Sorry for Heat 3 at today's autox

[echan]

We are super sorry about having not to run the afternoon runs for heat 3. Today was the first time in 6 years that we were kicked off the lot. What made it worse, we estimate that we would have finished by 5:30 pm (which the lot was still empty at that time).

We are compling the list of participants that did not get to run in the afternoon in heat 3. In addition to refunding 1/2 the entry fee, we will also send a $10 coupon to those participants. Just e-mail me (capitaldriving@yahoo.com or ed.chan@capitaldrivingclub.com) your name and mailing address and we will send you the coupon.

In addition, we realize that this event was very unfair to those in the points running. It's impossible to be fair to everyone. Some did extremely well and I'm sure they want the points. Others didn't have an opportunity to run in the afternoon and could have done well. We will consider what to do in the next couple of days. We may end up considering this a TNT with no points, only count the morning runs, or something.

Again. Sorry for those in heat 3. We will try out best to make it up to you.

Ed

[FredK]

That was not good. It seems like someone must have known the stadium schedule. I kinda thought we were screwed when I saw registration. The decisions needs to be made a little earlier in the day, rather than hoping everything will somehow workout. It's easy to say what should have happened now, but it seemed obvious in the morning, 4 or 5 runs for each huge heat, one session each. It was fun for me.
FredK

[FredK]

oh, btw, if someone offered me 1/2 the entry back after sitting around for three hours shooting for FTD and told to go home, I'd have been less than amused.

[Ben L]

Being one of the third heat bonees today, I have to second Fred's sentiment. The field seemed very large, registration closed late, and it appears that it was known last night that they wanted the lot back early.

Seems to me like this could be seen coming.

With a little planning and a little less blind faith that everything would work out, everybody could have probably had four runs at least. That way all would share the pain. Definitely at least one FTD contender lost his shot. But there were kinds of lesser battles going on up and down the ranks. I was looking forward to trying in the pm for a specific goal I had. All the more frustrating because the only reason I was in third heat was to accomodate Ted's request for a more experienced worker.

Not one of CDC's finest hours. But I say that with love, because it was a truly great day, cut far too short. I know we can do better.

[echan]

Not to make excuses, but Kyle was told that the baseball staff was out of town this weekend and would not be there to open the gate to the stadium. They told us how to obtain the key to the gate but not to worry about locking the gate when we leave because there was an event that night. I was left with the impression that there was not even a possiblity that the two events would over-lap.

We were also told late yesterday that a crew working on the ball field lights would have to cut accross the lot to come in and to leave.

We typically run the last car well before 4:30 pm (our target time) at Bowie. Typically we only approach this time, when we give 7 runs. Our worse time at Bowie was the season opener in 2008. We had a full field, everyone was rusty. We still finished at 4:30 with over 100 cars mostly running with little or no over-lap.

We first calculated the run time to be in the 30's second range (based on Joe's simulator software) and another loop was added. I was told that Mike ran the course around 50 in a Miata. I was surprised that the average course time was closer to 60 seconds. We made a complete mis-calculation of course time.

However based on the Summit Point format, I calculated that each heat change over takes about 20 minutes, which having 3 heats would save us 40 minutes. As I timed the heats, I realized that we weren't really saving time in the change overs.

I really didn't think we woud go past 5 pm, and if we did, not more than 5:30 pm. I still think we would have finised by 5:30 pm, I'm very surprized that they made us leave.

In any case, I realize that the event was my responsibility and ultimately my fault that heat 3 lost their afternoon runs. I'm very sorry for that.

Ed

[kyle.bowker]

Our contract provides us with use of the parking lot from 7am - 5pm. In the few years we've been going to Bowie there has never been a conflict where we were told to vacate by exactly 5pm. That being said, if we are still out there by 5pm something else got messed up in the timing of the day. Unfortunately, these things happen. It is very difficult to secure parking lots for auto-x use and we are not able to get exclusive 24 hour use of any lot for an entire weekend like SCCA (still no angel investors that believe in CDC). I am sorry to all those participants who got cut short. I think everyone was dissapointed by the external forces acting on us (the other users who booked the lot for the after-prom event) and had there been fewer auto-x participants, shorter course, more overlap, quicker changeovers, etc. the event might have finished on time. Like they say, hindsight is 20/20. The one consolation is that there are still many events left on the calendar and this snafu is unlikely to be a determiner in the final season championship standings since we allow you to drop so many events already. The club recognizes that having our event run long and get cut short is a bad thing and I think everyone is trying to figure out how to make the best of a bad situation. Again, from all the organizers, we apologize for what happened and we hope to avoid this mistake in the future.

