Waldorf Feedback

[echan]

Now that we just completed our first event at Waldorf, we would love to hear some feedback from you. So please let us know and give us suggestions of how we can improve. You can post to this thread or if you'd rather, you can e-mail me at capitaldriving@yahoo.com.

I can start the discussion now based on some comments that I heard today (I guess I'm just inviting some bashing but we are honestly always looking to improve):

1. How did you like the course?
2. How did you like the way we did grid?
3. Were you disappointed in some other aspect of this event?
4. How were you treated by the organizer staff?
5. What did you see that was good and what did you see that was bad?

I think we had about 115 participants (haven't seen the results yet) with the first car running at 9:30 am and the last car finishing before 3:30pm. I think the average run time was about 45 second with a 25 second overlap.

CDC had 12 organizers working the event and ran thru 48 sausages, 56 hotdogs, 6 racks of ribs, 6 cases of bottles water, and about 6 cases of sodas.

Ed

[InsightRacer]

My view:

1. How did you like the course?
Awesome. I loved the technical nature of it. Lots of challenging transitions. I loved the length. It forced me to look ahead (something the short courses don't require as much of).
2. How did you like the way we did grid?
It worked! At first I wasn't sure I knew what we were doing but the organizers kept it under control. It kept it organized while not forcing us to constantly move up in line giving more time for between run prep and adjustments.
3. Were you disappointed in some other aspect of this event?
It's really far away, but worth the trip. The venue lacks grass and trees (lots of asphalt and concrete) but I can live with it. Really, everything was fine.
4. How were you treated by the organizer staff?
We have the worlds best organizer staff.
5. What did you see that was good and what did you see that was bad?
The "track" condition is excellent. All those TR6s were bad !

[Wade Chamberlain]

emailed you Ed.

[vettegirl]

My two cents for what it's worth...

1. How did you like the course? Overall, I enjoyed the course, however, I felt it didn't take full advantage of the fun-factor that could have been available on the bigger lot. There were several chokes and I think it would have tested skill more if people were allowed to choose their own lines, this couldn't happen with all of the gates, pointer cones would have allowed people to pick and chose their lines and possibly maintain speed in certain areas of the course where it was funneled down by the gates.
2. How did you like the way we did grid? Loved it, kept things moving and although it does require a couple people to direct traffic, I felt you all did a great job with that with minimal amounts of confusion. I loved how quickly things moved through.
3. Were you disappointed in some other aspect of this event? My only dissapointment was the I was too busy to have any ribs - but that's on me, buying a double slot, not on you guys!
4. How were you treated by the organizer staff? As always, the organizers are awesome, knowledgeable, efficient, friendly and respectful of everyone.
5. What did you see that was good and what did you see that was bad? Loved the larger lot, not as thrilled with the actual course design (sorry), the directions to the site were terrible (not on you guys - the baseball team's website stinks on that respect), it was a bit of a drive, but not a difficult one, plenty of shade should thing have gotten hot and the bathroooms were a big bonus, it was nice not having to wait in line. Ample food and drinks available, overall - great day - thanks for the event!!

[BabyLFA]

NOTE: This was my first autocross!

1. How did you like the course?
I loved it! It was really spread out without any double backs, a good assortment of tight turns and straightaways. Great beginner course, but also solid veteran course as well.

2. How did you like the way we did grid?
I'm not sure why people were confused, I thought it was fine for the space we had.

3. Were you disappointed in some other aspect of this event?
Not really, you ran out of food though (I was in two heats and was unable to grab food until we got back to heat one)

4. How were you treated by the organizer staff?
Very well, courteous - no problems

5. What did you see that was good and what did you see that was bad?
Seeing how this was my first event, I really don't have much to compare too, but I was very satisfied overall with the entire day - just wish I had more heats

[ccann26]

1. How did you like the course?
It was not a fun course, not technical, non flowing very very poor design.

2. How did you like the way we did grid?
Awesome we may try implementing this type of grid for our practice events locally in the future.

3. Were you disappointed in some other aspect of this event?
The course.....

4. How were you treated by the organizer staff?
Very good staff, professional knowledgeable.

5. What did you see that was good and what did you see that was bad?
The good : 6 runs, food and a well organized event and props for pushing 100+ drivers. Grid was nice and changeovers were smooth.
The bad : The staff knew the course was bad and it should have been resolved but was not probably due to time.

