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Thanks for posting.  

 

The course goes in the same direction both days?

as always, thanks paul :)

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Hi! I'm Rodney. "Hi Rodney!" I'm addicted to Solo....

Yes,

 We have found it is easier to run the same direction as we do not need to move grid or the timing trailer.

 Last year we had two completely different courses, running the same direction, which took forever to change.  This year I am going to re-use much of the transitional stuff, but flipping the entry and changing the course between the transitional stuff.  Hopefully it will give us a shorter turn-around time.

PZ

Just curious...what happened and when that it's now acceptable to post course maps ahead of an event?  I must have missed it. ??

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Patrick Washburn
STU Evo
www.winghats.com

I don't really like it - it detracts from the sport, IMHO. I'm now memorizing the course and guessing at key sections, which gives me a huge heads-up over those that walk it cold. I could have easily skipped work today and put it in Live For Speed and driven it all morning, too. Why am I special, just because I'm online instead of driving 12+hours to get there? The cold course walk is fair, challenging, and one of the cornerstones of the sport.

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-Philip Maynard

No weenies!

Auto-X Fil:

I don't really like it - it detracts from the sport, IMHO. I'm now memorizing the course and guessing at key sections, which gives me a huge heads-up over those that walk it cold. I could have easily skipped work today and put it in Live For Speed and driven it all morning, too. Why am I special, just because I'm online instead of driving 12+hours to get there? The cold course walk is fair, challenging, and one of the cornerstones of the sport.

You can get a course map at reg before you walk the course too. You can actually go Friday, and not walk the course either and just show up Saturday, then do your walk in the morning. Also... you get the Sunday course on Friday... that doesn't give any advantage to those that were there on Fri vs Sat morning. You still get the maps a day in advance.

Heck, even nationals... you can get a map 5 days before you run, along with feedback from people that ran it the previous 2 days...

This really has no bearing on anything being posted the night before the event. There's no advantage, and if there is one, it's only perceived.

Huntsville was posted on the 30th... a full 3 days before the event... no one complained then.
Houston Maps were up 3 days in advance of the event too...

Devens? night before... If anything how come PZ waited so long???  LOL! 

Nothing new here folks. 

--kC

 

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For sale: 2006 Nissan Titan LE Crew Cab. White. 40K miles. $21K. Wicked pissah to tow with.

If you think you can look at a course map and know the course well enough to drive it fast your first time out without walking it, then you my friend are either highly dilusional or WAY better then me. Course map = general idea of where the course is going to go. Getting the visuals, knowing the actual radius of the corners, noting if there is a camber change or change in the surface, and knowing the spacing and offset of the slalom cones will only come from a course walk.

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Nate Whipple
NER
188/88 DSP ITR

solo-x:

If you think you can look at a course map and know the course well enough to drive it fast your first time out without walking it, then you my friend are either highly dilusional or WAY better then me. Course map = general idea of where the course is going to go. Getting the visuals, knowing the actual radius of the corners, noting if there is a camber change or change in the surface, and knowing the spacing and offset of the slalom cones will only come from a course walk.

Plus, there is no notation for the water hazards.

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Matt Murray

I am perfectly capable of learning from my mistakes. I will surely learn a great deal today.

Patrick Washburn:

Just curious...what happened and when that it's now acceptable to post course maps ahead of an event?  I must have missed it. ??

Its always been ok the week-of.  But most regions don't do it.  Houston (home of Roger the Real) has been doing it for years.

 
--Andy 

Seems like I remember Nationals course maps appearing in FastTrack back in the late '80s. Were they published after Nationals with the results (I think so) or before Nationals with the entry forms?

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Aut tace aut loquere meliora silentio.

modernbeat:

Seems like I remember Nationals course maps appearing in FastTrack back in the late '80s. Were they published after Nationals with the results (I think so) or before Nationals with the entry forms?

The only course maps I ever remember seeing in SportsCar were in the post-Nats write-ups.  I definitely do not remember them in FastTrack.

