THSCC Forums

I will second Ryan's opinion. I think that the grip by the afternoon got better, yes in the am it was like driving on ice, but it was no worse than the Rock in the PM. Assuming the money is the same, my vote would be drop the Rock for G'ville.



A course could still be designed that would force people to look ahead at Greenville. We would have to work out overlap and pit issues but that is probably doable.

I would rather much rather smell cow manure than the chicken bones and stale beer from the Rock, and not have to design course elements around chicken bones. At the price, Laurinburg is a bargain compared to some of the other sites, but I like the variety.



I think we could design around that. I actually remember that incident. That was the first Tarheel event I witnessed. I didn't participate, just came to see what it was like. I still remember helping scrape the car out from under the fence. And I came back

Anyway, great event, thanks to all who put it together

A lot of good points. Let's not loose this site because we don't use it. I don't think many autox clubs have as many sites as we do in our pocket.

While I dislike Rockingham I understand that advantage of pit and grid room vs Greenville for 120 cars. But I'm not sure I agree that Rockingham is safer than Greenville regarding hard objects. I think Rockingham has more hard objects and you can only work the course design so much around them without it being the same course, more or less, everytime.

If I have to travel that far I would rather go down the road to Laurinburg. We still have some areas that we haven't used and plan on using. While it is abusive on tires, it is the site that I have the most fun at (selfish choice). The bugs in summer are annoying. I can deal with the cow pasture aroma much better than the Rock. The last event there with a parking lot that smells likes beer, urine and god only knows what else. And of course the chicken bones thrown in for good measure were a real treat.

I would be up for paying more entry fee and limiting Greenville to 80 cars if that were the case. Doing a night event idea with no points in the summer would also be cool. While the Novices may not like me for saying this. Why not restrict the use of that site to people with X numbers of events under their belt. You aren't a Novice forever...

Using the multiple lap idea like the course we ran isn't a bad idea. It makes good use of the size lot we have to work with. At first glance it was very confusing. Once I saw a map of the flow and walked it I didn't see a problem with driving it. And I'm still a rookie for all practical purposes. It is similar to using the RBC lot but with a smaller pit/grid area.

The course worker issue of having everyone around the perimiter isn't great but it isn't terrible. Charlie and I alternated jumping into that tight little box to stand up the last cone and then standing in the middle of the course until the car made its first pass. It didn't feel any less safe than standing on the perimiter watching out of control cars in the first slalom.

Graham

_________________
http://www.greywinds.com

This about sums up exactly how I feel. Say, $25 entry fee for 6-7 runs or maybe 9 runs going into the dusk.

I personally think the cold weather helped rather than hindered the grip @ Greenville. In the heat of summer all that oil dripped on the pavement will rise to the surface and be pulled up by the sticky tires people are more likely to run at a points event. (I didn't see many people on R tires there except Dick, did anyone else run them?) It also stormed on Fri which had to have floated some of the oil away. After talking it over with Donna, we both came to the conclusion that despite all the fun and laughs we had, we just would not drive that far for that lot again for points or for fun even if it was free (ESPECIALLY if it involved getting up at 4:30 AM on Sat!), it's just too small and unpredictable a surface, sorry! We only ran Morrisville and RBC because they were a <20 min drive from home and our family and friends could come out and see what we do. I'd be much more willing to pay extra to go to Danville than Greenville.

An aside: other clubs are able to use military bases for events. With all the BIG bases in NC isn't there a paved area we might use at one or more of them? What about the highly underused (from what I read in the papers) airtranspark or transairpark or whatever they call it. Thinking even more about where other clubs run, are there any suitable paved lots at the Bull's or Mudcats stadiums?

_________________
SPIN or WIN!
there's no glory for going slow.

In response to Chuck's question on R tires, I think Jason Mauldin (second fastest time of the day) was on R tires . . . I certainly hope so given his time So was Shawn. I didn't notice others. I cannot comment one way or the other on the tradeoff effect of heat vs. oil droppings on summer grip. The only really oily place I noticed when walking the course was the exit of the tight inside turnaround . . . the water beaded on that area . . . but I really wasn't looking that carefully. In my case the combination of old tires on cold pavement in cold weather was the key factor . . . I think. If the site is as big as the 370 by 600 foot site I started autocrossing on and we use a multiple lap course design I think the size and speeds can safely be FUN. The big issue is "summer grip". At least from my perspective, even if the grip is so so, at least the car/tires won't come home full of gravel like they did from Sanford. I was digging sharp gravel out from under the fuel cell after Sanford . . . not fun and not easy. After each run the tires were litterally coated in a solid layer of hard to remove gravel which has to be removed to have any grip for the next run . . . also not fun and not easy

Anybody want to fund purchase and paving of a great autocross site? I'll be glad to manage it full time now that I'm early retired

_________________
Dick Rasmussen

FS 50 2018 Mustang GT