THSCC Forums

Most of the course design was stuff that Graham and I cooked up two weeks ago on a work day down there. For a relatively new driver, he has some pretty good ideas about course design! Really, that was just a base to work from.

To give credit where credit is due....

Kevin Allen and Jim Feinberg were a tremendous help and had a hand in some final elements of the school. I am no genius but I was smart enough to ask Eric Peterson and Scott Johnson to hang around on Saturday and help Graham and I with some course design tweaks for Sunday. Mark Musser, Bill Gratton, Sally Johnson and a few others all helped with various tasks that evening. Mark and Rick Butters even helped me change my tires that night so I'd be ready for the next morning.

I think we reached the goals we were striving for- smooth, flowing, relatively fast, open with some elements that forced you to look ahead and punished you if you didn't. We tried to give drivers plenty of flexibility in choosing a line through most of the elements.

In my opinion, this was not a horsepower course, and I think the results reflect that. It was mostly a handling course with some pretty long sections that were practically just momentum maintenance.

Most people seemed to like the course and I'm just glad everyone had a great time.

I can't say enough about the number of people that come out of the woodwork to help. It happens enough that I think it has just become somewhat of the culture in this club.

If you're reading this and you just came, worked your shift and went home, you did the bare minimum required. Next time, get involved. Help setup, pack up, cleanup, sweep the course, setup tables, or at least ask one of the event chairs or VPs what needs to be done.

Phil Fausz and Rick Butters are two great examples of these. Phil came up to me on Saturday morning with a big smile and said "Hey, I'm here to help. What do you need." Rick was the same way. That's the Tarheel spirit.

By the way, if all you ever do is the bare minimum and you have a complaint about the way things are done...... then you should really think about helping the folks that do them.

It was great to be a part of such a talented team of folks that worked together. I truly enjoyed working with everyone. There were no squabbles or fights or arguments or anything.... It was truly amazing! It was just one big team effort!

One more thing... Graham.... you are now so fast that there is no way I can beat you on vintage take off Hoosiers. Rats. This is going to get expensive! Can I send you the bill?

Miles

I would like to say a big thank you to Miles and Graham. I've chaired a school/auto-x weekend and I know how much work it can be. By the end of the day on Sunday you are completely, and I mean completely, worn out. I know you guys looked pretty tired Sunday and I hope you are recovering from the weekend now.

The course you guys put down for Sunday was outstanding I have to agree with some of the other folks above that it was one of the best courses we have seen there in a long time. It was fun, fast in sections, and safe. You can't beat that.

I'd also like to thank all the other folks who stepped up to help out in other ways. I know for my part I was a total slacker all weekend and I really appreciate all everyone who helped make this event happen.

Also I'd like to say a big thank you to the folks on the "bus power" team who did all the work in the bus. I believe it was their work that helped with the timer reliability issues that have always plagued us when we run that course configuration at Laurinburg. As far as I could tell we had very few timer problems on Sunday.

Great event everyone.

Shawn

_________________
OK so I'm back in. Now which tire should I buy??

I just wanted to point something slightly-negative out...

Before the school, the instructors were given a chance to run the course so that they could familiarize themselves with the flow & the approximate speeds with which the maneuvers could & should be taken.

This was not the time to go balls-out & mow down 20 cones on every run (yeah, you know who you are, people ). Jim P. & I had a brief discussion about this, and any of you folks who need a lesson in how to NOT hit cones during this kind of run session can come see us. We'll be glad to ride along & give you some tips.

Seriously, I reset the cones every time they paused to let people through the "gate" and it was complete ugliness. Just try to take it down a notch next time, ok? If you take out a whole slalom, what is the instructor who's right behind you & taking his first run going to learn?

What Kevin said -- Chris and I went out and reset the cones halfway through lunch, and we must have put back around 20.

Regarding Sunday, I had a blast, but realize that I really need to learn how to drive.

_________________
Has no responsibility whatsoever.

I was only able to attend the school on Saturday since I had other obligations on Sunday. But I have to say that Saturday's school was excellent.

Thanks to all the folks who made the event happen and extra thanks to my two instructors: Eric Petersen and The Alien. I learned from those two guys than I did all season long.

Just wish I could have stuck around and applied it on Sunday.

Again, great event.