[Wade Chamberlain]

perhaps reconsideration of a "pay in advance" system is in order? That would remove the worry about mis-calculating the number of no shows and ending up overbooked. Just a thought.

[wrathe74]

perhaps reconsideration of a "pay in advance" system is in order? That would remove the worry about mis-calculating the number of no shows and ending up overbooked. Just a thought.

^^^^
second that

[hepcatz]

I also like the advance pay idea that we've kicked around before and also wanted to say I think snafus will happen no matter how hard you try sometimes & that the key is how you react to handle it. Sounds like by your ideas Ed and co. that you all are doing your best so kudos!We all appreciate it. Yeah, I was not effected, but even if I had been I would feel the same.

[AJ_RDR_Civic]

if you guys don't count points for the afternoon heat 1/2 runs, will you still post up the times that heat 1/2 did in the afternoon? I'm just interested to see what times people got in the afternoon.

[WRX11]

if you guys don't count points for the afternoon heat 1/2 runs, will you still post up the times that heat 1/2 did in the afternoon? I'm just interested to see what times people got in the afternoon.

It's done and waiting to be posted. Points will not count towards the overall but will be there for your theoretical if you like to know...

WRX11

[wrathe74]

if you guys don't count points for the afternoon heat 1/2 runs, will you still post up the times that heat 1/2 did in the afternoon? I'm just interested to see what times people got in the afternoon.

As am I.

I had changed my suspension setup and the first runs in the morning were just trying to get a feel for it. In the afternoon it was a different story - thanks to AJ's help .

[kyle.bowker]

The results from the Saturday, May 23, 2009 auto-x at the Prince George's Stadium in Bowie, MD have been uploaded to the website. You may view the results in Microsoft Excel .xls or Adobe Acrobat .pdf format by going to the Results page and selecting the appropriate link. Please contact Ed Chan with any questions or corrections. Per the message posted by Ed, no points are awarded for this event. Sorry everybody. We're working to get it right next time. Thanks for your patience and understanding.

[etherpool]

Being one of the third heat bonees today, I have to second Fred's sentiment. The field seemed very large, registration closed late, and it appears that it was known last night that they wanted the lot back early.

Seems to me like this could be seen coming.

With a little planning and a little less blind faith that everything would work out, everybody could have probably had four runs at least. That way all would share the pain. Definitely at least one FTD contender lost his shot. But there were kinds of lesser battles going on up and down the ranks. I was looking forward to trying in the pm for a specific goal I had. All the more frustrating because the only reason I was in third heat was to accomodate Ted's request for a more experienced worker.

Not one of CDC's finest hours. But I say that with love, because it was a truly great day, cut far too short. I know we can do better.

Late to the party but I'd like to add my two cents.

I feel that there needs to be a better balance between the experienced drivers and the guys who are novices or occasional auto-x'ers. By that I mean considering the course design based on the number of registrations. Everyone knows the 25 or so usual suspects who show up and of course they like a challenging course. But at one point in the morning 2nd heat I counted 8 straight off courses. There had to be 30 or 40 OC's in the morning heats. It seems like it would have been better to design a shorter or faster course (around 45 seconds without one of the extra loops) and have the day end a little earlier. May not seem like much but it would have easily cut an hour off of the day. It was after 5 when I left. So if the third heat had run you guys weren't getting out of there til after 6 or 7. That's a really long day!! If the course is a little short and the day ends early what's the worse that can happen? Fun runs?

I only had one OC, but I've been doing this for 5 years (yea I know I should be alot better after 5 years!!). I felt for the guys who had 3 or 4 OC's. Not real encouraging for the newbies. Don't get me wrong, it was a fun course. Would have been great if there were 30 less participants. Just something to consider.

[WRX11]

Being one of the third heat bonees today, I have to second Fred's sentiment. The field seemed very large, registration closed late, and it appears that it was known last night that they wanted the lot back early.

