Da Groj

Looks like I get the first post! I didn't run today, but I did take a some pics. I used the "spray and pray" method, so some are better than others. 8)

http://jalbum.net/a/923288/" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

Some very big thank yous for a great day

To Loren for laying lots of groundwork and making it easy

To the core FAST group for all of the help. No matter what the request, I never heard "no," and many times I had offers before I even asked.

To everyone else that did more than the regular assignment - especially the clean up crew - you have no idea how much that help is appreciated. I wish that I could have made it around to everyone at the end of the day. You guys were awesome.


Ron

very very good day.. not bumps at all.. great photos up there.. lots of ? marks in it.. love some pics i saw cant wait to see the rest

Well done Ron! Both days were well run. Wish I could have ran today, but was glad I could help out and take some pix while I was at it.

The 500mm lens is taking some getting used to, but it's going to be a blast next weekend...
http://gwatdesigns.com/?p=159

I think I was supposed to be the event chairman today, but Ron did so much of the work that I forgot for most of the day! Last run group, Ron was driving, so I "wore the hat"... which consisted of holding a radio and watching from a comfortable position in the shade. Life is good!

Glad everyone enjoyed my somewhat experimental course. I never tried to do a "slalom" with that severe of a bend in it before. Worked out pretty well, I'd say. Simple... but not.

Thanks to everyone who did their part and especially those who did more than that. As a few of us know, it really sucks being one of 2 or 3 people stuck at the end of an event to clean up and pack up our entire program after being at the event all day and having been there since the crack of dawn. That hasn't happened in quite some time, and we appreciate it. The extra hands makes it all so much easier for all, and keeps it fun.

Great event. Can't wait to see some vids!

Post-event trailer inventory, thank you Brian:

3 cases regular pepsi
2 cases misc. Soda
No water
No marble dust
Plenty of paper and plastic products

Well, I lost to that darn Austin Green guy again, but I still had fun! Yellow_Colorz_PDT_08

However, I wish we could have gotten a few more runs in. I know everyone wants to get home, but it did feel like we had time "left over" at the end of the day. I'd like to error on giving people too much of a good time! Just my .02.

I am working on a video of all my runs and I will post that soon enough. Until then, I threaded the photos that muddy took of me gettin' all sloppy in my last run. I can't believe this thing didn't spin all the way around. I need some more suck less!

http://www.youtube.com/watch_popup?v=T-" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false; ... &vq=medium

Thanks again everyone!

Lost and found:

XL black Structure jacket
2 sweatshirts - nondescript
another sweatshirt hoodie - Aeropostale
Blue helmet bag
Helmet - closed face, no faceplate - was told it was Amy Baron's
insulated lunch bag - pink and gray, with tupperware and leftover lunch (lunch is garbage, tupperware is washed).

All will be at B'ville next month unless you arrange otherwise.

If the helmet is blue with a design on it, it may be ours. We will pick it up at the next event. Thank you for picking it up.

If I'd felt like sitting and crunching the numbers (time/entries/runs) during the first run group, I'd have probably opted to go ahead and do that 6th run. But, Ron had already run the math with Jamie and decided to trim to 5 runs. I could live with that.

Yeah, we got done early, but remember that an awful lot of us were out at the novice school on Saturday from 7am-5pm. This was our second day of fun-in-the-sun... plus an hour less sleep due to the time change. Getting done a little early was perfectly okay with us this time!

Buuuut, as always, if you don't like anything that the event chairman chose to do at the last event, you can sign up to chair the next one! 8)

PS: Y'all are still spoiled. When I started autocrossing, the "standard" was 4 runs. No more, sometimes less. Figuring out how to drive a course "cold" is part of the sport, and that's just the way it was. (if you go to the SCCA Solo Nationals, that's STILL the way it is... you get 3 runs and that's all) Our 6+ run events are a luxury. It's one that we like, and we try to do it whenever we can, but yano... 5 ain't so bad!

tl;dr - Back in my day, 4 runs was enough!

Updated Safety Rules

We've done a little housekeeping to make sure we're in line with our insurance regulations. All please look over the page linked above. You'll find clarification regarding where participants may gather, updated rules about children and pets (please note - neither are allowed at Brooksville), clarification of "passenger" "instructor" and "student," and more information/rules regarding use of roll bars. And more!

We will be making every effort to carefully monitor and hold up the regulations, so please be sure you know them and are able to comply. To better keep an eye on things, we've expanded the role of the Grid Marshal . Again, all please look over the page, so that you may know what expect from the Grid Marshal, or know what is expected if you volunteer to be the Grid Marshal.

Our goal of running high quality events that are safe and fun for all continues, and we hope you'll all help us out by reviewing the linked information and knowing what to expect at events.

yamaha731 wrote:If the helmet is blue with a design on it, it may be ours. We will pick it up at the next event. Thank you for picking it up.

It seems to be. HJC, right? It'll be there.

PaboShon wrote:However, I wish we could have gotten a few more runs in. I know everyone wants to get home, but it did feel like we had time "left over" at the end of the day. I'd like to error on giving people too much of a good time! Just my .02.

Don't take this as me taking offense because I completely understand. Call this more of the thought process of the chair for those that get the unenviable task of making the hard decisions.

During the first run group, it was taking 20 minutes to do a run cycle. The theoretical minimum was 15-16 minutes. At 20 minutes, 6 runs = 2 hours working course. We thought about what that would be like later in the day as it would get warmer. We knew that the later run groups were each a little bit smaller, and that almost swayed toward keeping 6 runs. At 2 hours per set, starting after lunch at 1 means group 2 is 1-3PM and group 3 is 3-5PM, and then cleanup after that. I felt that was a long day (daylight savings hour loss and school on Saturday) and made the call for 5.

As it was, we didn't stop cleaning up and resetting until 4:30. So it may have felt like an early end, but the group that finished up still put in a late-ish day.

One car at a time turned a short course into a long course since there was no overlap. I'm ok with it because I liked the different flow of this course.

PaboShon wrote:However, I wish we could have gotten a few more runs in. I know everyone wants to get home, but it did feel like we had time "left over" at the end of the day. I'd like to error on giving people too much of a good time!

Erring on the side of a good time also means taking care of the course workers, especially keeping in mind that some of our participants are...mature. (Yes, it's true, AARP is sending me applications!) Part of the enjoyment is not going home burned to a crisp and beaten to death by a work assignment.

Leave 'em with happy memories and wanting more....

What a great weekend. I'll state the obvious and say that the weather couldn't have been better. I had missed Feb's event, and it had been 2 long months - I was way overdue.

Really enjoyed the course. Short as it was, it's nice to have a solid second gear, smooth course at SPC. Well done. Of course, if I drove it better, I'd have liked it even more...

Thank you to everyone who helped put on the show, and as has been said, to all those who stayed around and helped clean up. It goes so quickly when there's enough help.

Looks like E2's gonna be a little tougher now. Somehow a non mustang won E2. :shock:

white hoodie is all mine.. i had two so i had one in hand and felt complete when i left.. i can get it from brooksville unless someone who might be at a miata meet before then has ahold of it

rojeho wrote:Don't take this as me taking offense because I completely understand. Call this more of the thought process of the chair for those that get the unenviable task of making the hard decisions.

sorry, didn't finish this thought. The little timing light incident also had me thinking of potential problems. Ending at 4 means that if you get behind 30-60 minutes - lots of reruns, big mechanical failure - you end at 5. But when the numbers add up to finishing at 5, an extra hour means that becomes 6PM before you even start cleaning up. I wasn't willing to take that risk today.