[Jaylyons1]

This was my first event with the CDC, but I have a couple seasons under my belt with regions around the country including the SCCA events locally.

1. How did you like the course?
The course was very bland. It was a great course for those new to the sport, but I feel like it was just too simple. The other events that I have done at this venue were quite a bit longer. Normally the runs would run over a minute with a few smaller courses here and there that would be slightly under a minute per lap.

2. How did you like the way we did grid?
The grid was quite confusing but I think this was due to the way the working assignments were. There was too much changeover. Something like Heat 1 working for Heat 2, Heat 2 working for Heat 3 and Heat 3 working for Heat 1 seems to make more sense. This would also eliminate some of us sitting around for 2+ hours doing nothing while we waited.

3. Were you disappointed in some other aspect of this event?
It just seemed a bit unorganized which took up more time. Since there were no assigned working positions, we had to wait until someone caved and spread out to corners needing people.

4. How were you treated by the organizer staff?
Everyone was really friendly. All my questions were answered on the spot.

5. What did you see that was good and what did you see that was bad?
There was food, cars and restrooms which is always good.
It was unorganized(I feel like this would come with time), slick(nothing can be done about that) and it seems to be taking a while for the results to be posted.

Overall, it wasn't a terrible event. Just too simple for me. With the down time, and if it were a more complicated course, I would have forgotten what to do. I'm on the fence about coming out to any other CDC events. I'll have to try out something at one of the other venues me thinks.

[JayPar]

1. How did you like the course?

A couple stretches were fun (notably the sweeper going down towards the lake) and the bit coming back from the lake. However it did have a couple of issues:

a) I may be a bit biased as a driver of a momentum car but there were 3-4 places where we had to scrub and rebuild a lot of speed, the worst being the hairpin at the far left side near the lake and the very tight turn closest to the organizer tent. The other two (just after launch and after the slalom) were a little sharp also, but manageable. It was a bit of a drag race following the turns and it was pretty advantageous for high horsepower cars (as the results show). Any course is going to favor some type of car and I have no grounds to complain about that. But it also kind of split up the course into 4-5 segments which I guess is the same as saying the "flow" was interrupted (as others have said).

b) The multiple gates looked artificially restrictive at first, but they didn't feel as restrictive as I thought they might be. Still I would prefer non-gated pointers where possible for more freedom of line.

c) I had hoped for a longer course (something 10-15 seconds longer) and there seemed to be a fair amount of unused real estate. Although that would have required 3 cars on course at the same time to get the same throughput I think.


2. How did you like the way we did grid?

It was a bit confusing at first but it worked very well. The timing went off quite smoothly.


3. Were you disappointed in some other aspect of this event?

There were two notable radio problems - one at timing I think and another where a worker station radio went dead. Both of these caused confusion when I was working.

a) It might help to have numbered stations. There have been times at several events where someone calls out to a station and it's not clear which station is being referred to.

b) It might be helpful to do a radio test before each heat where you could call each station number and they respond: "here" or "station 1 here"... something like that. I'm sure you all have thought of doing that, so there's probably a reason why it's not done (like it might slow things down by 30 seconds).

(BTW - I dislike the idea of assigned stations as suggested in a post above - the Corvette Club does that and it is a substantial source of confusion).


4. How were you treated by the organizer staff?

Very well, as always.


5. What did you see that was good and what did you see that was bad?

It was a fun event even with the minor issues. It went pretty smoothly overall.

[Jim Harris]

I really applaud CDC for trying Waldorf. It's way better than most facilities and a step up for the club. And as always, the guys did a great job running the event.

The course was just OK. Better than the Harry Grove and Bowie courses, but I was hoping to see the designers take advantage of the extra space to run a more AI- or SCCA-like course, less tight, with the challenges encountered at higher speed. But you'll do better next time.

Still a great event.

(And by the way, those TR-6s are amazing. Three of them this time.)

[BugBomb]

We really appreciate all the feedback from everyone. We have a lot of plans to improve our Waldorf events going forward.

The late results is on me. I am responsible for the results 90% of the time. It took us nearly 3 hours to get home and I was exhausted. I don't know if I will be at the next Waldorf, but I will do my best to get results out the same day.

