Carolina Cup AX7 @ zMax

[dasautochris]

Things got a bit crazy in the 4th run group, but I just wanted to say thanks to all the core workers for all their hard work.

[integra55]

I'll echo that .... thanks for making it go even with all the problems

fun course, wish I'd had one more chance, that said ... congrats to Abby .. that was a terrific run

[jprice130]

Thanks so much to everyone involved with helping the 4th run group get as many runs in as possible. When I first heard we were going to have to shut down at 5:00, my heart sank. I have 4 boys that I constantly drive around to ball games and other activities and me Autocrossing once a month is the only thing I do for myself. I so look forward to every CCR event, so the thought of baking in the sun for 10 hours and only getting in one run was very depressing.

So Thank you, thank you, thank you!! I ended up with 3 runs and will gladly take it given all the crazy circumstances. I really appreciate the hard work CCR!

[Frodo]

I managed to get my four runs in, but unfortunately not everyone did. Some were only able to get two in. Not at all what should happen. It was quite unfortunate that we got so behind on time. I don't think the number of drivers was the issue, but more the issue of improper classing on cars and inadequate representation of class on and number on cars. I know personally that second run group took entirely too long because we had to re-class many people on the line because they weren't matching to what was on their car. A stressful day to say the least, but a learning experience.

And as for the course: FAN-F***ING-TASTIC!!! Awesome job Licursi again. You've yet to disappoint with your designs.

[PinkBimmer]

I'm in the process of getting the results audited... I want to say a big thank you to the 4 auditors we had because you made my job a whole lot easier... I think I have most of them figured out with the exception of a few that I'm still working on... Hope to have them posted up this evening or tomorrow...

I hope that even though there were problems here and there that everyone still had a good time and will come back and have fun with us again.
We will have to figure out another way to figure out who won the Carolina Cup (because who doesn't want the wonderful trophy that was made).

I know this event was stressful to alot of us core workers.. but as usual we stayed with it and worked through it all as we always do. Its a privilege to have such a great group of people.

[PinkBimmer]

And a big thanks to Joe Price for letting me drive his car.. that car was a blast.. and he is a excellent co-pilot and teacher

[jprice130]

Jun 30, 2013 11:18:05 GMT -5 PinkBimmer said:

And a big thanks to Joe Price for letting me drive his car.. that car was a blast.. and he is a excellent co-pilot and teacher

You're more than welcome Cyndi and i enjoyed riding along with you. You really drove great and did especially good on those slaloms! I'm not sure how the times ended up after the 4th runs but you were at the top of open CS after 3 runs! Awesome!

As long as I'm driving Kurt's Lotus, you're more than welcome to run my BRZ whenever you need a car. My BRZ gets sad when I drive it to the track with the Lotus tires and it doesn't get to run. Lol!

[dusterbd13]

ill admit to being a little frustrated at only getting 3 runs, two timed in the 4th run group.

I will say that the course was great, and open enough that the big ol el camino was comfortable out there.

what can I do to help next time to make sure things go smoother? I joined, and am willing to come out and work the events even if I cant afford to participate in them, or don't have a car to run.

im also grateful to dan for being my instructor again, and the guys that helped push start me when my starter died.

im hoping to join up in the nights series as soon as I get the engine to quit leaking and back in.

Michael

[PinkBimmer]

Jun 30, 2013 11:41:07 GMT -5 jprice130 said:

Jun 30, 2013 11:18:05 GMT -5 PinkBimmer said:

And a big thanks to Joe Price for letting me drive his car.. that car was a blast.. and he is a excellent co-pilot and teacher

You're more than welcome Cyndi and i enjoyed riding along with you. You really drove great and did especially good on those slaloms! I'm not sure how the times ended up after the 4th runs but you were at the top of open CS after 3 runs! Awesome!

As long as I'm driving Kurt's Lotus, you're more than welcome to run my BRZ whenever you need a car. My BRZ gets sad when I drive it to the track with the Lotus tires and it doesn't get to run. Lol!

Thanks Joe I might take you up on that offer for some reason that car just felt right to me and again a big thanks...
looking at the results (which I'm almost done auditing) I would have been 3rd in open CS.
Oh and I got your runs fixed

[donour]

I want to reiterate a lot of the sentiments here. It was good to see some old friends and make new ones. I especially want to thank my competitors in tire class. Nice to meet you Matt, Brett, Chris, Lesli, and Ashley! Chris had the scratch time for a decisive win. The cone penalty was just bad luck and a fluke. Nice job!

