Novice School 2010

[Native]

Excellent event. Congrats to Chris the rookie school chair, to all the students who quite obviously improved over the course of the day, and to the instructors and other voluteers who worked together flawlessly and helped pull the whole thing together! The school, and FAST as a whole, works so well because of the people.

Hope all the students had a terrific day, learned a lot about their cars, their driving skills and how to be better drivers, and met some great folks as well.

[Tim_M]

Ditto...well run event that seemed to have very little dead time...finding a chance to take a potty (I've got little ones) was even a challenge.

Thanks for the opportunity to be a ride along!

[snookwheel]

A fantastic FAST School! Great Job Chris. We met a lot of new folks and are looking forward to seeing the 'before vs. After' times! It sure looked like a different group watching the afternoon runs, a LOT of improvement. Have a blast tomorrow putting your newly honed AutoX skills into play!

Cone shagging team of Scott and Mary.

[Loren]

What Steve said.

And What Scott said. I sat back and watched in awe at how well the entire group as a whole drove the course in the afternoon with NO instructors riding along with any of them as far as I could tell. It was all them and what they'd learned today. Awesome!

Great job of organizing, rolling with the changes, and holding it all together, Chris!

[jdr_racer]

Today was fantastic everyone!!! I really did learn a lot! Chris this event went off w/ out a problem. Thanks to all of the corner workers!!! Ready to run tomorrow!

[BigBlue]

I just want to say thanks again to all those that made today possible for the students. Chris, the instructors and the course workers all made it a great day.

Speaking for myself, the amount of knowledge that I left with this afternoon was incredible compared to the lack of knowledge that I arrived with this morning.

I am really looking forward to tomorrow and I look forward to seeing many of the cool folks I met today.

What a great experience!

Ron Rice

[nc4me]

I just want to thank everyone for your kind words about the event. As you can probably tell from today and will for sure know, if you continue to attend FAST events. Is that what makes FAST events so great, are the people. When I accepted the invite to chair this event. I was amazed at how fast(no pun intended) everyone was willing to volunteer for the school, both as instructors and course workers. Since I have been with FAST for 1 1/2 years now. I knew that today would go well, because of how great the FAST community is. With that being said.

I would like to thank all of the students that attended today's event. I hope that you found it to be knowledgeable and fun. I look forward to seeing many of you for tomorrows event. Just remember that pre-registration for tomorrows event was not required. So, if you didn't pre-register, fear not. You can always show up between 7:00 and 8:30 for walk-up registration. If you would like to look at the course map for tomorrow. It's posted in the upcoming section of the forum, under the Feb 21st thread. Tomorrows event will be more casual and I look forward to having more time to speak to you and get to know you better. See you tomorrow.

Chris Meier

[puncturina]

Thanks to all the instructors for giving up a Saturday to help us clueless ones.

Note to safety people. I could have been seriously injured by an out-of-control guy ripping through the finish line and into the start area. He narrowly missed my car and several others.

Maybe the finish chute should not allow people to cut back toward the starting lineups.

:shock:

[Loren]

Thanks to all the instructors for giving up a Saturday to help us clueless ones.

Note to safety people. I could have been seriously injured by an out-of-control guy ripping through the finish line and into the start area. He narrowly missed my car and several others.

Maybe the finish chute should not allow people to cut back toward the starting lineups.

:shock:

I gave that finish some consideration, but figured that if it needed attention one of the 12 instructors that rode along with folks in the morning would have said something about it. I never actually got into a car on course today!

It is definitely a poor finish layout... the whole course is pretty bad, really, as it's just stringing together all of the practice elements. Maybe it's time to revise the course for next year? Or maybe, as has been suggested by more than a few, we should try doing our school at Brooksville next time. There's a lot more space available there... just not as close to civilization and without the amenities of SPC.

[Native]

^^^ One of the concepts that we try to teach the students, and about which we frequently have to remind regular attendees, is that once the front of your car breaks the finish light beam, shut it down quickly. People have a tendency to blast through the finish lights, which is fine, but then they keep going, which is not.

While we'd like to have everyone do everything right every time, that's just not realistic, which is where the entire Safety/Course review process comes in. And SPC is a small site, so we tend to "push the envelope" when it comes to courses to get the most out of the space. But that also requires everyone to be on their toes about safety.

Not that it matters, but between tweaking the school full course finish (or the whole thing) and doing the school in Brooksville, I'd vote for the first one.

[Loren]

I'm inclined to think that SPC is a better site for the school, and I'm willing to revamp the course map while everything is fresh in my mind. (we've been using this same map for 3 years, and we make the SAME mistakes every year because nobody remembers the "deviations" we made the prior year!)

But, maybe an informal poll is in order? If you were a student at this school, would you have attended it if it were at Brooksville instead of SPC? While you're at it... would you have paid $80-90 rather than $60? (believe it or not, the club loses quite a bit of money on this event at $60... of course, we budget and plan for it, and it's been our choice to do it this way)

[Native]

lol. let's make it a fair, informal poll, presuming the potential student doesn't know:

Brooksville is a runway at Hernando County Airport. Flat concrete. Much bigger and spread out than SPC. No shade, tables, running water. Port-o-let bathroom.

It would be really cool if you wanted to revise the school course - makes sense to do it now, as you pointed out. THanks.