Seems to me like this could be seen coming.

With a little planning and a little less blind faith that everything would work out, everybody could have probably had four runs at least. That way all would share the pain. Definitely at least one FTD contender lost his shot. But there were kinds of lesser battles going on up and down the ranks. I was looking forward to trying in the pm for a specific goal I had. All the more frustrating because the only reason I was in third heat was to accomodate Ted's request for a more experienced worker.

Not one of CDC's finest hours. But I say that with love, because it was a truly great day, cut far too short. I know we can do better.

Late to the party but I'd like to add my two cents.

I feel that there needs to be a better balance between the experienced drivers and the guys who are novices or occasional auto-x'ers. By that I mean considering the course design based on the number of registrations. Everyone knows the 25 or so usual suspects who show up and of course they like a challenging course. But at one point in the morning 2nd heat I counted 8 straight off courses. There had to be 30 or 40 OC's in the morning heats. It seems like it would have been better to design a shorter or faster course (around 45 seconds without one of the extra loops) and have the day end a little earlier. May not seem like much but it would have easily cut an hour off of the day. It was after 5 when I left. So if the third heat had run you guys weren't getting out of there til after 6 or 7. That's a really long day!! If the course is a little short and the day ends early what's the worse that can happen? Fun runs?

I only had one OC, but I've been doing this for 5 years (yea I know I should be alot better after 5 years!!). I felt for the guys who had 3 or 4 OC's. Not real encouraging for the newbies. Don't get me wrong, it was a fun course. Would have been great if there were 30 less participants. Just something to consider.

Your suggestions are the same as those that CDC takes into consideration. Unfortunately we can not turn away newbies simply because of their lack of experience. CDC also have plenty of organizer and participant instructors who assist as necessary, especially when a participant OCs more than once.

Part of the AX experience is memorizing the course layout and OC could happen to the best of us. If your observing someone's run and they OC, I am sure that participant would appreciate a reminder of where they OC-ed after each of their runs.

Bowie is one of the larger lots that CDC uses so we try to accommodate the group with a longer course to take advantage of its lot size.

We tried to think of everything in advance yet keeping the day's event fun and relaxed. If anyone has more suggestions, please feel free to post up or talk with any organizers at the events when we're not at the timing tent. I am sure there are always room for improvements and the events is only as good as everyone make it out to be.

Unfortunately the mishap occurred and CDC already has tried to ease the pain for those who did not received their PM runs with some incentives.

[defylogik]

I was off course in the morning AND the afternoon And ive got 10+ years under my belt of doing this, so it's not just the noobies having trouble.

Everyone had fun right? So what's the worry. Sometimes it's just as much fun to get out and play.

[wrathe74]

I was off course in the morning AND the afternoon And ive got 10+ years under my belt of doing this, so it's not just the noobies having trouble.

Everyone had fun right? So what's the worry. Sometimes it's just as much fun to get out and play.

Its supposed to be fun?

Thats where I'm screwing up ... lol (Fun is serious business!)

[leadfootgirl]

Maybe it was beginners luck - but this was my first autocross and didn't have any problems with the course or going off of it. Of course, I took the advice and went in heat 3 - so by the time I went, I was able to watch everyone else go OC so many times I had a good sense of where I was going. I do think in terms of timing etc, there could've been a better balance. But since my only other AutoX experience was with a club who did things very differently, I'll wait to do a few more and see how things go before I have any other opinions:)

A special thanks to the CDC members who let me ride with them in earlier heats, because riding the course it totally different from watching from the sidelines.

[WRX11]

Maybe it was beginners luck - but this was my first autocross and didn't have any problems with the course or going off of it. Of course, I took the advice and went in heat 3 - so by the time I went, I was able to watch everyone else go OC so many times I had a good sense of where I was going. I do think in terms of timing etc, there could've been a better balance. But since my only other AutoX experience was with a club who did things very differently, I'll wait to do a few more and see how things go before I have any other opinions:)

A special thanks to the CDC members who let me ride with them in earlier heats, because riding the course it totally different from watching from the sidelines.

You did pretty well and your observations definitely helped you stay on course. We're a friendly bunch and ride along are usually not hard to get.