Fall Ascutney is in the books.

Terry.Murphy
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Location: Belmont, NH

Re: Fall Ascutney is in the books.

Post by Terry.Murphy »

First off, Erik and Lyss did a great job hosting their first event at Ascutney. Everything was well prepared and well executed and I was very pleased at the results from this weekends outing.

As far as awards before/after wire crew, there is a reason for that. What happens after everyone gets awards? They Leave. My thought is that you have a dedicated bunch that take extra time off of work to come up on a Friday and spend 3 hours running wire up a mountain and an hour or two down, because they care about making an event happen. In my opinion it is very discouraging to come back down to an empty hill and load all of the equipment in the trailer with no extra help. If we did awards first, everyone would leave and the wire crew would just be there later given they actually stuck around for awards directly after the event. It's more advantageous and light conscientious for the wire crew to immediately get on the hill after vehicles run so they aren't collecting wire in the dark (or packing their rigs in the dark), especially at the fall event. In my case this weekend, it was the first time I have won my class and since I ran wire and still had 4 people worth of gear to pack into a truck (which was the wire truck), load a car (which I sacrificed two runs so I could run wire/have the truck ready), and then get back to awards, I didn't even get to hear my name called or get a trophy. I'm not upset, it's the path I chose, but think about it from that perspective.

The problem lied, this weekend, in the lack of equipment volunteers. Drew, Dave, Doug, Mike, etc have been doing this for a long time and are looking for some people to step up and let them sit and relax as I believe they deserve. Erik and Curtis got up at 5.15 both mornings to run equipment up the hill. Getting equipment takes a matter of an hour with 4 people and a truck and is really not that difficult.

As a competitor with no working tasks like when I went to Okemo, I would have no problem waiting for the crews to get to the bottom of the hill as I believe those that do that job and drive all weekend deserve to have us wait. Just my two cents.

The grilling is awesome and I agree, brings a sense of community together. I would love to have another "Oak Party" like we did in the spring. That was a hoot!

All in all I had a great weekend, I got to beat my PR and get back in the car after this year was cut short due to fixing the car more than driving it. I can't wait to see everyone next!
2010 Subaru Forester DD
1996 Legacy Outback Wagon - Winter Beater
2001 Impreza RS - Project Autox/Hillclimb/Track Car
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BugEyeRex
Posts: 142
Joined: Mon Apr 11, 2005 7:52 am
Location: Colchester, VT

Re: Fall Ascutney is in the books.

Post by BugEyeRex »

Just for the record I did not know volunteers were needed to tear down equipment, if I knew I would have went up since I planned on staying for awards. I'm not sure if I missed the announcement on that. The more hands tearing down the hill is good. If it happens fast enough people still have time to pack up before awards. I know there is not much to do to speed up take down of the wire.

Here's an idea that I did not think out:

On long hills split the wire in two.

Negatives: One more connector in the wire.
Does not gain time in set up. You need to know where the first wire ends to set up the second.

Positives: If you have 2 wire trucks the hill can be taken down twice as fast.

I agree with Terry. Erik and Lyss did a great job!
Chris Rielly

93 Blue Impreza 4dr (toy)
02 Blue WRX Wagon (toy)
98 Green Civic 4dr (basic transport)
08 Red GTI 4dr (toy when given permission from the boss)
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sdwarf36
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Joined: Thu Dec 30, 2004 6:06 pm

Re: Fall Ascutney is in the books.

Post by sdwarf36 »

I can't claim I came up with the idea-but i'll start the Sun drivers meeting with a pencil + paper in my hand to get a list of needed workers to tear down the hill. (And won't end the meeting till i get them. :twisted: )
That being known, some drivers start the job on the last bringdown. John Hart gets the ribbons + signs-Butch used to get the stuff at holding in his Blazer-etc.
Its just one of those things you learn along the way.
A quote I'm gonna steal:
" Good decisions come from experience-experience comes from bad decisions."
Translating road racing to hillclimbing:
Proper tire selection== nothing hooks up on moss or wet leaves.
Staying on the racing line==anything paved is considered good.
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