More Cones = More Confusion
Reijo Silvennoinen <rase@telusplanet.net> wrote:
>
> Phil Ethier wrote:
>
> > From: Matt Miller
> > >With two exceptions, every single
> > >incident I have ever seen at any autocross anywhere has always
> > >been the result of transition maneuvers that were supposedly
> > >designed into the course to lower speeds and increase safety.
> >
> > Exactly. If I have said it once, I have said it a thousand times. On a
> > site with runoff problems (and the FW site seems emphatically not to be such
> > a site) there is no safe way to slow down a car that is going too fast. You
> > must design the course so that the car never gets going too fast. Just as
> > Matt points out here, the trouble starts when the designer wrongly tries to
> > slow the car down instead of correctly preventing the car from going too
> > fast. That's how we get these goofy problems at finish lines. Design it
> > properly, and the cars can be freely accelerating through the lights. If it
> > is done correctly, it is not only very safe for cars, people and timing
> > equipment, it also feels good to the driver.
>
> OK - here's something to consider:
>
> How come we don't get roll-over incidents like autocross (e.g. I'm referring
>to
> sharp and sudden transitions) roll-overs on road courses?
>
> One of my thoughts was that on a road course, you know the corner is coming by
> the visual cues. I wonder if some of these "unsafe" transitions might be made
> more safe by adding cones (around the corner and maybe even before to serve as
> braking markers) to make them more readily seen? In this way, people will
>know
> that there is a corner at the end of the long straight and that they will have
> to do some more serious braking than usual.
>
> What do you course designers think?
>
> I will experiment with this in our events (we have some higher speed events
>on a
> road course and a very large lot) for which I will be doing some course design
> and let you know what happens.
>
> Regards,
>
> Reijo
>
>
>
> --
> Reijo Silvennoinen, P.Eng.
> President, CSCC, CSCC Nat'l Event Rep., Calgary, Alberta
> Calgary Sports Car Club (CSCC) web site: http://bishop.ab.ca/CSCC/
> (www.cscc.ab.ca)
> Canadian National Autoslalom Championship (CNAC) list:
> http://groups.yahoo.com/group/solocanada
> CNAC Web Site: http://CNAC2000.erc.bc.ca/
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