nivek2002

Having a novice class or somthing to that effect sounds good to me.

But IMO the club needs to reach out to more S2000 owners, ive met alot that didnt even know about NTS2KOC. I followed a GPW S through Mineral Wells a couple months ago to their house just to tell them about it and invited them to come check out the race - no show. I know there are tons of owners over in the Abilene region, everytime I go I see 2-3 S2000's. I dont know if you could get a list or just have to do it the old fashion way of spot and follow LOL but that to me is the first issue.

Photodavo

The S2KCA provides members with "join the S2KCA" laminated cards that can easily be left on the windshield of an S you may happen across in a praking lot. Just one more way to spread word about the club. I suppose we could do something similar to try to get the word out to potential members in the area. What do you think Clovis? I would think the cost would be relatively minor.

AATees

I keep running into S2K owners with "first event jitters". We need to get them over the hump and behind the wheel, eating cones with the rest of us. I don't think the classification of "Novice" is deragatory to a beginner. I think it takes the pressure off.

I always tell a novice that "sure I spin, I eat cones, I miss gates. No harm, no foul, much fun".

Regards,

Al "Not a Novice, Just Slow"

Photodavo

That's why I would really like to see the NTS2KOC put on an informal school for novice drivers. I took the advice of Clovis and took the PCA school (autox 101) and it was very helpful. However, I don't think my instructor had ever been in an S2000 and Pennington is just so different.

Now, I know that the PCA also put on a second school that was held at Mineral Wells but my schedule didn't allow it. In addition, I think I would benefit even more with instruction from drivers more familiar with the dynamics of the S2000.

I would be willing to pay more for the one-on-one attention as well. We certainly have many drivers in the Club that have the experience to instruct us novices if they would be willing to donate some of their time in exchange for some free track time. Just my thoughts...anyone else?

marcucci

The novice class should include all drivers, not just S2k's. If you are worried about the mixing of vehicles diluting the points, then you do not belong in a novice class in the first place.

As for a group event, renting out MW is $250 plus you have a similar cost for insurance. The club cannot host an event that is not insured. I have argued with David for a long time that those who help setup should get in free. Unfortunately we could not afford to host a 40-person event if that were the case, we would need to have many more attendees than that.

I would suggest that anyone who wants a school go to the PCA or a simialar event; they do them annually and do a very good job. We ALWAYS have instructors on hand at an event though people rarely use them. The three people I asked at the last even while working grid that were newbies didn't want them.

RyanDL

For those of us who don't have S2Ks, yes, I think there should be an allowance for other models. To make it fair, you could simply limit the non-S2Ks to a much smaller number of entrants (ie. - 3 non-S2K max. and 10 S2K max.).

If an event costs $500, even 20 cars at $25/ea. would cover the cost. To make money, you'd obviously have to have more cars or higher entry fees.

It might be worth taking a poll of people to determine if this would be a good idea. Heck, I might even be interested in signing-up -- you can always learn something from another person. While people say they're available to instruct/ride along at events, it's typically a bit hectic to track someone down as you're preparing for a run. I'm sure there is a much higher stress level for newbies trying to cope with event jitters and finding an instructor at their first event. The experienced folks forget that even though we might be comfortable in knowing where to be and when, less experiences folks may not.

I am for a novice event/school.

Ryan

AATees

I respectfully disagree. This is the North Texas S2000 Owners Club and we should be doing everything possible to encourage the participation of S2000 owners.

While I appreciate the participation of other cars, and many such as yourself have been invaluable to the success of the events, the optimum for us in my opinion would be Auto-X's with the vast majority of the entrants being S2000s. I think any perks, discounts and other inducements should be reserved for members of the NTS2KOC first (some of which are non-S2Ks), other S2000 owners next, and others only as a distant third.

My goal was to encourage participation of Novice S2000 drivers. If we want to form a separate Novice Other class, thats a different topic, and not a proposal I would support.

I don't want other car owners to feel unwelcome, but the NTS2KOC will live or die based on our love of this finest of sportscars. We need to continually encourage participation of new S2000 owners or we will fade away like so many other clubs.

Regards,

mxt_77

I agree with Gregg's comment. I don't think it is necessary to have a Novice class, I just think that it's important that Novices feel welcome. It's tough to do, because most of the people that would normally be "welcoming" or helping out the novices are having to take care of course setup and timing & scoring and don't have time to spend with the newbies.
It's up to all of us to help make new people feel welcome. Chat with them in the pits, talk to them while corner working. Offer them feedback (constructively) and ask them if they are having trouble with any particular spots on the course. And feel free to share the spots that you are having trouble with. Sometimes, you can help make them be more comfortable just by letting them know that they aren't the only ones struggling with parts of the course.

altiain

[QUOTE=AATees,Jul 26 2004, 08:04 AM] I respectfully disagree.

AATees

I wanted to agrue with you, but I really can't. All of your points are valid.

It is very important to the long term success of the club to continually bring in new members. I offered my suggestion to target novice S2000 drivers as a tool to encourage new participants. If adding a Novice S2000 class won't do that, then there's no point to it, especially if our non-S2K clientele feel slighted.

This is not about Auto-Xing or Miata bashing. If more bluebonnet tours would bring in more S2000s, I would have suggested that.

Regards,