--Andy 

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124 ST[S|X] - '89 Civic Si (red or white, depending)
24 HS - '89 Civic Si white
95 ASP - '95 RX-7 R2 (for fun days)

Agreed.  Those coursemaps (while I'm sure helpful for some) do not convey ANYTHING about the proper line, they don't give a good idea of the speeds involved, and they don't give you insight into any of the visual trickery.  For this, you gotta walk the course.

More power to anyone who thinks that reviewing the coursemap ahead of time is an advantage... I don't buy it.

By the way PZ, the courses were excellent.  I wasn't a huge fan of the drag-race starts both days, but other than that, great job. 

JV

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John Vitamvas
stranoparts.com / TeamWTF.org '04 Z06

Other pics... I only took pics Sat on 4th heat... (STS2, SM, etc...)

Here they are: http://www.rallydecals.com/gallery/thumbnails.php?album=11

Let me know if you would like the much larger originals (filename).

--Keith

 

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For sale: 2006 Nissan Titan LE Crew Cab. White. 40K miles. $21K. Wicked pissah to tow with.

John V:

 

By the way PZ, the courses were excellent.  I wasn't a huge fan of the drag-race starts both days, but other than that, great job. 

JV

 

Thank you.

I'm normally not a fan of drag race starts, but it is difficult to get a non-drag race start at Devens that works for everyone. 

BTW, if anyone has any comments good or bad about the course, please feel free to post them or IM me.  I never get anything (good or bad) from the comment cards.

PZ

Since you asked, I'll elaborate.

I didn't like the tightness of the element right after the start, particularly on Saturday.  The following offsets were a bit too .. uh .. offset to be taken really smoothly, but it was a unique and challenging element.  On Sunday, I thought this section worked better, until the narrow zig-zag section.  That part really punished wide cars (not mine).

The Saturday slalom up the taxiway leading to the tower was excellent.  The lane-change there on Sunday was great as well.

Loved the sweepers in front of the tower.  They looked painful during the walks, but they wound up flowing very well - as did the high-speed slalom going away from the tower.  The finish section was excellent both days.  Keeping tight there was really key to getting a good time, and it was deceptively technical.

I really enjoyed both days.  Now, just work on that weather...

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John Vitamvas
stranoparts.com / TeamWTF.org '04 Z06

John V:

Since you asked, I'll elaborate.

I didn't like the tightness of the element right after the start, particularly on Saturday.  The following offsets were a bit too .. uh .. offset to be taken really smoothly, but it was a unique and challenging element.  On Sunday, I thought this section worked better, until the narrow zig-zag section.  That part really punished wide cars (not mine).

snip...

Now, just work on that weather...

 

Yeah, the first leg on Saturday did not turn out like I planned.  I was told by some fourth heat people that it was not too bad, but I wanted a bit more flow.  I think the problem is that the walls were not spaced right.  I had planned for some increased radii there but instead they decreased.  Because we got in so late on Friday I did not get a chance to double check them before Cindy did her hot laps through.  She didn't complain about them, despite driving through in the HHR so I figured they were okay.

Same thing on Sunday, although the only really painful part was the turn around the last wall.  I really should have had the gate afterward over about 10 feet to make the turn around the last wall less painful.

 I can't do anything about the weather, not my department.  There is an opening, NER has just fired it's 6th Chief of Weather in 5 years.

OTOH, the Chief of Bug control did a decent job this year.

 

PZ

P-Z:

... despite driving through in the HHR so I figured they were okay.

Somehow a HHR is not the greatest resource for checking a course.

P-Z:

OTOH, the Chief of Bug control did a decent job this year.PZ

Bug control? They all drowned by the start of the second heat.

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Matt Murray

I am perfectly capable of learning from my mistakes. I will surely learn a great deal today.

mattm:

P-Z:

... despite driving through in the HHR so I figured they were okay.

Somehow a HHR is not the greatest resource for checking a course.

 

Cindy was more looking at visuals at speed (?), but I figured that if she didn't complain about a section being too tight (and we did made a change to the slalom on the taxiway heading to the tower because it was tight) then it would be fine for the rest of us.