Most of all, thanks to the core workers for making it happen. Mike and AJ, can you guys shoot me a PM with your email addresses when you get a chance?

cheers,

donour

[matthugie]

Jun 30, 2013 12:22:21 GMT -5 donour said:

I want to reiterate a lot of the sentiments here. It was good to see some old friends and make new ones. I especially want to thank my competitors in tire class. Nice to meet you Matt, Brett, Chris, Lesli, and Ashley! Chris had the scratch time for a decisive win. The cone penalty was just bad luck and a fluke. Nice job!

Most of all, thanks to the core workers for making it happen. Mike and AJ, can you guys shoot me a PM with your email addresses when you get a chance?

cheers,

donour

It was good to meet you too man, maybe I'll see you at Saucer sometime.

I would also like to say thanks to the core workers for everything they did. There were a lot of surprises out there, airbags going off in cars, cars becoming immobile on course, course workers missing cones necessitating reruns, etc. Combined with a record number of drivers it's amazing that most people got all of their runs in. It's unfortunate that some didn't manage to get all 4, but as far as I'm concerned that is by no means on the core workers.

[lancer360]

As one of the core workers and the one working timing in group 2, I would like to apologize to those in group 4 that didn't get all there runs in. We had a few normally minor issues that piled on top of each other really lengthened the run group.

1. We had a few new folks helping with registration and we didn't communicate to them the need to verify car number and class at registration. This led to numerous cars coming to the line with numbers/class that did not match their registration. Whether these were preregistrations or on site registrations I'm not sure. We will do a better job of communicating the need to verify the entrants number and class during registration to any new (or new to our club) registration volunteers.

2. The biggest single headache was the numerous cars that had incomplete and/or illegible numbers on their cars. This led to massive amounts of frustration for the corner captains having to call in cone calls with "that red miata" etc. This led to confusion in the timing trailer and caused numerous hold starts while we had to try and sort out cars. To resolve this issue we are going to speak with our tech inspector volunteers to strictly enforce the number rules during tech inspection. If your numbers/class are not on your car you will be sent back before you are given a tech sticker. If your numbers are not to specified size per the rule book you will be sent back before you are given a tech sticker. There were also number/class violations on annual teched cars which don't have to go through annual tech. To resolve that issue I have volunteered to do a numbers/class inspection at the beginning of each group. I will walk through grid at the beginning of each session and verify that the numbers on every car meet the rules. If your numbers are not satisfactory you will be required to fix/replace them BEFORE you will be allowed to run. Tape numbers will be allowed as long as they are legible and done with a contrasting color. No blue tape on a blue or black car. There is a very nice bright green painters tape that shows up well on dark colored cars. You can also use traditional masking tape on dark colored cars. If you have a annual tech inspection and your numbers are found to be unsatisfactory your will be warned. I'm proposing to AJ/Mike that upon a second violation of improper numbers your annual tech will be revoked for the rest of the season. I would like to thank the few cars in run group 2 that didn't have magnetic/vinyl numbers and took the time to print their numbers out one character per page and tape those to their car. Those were very easy to read.

3. We had issues with the radio calls breaking up due to being inside the trailer. This led to numerous requests to repeat calls and caused me to get a bit overloaded. My understanding is we have new radios and a base station radio designed to work inside the trailer. We will make sure those make it out to the next event.

4. We had issues with not keeping up the pace with the launching of cars. This was primarily my fault. I was a bit overloaded with the various issues that were going on I did not make sure that we had a steady stream of cars waiting in line for the starter. This caused us to have a much slower average rate of car launches. I will make sure in the future I keep an eye on that and ask grid to feed the cars up at a faster rate.

Thanks Mike for a great course design. I really liked the change with the various elements you put into this design.

A big thanks and Happy Birthday to AJ. I know this event was stressful and had you running around. The stress combined with the heat and back spasms would have done in a lesser Solo Chief!

