THSCC Forums

It occured to me that this is perhaps the real reason we normally say "novices run with your open group" -- it splits them up fairly evenly. Having all the novices together on Saturday was more a function of this than of it being all-at-once rather than split.

That said, I imagine that of all of us, the novices benefit most from the split runs. A chance to get a ride with an experienced driver before your last run, no matter what group they're in, and a chance to have experienced people give them tips between runs, and to talk about the sport in general, probably helps them a lot. Not just in terms of technique, either, but to welcome them into our club community.

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Martyn Wheeler
AXing Kit's '05 Mazda 3, #29 HStock
(when The Gonzo Symphonic allows)

I really enjoyed the all at once format which surprised me since I, like most, am basically opposed to change. I like getting in the zone and being able to keep it going. I could think about running when I was running and still have lots of time to socialize in the shade during the rest of the day. Also, I found myself much less rushed with lots more time to spend with friends. It would be better to not run all noobs at once. That way they wouldn’t all end up working at the same time either. I think that was corrected to some degree. Logistically I’m sure that could be figured out. Two good courses. I did especially like Sunday’s course though I never really executed the sweeper exactly as I should have. I did finally get the top of the runway by trail braking correctly on my last run. Thank goodness for reruns!

Martin was a great competitor. It was a super season fighting it out with him. I didn’t quite have the run I needed on my 4th run Saturday and was pretty sure Martin would beat me. I turned around at the finish to wait to congratulate him. Couldn’t believe my eyes when I saw him hit not one but 2 cones 20’from the finish line. Holy Cow! Had he been clean we’d have continued the battle into the Fall. For the rest of the year it will be just good ole fun. Thanks, Martin, for a fun year.

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SCCA Solo Triad Award Recipient 2014
SCCA HSL National Champion 2012
SCCA DSL National Champion 2013
SCCA DSL National Champion 2014
NCR National Driver of the Year 2012
THSCC Heel of the Year 2011
Former Club Secretary
http://www.petscompanioninn.com

Sorry for being late to the wrap-up thread....and I apologize for leaving prior to Sunday's trophies, but I had to grab the kids from my parent's house before they (my parents) collapsed.

Big thanks to all involved in the joint venture event! Well-coordinated, smooth operation, and I could tell that lots of planning went into pulling off a successful weekend. I know it takes time and effort to organize these, and from the n00b perspective it really shows off as a class act! Pat yourselves on the back, give yourselves a raise--heck take the day off for a job well done!

I enjoyed doing AAO format. I understand there were some logistical efforts with the NOV class and ride-alongs, but I got more out of doing 4 runs in one group than breaking it into two sets. Most likely this was because my learning curve is still steep, but running the course within a short timeframe helped me understand better how my car behaves, and how I drive..My times improved dramatically from the first to the fourth run, and I think it's mostly in part to the AAO format.

I also enjoyed the running commentary on the PA system..made it more engaging, particularly knowing the timespread between competing cars in each class (unofficially, at least)

Looking forward to the final two events!

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Steve Carter
1972 Datsun 240Z-- resto pics at http://picasaweb.google.com/srcartermd
2007 GPW Honda S2000-- STR 86

Steve, I have your trophy. I'll bring it to the meeting Wed. I think I heard you say you'd be there.

Gwennie

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SCCA Solo Triad Award Recipient 2014
SCCA HSL National Champion 2012
SCCA DSL National Champion 2013
SCCA DSL National Champion 2014
NCR National Driver of the Year 2012
THSCC Heel of the Year 2011
Former Club Secretary
http://www.petscompanioninn.com

Triad allows the announcer visual acess to the timing computer screen, Tarheel does not. All that info, driver's name car year make and model, last run time, quickest run, place in class etc is available in the timing software. It also makes announcing much more fun if you have more to talk about than just reading the time off the board. Encourage the powers that be to hook up a second computer for the announcer, laptops, especially used ones can be had very inexpensively.

