I really had a wonderful time at the autocross event at FedEx field today. It ran really smoothly with the exception of a two car collision on the course. Nothing too serious. Nobody was hurt.

Other than that, I loved the fact that I was able to meet everyone in my class for the first time. And I also loved the fact the pre-payment was able to get rid of registration. This allowed us to give 4 runs each to all 240 cars!

Great event today. I can't wait until the 14th!

drive safe,

aj

ps: some pictures will be up shortly

 

4 minutes of seat time for $25, or 65+ minutes of seat time for $99 and lots of beer and honda-challenge..... I know where i went

RJ - who will be @ fedex on the 14th because that chit's a blast too...

 

Can someone provide a link on where I can find out more information on what's going on July 14th? I want to get some more autoXing in before hitting the HPDS.

 

pictures are up:

http://www.imagestation.com/album/pi...?id=4291671147

enjoy!

 

If you want to come out to the event on the 14th, you should pre-register now and send in your check.

You can pre-register from http://www.autocrossers.org

good luck, hope to see you then,

aj

 

some aftermath pictures of the fender bender:

 

How the hell did that happen?!

Shut up Ryan, we all know Hyperfest was off the hook

 

The driver of the Porsche (a novice) got lost and came back down the course where he had just come from and into the path of the BMW. The Porsche owner admitted fault. Lining the course can help in situations like this but FedEx Field won't allow us to do so.

 

OUCH..I'm impressed the door glass stayed in one piece...That's a good hit...
F'n novices...I bet he showed up 20 minutes late for the driver's meeting also...Like this *** that almost caused a pileup at the finish line at the E-town event on Sat...

Jeff

edit [rant]

Who wishes he could TELL people to leave when they don't follow the f'n rules that were printed on the website 2 weeks in advance (REGISTRATION closes at 9:00!! )Then they have the nerve to tell me the web site said 9:30 even though the webmaster is sitting right next to me!!!


[Modified by jasyatz, 12:19 AM 7/1/2002]


[Modified by jasyatz, 12:20 AM 7/1/2002]

 

:fist in air:

hyper-BLING!

 

And were was the f'ing red flag? That's the onlty multi-car SoloII incident I've ever seen. Big, fast events are a noble goal, but not if that's what's gonna happen.

Hopefully there are some details at the MWCSCC mail list.

 

Was this in the afternoon? I don't remember it in the morning session. Given the course layout, I can see how a completely clueless person could get in the way of a following car before the flaggers could react. It would take a real effort, but it could be done.

I suspect that this will lead to more detail in the driver's meetings in future, and probably more instruction to the course workers. There were a lot of new faces there in the morning, and they probably need a little more schooling than the experienced.

 

Ugh. Insurance? Timed event?

re: course workers - I've only been to one event at FedEx this year, but at that event, there was no effort to match expereinced people w/ novices in the corners or to tell people how to exit the course if lost. W/ so many new people coming out, there should be a lot more effort placed in putting at least one experienced person at EVERY station. We had two at mine - and the next station had none... leading to someone running into the path of an oncoming car to reset a cone There should also be an effort to say - if you are lost and just want to come back, go THAT way.

 

If the novice was that lost, why did the starter release a car in the first place???

If the novice was that lost, why didn't any corner station immediately pull a red flag for the BMW, at the very least??? I'm sure at least part of is because no one at most of the corner stations is even holding the red flag, so it takes them too long to find it before they can display it. I have to "talk" at corner workers at NASA-Virginia events all the time about that lax attitude about corner working. The 1 second it takes to turn around, find the flag and pick it up could be the time needed to prevent a disaster.

Glad to hear everyone involved was okay. I've seen metal-to-metal at an autocross, and it's never pretty.... and honestly, the verbal (written?) aftermath is always more ugly than the sheet metal.

Got to see a C4 Corvette break a front hub at Oscoda this weekend. The only thing that kept the wheel on was the brake caliper. No total disasters except for my driving.

Karen

 

damn. i guess i shouldv'e stuck around. but that course wasn't hard at all! one of the easiest yet.... btw, while at my station i had the radio in the right hand, red flag in the left.... the whole time. except for when i was drinking water.....

god, that was horrible. i was only able to put in a 57.2 as a fast time. that SUCKED! considering Gabrial was in my class, that means i came in like 7th i think. time to get out of SM2. BMW M coupes and roadsters with vettes to back them up are too much competition for me. but then i end up in DM, with the caterham..... oh well...

 

I didn't see it, but can hypothesize what happened. The course was very loopy esses with no straights.

The Porsche was going through the left turn in the uphill right corner after passing the double gate for the first loop and went offcourse by coming back around for a second time instead of continuing on (think of a figure 8), smacking the BMW as it came through the double gate or thereabouts (LF hit RR, Porsche @ 8 o'clock on the top loop, BMW @ 11 o'clock on the bottom).

The hit happened no later than maybe 2-3 seconds after the Porsche was OC, and the BMW had already started. The BMW was looking left, and the Porsche wasn't expecting the BMW to pop into view all of a sudden. There was no flag station facing where the two cars were headed, which was the open stop garage and way further down the timing van. Granted it is mainly driver error, but things can be changed next time to hopefully prevent this.

>>>>>>>That blue AM thing is a Miata with some weight reduction. You're not seeing the rear (or lack thereof).


[Modified by 4WDrift, 4:33 PM 7/1/2002]

 

geez. that sucks about the 'contact' and that hit looks like it might have been pretty hard too??

but what i want to know is what is this?



oops. sorry, i havent learned how to post pics yet. try this:

http://www.imagestation.com/album/?i...4540275&idx=16


[Modified by sazemaster, 12:59 PM 7/1/2002]

 

I ran the event at FedEx yesterday, my first time with the WDCR but probably my 30th or so autox since I started running events again, after a 13 year layoff, last June about this time.

