I really appreciate the posts by this year's novices in the forum! Way to go! It's great to see that you've not been intimidated by this crowd! Bernie and Gwen, I have enjoyed getting to talk with you at events. To the other novices, please come up and introduce yourself if I don't know you. I'm the slow guy that drives the white 91 Corvette. There's a fast guy that drives my car too. I'm trying to 'larn" from him.
Steve, somewhere there's a 25 page thread on TIR class proposals that were hashed out in incredibly great detail before. I think we'll get some kind of forum meltdown if we blend the ideas of TIR class with the NOV thread!
But Steve, it has been argued before, that TIR is kind of a "JV" class. So, there are some that would agree that NOV2=TIR. If that's what you want, then I think your wish has been granted already.
But that notion creates a bit of another problem. There was a movement afoot for awhile by some club members to "shame the tire class participants into open class." This was directed toward experienced autocrossers that found themselves running TIR. The goal of this peer pressure campaign was noble- to increase participation in open class. But, there was nothing in the rules that prohibited experienced autocrossers from running in TIR. I personally believe that if the club decides that experienced autocrossers aren't supposed to run in TIR, or any other class for that matter, that the rules need to be changed to reflect that. Until then, let people choose what class they want to run in.
To save you the 25 page read through, TIR was originally created, eons ago, for the purpose of allowing autocrossers that did not want to change tires or invest in extra wheels/tires a place to run on their street tires. It has since evolved (for some) into an "uber street tire" class, where some folks buy extra wheels rims for their uber street tires for autox, then run on their cheap ones during the week. Some old timers think that particular evolution cycle is "against the original spirit of the class" and that practice should be halted. While others think that "it's the way things have evolved and there's nothing wrong with that." I'll not debate that issue here, again. At the time of that debate, TIR class routinely had 30+ participants, and it did cause some "dilution" of open class. There have even been proposals batted around by various assorted individuals to eliminate TIR, NOV and all PAX classes (including XClass or PRO).
All this stuff has been said before- but hey, I'm happy to help bring the newbies up to speed. Gwen, your T-shirt idea is so good, that many people happen to agree with you, except that the T-shirt idea evolved into a hat concept. Hats are cheaper and easier to manage. But of course, we never did anything about that either.
What is important for the new folks to realize is that very few things ever change because of posts on the forums. I think the officers use it sometimes as a way to sample feedback on certain items, but it is mostly a place for fun discussion.
If you really want to change things, or have a serious proposal that "x needs to become y," or whatever... talk to the Pres and/or Autox VPs about it. When I was an officer, I appreciated person dialogue over yet another email.
Those guys runs the show each year and decide the policies.
You can get member feedback and kick things around here first, but to make real change happen, it needs to be discussed with the guys that hold the power. Then, if they believe your proposal is a good one, they may bring it up at a club meeting for discussion.
If you look at the forum stats, it's the classic 80/20 deal. Eighty percent of the posts are by 20% of the members. Most just lurk, if they even bother to get to the forums at all. So, I think it's important to remember that the forums are often a place for the vocal miniority to express opinions. Those opinions may, or may not, represent what most others think.
Miles
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in regards to actual competitive autocross technique i see some merit in that terminology. i have yet to hear an explanation of "get behind the cone" that i can fathom. and how does one readily determine the point of apex in a turn? so much to learn, so little time.