[W. Dean Furr]

"If you have a annual tech inspection and your numbers are found to be unsatisfactory your will be warned. I'm proposing to AJ/Mike that upon a second violation of improper numbers your annual tech will be revoked for the rest of the season. " Chris, that's a really good idea! The penalty is not excessive, but certainly should be enough to get a driver's attention.

To your bigger point: Yes, CCR has problems sometimes. That's going to happen. But I am glad to see the core group CONSISTENTLY looks at the causes, and takes actions promptly. This club has improved trememdously in the past several years.

[lancer360]

Thanks! We are human so we do make mistakes, we just strive not to repeat them. We really do have a great group of core workers that pride themselves in running a good event.

[dewittpayne]

It was definitely worth the three hour drive each way. Now I have learn how to take full advantage of my new ZII's. Apparently they're much less forgiving of overdriving than my AD08's. Here's a link to a video of my third and fastest run: I know I'm braking too late and too hard for some of the turns.

DeWitt Payne
2011 Mustang GT, white, FS #3

[integra55]

Jun 30, 2013 14:58:20 GMT -5 lancer360 said:

As one of the core workers and the one working timing in group 2, I would like to apologize to those in group 4 that didn't get all there runs in. We had a few normally minor issues that piled on top of each other really lengthened the run group.

1. We had a few new folks helping with registration and we didn't communicate to them the need to verify car number and class at registration. This led to numerous cars coming to the line with numbers/class that did not match their registration. Whether these were preregistrations or on site registrations I'm not sure. We will do a better job of communicating the need to verify the entrants number and class during registration to any new (or new to our club) registration volunteers.

2. The biggest single headache was the numerous cars that had incomplete and/or illegible numbers on their cars. This led to massive amounts of frustration for the corner captains having to call in cone calls with "that red miata" etc. This led to confusion in the timing trailer and caused numerous hold starts while we had to try and sort out cars. To resolve this issue we are going to speak with our tech inspector volunteers to strictly enforce the number rules during tech inspection. If your numbers/class are not on your car you will be sent back before you are given a tech sticker. If your numbers are not to specified size per the rule book you will be sent back before you are given a tech sticker. There were also number/class violations on annual teched cars which don't have to go through annual tech. To resolve that issue I have volunteered to do a numbers/class inspection at the beginning of each group. I will walk through grid at the beginning of each session and verify that the numbers on every car meet the rules. If your numbers are not satisfactory you will be required to fix/replace them BEFORE you will be allowed to run. Tape numbers will be allowed as long as they are legible and done with a contrasting color. No blue tape on a blue or black car. There is a very nice bright green painters tape that shows up well on dark colored cars. You can also use traditional masking tape on dark colored cars. If you have a annual tech inspection and your numbers are found to be unsatisfactory your will be warned. I'm proposing to AJ/Mike that upon a second violation of improper numbers your annual tech will be revoked for the rest of the season. I would like to thank the few cars in run group 2 that didn't have magnetic/vinyl numbers and took the time to print their numbers out one character per page and tape those to their car. Those were very easy to read.

3. We had issues with the radio calls breaking up due to being inside the trailer. This led to numerous requests to repeat calls and caused me to get a bit overloaded. My understanding is we have new radios and a base station radio designed to work inside the trailer. We will make sure those make it out to the next event.

4. We had issues with not keeping up the pace with the launching of cars. This was primarily my fault. I was a bit overloaded with the various issues that were going on I did not make sure that we had a steady stream of cars waiting in line for the starter. This caused us to have a much slower average rate of car launches. I will make sure in the future I keep an eye on that and ask grid to feed the cars up at a faster rate.

Thanks Mike for a great course design. I really liked the change with the various elements you put into this design.

A big thanks and Happy Birthday to AJ. I know this event was stressful and had you running around. The stress combined with the heat and back spasms would have done in a lesser Solo Chief!