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

I don't think its not allowing access, its more than likely just not having a second computer (if its that simple to hook it up). I know when I'm working T&S I try and feed information like that to the announcer on days when things aren't too hectic.

It would be nice though, especially if they had access so I don't always have to tell the announcer whether a run was clean or not.

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2012 MX-5 Sport SUV

We had an announcer computer for a while. Wirelessly connected and all that. But once it made AXWare crash and that was the end of it. If you remember right, we had about an hour of down time trying to fix the problem. It wasn't fun.

As for having the announcer looking over the shoulder, I can say from personal experience, that I DO NOT WANT THAT TO HAPPEN. It is already a major distraction to have the announcer in the bus period. When we have an event like this last weekend, low cone counts and only 2 cars on course at a time, it is ok. The bus isn't that busy. But when we have a Laurinburg or Sanford event where we are pushing 4 cars on course and the whole thing is cone call after cone call and DNFs everywhere, we do not need anymore distractions in the bus. I have been known to kick the announcer out if he/she is getting to be too much.

Hell, the speakers being right over our heads is bad enough.

If we want to revisit the announcer computer and have him outside, I am all for it. But I will emphatically say NO to having him look over my shoulder.

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Todd Breakey
STS 42 - 1992 Sunburst Miata
Dammit!
"You souldn't play leap frog with a porcupine. You might get hurt." - Eliza

I will say though, that Chris Cline was sitting in the front seat of the bus the whole time he was announcing and he did most (90%) of it from memory.

He is just a good announcer with a good memory.

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Todd Breakey
STS 42 - 1992 Sunburst Miata
Dammit!
"You souldn't play leap frog with a porcupine. You might get hurt." - Eliza

Not sure what the current setup, but most laptops will allow you to display your desktop on the screen as well as an external monitor. If its a desktop format, you can pick up a dual monitor card for fairly cheap. If you dont want the announcer inside the bus, you can set it up outside the bus with a 20ft monitor cable.

Just some other thoughts if you are worried about crashing the system again.

I really enjoyed having all my runs at once as well -- instead of being busy in three run groups, I was only busy in two, which made the whole day seem more relaxed.

And I have an LCD monitor I can bring to the next AX to give this a try.

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One of those LeMonHeads...
91/95 Miata, 02 Focus SVT, 01 Ford F250, 09 Suzuki SV650SF
rusty 84 C4 Vette, tiny piece of the General Lei
Irish Sport Horse - 1hp NA!

I think the comments were about Sunday. If CC can remember people's previous times and/or where they stand in class and what they need to move up, he indeed does have a GREAT memory! (wonder if he'd like to go to Vegas?)
I have announced from a satelite computer at an outside location, but the big problem there is that the screen needs to be well shaded to be able to see it on a sunny day. SCCA puts the announcer in a seperate vehicle with their own computer (and AC!).

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

This is pretty much what I meant when I said that it wasn't always possible to have announcing like that for technical reasons. In circumstances like that I'd very much prefer the split heat format so at least you can look at the morning times to build the competitive spirit. It's not so bad when it's just me and Gwen in HS -- we'll tell each other what we ran anyway -- but in FS or CSP or TIR you can't exactly run down the line shouting "What did you run? And what did you run?" to half a dozen competitors.

I completely understand Todd's point. Back many years ago, I used to work T&S and as announcer for NCR SCCA road races. Things can get pretty hectic in that room. Todd would have liked that even less -- they told me "No dead air" so people could tune in their radios, so I was talking almost the entire day. Of course, there was a lot more space in T&S than in the bus, and there weren't any speakers in the room, but still...

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Martyn Wheeler
AXing Kit's '05 Mazda 3, #29 HStock
(when The Gonzo Symphonic allows)

I keep suggesting headsets for the timing and scoring people, much less distractions that way. Tarheel certainly has enough money in the treasury to afford the upgrades.

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

Double check that the laptop (assuming here) has a monitor port on it. im sure there are plenty of other techie's that can figure it out as well, but if not, feel free to ask me and I will give it a best effort on getting it going.