KathleenIde wrote:
When I try to decide whether or not to focus on competition in my first year, the main question is: I only get one chance at the Novice trophy - will it be the best chance I ever get to win any trophy?
You sound like a really competitive person, Kit. But again, I urge you to try to forget about the whole trophy thing. Particularly a trophy in Novice, if it's going to compell you to buy R-compound tires right away which, as I stated earlier, I believe will make your learning curve more difficult.
I should also mention that, in addition to R-compound tires being less forgiving, they are also
expensive and you can ruin one or more in a single run if you have a bad spin.
Quote:
I might or might not ever achieve enough skill to run with the leaders, and I might or might not improve faster than average. If I improve faster than average, but never get really good, Novice might be the best, and last, chance I ever have.
Let's say you run in Novice this year and do well, then in the years that follow you never manage to trophy. What would that mean to you? Would you prize that Novice trophy from your first season, reminiscing about it for years, or would you discount it, thinking that maybe you only did well because it was a weak batch of NOVs that year? On the other hand, what if you run in Novice and
do not do particularly well? If your view is that you'd have blown your "best, and last, chance", what incentive could you possibly have to continue?
In all cases, my conclusion would be the same: The Novice trophy is meaningless. We didn't even
have such a thing until last year, and frankly I'd be just as happy to see it go away again. All that matters is how you are doing
now compared to how you have been doing
lately.
IMO, you should have two goals for the 2006 season:
- Have fun.
- Learn.
If you're not having fun, there's really no point in continuing the activity (you're sure not getting paid for it!). And focusing on winning trophies, or even "doing well", is going to crush your fun factor if you don't meet your high expectations.
There are all kinds of things that make autocross fun- from the thrill of handling a car at the edge of control, to the mental challenge, to the people. If you're not getting joy from these things, any trophy you may win is going to be pretty hollow.
Similarly, if you're not learning, that's going to impact your fun eventually, as you'll notice that you're not keeping up with your former peers.
Consider your first season or two as an investment. It will pay off down the road if you persevere, but it's unwise to sacrifice long-term benefits in pursuit of short-term gains.
Hope this helps.
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Aha!
You're talking to the person who took the Motorcycle Safety Federation's "Basic" class over again, just for the fun of it, after having passed the "Advanced" class with flying colors.