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I only ran two events, but that is a combo of work and screwing up my car*. I intend to keep going and try for every event next year(Only way I have a chance of year end prizery) My wife even wants to start.
I never really cared about having a beginners class because we don't compete one on one. I did need a rule sheet stating that, "Even after you have signed up to work you need to reconfirm workage, prior to actual workage, because we have some slackers that sneak off after signing up" MY bad, mea culpa, etc.
I wish I could help more, but my job makes it hard to even make a meeting much less help out. It is pretty frustrating. You can leave the van in my yard and I will fix the stuff on the list, if that helps.


*Todays attempt at getting in some wrench time was a hoot. I will have it up in the tech talk Scirocco thread later. It involved a deer and a lawnmower.

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RedLanternRacing, builders of the fastest cars in last place.
Success is not an option.
1981 Scirocco, "Vera"

alright Lupella, you and me, out back to settle this like men. my Barbie Jeep is faster and i am not afraid to say it. but if you remember correctly, you were my novice mentor.

Dan says, "YLN rules!"

I'll give you a punch! You want a punch in eye? punch in the gut? punch in the nards?

There is a VERY STRONG probability of actual trophies making a comeback in 2007.

You want just a magnet, you get just a magnet.
You want a trophy, you get a trophy.
You wanna argue about this, you get put on the punch system!

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02 Focus SVT
STF 9

Someone was paying attnention in class.

Stephen seems to only consider the unlikely scenario that I presented - and that is one of a novice beating Spratte.

If I run novice my first 3 events, it's quite possible that I just gave up 18 points in my respcetive open class (or more, if no one else showed up). Suddenly, I get booted from Novice, into open class and I start with ZERO points and the season is nearly half over. Sucks to be me. If I was also scoring points in my open class, I don't get penalized.

AXWare already can do this.

The person doing season points can manage this...

However, as Jim points out, I don't care, because I'm not a novice. Hell, I doubt I'll even run an event next year.

Scott

Just an FYI. When I sent out the Novice Survey in 2005. We had 105 Novices during the season. Only 20 responded. Almost all were in favor of YLN and enjoyed it. The same feedback was true for the Mentoring program.

Out of 105 Novice entries. Only 8 people had run 5-8 events and were in contention for a YLN trophy. You can guess who they are. And they are all still autocrossing. 4 events 7 people. 3 events 6 people. 2 events 13 people. 1 event 69 people.

Just looking at 1-2 events there were 82 out of 105 people. 3-4 events 13 people. That left 21 people with 4 or more events. So 20% of those who tried it appeared to like it and did at least half a season worth.

I have no numbers for previous years since I only tracked 05 when I was a Nov Coord. But it pretty much says that 80% of the people who try it don't come back again. And another 10% do it casually. Then 10% are the die-hards that were hooked.

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http://www.greywinds.com

Maureen and I were new to this sport at the beginning of the year. We ran in NOV for two events and have since run in a variety of other classes. We also drive rallycross in SU2. Neither of us has won a trophy and are not likely to in the near future.

We do this because it's fun. If I win a trophy but have no fun, it's time to find a new sport again.

I think the novice school and the mentor program were far more important to us than any awards. We really appreciated them. We never gave any thought to the end of the year. A year end award would be fine but we would not have stayed in NOV for that reason.

Thanks to everyone for all the help this past year. We enjoyed it and are planning for next year.

I like the magnets. Everyone has a fridge, not everyone has a trophy corner(It would be a hollow empty place of broken dreams and tattered promises)

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RedLanternRacing, builders of the fastest cars in last place.
Success is not an option.
1981 Scirocco, "Vera"

Yeah, and how do you put your magnets on your Vette ...or your aluminium hood

Don't drag me into this. I'm only concerned about the awning.

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

or your stainless steel fridge. hey enough with the corvette slander already. it is go time buddy.

Is that punch on the arm or on the fun stick?

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Has no responsibility whatsoever.

I have it on good authority that they now stick some good rusty steel under those stainless fridges. As for the vettes, I will loan you my trusty tube of FastTack so that you may apply a magnet wherever you please.

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RedLanternRacing, builders of the fastest cars in last place.
Success is not an option.
1981 Scirocco, "Vera"

We need a generator powered awning!

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In need of car.

I was paying attention, but I was focusing on the question asked. Can we have YLN class back?



Did you miss your own class? Your proposed method didn't include any booting for stellar performance mid-season. My problem with your suggestion was I didn't see a need to have people competing in both open class and the YLN class since no booting was going on. Personally I think that could be intimidating to the "less naturally gifted" novice to see his/her name way down the totem pole in open class, but maybe that is just me. Plus I didn't see any value added with the proposed method that isn't already there with the YLN class. Sure it gives the opportunity for the really good novice to win even more trophies, but it offers nothing to the less talented to encourage them to come back and keep trying. If your getting wood in open class, to me that would be far more important than any novice wood you would get on top of that provided there are actually other people running in the class. I've never found much value/excitement in winning a trophy in a class of one. When I found myself in that situation, my results overall PAX and Raw were the only thing that meant anything to me. Notice I am referring a lot to how I would feel and what I think because it is just my opinion. I am sure other feel different, but you're not going to please everyone. As Jim suggested and Graham pointed out, the numbers seem to show that none of this really matters at all in the grand scheme of things. Those that enjoy autocross are going to come back, those that don't get it or didn't enjoy it won't. We are trying to cater to a very small minority here and I just don't see the need to go further than offer a YLN class.

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Stephen Westerfield
2009 Infiniti M35 | 2007 Honda Fit Sport | 2005 Ford Mustang GT |2000 GMC Sierra |1992 Acura Integra LS | Super Westerfield Bros Acura Integra