Chris, I was the starter for the 2nd run group ... I agree there was a huge variance in the start times for some of the cars .... some of it was caused by lack of cars coming from grid .... but that was a very small part of the problem ... the rest was on me ... I tried very hard to keep finish separation such that no one was catching up with the car ahead ... there were a lot of 90 sec cars being followed by 65 sec cars .... some times I erred on the side of caution ... if I saw a N on the side of the car I tried to gage their pace prior to reaching the accepted start point .... sometimes I waited when maybe I didn't have to ....

when we try to hold to a precise start interval you can have what happened with me on one of my runs ... I crossed the finish line so close behind the car in front that I doubt that they had time to see their time on the display .... I knew that I wasn't going to run over them, but someone a bit faster than I am would have had to stop, necessitating a re-run

for my part I apologize .. but I think the one thing that would do the most to alleviate the lack of time issue would be if we could get started on time (or earlier) .... .

everyone has their own opinion ... Chris, Dean, me ... and I'm sure many others ........ like I said I apologize for my part of the 2nd run group

[lancer360]

You were doing a good job starting the cars and I trust your judgement completely on when to release the next cars. There were A LOT of 80-90 second cars in the group combined with a handful of low 70 possibly high 60 cars. Being a starter is a lot of responsibility. I'm always thankful working timing when I know I can trust the starter.

[chewbaccadefense]

I was in the 4th group, but did get all 4 runs. It was a fantastic course. I was frustrated when we were first told we had to stop at 5 because that would have meant 1 run most likely, but you guys worked hard and that extra hour you got for us was much appreciated!

My only caution is that yesterday's course and venue will likely make the field even larger next time. I am sure you guys are already aware of that, but if there is anything we (those of us who post here and show up for most of the events) can do prior to the event, or something you need, let us know.

Looking forward to running in July!

[PinkBimmer]

Here are the unofficial results with everyone's run in them.
Once we determine how we want to handle the season points and the Carolina Cup we will update these results in the official points thread with also updated season points. Happy viewing to all. I hope everyone still had a good time even with the glitches we had.


ccrscca.com/results/2013solo/ax7_zmax_6_29_fin.htm
ccrscca.com/results/2013solo/ax7_zmax_6_29_pax.htm
ccrscca.com/results/2013solo/ax7_zmax_6_29_raw.htm

[integra55]

Jun 30, 2013 17:10:57 GMT -5 chewbaccadefense said:

I was in the 4th group, but did get all 4 runs. It was a fantastic course. I was frustrated when we were first told we had to stop at 5 because that would have meant 1 run most likely, but you guys worked hard and that extra hour you got for us was much appreciated!

My only caution is that yesterday's course and venue will likely make the field even larger next time. I am sure you guys are already aware of that, but if there is anything we (those of us who post here and show up for most of the events) can do prior to the event, or something you need, let us know.

Looking forward to running in July!

typically we avg. 150 - something under 200 ... this was a combined region event (CCR & SCR) so it brought out a lot that don't always come (even with the fun courses and great lot) ... we would/will find a way to make it work if we start getting that many every time

[CoolGuy094]

Walter - I was one of the low 70's drivers in the second run group and I think you did what you had to do and did it properly. I found myself crossing the line right when the guy in front of me was slowing down to get his time slip. And on one run the course worked at finish didn't have time to reset a cone that the previous driver hit. Luckily he was smart and aware and didn't try to reset it. But it is very difficult to judge release time on such a large course and with the mix of drivers we had.

[KC]

Cyndi,
I'm still seeing what I think is an anomaly in the E Stock results. I don't think the ES 11 car had a DNF, 89.809, 84.852 then a 66.712 + 1 on the final run. If he did it was a fantastic run, but it looks out of place.

[PinkBimmer]

Yes these are still very unofficial... I do agree with you, (wish I could take off 20 seconds) the problem is that the audit sheets and the computer both have ES11 66.712, but before the official results get posted we will get these corrected so don't worry there. That's one of the one times I'm still trying to figure out. Going through 15+ pages of audit sheets is not an easy task...

[gxpmatt]

That course was really fun and had great flow, I had a blast driving it. My gf and I also got some pictures of the 1st and 3rd run groups, nothing as good as what the professional photogs get but hopefully some people like the pictures of their cars. Tried to get shots of the front wheels loaded up in the showcase turn to show front camber while cornering and the positioning of the car with respect to the cones. Third run group starts on page 4.

Photos here

Maybe if you like your shot you can repay by giving me some tips on my driving! See video below:



-Matt Colley

[racz19]

Awesome course more than made up for being slow roasted on the course during 4th run. I had my best placement to date!! Also In a trophy position apparently!! Thank you Tom for doing a lap with me!

