> It really does depend alot on course design. If you have a course that
>has alot of crossovers and loops, like the BMW course Justin mentioned,
>then even 30 seconds may not be enough. Attention need to be paid to
>where the cars on course are relative to each other. If at the starting
>area they are -way- far apart with 30 second, but somewhere half way
>down the course they're at speed and actually passing within 50ft of
>each other, then the overlap isn't right and it needs to be changed.
Exactly. Our course is around 80-90 seconds, depending on the car and
driver. I haven't timed it, but we probably wait about 30-40 seconds before
starting the next car. The key is that we don't start a second car based on
the clock - we start it based on where the car currently on course is. Once
they reach a particular point in the course we start the next one. IMHO,
you shouldn't set an arbitrary time to start the next car. At times, if the
car currently out there has an inexperienced driver, is going slow, and/or
is going off course a bit, we'll hold traffic up until that car finishes.
Yet we have no problem sending two cars out at a time who know where they're
going.
> Crossovers, loops, and narrow "down-and-back" course designs are
>examples of where you need to pay closer attention to where the cars
>will be relative to each other over the entire course. These are not
>necessarily bad designs, they can even be whole lot of fun, but they do
>require a little more attention.
Most people who have driven our course really like it. Sure, it loops,
overlaps, and reuses many portions. That way our variable radius sweeper
gets used as both an increasing and decreasing radius turn. But it flows
quite well. Plus when we designed it we actually experimented with starting
a second car at various points in the first car's run to find a safe place
for it. I was the guinea pig for the first time we found the location we
use. The guy that was out there had no idea I'd be coming. It worked so
well, he never even saw me when we were both out there. So it can be done,
even with a course like ours that doesn't lend itself well to it. You just
have to be careful, and if possible experiment a little like we did.
- Justin
|