[SECC] Lexington Autocross

[sarahvair@juno.com]

Hi Everyone,

First of all I want to share some really good news with all of you.  SECC member, Tony Ellison, got the fastest time of the day in Lexington thereby giving him the Don Yenko Award.  All I can say is Tony was standing there looking at the results in total shock.  10 minutes later I looked back in that direction and the shock was still there.  CONGRATULATIONS Tony.  We're all so proud of you!!!  It was nice to see someone other then the usual 2 - 3 people who win every year get this high honor.  

The autocross went very smoothly after a 1 1/2 hour delay.  The fault was not of the local SCCA chapter but that of the host club and the lack of communication to the SCCA.  Warren, Larry Claypool and myself hopped in and got things handled and the event eventually went off and we ended up finishing on time even with an hour lunch break.

Below is a copy of an email the local SCCA Chair wrote as a follow up to the event.  He makes some really good points and I figured it wouldn't hurt for all of us to read them.

Again, congratulations Tony!!

Sarah

I was approached by Greg Scarboro to conduct the autocross event for the 2004 convention in Lexington, KY. Greg even paid to make me a member of CORSA, so I could get the magazine and learn more about the organization. Since my membership hasn’t expired yet, I can write this as a fellow CORSA member. 

Major autocross events require up-to-date operation plans as well as timing and scoring procedures. The Lexington event had 113 entrants, which qualifies as a major event. SCCA and other organizations that conduct yearlong autocross programs have established procedures to make these events run smoothly, efficiently, and in a minimum of time. CORSA convention autocrosses can be run in a more efficient manner by adopting some of these established procedures.

Members of the Central Kentucky Region – SCCA, conducted the 2004 convention autocross. We ran 113 cars in three heats, provided a lunch break, had four timed runs, and did this from approximately 10:30 to 3:30. The only complaints I heard concerned the delay in getting the timed runs started and confusion over the need for a grid. The root cause for this was the basic differences between how CORSA and SCCA conduct autocross events. There is nothing wrong with the procedures from either organization; the difficulties were trying to make the two systems work together. After last year’s convention, Seth Emerson provided a “lessons learned” article for autocrosses, and here are my comments for 2004: 

CONSISTANCY:
Since the CORSA convention moves to different locations around the county, local SCCA Regions are likely to be requited to conduct the autocross events unless the local CORSA chapter is heavily involved in such activity. Rather than “inventing the wheel” for each convention, certain basic issues would benefit from previous experience and evolve into practices that can be repeated each year. Further, whatever outside organization that is contracted to run an upcoming convention autocross should be in contact with the organization that ran the previous year’s event in order to compare notes on event operation. 

TECH INSPECTION & CAR CLASSIFICATION:
Many of us participate in major autocross events around the Midwest, and this is ALWAYS done the night before the event, with emergency inspection the day of the event. Completing this before the day of the event is absolutely key to running an efficient event, and should be mandated by the national CORSA. Organization. We worked around the confusion at the Lexington event by stopping everything and lining up every competitor at our trailer to manually re-enter entrant information.

REGISTRATION INFORMATION:
There are several different timing & scoring programs available, and all of these benefit from entering participant data before the day of the event. Anything that can be done in advance reduces the workload the morning of the event, even if some of this requires last minute updating. Again, advance registration and classification should be mandated by the national CORSA Organization. You should also consider eliminating last minute entries the morning of the event.

GRID:
A grid is critical to an efficient event, and the time spent to get cars into specified locations pays off in the ability to run efficiently. Cars don’t have to inch forward in a single line, equipment can be left in the same spot, cars can be run in class and numeric order, and grid workers can control the traffic flow and running sequence of the cars.

TIMING & SCORING:
Again, expectations have lead to improved systems for timing & scoring. The program we use eliminates data entry errors by automatically entering the car run time from the timer to a laptop. Once all competitor/car/class information is entered into the program, we can run cars as fast as safety will allow. We provided two large numerical displays so competitors could see times, posted printed results after each heat, and complete results were available 5 minutes after the last car finished. I discussed our software program with Harry Jenson, and he is interested in the possibility of CORSA using this.

ENTRANT INFORMATION:
Understandably, some entrants are not experienced autocrosser and have no understanding of how a big event is conducted. A basic event outline should be placed in each registration packet that outlines the day’s activities.

AUTOCROSS ORGANIZATION:
An event chairman must be identified to work with whatever outside organization conducts the event and MUST be experienced in all facets of autocross operation. If not available from the organizing chapter, he/she should be designated by the national CORSA organization.  Enthusiastic “helpers” are not sufficient; there must be a single autocross event chairman as a formal core assignment in the convention organization structure.

Please consider these remarks as identifying opportunities for improvement, and thanks for asking Central KY Region-SCCA  to conduct the 2004 CORSA convention Autocross.

Sincerely,

George Schweikle
3260 Sutherland Dr.
Lexington, KY		schweikg@insightbb.com