Tuff Test-&-Tune

[Dave_G]

Wow, Jeff, that's terrifying to read about. I can't imagine what it was like to experience. I'm very, very glad that you're OK! Thank you for personally demonstrating the value of that safety equipment. Next time maybe a simple lecture or PowerPoint presentation would suffice.

[imgon]

Jeff, glad to hear you came away with just some bumps and bruises. It proves once again that safety gear is worth the cost and has convinced me it is time for a HANS, hopefully will never use it. Driving by your car to get off the track, it didn't look good that you would be OK.

As for the format, while it was a good overall day for me, I think the group 3 people ended up with the short end of the stick, we had three shortened sessions, the first two in the morning, late starts in both sessions and black flag in second session and then the second session in the afternoon. I think those who expected an open track were probably a little disappointed that you could not come and go as you pleased. I think the intent of the run groups was good as it meant a fairly open track but suspect that we could have gone with two groups, big bore and small bore and maybe had a bit more track time. Given the same conditions we had, the small bore group still would have had some issues but could have possibly salvaged a little more seat time. I can't compare with how other clubs run their events but it seems like COMSCC has the best format and barring breakdowns, debris, crashes, etc, I don't know how you adjust the schedule fairly when there is an on track problem. Just my .02. Otherwise great job as usual, although I think Sam let us down a little in the weather department, a little less wind and a little higher temperature would have been great, it didn't snow too much!

[WillM]

Hi Chuck,

Thanks for letting us know how your day went and for asking some very good questions!

If I recall correctly, the first announcement we put out mentioned "open track", and we corrected that to "test & tune". NHMS tells us how many cars we can have on-track at any given time, and we must comply. In fairness to NHMS, the max car count is fair and makes sense. We don't like crowded run groups with huge trains. Nobody wins!

These are the reasons why I went with 3 run groups and not 2:
1. Car count - we had 77 drivers registered.
2. Open wheel cars - we had a good amount of open wheel cars. The speed differences and difficulty seeing these cars approaching can make sharing the track with them challenging. For this reason, I created an instructor group (0), and "open wheel group" (1), and put them out together. I did this for the benefit of the big bore group (group 2 at this event), which would have been otherwise burdened with a group of open wheel cars zipping around them all day. That said, as a participant in group 0, I thought that the open wheel cars were generally well behaved, though I did check my mirrors quite often...
3. Combining group 0 + 1, and then splitting big bore and small bore into groups 2 and 3, evened out all of the groups. The run group car counts were all very close to one-another, though the "small bore" group was the smallest (by 2-3 cars).

Regarding the shortened sessions in group 3, I'm not aware how much time was lost in the first couple of sessions for group 3 (due to mechanical issues?). Usually, we shuffle the groups a bit to spread out the lost time. This, by the way, is the reason why I usually have the instructor group (group 0 at normal events) run in the last session of the day. If there is lost track time during the day, we normally recoup that time for all other run groups by taking away from the instructor groups. That is the reason why we announce groups during the day - the schedule can and does change as necessary.

Concerning the red flag incident at the test & tune, we knew the track would be shut down for a while. There were three sessions left in the day, one session for each group, and the direction to grid/control was to divide the remaining time up evenly across all run groups. At the time, I was not aware of the other shortened group 3 sessions. If I were, I would have spoken with our Chief of Ops and perhaps split the remaining time into 4 sessions, with group 3 taking two of them.

We'll put this topic on the agenda for discussion at next week's monthly meeting!

Thanks everyone for all of your comments!!

Cheers,

Will

[Mario Fallas]

Will , i think is abut time for you to get a damn crystal ball so you can do a better job, you're fired!

[brucesallen]

It was so much fun seeing everyone Thursday. All the Die Hards and fanatics were out. Great bunch. Even two of my SCCA class competitors, Jim Farley and Roger Feghali showed up- and they were not previously members.

Jeff earned his wings. Add them to his license.

[6PAK72]

Bruce has an evil sense of humor.

[imgon]

Will, thanks for the clarification. I was thinking the open wheel and big bores could play nicely with each other. I hadn't thought about the fact the open wheels would be blowing by those slow poke big bores. The group sizes were good, I got stuck in one small train during one session, pitted and came out with two other cars and we had the track to ourselves for the rest of the session.

As for the shortened sessions the first two group 3 runs got off to late starts and our second AM session was further cut short by a black flag. The red flag in the PM I thought the NHMS crew and the COM crew did a great job to only lose that session, we were right on schedule for the rest of the day. What is the protocol when a group starts late? Do they get to go a little late as well? My perception is that we just get a short session. It seems like I frequently get out to pit lane and sit there waiting to go out with no cars on the track.

The other thing that I really noticed Thursday was point by's and lifting. I was never held up by anyone and when I got a point by the person lifted. On a normal practice day I usually get the guy who gives you a point by and then takes off down the straight only to be caught at the next corner. I guess for this event we had the more "seasoned" drivers. It was a great day, I guess if I want more track time I have to rent the track myself or go to Mosport.

[chaos4NH]

Hi Chuck, nice to see you at test day.
Let me clarify the group time on track. Track control will ask me if they should shorten up a run group that follows the messed up one. In most cases, we shorten up subsequent groups to get all the groups in during the alloted time. Sort of even things out, if you will. Unfortunately we can't anticipate those pesky black flags, but do our best to extend that session at the expense of a few minutes off the ensueing groups. Of course, you don't realize that we may shorten up another group as that wouldn't effect you. We try to get back on schedule within a couple of groups. It was unfortunate that your run group had more than its share of "incidents".
Will try to do better in the future, as this was our first event of this type and maybe we need a little more adjusting.
Thanks for joining our first ever "Test and Tune" day.
Yes, come to Mosport!

[imgon]

Thanks Sam, I had a feeling that although it feels like whatever run group you are in always has a short session, that control works it out somehow and as fairly as possible. As for this event I don't think there was much of anything that could have been done differently, just a case of s*it happens. I'd be back in a second knowing I would have the same amount of track time. It was good to see everybody again and dust off the cobwebs. Hope you can get your car together soon.

[johngeorge]

Incar videos from Test/Tune:

FFR#48 session 4
FFR#67 session 4
Me driving Pat's car

[blindsidefive0]

Incar videos from Test/Tune:

FFR#48 session 4
FFR#67 session 4
Me driving Pat's car

Nice videos - those roadsters look like beasts to handle.

My video is more boring...fastest lap of the session starts at 10:19, and it's a 1:24.9. Critiques of all sorts welcome.

[TroyV]

That is faster than I was going.

Maybe I should buy a PS3 and start putting in some GT5 hours.

[savage217]

Here is my close call for the day. I actually saw a car off in this turn earlier in the day. I have a feeling this was antifreeze that caused the rear to go out. The rear literally broke free out of nowhere and I have never had issues in this corner before.

[6PAK72]

Nice save, Savage! Nice driving otherwise.

[blindsidefive0]

Nice save, Savage! Nice driving otherwise.

+1

Awesome driving, Nick. I know I said this before on facebook when you posted the video, but that is a big boy save.
I think you are in for an awesome season this year.