_________________
Not spectacular just decent.
I'm not sure what I'm driving.
Maybe an ITR in DS.
Or half-assed STX prepped 330.

During the after lunch instructor walk-throughs I walked faster than all the groups and ended up resetting around 20 cones only on the 2nd half of the course myself. I would have walked with the instructors, but I have a very difficult time memorizing the course with someone talking and walking that slowly so I went it alone and felt a lot better about the course in the afternoon as a result.

I just want to say thanks again to Christine and Brenda for doing food. I hope everyone made sure they knew how much they appreciated having hot food on site that was *good*, too. They went way out of their way to do that.

I wish we had some way to always have food like that, but I certainly don't expect those two ladies to do it every time. It's just really nice to not have to worry about packing food for the day, and whatever I would have packed certainly wouldn't have been as good as those burgers.


--Donnie

I know that they were discussing whether or not to do this in Sanford. It might warrant a new thread about the Sanford event 'food', but I want to state that I would definitely buy food there as opposed to going out and getting food.

The prices this time were spot on, and their burgers were delicious.

Thanks a LOT for the food and the WELL PRICED drinks. I would buy it all again in a heartbeat .

- brian

I also want to thank everyone involved for such a great weekend! I am pretty new to this autocross thing, and I want everyone to know how helpful the school was for me. The instruction I received from Emmie Fisher and Chris Brown along with the course walks with the "pros" made a huge impact on my understanding of what I need to do (even though my performance Sunday may not have reflected it! ). I can't wait for Sanford to try again!

I would like to thank Miles and Graham, Kevin Allen (and Christine and Brenda for slaving over the stove all day). Miles and Graham seemed very tired when I showed up early (for a change) on SATURDAY. I don't know how they drove so well through the weekend.
Like others have mentioned, I don't think there's any reason to hit all the cones just because THERE'S NOW ONE OUT THERE TO PICK THEM UP PEOPLE!
My student's and I decided to let them drive all their offered runs so I had to try and let them get a little something with me during lunch on Saturday. They were both Brand New and I was at a lost to explain to them what in the world they were supposed to learn when we got to the "P" section and there were basically NO CONES STANDING.
I hope this had nothing to do with why they didn't show up on Sunday.

Back to the Happy News. Fantastic Course and you have to give our Vet drivers credit, I have to agree, though fast as always, it did not favor these wider cars.
OH, one more thing. I know this happens from time to time and a lot of new folks coming all the time but. . PLEASE, when you have a RED FLAG call, WAVE IT LIKE YOU MEAN IT. Folks are concentrating on the Course so You/We have to get them to see US. You won't be punished for stopping them on a fast run. We have all been there. You may save someone from Injury. We have to keep it Fun and Save.
Thanks Everyone for a Great Weekend.

_________________

Folks, Alway's be aware. I work out of town and it may be a while before I can read mail. Thanks,
Bill Gratton
caines21@wmconnect.com
910 670 1302

Whew! Loooong weekend. Got more sleep last night than I have in 3 days... But it was well worth every minute of it! Just an awesome weekend!

Yes, we were the event chairs and had a lot to do. We were very aggressive in what we wanted to have happen for the school and the event. There is no way in heck we could have pulled this off without all the people who got involved and helped out. There are more names than Miles listed so please don't feel slighted if we didn't mention you. You people know who you are and I'm very thankful to have such a great bunch of folks to work with. There were definetely things that we missed and extra things we needed. Thanks to you folks you didn't let us fall down!

I'd also like thank Miles. This was my apprenticeship. We've probably spoken on the phone and via email more in the past month or so than we have in the past year. He taught me a lot about what is needed to run an event and a school. It was a lot to digest. Thanks for your patience, you know how wound up I was getting closer to the weekend.

As for the course, well you knew the Vette Boys weren't going to make it slow. I'm very happy that you all enjoyed it. While I love fast or faster the concern about safety was just as important. A couple of other things that made it a good challenge was to run the same course backwards for the school. It all had to be worked around the bad sections and not destroy our idea. Well it appears it worked.

Now as for the driving part. I had a blast. I wasn't thrilled about my times. There wasn't much left in the tank by Sunday afternoon (lame excuse). I blew a nice 62.6 run making a lazy turn right before the finish. Man I hate it when that happens...

Graham

_________________
http://www.greywinds.com