Lessons from other regions/sponsors?

[Hammerin Hank]

Phokaioglaukos wrote:

Many of us have attended events with other clubs, PCA, BMW and others. Let's discuss what they do differently than we do that we might consider emulating.

I noted that Potomac PCA did the following differently:

1. At Summit Point the driver's meeting was in one classroom (warmer than outside) and the instructor's meeting was in another. [/*]
   
2. At the driver's meeting they passed out a sticker to be placed on the windshield to prove that the driver attended the meeting. [/*]
   
3. As soon as the last car was off the track for one session, the cars queued for the next session are sent out, holding up such of those cars not yet all the way into the paddock as necessary. [/*]
   
4. There is a section on the tech form that someone at grid tech completes. That form is then presented at registration so a couple of people get a look at it.

The BMW clubs:
[/*]

1. Conduct grid tech the evening before at a local hotel (Seneca Lodge, for example), although one can also do grid tech the morning of the event. That allows some to sleep a bit later. [/*]
   
2. Provide adhesive numbers in the registration packet for each car. [/*]
   
3. Genesee Valley sends cars from the next group out just as soon as the last car of the previous group enters pit lane.

Let's get some differences identified, and then think about what, if anything, we might want to adopt.

[/*]


Interesting topic, thanks for bringing it up. Being new to the PCA, one of the things that strikes me as being odd is the way the DE groups are structured. To me, placement in a particular run group for solo, based on the "range of safety" of the driver, seems dangerous. The way I see it, either you're signoff to run solo or you're not. Which means you’re controlling your vehicle at speed and you're observing all the things that make the event safe, for both you and all the other participants.

What makes more sense to me is using car class to determine run group placement, ie. their relative speed to one another. I've attended several RTR events, as a spectator, and have timed various groups to get an idea of where my car fits in. What I've seen, is a spread of upwards of 20 sec. a lap in some cases. That includes the black and red groups. The closure rate of a car, with a 20 sec. a lap advantage, is pretty fast (i.e. more chance for an incident). I've been in the situation myself at non-PCA events. It's both frustrating to the fast cars and a bit startling to the slower ones, to have a car appear in your mirrors in the blink of an eye. I think it would be less dangerous and a lot more fun for folks to be on track with cars of similar speed. As it's structured right now, that doesn't seem to be the case. At least from my observations.

Now I realize that "this is the way it's always been done" and that there are many political factors at work that keep the current group structure the way it is. I've heard on more than one occasion, "I've been promoted to X run group, yippee!". "Promotion" seems to be worn like a badge of honor at RTR. Which is fine if HPDE were the Boy Scouts, but it's not. The underlying meaning from their statement tells me that person was viewed as not "ready" (i.e. not safe enough) to run with the "upper" run group, prior to their "promotion". While on the surface, that sounds okay....but if you think about it, if the person was signoff for their "lower" group, why aren't they safe enough for the "upper" group? Safe is safe and not safe is not safe, in my book. The only determining factor should be relative speed at that point.

Now, I realize that driver ability plays a big role in relative speed. Given that, part of the signoff process should be evaluating the person's quickness given their particular car's potential. Once they're deemed safe to solo, then their class should be determined by the car they drive, not whether they're "safer" then other participants. Keep in mind, I'm referring to the solo groups. Obviously, drivers who are not yet deemed safe, would be grouped differently with instructors. Just my 2 cents. Sorry, if my thoughts bump the apple cart.