Ascutney II Length Change

[jkale]

Steve, Its because Terry forgot to mention that we will be doing "fun runs" on the top section while waiting for everyone to finish the lower section..

[BugEyeRex]

I am bummed that this was told to us now and not earlier. I could either get coverage for me at work for the BMW Max Ascutney or SCCNH Ascutney but not both. Looks like I picked the wrong weekend. I will most likely will be attending.
I respect a hosting clubs position on altering a length of a course but I think it would be appreciated if everyone was informed as early as possible. It should also be mentioned in all types of entries so not to create confusion.
In the results (for history sake) are the times going to noted that the course was shortened?

[KevinGale]

In the results (for history sake) are the times going to noted that the course was shortened?

The results always have the hill length on them. So they will have the shorter length.

Also in the database itself I have each result tied to a specific course. Previously we had Ascutney and Ascutney Long Course . Now we will have Long, Traditional and Short. So the new course is the new short course.

Also if people look really closely they will notice that the course length on the results for Ascutney got shorter this year even before this course change. We had some updated measurments and the traditional course is actually a bit shorter than we thought. I currently have the traditional course length as 2.81 miles which I think is rounded to 2.8 on the results, previously it was listed as 2.9 miles. Okemo, Burke and Philo also got updated. We took these new numbers from GPS data logs averaged over a number of runs. Of course it doesn't really affect anything except the average speed calculation.

[sdwarf36]

I was under the impression the reason for the shortening of the hill was to get some of the people that stopped running because of the roughness. And all the responses are from people that would run it regardless. Hmmm...

I don't know if going to a shorter hill is the right thing to do--but I do appreciate SCCNH realizing the problem +trying something.

Put me down as one who reluctantly had to give up the hill because of road conditions. On a scale of 1 to 10, I hate the top 10 and the bottom 9.8. Sure I could drive slower thru the bad stuff-but I could do that any day of the week for $2.75. After doing a 2:47, I dont want do 2:55's all day and keep saying "that woulda been a 2:4X if I didn't have to lift.
The change to the shorter hill only changes my mind .2%. Especially since on the same weekends as both Ascutneys are PA hill that are the same distance away for me. Note: I will be running Ascutney II-JUST for the KOH points. Now if bikes were allowed, I'd be the 1st entry for both events.

How this for a compromise: put up a few cones for chicanes on the rough straight. (I've seen this on YouTube vids of Euro hills where they want to limit speeds.) 4 cones forcing a 25mph left/right at the begining of the straight-and a right/left set up 3/4 of the way thru the straight.

[KevinGale]

How this for a compromise: put up a few cones for chicanes on the rough straight. (I've seen this on YouTube vids of Euro hills where they want to limit speeds.) 4 cones forcing a 25mph left/right at the begining of the straight-and a right/left set up 3/4 of the way thru the straight.

I assume there is a penalty for hitting them. Or can I just punt them out into the woods when I hit them at full throttle.

How about a time bonus if you get them all?

[BugEyeRex]

Thanks Kevin, I totally forgot about the hill stats on the bottom of the results. As for the cones I'll run after Kevin clears the cones out.

[Mopar 151w2]

The solution to Ascutney's isssues?

[DaveEstey]

The length of the hill is decided by the event chairman, which in this case is Jeff Barrette. If you'd like to get in touch with him his email is Inkfactory@comcast.net

[Moto-Joe]

Now if bikes were allowed, I'd be the 1st entry for both events.

Plus a bunch more!
Now that KSCC has been successfully including bikes for a number of years, it would be great to see them incorporated across the board at NEHA events.

Basic motorcycle guidelines and tech inspection requirements have been written into the rules.
The bike competitors have proven to be responsible and safe racers.

But - one of the most important points to consider, is that on a hill like Ascutney where the road surface challenges the best car chassis setups and drivers... every wart, dip, crown, camber change sends cars in unexpected directions and requires ultimate driver focus... this is nearly a complete non-issue for the bikes.
The suspension on the bikes absorbs all this stuff with zero influence on the direction of travel.
Even broken pavement in most cases is not an issue.
A bike can pick a single line just a couple inches wide through a mine field of pavement that would give 4 large contact patches fits.

I hope we can get to a place where bikes are universally accepted in NEHA.

[honda#72]

Another issue for the sake of record keeping, is the relavence of the times. Nobody knows or cares what time Rutan got to the bridge. We just know his short and long times. If Kevin or Joey or Paul T, etc. do a 1:59 to the bridge for example, they may get Ftd, but historicaly who cares? I'm not going for any records, but for my own personal achievement, I was I think, a 1/2 second off my goal of breaking 3:00, which I thought would be impossible, a few years ago, and which I looked forward to accomplishing, once I was ever so close. I think if we shorten the course we will always view those shortend years with a asterix, like the baseball steroid era. You can try to compare the two sets of numbers but they will never be truly accurate, and there will always be speculation on what COULD have been achieved.
Now is the wrong time to change with people recently knocking on the door of records. This has already occured at Burke if I am correct?