than a downed cone, and no driver on a timed run will recognize a signal to slow down!

That's fine-tuning, though -- important, because we don't want any incidents, but easily fixed. Another important fact is that we got cars off roughly every 21-22 seconds throughout the event -- that's very good, and reflects on a good course design and everyone's hard work. 20 second spacing is considered about as fast as possible for an autocross, and few events achieve it. Couple that up with the timing improvements we tested out today, and we'll continue making FAST events the envy of the Tampa area!

[Loren]

Well said, Jamie. And a 21-22 second start interval is VERY impressive. Any crew that can keep up with that definitely has a good system.

Here are the results that Kenny just sent to me:
http://wedrivefast.com/Results.cfm" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

[Anonymous]

My personal best is wrong. I hit 2 cones on that run.

[muddy]

Got video. http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid ... 7697501999

[Miata GT]

Nice run! That course was a lot more fun that it would have seemed on paper. You guys keep coming up with these great courses!

I am continuously happy to see more and more new people showing up to the meets!

[Native]

We actually extended the shut down area on setup. One of these days, we'll get it right.

Maybe we ought just put a minimum size on it - what - at least 150 feet past the lights? 175?


A couple of questions on results for points - Ryan and Jamie shared the same car, so both should be in C, right?

Bill Smith - coulda sworn he said he was on race tires - is he classed correctly?

[d_rasp]

Bill is on race tires. I assure you. He goes in 'A'.

And yes, Jamie & Ryan should both be in 'C'.

[Dave-ROR]

Shut down area was too small. I think I flat spotted my brand new tires trying to get stopped on my first run with cold tires . Also with 8 runs in a row, my last 2 laps were on glazed pads making it even more dangerous. Every run was a challenge for me to get stopped and make the exit of the chute in time. Poor design of that area.

I just figured it was my track pads not warming up enough to stop the car, maybe it was too short though.

Anyone know how long it was? maybe add anohter 50 feet to it? Or use a box to slow people down before the finish line... but that adds in some hazards in regards to people hitting the timing gear..