[stealthgtfour]

Jun 30, 2013 15:36:23 GMT -5 W. Dean Furr said:

"If you have a annual tech inspection and your numbers are found to be unsatisfactory your will be warned. I'm proposing to AJ/Mike that upon a second violation of improper numbers your annual tech will be revoked for the rest of the season. " Chris, that's a really good idea! The penalty is not excessive, but certainly should be enough to get a driver's attention.

I have personally warned more than a few drivers about numbers/class letters. its a problem we battle constantly.

[idrive2]

Oof....bummer on that cone on my last run. I've really got to work on backing up off of the cones again. Cyndi, why don't you just take that off while you're working on that auditing? That would be great! Fun day over all for me at least, thanks a bunch!

[dewittpayne]

Numbers and class letters are a problem even in club racing, although the frequency of the problem is less. I have actually seen dark blue class designation letters on a black background, small too. The concept of contrasting colors seems to be quite difficult for some people to understand. You probably need an official Bad Number Fairy. Of course, back in graduate school when I was autocrossing my brand new 1965 MGB, white shoe polish on the windshield was the standard.

It's not hard to make your own magnetic numbers inexpensively as long as you have a printer. I made mine using clear plastic notebook sleeves, uncolored translucent plastic notebook dividers and sticky backed magnet material you can buy at Wal-Mart. Two packs of 5x8" adhesive magnetic sheets and a roll of 1" wide adhesive backed magnetic tape is just about enough for two single digit numbers and two class designations. Stick the magnet material to the notebook dividers after trimming off any tabs and slide the printed number and the divider into the sleeve and seal the bottom with tape (not magnetic). I trim off the holes on the sleeve. Then you have black letters and numbers on a white background. I used the .pdf files linked on the CCR web site to print class and number on standard 8.5x11" printer paper.

And speaking of frequency, the number of DNF's on the first run was a tad high, more than 40 for ~200 runs. Ideally, it should have been less than ten. Some of those were simply going too fast and running off the course, but too many were people getting lost or fooled by ambiguities in the course layout. When the course is 0.8 miles long, there are only so many times you can walk it. Not all of us are able to replay the course mentally no matter how many times we walk it. I can even forget a gate after making three runs.

[cwguy5]

here are a few ideas for what they are worth:

- numbers should be inspected at tech and car should not be passed until numbers are contrasting, sized/placed correctly, and in the proper style guidelines as far as order of letters etc.

- start all events at zMax at 9am since there is usually a large turnout there. i think the vast majority of people would be open to the trade-off of such a great site with a slightly earlier start time.

- driver's meeting: i liked the way Triad had a mandatory Novice meeting(or at least a first timer's meeting). this would shorten the time a bit for the regular DM and provide for a bit of extra detail that isn't really given at most DM's like going over cone calls in detail, course worker safety, and an opportunity for questions. most first timers are not going to ask questions in front of the whole group. this would save time later during runs imo.

- would it be possible at all to group first timers, novices, and any other cars that will be generally slower than other cars in the same run group together in grid? this could minimize the amount of slow/fast times that are back to back. i know this wouldn't be perfect of course but shouldnt take that much time if done methodically during grid loading.

- station meetings at beginning of each run group with the captain and workers at each station. this would help ensure that novice workers and captains are on the same page and using the correct signals. zMax is a large course with lots of space to cover at each station. my captain missed a DNF and one cone call and we saw the adjacent station miss a cone call as well. i know it happens but just a bit of communicating prior to the run group might reduce this. also, are non-drivers/core workers allowed on-course? seems like a big distraction to have a friend out with you on-course.

- i know the rationale behind increasing the number of cars on-course during the last group in which i was a driver and i appreciate everyone hustling to get the max number of runs in but we should never compromise the safety of the workers. i had to slow down for a course worker and i saw at least one other incidence like that in the 5:30-6:00 range due to the pace. also with regards to the last run group, if time is running short and everyone will not get all of their runs in, wouldn't it be more fair to have an even number of runs for everyone if possible. it was very obvious that many cars would not get four runs so why not just cut it off at three? im new to autoX so this just may be the way things are done and there may be a reason i am not thinking of.

*** just my two cents and i just wanted to reiterate that i still enjoyed the hell out of the day even though i was frustrated. it was obvious that everyone was doing everything possible toward the end just to get done what we did.

[Ashley]

Thanks for posting those pictures Matt!