aronparsons

What, we can't have two loops that reuse the same part of the course three times without utilizing pointer cones? That was WW's first course this year for those that weren't there. They cut out one of the loops after the first run group (~20 seconds), so not everyone got to run the same course. I felt sorry for all the novices if that was their first exposure to autocross; it was the worst course I've driven in my life.

In any case, I'll see you guys out there on Sunday afternoon.

124Spider

[QUOTE=aronparsons,May 12 2007, 12:22 AM] What, we can't have two loops that reuse the same part of the course three times without utilizing pointer cones?

PedalFaster

Agreed on both points. I was apologizing to every novice I instructed, but I'm sure we're turned a bunch of novices off of autocross that day, perhaps forever.

Normally I don't like to pile onto people who make honest mistakes, but my understanding is that this wasn't an honest mistake. The course designer apparently received lots of feedback from experienced autocrossers before the event that the course would be a disaster, but apparently decided he knew better than they did.

aronparsons

You're right about possibly turning people off of the sport forever. A typical autocross course is fairly intimidating as a novice, so I can't imagine what it was like two weeks ago. That was the first course in a long time that actually had me thinking about where to actually go versus what the best line was (for the first run at least).

It's even worse knowing that he received advice from seasoned drivers and didn't take any of it. While a little off topic, if that group's future is in automotive engineering and they can't take advice from those who have the experience, they may be in for some turmoil down the road.

Hopefully today's event will be managed better; most of you are probably already out there though.

mikegarrison

That's a common failing of engineering students. Once they get out of school, though, they usually learn really quickly that advice from people with experience is like gold. Maybe this course designer just learned that.

lig

Since I was the official "Event Chair" today I won't tolerate any bad-mouthing of the auto-x today.

All I can say is that I thought the course was fun and pretty easy to find and I know that all the chiefs worked really hard to make it a great event.

4 runs for all and finished by 4:30.

mikegarrison

Who laid out today's course? It was unsafe, hard to drive, and no fun. That guy was an idiot!

(Spent the day with Mom and Grandma. What a good son I am....)

It was unexpectedly cold down here in the southlands (Auburn). We had an afternoon supper outside anyway, but we were all wearing jackets. (Guess we were stubborn.) What was it like out on the course?

lig

You *are* a good son.

I am in Sales and Marketing - my mom gets her celebration next weekend.

Less crowded and better service, right Ma?

I had to fire the Chief of Weather. My car got dirty today due to driving it in the rain.

mikegarrison

My mom wants to go out to lunch with me next weekend, but only because I'll be in Naples. She's jealous. Me, I'm nervous. I don't speak any Italian.

Rain? It was sunny down here. Cold, but sunny.

124Spider

It was a fine event. Well, except for the weather. I arrived at around 10:30, and it was pouring. Not just raining, but pouring. I almost turned around and went home. By 11, it had slowed to a mist, and I decided to put the slicks on. Jeff fired the chief of weather, but the damage was done.

I was course control for the first PM session, and I thought I'd freeze before the session was over. The course dried out pretty well by the end of the second afternnon session.

It was a fun course--not easy to drive fast, but easy to find.

Thanks. Jeff, for a job well done.