THSCC Forums

Here's an idea to kick around... I'd like to see us grid cars by class next year. By class, I mean by open class letter designations (not TIR or PRO). So the grid would look like this- First all AS, then BS, then CS.. through HS, then ASP, BSP, CSP and so on. It doesn't matter if we reverse the order for all I care and put the HS cars first, or the MOD cars first. The point is that we grid cars by open class designation. If we still have TIR and PRO classes they would run with and grid with their open class. Novice class would also grid according to their open class designations.

Now why would we do this? For one, it would put the experienced drivers right next to the novices and the TIR class drivers. I believe it would encourage the further development of open class competition. An atmosphere is immediately created where competitors get to see how many cars there would be in open class if they all chose to run in the same class. It would be a great environment for more experienced drivers to help the less experienced. I think it would also be fun. We spend a significant amount of time at each event in grid and I think it would be great way to promote the comradarie among the drivers of cars of like kinds and classes.

For those that think the goal of creating deeper open classes is a good one, this would be one way to help encourage that to evolve. I bet it would do more for club morale to leave the class rules alone and let people choose based on the kind of people and cars they could be competing against.

In this environment, it would be up to the most experienced drivers in each class to help the less experienced and encourage those that should be in open class to switch over. This would be made all that much easier if people could meet and get to know their potential season long competitors.

Please don't post all the arguments about how hard it would be to manage grid. Many clubs run their grid according to car number, and that's much more involved than this. We could do it with a little planning, effort and education. We would have to carefully evaluate how to make this work, but I think it should be considered. Most autocrossers consider the social aspect of this sport to be pretty important and I think this would be a great improvement to that aspect of it. I met Graham this year and got to know him because he has a similar kind of car and knew less than I did when he first came. Now he knows more than I do and will clean my clock next year! (Is this really a good thing?)

Just an idea to kick around.

Just to be clear, the above idea does not abolish TIR or PRO or change any class rules. It also works even if we decided to get rid of all the PAX classes. It is independent of any classing rules changes we might some day make.

Miles

What happens with 2 driver cars?

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

Two Driver cars are strictly forbidden in this system, you're gunna have to buy another Celica .

Miles I think this Idea has some potential. My only problem would come in when I wanted to ride along with another HS driver or they wanted to ride along with me.

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2006 Civic Si - #24 HS for 2015

2005 GMC Sierra
1991 318is Garage Ornament

The only potential problem I see is that PRO class could become a little unfair if conditions change between open classes. I know, conditions can change *within* a class, but if you run PRO drivers with their open classes you could have them driving at *wildly* different times.

I have a solution to this problem: Get rid of PRO.


--Donnie

When evaluating a new concept, you have to consider how the overall idea would affect the majority of the members, or its overall impact on the event. In any change, there are always some disadvantages or some things that just don't fit into the overall box you try to draw. Though we can find things about any proposal we don't like, I'd be interested in comments on the overall impact.

But for the things that "don't fit" into this box as neatly, I would suggest this as a possible solution. Throughout the day, there will always be some folks who can't run and grid with their assigned class. They may be timing workers, folks that had car trouble earlier, 2 driver cars, or whatever.....

If we used this system, we could set aside a dedicated 2 driver car area, which also allowed for extra room for the cars that could not run with their assigned class for valid reasons. I don't see this as a big deal.

Miles