Anyone autoxing in Oakland Sunday?

 

i'll be there watching....since my car is still broken.

 

I'll be there tearing it up in run group 8.

Dan
93 Prelude S, #101 H Stock

 

Maybe. The last two events seemed rather poorly run, time-wise. Were they aberrations or are regular season events always like that? I usually only come down for the the slush events.

Was a surprisingly fun layout. The car probably had something to do with it (Thanks Geratol! They screwed up my sponsor msg as usual).

-al

 

The problems with our events lately is that we have had over 300 entrants for the last 3 events (last year only had 1 300+ event) and the overflow is never spread across all the classes. I figure as the year goes on the entry totals will start to drop and then some day we will have fun runs again.

That course last Sunday was a blast. Walking it I thought what the hell is this! But when I actually drove it, it was a ton of fun.

I saw the sponsor mistake but I still understood it.

 

It was an extremely fun course. Especially the way the outside of the turn suddenly dipped on that right U-ey toward the beginning.

The thing that got me about it though was how much of the parking lot wasn't used. They could easily make a 2-minute course at Candlestick, and with over 300 entrants, man all 8 stations. I guess the coursewalk would take a long time though.

Dan
93 Prelude, #101 HS


[Modified by LudemanDan, 10:56 PM 2/26/2003]

 

With 300+ entrants, a 2 minute course would be a bad idea. When daylight savings time rolls around, we might see some longer courses at Candlestick, but right now, if we're already having trouble with 300 people and a 50-60 sec course, then anything longer probably wont work.

 

the whistles go woooowoooooo! in Oakland

(sorry I couldnt resist)

 

gawd

 

I wouldnt miss the "O" for nuttin y0!

 

If you think about it, that's actually not true. I considered that before I posted it. If you still let people out every 20-25 seconds, and they all go continuously, the only extra time it would take would be the extra minute for the last person to complete the course.
Actually, red flags and reruns would take a little more time to complete. But still, you let a run group go at the same rate, and it takes the same time. It doesn't matter how long the course is, as long as they're back at the paddock waiting when their next run comes around.
Dan

 

Right, the only added time would be the difference of that extra minute. The real issue is reruns and red flags. With a 2 minute course and 20 second overlap, there are 7 cars on course at a time, whereas a 1 minute course will only have 4. If the first car spins out/MDNF's/etc and cant get going quick enough, the following cars all need reruns. It's bad enough that 3 cars would need reruns on a 1 minute course, but if 6 cars need reruns for that 2 minute course, that adds up quickly.

Also, having that many cars out on course might be taxing on the trailer crew. The cone counter is going to be really busy!

We had a 90 second course a few years ago and the event went waaaay long. Afternoon groups didn't start until 2 or 3. This was in May, so the longer daylight hours made it more bearable. However, I do believe that we're supposed to be off the site by 6pm.

 

The reason long courses take so long is that only 3 cars are allowed to be running on course at one time. Another problem is making sure you have enough workers to cover the extra amount of cones.

 

I'll be there on Sunday...hopefully do more than 1 (winning) run. My car broke down after my first run last Sunday...but its now fixed. Damn distributor...

 

Did you check the results Irvin? You're not listed in the Novice group. Congrats on the unofficial win

 

This sounds very much like our January event this year. The course was a 70 second course, but we had close to 350 entries. I was in the last run group of the morning which I estimated (before the event) that it would end between noon and 1pm. Well, my run group didn't start till around 2pm, and there were 4 more run groups in the....arh.....afternoon/evening. The last 2 run groups ran in the dark.

 

Two other things to consider in addition to what Pork Chop and Geratol said:

1) The timer system we have can only accomodate 4 cars on course total. The instant a 5th car breaks the start lights the 4th cars time will get dropped off the list, regardless of whether it was finished or not.

2) Say we did have a timer capable and all eight RV crews were experts at handling the capacity of ~7 cars on course at once. At some point cars will either be travelling towards each other (due to the course wrapping around) or towards the same worker station simultaneously. You run the risk of head on collisions or a flesh on car sandwich. From the safety stewards point of view that possibility can't be allowed to exist under any circumstance.

 

I'll be there on sunday. I'll be running in the street mod class with my Red hatch

hopefully they won't DNF me again! I checked my results and I DNF all 3 runs!

 

Hmmm, if you're the Jesse listed in STS-N "they" actually gave you a DNW. That is different than a DNF (Did Not Finish), that's something you do to yourself for leaving the marked course during the run. DNW, means the person "Did Not Work" their work assignment. A crime punishable by death or in this region, loss of posted times and subsequently any championship points. All drivers work, no exceptions (well very few).

You either didn't show up for your work assignment or if you did, they didn't check you off. If you worked at a different time than was scheduled for your group (another group, morning setup, waiver desk, etc.) and got checked off there they may have overlooked it. In which case you can contact Pat Kelly (check the bottom of the results page) and plead your case. She's usually cool about it the first time.

If you didn't work, well.... you really need to start. The steering commitee always monitors the amount of people not working. If it is deemed as a problem, they may start implementing a ban list. If you get on it for not working, you will not be allowed to run in events for like a year. It's already been done in the past. I recall they turned people away in 2001 when they caught them at the reg. table.


[Modified by XrcR6, 5:51 PM 2/27/2003]

 

Uh oh, DNW is far worse then DNF. In light of all the DNWs from the last event a new punishment has been proposed in which the offender will be banned for the next 2 months after commiting a DNW. I'm not sure if it's been authorized for the next event or not but it's coming.

 

...
oh I was wondering what the DNW was. I feel like an idiot.
I get it all fixed..hopefully

 

I will be at oakland for my second Auto-X.


Boy last week i felt like a chicken with its head cut off running all around trying to figure out what to do, but everyone was very helpful and nice. Even had a guy ride passanger with me and he told me when to gas and brake, nice guy

 

We need honda-tech shirts or something so we know who's who.

 

Yeah, I spoke to Pat (Sunday) and pointed out my situation...after seeing the results on the internet, I sent her an email confirming our conversation and she forwarded the message to Jerry. I guess they dont update the website but I finished first on the mailer. Thanks for looking out though...(Coach)

 

We can start by putting Honda-tech as one of our sponsors so it'll be read through the intercom when its time to announce the driver's info...