NEHA

For what its worth, my take on this.

In respects to the weighted scalings, I think in a perfect world that would be a cool way to do it. There is certainly some validity to honoring drivers not only for their times, but their consistency. I dont like saying it in these words, however it would "prevent folks from having a "lucky" run and placing" That is obviously a harsh and excessive way to phrase it, but i think my point is understood.

I place higher value on a driver who can run 4 consecutive 1:05 runs that a driver who runs a 1:02 and 3x 1:18's. My only other problem with this is that it is not optional. Things happen, and sometimes folks come late, and might miss saturday. With out present system, so long as they pass tech and clear, its not an issue. With a cumulative system. it would be.

However, it's not a perfect world, and mechanics play a fault in that. Using the current system, if an issue crops up on saturday, people have a day to diagnose and correct issues, if need be. Using a weighted scale, a mechanical error would, effectively, put them out of the running. Today, as we are, If I pop a hose and need to run to Autozone, I am not guaranteed not to place, i merely lose seat-time.

However, the original suggestion would bypass this issue. Using Al's idea, If i have an issue, or merely wish to run easy on saturday, I can do that, and save my "strength" for Sunday. If I chose to run hard both days, well kudos to you sir. But that takes mental and mechanical tolls. So it's a trade-off, and it would be one people are free to make of their own volition, without a penalty should they decide to pass on said opportunity. That is a nice option to have.



Phill

I've never made a rule proposal before so I hope this format is correct :

I guess that the change would be more of an addendum to the 2010 regulations. It would be added to Section 1 and 16 of the general regulations which now read: (added in bold)

1) Hillclimbs are a two day competition event with timed race runs happening on both days held after the familiarization run each morning

16) Practice and timed runs will be done in heats on both saturday and sunday

How about adding a stipulation that in order to use Saturday's fast run, a driver must finish all runs on Sunday, barring mechanical failure, etc., and as usual, exceptions can be made by the event chair. This would eliminate any drivers leaving Saturday night, like Sherm said

To play devils advocate... Would encouraging people to put in fast times for Saturday possibly create more offs?

BugEyeRex wrote:To play devils advocate... Would encouraging people to put in fast times for Saturday possibly create more offs?

Definitely.

How many offs did we have in practice this year? More than in competition I bet. I can think of an off on a bring down and an off on a fam run.

Furthermore, how many days have we had the day shortened or ruined by an off, a spill or a crash that either ends the day or curtails 2 runs? That would be mitigated by having run two days.

2 mile long gear oil spill on Sunday (cough)? "Who cares I had a good run yesterday."

I'm unsure if having a non-practice day would increase the number of offs. Accidents aren't planned, but I would think they would mostly happen when people are driving hard.

By making Saturday a practice day, we would take the stress off new drivers (inexperienced) who might get caught up in the feeling that they have to drive fast on Saturday before the learn the hill. By having a day that we can tell people to slow down and take it easy as it is "just practice" we allow for lower expectations that day, and perhaps, reduce the risk of offs.

It isn't a science, but that makes sense to me.

For the more experienced drivers, I think they have more opportunities to push the envelope as the time could count (any time could count for the weekend). Maybe not... it really comes down to how the driver handles the "need for speed" vs. "keep it on the road!".

Another side of the issue... can the timing software work with a two day event wherein the final results would show Saturday, Sunday, and then an overall; or some variation of this.

Steve

agrabau wrote:How many offs did we have in practice this year? More than in competition I bet. I can think of an off on a bring down and an off on a fam run.

Furthermore, how many days have we had the day shortened or ruined by an off, a spill or a crash that either ends the day or curtails 2 runs? That would be mitigated by having run two days.

2 mile long gear oil spill on Sunday (cough)? "Who cares I had a good run yesterday."

I dont think it will make the amount of crashes change as much as it will effect people's lack of mechanical concern. Thats half the battle, keeping your car together during practice so you CAN put down a good run on Sunday.

I really dont care either way but I do believe that if both days count as race days, we will start to see more time delays on the hill due to lack of mechanical preperation... But hey, who am I to talk about lack of preperation...