On Thu, 31 Jan 2002, Hung-Jen Hung wrote:
> I don't know if people here kick butt over LA drivers
> or no. However I do not agree we get more practices
> here. LA has already scheduled 10 pratice days for
> this year besides the regular events. For me, that's
> how I learned how to drive. I was in Utah when I first
> joined autocross in '93. The 2 years in Utah I
> attended to every single event but still didn't know
> how to drive. I know I am suck, so don't laugh. In LA,
> from '97-'99, I also attented to every event including
> many of the pratice sessions, I did find myself learn
> alot by taking so many runs at the same course and I
> finally found some clue on how to drive a car. So my
> point is the practice events will speed up the
> learning curve. Surely, every run is a practice, but
> 10 runs at the same course I could learn alot more
> than just 3 runs. For you expert drivers, you guys
> know how to take the line at the 1st or 2nd run, but
> for me I may not find it till the 5th or later runs.
> That is why I said it would benefit intermediate
> drivers a lot. Well, just my 2 cents thought.
Hung, I just moved down to SD from the Bay Area last fall, so I'm seeing
it from the other way 'round.
I've been to two practice events - the first was limited to 75 entries and
I got more runs than I could effectively use - 10-12 or more.
The second was limited to 100 entries and I got 4 "official" runs, plus
two more fun runs, and I could have had maybe another two.
The other thing I'm seeing, though, is that the groups here don't seem to
schedule as many "championship" events, because of the practices.
The tradeoff, as I see it, is twofold:
1) How many people you are supporting. Limited entry practice events are
always oversubscribed; to get that number of runs you are excluding others
who might wish to participate. SFR is already getting grief for requiring
SCCA membership as a population-control mechanism.
2) The value of practice runs vs "competition" runs. As you point out,
multiple runs assists with car control and, to some degree, setup issues.
Competition runs assist with mental preparation and course analysis.
SFR leans towards maximum participation count, and more emphasis on
competition runs. SD seems to lean towards more runs per participant and
more emphasis on practice runs. I don't think either is necessarily
better (or more to the point I don't know how to determine which is
better), but there are points to be made for both cases.
What I think is a red herring is this whole "member club" issue. There's
no functional reason why practice events can't be staged and run as normal
events, using the existing SFR structure for obtaining and staffing
events. It's simply not the direction we/they have chosen at this time.
KeS
> I will find some time attending to the meeting and
> back to the course. Just my schedule conficts the
> first a few events so I may not be able to show up
> till April or so.
>
> Hung-Jen Hung
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