We are still internally debating changes like assigned worker positions and changes to the way we grid cars. There are many people that prefer it one way or the other. If we switch to more formal procedures like that, I think it takes away part of what has made CDC this popular. We are a very social and casual club, and I think it is important for us to keep that going forward.

[JayPar]

[ It was a bit of a drag race following the turns and it was pretty advantageous for high horsepower cars (as the results show). /quote]

Jay, Look at a six run time comparison between my z06 and Mike M. running your Miata. Within pretty much .1 second each run.

Stephen Catlin Z06 41.78 40.72 40.28 40.93 39.91 40.01+1
Mike Moran --Miata 41.78 40.54 40.37 OC 40.28 40.03

Look at the Mini's times too. Pretty close to the top. I'd say it was a fair course for all cars. If anything it was very restrictive on a big fast car. But not so much as Frederick where the Miata is king!

There are a couple exceptions but of the top 11 I see high HP cars, a national champ and very fast MR2 (all driven by top notch drivers). But there were also very good drivers IMO in Minis and Miatas with pretty large time offsets from FTD. But I guess that's why there are indexes. My true apples-to-apples comparison is my wife Denise who drove both the Miata and her Corvette and got pretty much the same times in each car, and she's never matched her Miata times in her Corvette. So perhaps it was actually an equal opportunity course this time when other courses were not (though I would argue that a prepped Miata is supposed to be better at this sport than a stock Corvette with all seasons ). But like I said I have no grounds to complain - it's just an observation that this course wasn't as good for momentum cars.

[LaurenceC]

There are a couple exceptions but of the top 11 I see high HP cars, a national champ and very fast MR2 (all driven by top notch drivers). But there were also very good drivers IMO in Minis and Miatas with pretty large time offsets from FTD. But I guess that's why there are indexes. My true apples-to-apples comparison is my wife Denise who drove both the Miata and her Corvette and got pretty much the same times in each car, and she's never matched her Miata times in her Corvette. So perhaps it was actually an equal opportunity course this time when other courses were not (though I would argue that a prepped Miata is supposed to be better at this sport than a stock Corvette with all seasons ). But like I said I have no grounds to complain - it's just an observation that this course wasn't as good for momentum cars.

Jay, this course had a few spots that required a car to be able to dig and a Miata just doesn't have it. I agree that this course did favor high horsepower, but only if you were extremely patient.

[JayPar]

OK Stephen. I'm not sure how to take that. I realize I am a relative newbie and don't have much frame of reference. Maybe I should wait to post an opinion next time until I have more experience.

[JoeTR6]

(And by the way, those TR-6s are amazing. Three of them this time.)

I'm amazed the course wasn't covered in oil by the afternoon. It was good to see some of the Triumph club guys make it out. We even had The Shape of Things That Came and Went in the form of a TR7. I actually really liked that car.

Our TR6 felt like a carnival ride at times. I suspect the antiquated lever shocks may be a bit worn. I noticed Wade's Cobra bucking some on a few turns (e.g., sweeper heading towards the pond and coming into the stop garage). Did anyone else notice this, or was it just my power-squatting semi-trailing arm suspension?

I'm really can't wait for the next events at Waldorf. There's a ton of different courses that can be set up on that lot.

[echan]

Hey Everyone,

As Mike said, all the organizers will work on improving future events. I hope you all realize that the organizers really strive at improving our events, whether it's food, grid, or the course we always try to improve with each event. After each event the organizers have a "recap" of each event, discuss how to improve and implement changes for future events. We even started a guide of all our past lessons.

We take each event very seriously, and we consider everyone's comment seriously.

Ed

[vettegirl]

Ed, you guys do such a great job. I've attended events held by 5 different clubs so far, and it is Capital that we choose to drive with and focus on. It's very obvious to me (even though this is only my third season autocrossing) that you guys strive to hold amazing events. I really appreciate that you all ask for membership input too. Thank you for being open to suggestions and it's obvious that you all listen as well. When I attend other events, I hold CDC as the standard. You guys put on an event that is fun to attend, in an environment where people can learn, compete in a positive way and challenge us as drivers. We come to CDC because it's where we WANT to drive, not because it's where we HAVE to drive.