I ran STS, so ran in the morning and worked the very first group, but I was **immediately** made nervous by the dramatic "overlap" they were running. Like Karen so wisely notes, a corner worker should be ready with the flag already unfurled so as to run out at a moment's notice. I was ready and I can run pretty fast, but I realized early on that there was NFW I or really any of the course workers would be able to do something in time if a driver got REALLY lost. I didn't stick around for the PM session, but obviously that danger materialized in a big way. I'm glad nobody was hurt, but...

I am appreciative of how much work it is to put an event on, and I know they had a whole lot of cars, but honestly, they might just be better off cutting off the number of entrants. I would also note, secondarily, that although the site is nice, IMO it's certainly not **10 dollars** (25 entry fee vs. 15 for NASA / VMSC at VMP) nicer. I thought the place had a lot more space...I was kinda hoping for a reminder of the days of my youth autocrossing at Jack Murphy in San Diego...but honestly, this site is nowhere close.

IMO there was also insufficient time allotted for course walking (for the experienced people), and if there was a novice walk through, I sure didn't see it.

In keeping with my recent tradition of driving well one week only to stink up a 50 mile radius the next, I drove rather poorly to boot. Perhaps I'd better stick closer to the Blue Ridge Region

matt





[Modified by ingrahamm, 11:05 PM 7/1/2002]

 

That really sums up my feelings on the local autocross "scene" lately. Since I decided not to renew my SCCA membership this year, I will have to pay $30(!) for 4 measly runs at FedEx Field on the 14th. I'm not bitching, as there are many folks that LOVE the sport (and I am one of them), but then there are others that take this stuff way too seriously.

Autocross was certainly my gateway drug, but it's 'kinda' getting real old, real fast.

Mike-who's thinking "Honda-Challenge" after hopefully obtaining a Comp. license from NASA next year.

 

Hate to break it to you, but that is what ended my autox career....

 

>>I'm sure at least part of is because no one at most of the corner stations is even holding the red flag, so it takes them too long to find it before they can display it.<<

That brings to mind some things I've been thinking about. At our events it's policy to have the person holding the radio also hold the flag. Is that SCCA policy everywhere? What I'm wondering is if it would be a good idea to give ALL the corner workers a flag. Sure, it may result in a re-run or two from an "irresponsible flag waving incident", but it could also provide more accident prevention. One accident is worth a lot of re-runs...

Another thing I've been tossing around is a mandated stagger time for the starter to work from. Courses all have different requirements, but we could create a rule stating something like "there must be a minimum of xx seconds between each start". Then the club could invest in a cheap stopwatch, or simply have the starter keep an eye on his own watch for the first few runs in order to establish that each car has at least the mandated amount of time between them at the start. Within a couple of runs, they could focus their entire attention on the course, having spotted a "landmark" to use for the rest of the heat. Some courses may require even more stagger, but at least there would be an effort never to go below a certain minimum safe distance. Does that make sense?

 

please, explain more of this "honda-challenge" to me, mike. i'm interested. since i suck at autocross, i could probably do horrible on the track. but it sounds more fun......

 

I missed this one, but I'll be back out playin' on the 14th!!! See ya then AJ!!!

Dan

 

yippy! I was wondering where you were. hehe.

My best time was a 55.7.

This was probably my best autocross yet. I got second in GS and got FTD as a novice. So, I went home with my first two trophies! (For some of you veterans, that might seem like nothing, hehe)

take care, drive safe,

aj

 

Unfortunately, no, it's not even SCCA "policy" at the National level, though the people working those events are usually (not always!!) a little more conscientious about corner working (ie., they check cones even if they are wobbled, they have the red flag in hand, etc.). At National events where I am working course, I often see the radio/flag duties split up anyway -- that way, the radio person and the flagger both still have a hand free to **** cones. At least if I am the one on radio (and I often am if I'm on course), I have no qualms about chasing cones too.

Frankly, some people think they are "too good" to chase cones, but that's a whole 'nother thread right there.
More so than the course, drivers have different requirements. Cars have different requirements. Would you use the same interval between two Z06s as you would between an HS Civic and an AM BBR "Pod Racer"? Would you use the same interval between Joe Newbie in his AS C4 Corvette as you would between Chris Ramey and his AS C4 Corvette? I think at National events they do use a "minimum" stagger time (it's 20-25 seconds at a ProSolo, and the shot clock keeps the time), but the starter tries to make sure the course is ready to go. This past weekend, the shot clock sounded, and I waited another good 10-15 seconds before the lights came down because the car ahead of me had destroyed the first slalom and the workers were having difficulty putting the course back together. The problem at many local events that I've been to is that the starters can have a bit of "tunnel vision" when it comes to releasing cars. They are told to release cars at least 30 seconds apart, but all they hear is "release cars... 30 seconds apart." Next thing you know, the cars are released every 30 seconds, whether they are AM or HS, whether they are a newbie or a very fast veteran, whether the course workers are ready or not. Some starters will get into such a groove they won't even hear timing/control yell at them to "hold start" -- something I've seen happen at local events too many times, but fortunately not end up in an incident.

What I ask for at my events is that a little longer of an interval is given for the first runs. Generally, when people get seriously lost, it's on the first run. As a starter, you also should try to pay attention to what people do on each run. Say I have a guy who has spun on all his previous runs. I am going to give a little bit of extra time between him and the next driver because of that.

Experienced people should work certain jobs at an event, and starter is certainly one of them. When I dole out the worker assignments at the NASA-Virginia events, I often ask for the preference.... and starter is seen by some as an "easy" job, because they don't realize the judgement calls that are part of the work.

Karen


[Modified by CamaroFS34, 10:48 AM 7/2/2002]