[Tim_M]

Note to safety people. I could have been seriously injured by an out-of-control guy ripping through the finish line and into the start area. He narrowly missed my car and several others.

puncturina: Your concern if completely valid. The finish was 'nonstandard' and required individuals to apply brakes immediately after breaking the finish beams (ideally in a straight line). The car in question was one that gained a high rate of speed thru the finish (good), but continued the turn toward the grid (bad)...the ABS did not allow full pressure due to the max grip turn thus the long drawn out stop. I've experienced the same thing when going off a road circuit into gravel...ABS is a nearly a hindrance...little to no braking! Nonetheless, the individual was briefed on a better technique and we moved the grid as far forward away from the finish to mitigate.

In the future, I would suggest that all need to come to a complete stop (full ABS, if applicable and in a straight line) after the finish beam...this is a good habit allowing themselves to regain their senses (after coming off an adrenaline/speed rush on course) and continuing to grid at an idle speed transit.

Loren: I could have sworn we watched a three-wheeled, tomato on course at least once yesterday...

[Loren]

Loren: I could have sworn we watched a three-wheeled, tomato on course at least once yesterday...

That was Jeff. He said "I don't think I've ever driven the Yaris on course", so I handed him the keys.

[Gregbj8]

As a student at the Novice School I want to thank EVERYONE who gave up a Saturday to teach us some much needed skills. I have attended both SCCA and FAST solo events and you guys can't be beat. Yesterday was an example of what you put back into the sport.

I have been to events at Brooksville and SPC (and live in Lakeland) and I would vote for future schools at SPC. The amenities are much better.

Greg Riching

[Jamie]

SPC is a very atypical autocross site...shade, real bathrooms. It is pretty ideal for the school.

[PaboShon]

But, maybe an informal poll is in order? If you were a student at this school, would you have attended it if it were at Brooksville instead of SPC? While you're at it... would you have paid $80-90 rather than $60? (believe it or not, the club loses quite a bit of money on this event at $60... of course, we budget and plan for it, and it's been our choice to do it this way)

I do really like the amenities at SPC. A real bathroom and running water sure goes a long way. Furthermore, I felt that the lecture portion of the school was critical to my learning experience. Learning about the circle of friction and how to control the arc of a turn was great. I don’t think that Brooksville could support that class room environment as well.

I am sorry to hear that the group took a loss by only charging $60. After being through the school, I believe it was a worth every penny, if not more. However, I have to be honest and say that when I was first looking at signing up for the school, the $60 fee felt a little steep. Once I realized that I was getting a discount off the next day’s autocross, the weekend started feeling really cheap. Knowing that I was getting the next day discount, I would have paid a little more for the school.

I thought the course was great with the exception of the problems that occurred with the finish. Before the major incident happen, I had noticed people coming through the finish hot and turning into the grid. This made me nervous, but I didn't say anything. I guess this is an example of how even a novice should speak up when it comes to safety. If the chute would have been longer like it was for Sunday’s autocross, things would have been fine.

Lastly, I can’t help but point out the fact that even after a car came skidding into the grid and almost took out two cars, nothing was done to evaluate what was going on up there and other students kept turning into the grid before slowing down. I know I have limited experience, but when that situation happen, I think it should have been red flag to stop and make some adjustments.

Thanks again for everything…I learned a lot.

[Loren]

If a tree falls in the forest and no one is around to hear it, does it make a noise?

If some safety-related problem occurs and the event safety official isn't around to see it...

somebody needs to say something.

Definitely a good point to bring up, Shon. As I mentioned, I never experienced yesterday's course and assumed that it was okay because 12 instructors had given it a pass. I never even walked all the way to the end of the grid area or near the finish, flat out didn't see what was set up down there. If someone, anyone at all, had come to me or Steve and said "I have a concern with how the finish is set up", we'd have gone down there, given it the eagle-eye and fixed the problem. Safety is EVERYONE's responsibility. Make it happen, y'all!

'nuff about that. Thanks for the kudos on the classroom stuff. Sometimes I wonder if I'm just boring people to death.

And, here's the link to the Top Ten Autox tips

(the one I was violating today in a couple places, was "turn earlier and less")

[puncturina]

I guess it should be emphasized that safety is everyone's job. Even after I could have had my legs amputated in a massive wreck, I did not say anything about the problem to anyone. I assumed the problem was obvious, and I also did not want to be a wuss and worrrywart.

Maybe everyone should be reminded that they can "stop the assembly line" any time.

Also, I should never have been standing between my car and my open car door. I'll never do that again.

[Loren]

I guess it should be emphasized that safety is everyone's job. Even after I could have had my legs amputated in a massive wreck, I did not say anything about the problem to anyone. I assumed the problem was obvious, and I also did not want to be a wuss and worrrywart.

Maybe everyone should be reminded that they can "stop the assembly line" any time.

Also, I should never have been standing between my car and my open car door. I'll never do that again.

Correct on all counts! We do point out who the safety people are at every driver's meeting and try to stress that any problem should be brought to their attention. But, once you've been to a couple driver's meetings, you don't hear most of what's said any more. (it's even worse after you've heard it well over a hundred times!)

Being conscious of where you're standing and where cars are moving is always a good plan. Stuff happens. Weirdest thing I've seen happen OFF COURSE at an autocross what some guy finished his run, pulled into the grid area, and was so excited at his awesome run that when he hopped out of his 911 to celebrate with his friends, he not only left the car running, but in first gear! The car chugged into the door of a new Camaro (for those who were around the autox scene in the late 90's, it was the final model year of the 1LE Camaro, and the guy who owned it was completely anal about it...). Could have been ugly had a person been in the wrong place.

Then of course, there are those times where parts fail on course and you end up with stuff like wheels rolling at you at 30 mph! Stuff does indeed happen at autocrosses.

Anyway, never be afraid to bring up a potential problem. "Worrywarts" are what keeps our sport safe. Wanna train for course safety? 8)