Da Groj

Okay, the first (and hopefully last) round of invitations has been sent out to all FAST members, and stunningly, none of them have bounced yet. (how often do you send email to 55 people without a bounce???) The list will be included at the end of this post. If you're not on the list and you think you should have been, first check event results and see if you've competed in 4 events in the past 12 months... if so, send me a list of events you've attended. If you're on the list and didn't get an invitation email from me, first check your spam filter to see if it's there... if it's not, then let me know.

There are a total of 55 folks that Steve tells me are FAST members. If enough of those people register, we'll leave it at that. If not enough of them have registered after about a week, we'll send out a second round of invitations to "almost members" who have attended 3 FAST events.

Something that some of you might think about This is a double-elimination tournament. To set up functional brackets, each class must have an absolute minimum of three drivers in it. Classes E and G are huge, no problem there. I'd be surprised if any of the other classes D through J don't have at least 4-5 entries, so no problem there. But, classes A, B, C and R will each be struggling to make a class.

I expect we'll end up having one combined "race tire" class. If you're in a race tire class and don't like the idea of competing against ALL of the race tire guys, you might give some consideration to competing in a different vehicle (or on different tires) to compete in a class that won't get bumped. You get the most out of this kind of event when you have good competition, that's what it's all about. Remember, this event doesn't count toward the season championship, so you don't "lose" anything by competing in a different class. Of course, if you're comfortable running with the big dogs in that combined race tire class... more power to ya! (and classes A, C and R were within 3/10ths of each other at the last event, so this may be a complete non-issue)

If you DO get bumped, there is a provision in the rules for handicapping the lower-classed car to make it a little closer to fair. (the handicap is 25 feet, which is a little under half a second at 40 mph... if my math is correct... of course, it's taken at the start, so it may be worth even more time than that as it will get you to the first turn quicker)

Kart guys! Karts can't compete on course against cars for safety reasons, so you guys can't be bumped. I'd prefer that you compete in a car for this event, but if you REALLY want to bring the kart, you'll need to arrange for some competition! We need a minimum of two karts with a minimum of three drivers (and no more than two driver's per kart... that gets ugly in a hurry). We won't run karts if those minimums are not met. And, at least for now, all of the drivers will need to be FAST members.

FYI, if we end up with a couple really large classes and an equitable split can be made, we may split a larger class into two classes for this event!

Here's the invitation list:
Dave Balogh
Matthew Bennett
Jeff Blaine
Justin Brew
Mike Chawk
Ed Courtemanche
Victor Crichton
Ronald Croft
Jeremy Damico
John Edwards
Christina Edwards
William Flowers
Steven Frank
bob Gardelle
Kenneth Gardner
Timothy Grey
Brian Heintzman
Mike Houtz
Rydell Huff
Scott Hutton
Timothy Jay
Mark Jones
Mike Kennedy
Mario Kikic
Derek Knoth
Brian Kollar
Chris Kory
Rudy Kriebel
Nicholas Kriebel
Mark Lasota
Michael Long
ron Marchini
Timothy McArthur
Carl McKim
Jack Neely
Aaron Parke
Adam Parke
Merian Proctor
Daniel Rasp
Chuck Ray
Ryan Rossler
Nate Schirmer
Andrew Scoda
John Scott
Jamie Sculerati
Howard Sharf
Kyle Sokol
Charles Stowe
Jesse Switek
Bob Tamandli
Kimberly Taylor
Scott Wheeler
Loren Williams
Clinton Wilson
Randy Young

I'm afraid I'm going to have to politely decline the invitation for this event.

Thanks anyway, though

Derek Knoth

-meaty

I'm not 100% sure why he wanted to decline, though I had said I was going to if invited due to my being extremely slow... which doesn't make for being competitive in this type of event. I'm just not confident that I'm at a point I should be racing against another person, as far as my skills and speed are concerned. If someone thinks that's completely off base then let me know. But I'm uncertain about this event. (Great idea... just maybe not for me)

I'd still love to come and watch even if I don't drive though

Couple thoughts for you.

First, everyone gets at least two practice runs (read the rules, it's in there). If we keep the entries below 50, everyone will probably get three. That plus a minimum of two competition runs gives you 4 or 5 runs. That's not so bad, right?

Second, the brackets will be seeded so that the "slowest" drivers aren't going up against the "fastest" drivers in the early rounds. There's a good chance that anyone can win an early round, and winning = more runs! This format lends itself to people choking under pressure, so the faster car/driver does not always win!

Third, the format is just plain fun. You can SEE your opponent as you approach the finish. The time doesn't matter. You could be having an awful run, but if your opponent has made mistakes too... the finish can still be close. And even if you don't finish first... if you finish clean and your opponent wiped out three cones, YOU WIN. No match is over until it's over!

But, no arm-twisting. Y'all can sit out if you want. 8)

Thanks for the invite and i will accept

Registration is now open for those who have been invited.

I'm registered, and you're not.

I'm in. Need to spend the weekend working on the car...

I'm just not confident that I'm at a point I should be racing against another person, as far as my skills and speed are concerned. If someone thinks that's completely off base then let me know.

the format is just plain fun.

I'm not gonna say you're completely off base, but I feel compelled to point out that even though we keep time, finishing position, points, and a season championship, it's for the fun of it, and if we stopped, very few people would object, as the whole idea is to just have a good time. If the idea of 5 or so runs at an autocross doesn't sound like fun, then sure, skip it. But, having done a BattleX before, it really is a rush sitting at the start lights and staring down your opponent (and I'm actually not a competitive person- no, really!). Win or lose, who cares, it a great time!

Just registered

Blacknot wrote:Just registered

Any chance I can borrow your car for my runs? My ex-S2000 drove away yesterday.

Anybody who registers in a shared car, please make note of who you're sharing with on your registration. This will help us arrange the brackets so that a stopwatch run-off isn't required unless both of you happen to make it to the finals.

It isn't that I'm in any of it for the competition (points etc) I only do this for fun. I'm just uncertain I suppose.

Though I realized something that may prevent from having to decide anyway... Derek and I are going to be at a Halloween event in Orlando the night before. So even though we'd plan to come and at least watch, I'm not sure about getting there early enough to drive.

Honestly, still not ruling either way yet.

this sounds very fun! i am in
see ya there!

Anyone want to let me drive their car? Something RWD with good street tires would be nice. 8)

This sounds like a good time! I'm in.

muddy wrote:Anyone want to let me drive their car? Something RWD with good street tires would be nice. 8)

What's wrong with your Miata?

solar 90GT/03Si wrote:

muddy wrote:Anyone want to let me drive their car? Something RWD with good street tires would be nice. 8)

What's wrong with your Miata?

It's slow.

I will be registering later in the week after I get paid again. Y'all know how that is.

meicalnissyen wrote:

Loren wrote:This format lends itself to people choking under pressure, so the faster car/driver does not always win!

I am totally moist in yhe loins

I may suck at car control, but you don't get good at code blue intubation by melting under pressure

But, no arm-twisting. Y'all can sit out if you want. 8)

I also suck at posting in forums