Somewhat frighteningly, there's not one word in John's message that addresses
inside/outside course lining. I don't understand how Don's suggestion equates
to "throwing out everything we do that's right".
BTW, the SD Tour handled 254(?) drivers quite nicely. Certainly they were
mostly experienced, but then there were cone audit sheets and course walks
between each group. My only complaint was that it was a long way to go for an
AAS course. ;)
KeS
> -----Original Message-----
> From: Kevin Stevens [mailto:kevin_stevens@hotmail.com]
> Sent: Saturday, April 15, 2000 11:26
> To: kevin_stevens@shark.tiburon.ca.us
> Subject: Fwd: San Diego Tourand course lining
>
>
>
>
> >From: John Kelly <76067.1750@compuserve.com>
> >To: "Donald R McKenna" <donbarbmckenna@earthlink.net>, "autox- ba
> >Email list" <ba-autox@autox.team.net>
> >Subject: San Diego Tourand course lining
> >Date: Sat, 15 Apr 2000 13:28:55 -0400
> >
> >RE: Course lining.
> >
> > Seems to me we addressed the situation earlier this year and we
> >wrote a rule to cover it. While I wasn't personally happy with it, the rule
> >seems to cover all the situations.
> > What is being proposed is to solve a problem faced by two or three
> >people. For this we're supposed to throw out everything we do that's right?
> >
> > Here in San Francisco Region we have developed a lot of positive
> >ideas that have made autocrossing better. I think we should continue to
> >think we are the best at what we do. Because we are. Consistently we are
> >faced with large fields, the kind the Tour and Pro Solo leadership only
> >dream about. We have worked out a program that delivers satisfaction to the
> >overwhelming majority of our members. We have learned to pump a lot of cars
> >through with a minimum of mistakes by our all-volunteer crew. Because our
> >people are having a good time, they are learning to drive better and
> >better. They become confident of themselves. That's how we create National
> >Champions.
> >
> > In a not so long ago time frame, one of our members --I think he
> >was our Solo II Chief at the time--stated we in SFR would make all of our
> >courses "gate" courses in order to train our people to run at the
> >Nationals. But then maybe he just said "Some should be 'gate' courses."
> >I.e. no lines whatsoever, just matched pylons 15 feet apart that gives each
> >driver a chance to develop his own line through the "gates" and be creative
> >about it. Just like they do in snow skiing. It's how the game was played
> >all over the country and the feeling was we should do it like those
> >strangers do it far, far away because they're smarter than we are. I don't
> >think so.
> >
> > In that time frame most of the clubs ran VERY tight courses and
> >laughed when a Corvette owner showed up and had to back up several times in
> >order to get around a few of the turns. Ho Ho. Said Corvette owner NEVER
> >returned. Funny how the laughing by "real" sports car owners got to him. To
> >this day most clubs out there in the middle do not have very many Corvette
> >entries. And we are seeing fewer of them ever since our Honda-owning chief
> >alienated the Corvette crowd and they created the AAS series in
> >retaliation.
> >
> > When SFR went into the "gate" mode, with the thought it was
> >required to "train" our drivers for national, a funny thing happened.
> >National began using lined courses that very year. Seems there was this
> >problem with people getting lost in a sea of pylons and there were some
> >very real safety concerns. So they copied what we do without doing it
> >exactly because, well you know. "That's how they do it in California."
> >
> > You missed the obvious at San Diego, Don. EVERY pylon had this
> >double line chalked around its base. It's spelled out in the rule book.
> >Look for it. The reason it's written that way is because "I don't care how
> >they do it in California." (Never mind the majority of clubs use a single
> >chalk line. Why? Because it's simple and it makes sense.) The
> >two-inch-apart double chalk line came about because way back when pylon
> >boxes were being painted at Salina, they had this two-inch paint brush. The
> >all the way down or out rule applies BUT, under the rule, the pylon is not
> >charged unless it goes all the way beyond the second chalk line drawn
> >precisely two inches apart from the first. When drawing boxes, please be
> >precise. I don't think we have to copy what I think is bad idea.
> > In my humble opinion, we in SFR have achieved a level of
> >commercial
> >success in autocrossing because we keep courses easy to follow. At least we
> >used to. One by one all the good stuff is being eroded. Soon we will be
> >back to playing gymkhana as our constituents look elsewhere for autocross
> >entertainment, just as the Corvette owners have already done with the AAS
> >series. (Did I mention the Porsche and BMW folks?) Right now we in SFR are
> >the only show in town. By designing our courses and "methods" to be what
> >some people think are like Nationals, we will soon see 30-60 car fields
> >just like the majority of SCCA regions. And when we shrink, we will no
> >longer be able to afford "downtown" sites. That's the long term outlook if
> >we ignore what made us successful in the first place.
> >
> >--John Kelly
> >
> >
>
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