BRR-SCCA

I know we started a few new things on sunday and wanted to see how everyone else felt about it??? First as i talked about it in a different post I think the starter did a great job checking everything. Second I think Brad and Rachel are doing a wonderful job as the worker stewart. Also Kevin Bowman is doing a great job as the waiver stewart, and making this a worker position worked very well. Any other thoughts from sunday???

It was definitely a step in the right direction.

Something else to think about is having an assigned 'Station Chief' at each station on course to help new people and, hopefully, eliminate unsafe cone chasing.

Cue cards, if you will, at each station/position would really help Brad and Rachel out.

Overall, great job guys!

Also really liked the helmet stickers!!!!

I agree with all of the above. Lots of great changes that worked well. I know this was not popular last time, but I was glad to see us using the decibel meter again. I think if we can fine-tune it, it can only help us keep the venues we currently have access to.

I must say I did not prefer the new format for the run groups. I didn't realize how much I enjoyed that extra run group where I could relax and enjoy spectating and talking with other members/spectators. I had a great time during Saturday's event, but on Sunday I felt like I was always in a rush. Am I the only one that felt that way?

The best part about two groups is you have enough workers..it is more fast paced, but that is why there is a mid day break. Look at it this way..60 cars, 3 run groups, should mean 20 workers...truth is not everyone shows up to work and a lot of the regulars have already done course setup, tech, timing, etc....Almost every event you have three or four people doing two or three worker positions to keep the day going. I like the two groups and the mid day break.

The other issue is that we're not 100% sure how many we have in each class due to pre-register no-shows. History gives us a good guess but it's not perfect. When you start adding up all the workers needed for each heat, it adds up quickly. With 5 worker stations you need a minimum of 10 people on course, plus 2 grid, starter, time slip, 3 in trailer for a total of 17. Eats into that 20 quickly.

The tradeoff is between making the heats too long vs. having enough workers. If you take a run group with 30 cars @ 4 runs that's 120 runs with a inter-car launch time of 40 seconds (about the best we can expect) you get a heat time of 80 minutes. That can be a long time to be out in the sun chasing cones.

hemitud wrote:...truth is not everyone shows up to work and a lot of the regulars have already done course setup, tech, timing, etc....Almost every event you have three or four people doing two or three worker positions to keep the day going. I like the two groups and the mid day break.

^ I agree Tim. This especially makes sense if we are either adding positions or increasing responsibility for certain positions.

Add to the above with the potential for weather during the event and it increases the opportunity for a clean dry run for everyone.

And, Glen my sunburn does not like 80 minutes of sunlight in one shot

How does everyone feel about a 'Station Chief' at each station on course? I think this could limit 'down time' during each run group - not that it is a major issue currently.

I think Brad did something like this, he tried to have someone new with someone that had experience and also had people training for positions i.e. starter.

I'm doing what I can - I know most of the regulars by now and do my best to put n00bs with experienced folks. I remember my very first event with the BRR (also my first autocross) and a civic lost a glass pack, spewing burning muffler innards right in front of the station. I was out there with another newbie and no one else. I had no clue what to do. It's smoking, so fire extinguisher? Eh, I can't tell, I don't see any flames... Should I try to stamp it out? Wait, is another car coming soon? Needless to say, that experience has stuck with me and is the driving force behind me trying to balance experience at each station.

Looking through the signup sheets, it is apparent that we are stretched pretty thin when we run 4 groups. This is compounded when a group has more than 3 people who have done something else (course set-up, tech, etc). The A-B run group idea solved this problem - I had an ample number of workers, but as mentioned, there isn't a break between working and running. If we want to keep more than 2 run groups, we may want to start looking at how many people in each class have satisfied their worker assignments outside of the normal run group assignments. This could help balance out the deficit we seem to face.

Some, if not all, of the issues we have finding workers would be solved by assigning worker positions AT THE REGISTRATION TABLE when you sign the waver and get checked off for paying.

This was something I was wanting to do when I was worker steward, but I never make it to the events early enough to do it.



Of course, this brings the issue of not knowing when each class will be running... UNLESS- we set how many run groups we will have.

If we planned on only running, say for example, two run groups. Then regardless of how many people showed up, it would be easy to assign two people to the key positions and the rest as "Course Workers"


For this to work, all that needs to happen is to set a worker sheet at the Sign-in table, and require people to sign up as they sign in. The worker steward doesn't really even need to be there, as long as the person taking money makes sure that before anyone gets their orange "tech sticker", that they have signed up for a worker spot.

With 2 run groups, we would need the worker sheet on the table to look like this;


(TECH/COURSE SETUP)-

Announcer-
Announcer -
Computer Backup-
Computer Backup-
T&S-
T&S-
Starter-
Starter-
Grid-
Grid-
Time Slip Printer-
Time Slip Printer-

COURSE WORKERS-



If two of the important positions end up in the same run group, they can can just be exchanged by the worker steward with someone else from the opposite run group when the Course Workers meet up with him to get their workstation assignments.


Worst thing that happens if we try this at the next event is that it works flawlessly. And if it somehow gets botched, the Worker Steward can simply revert to the current method before the drivers meeting.

Brock's suggestion is how NASA ran their autocross events last year. There were 2 (sometimes 3) run groups and you simply chose one to run in when you registered. It didn't matter what class you were in, you simply ran in the group you signed up for. The event coordinator(s) would balance the groups as necessary. Upon registering, you were required to select a worker's position. The system worked very well - changeovers between run groups went smoothly and quickly.

All of this obviously hinges upon the club's acceptance to:
1) Run a pre-determined number of groups (2, 3, etc.)
2) Balance registered drivers prior to the event
3) Enforce worker position signup during registration

I think this is a great idea - I envision the worker stewart at a table down from the registrar. You just move down to the next table after you register / pay.

BFisch06 wrote:Brock's suggestion is how NASA ran their autocross events last year. There were 2 (sometimes 3) run groups and you simply chose one to run in when you registered. It didn't matter what class you were in, you simply ran in the group you signed up for. The event coordinator(s) would balance the groups as necessary. Upon registering, you were required to select a worker's position. The system worked very well - changeovers between run groups went smoothly and quickly.

All of this obviously hinges upon the club's acceptance to:
1) Run a pre-determined number of groups (2, 3, etc.)
2) Balance registered drivers prior to the event
3) Enforce worker position signup during registration

I think this is a great idea - I envision the worker stewart at a table down from the registrar. You just move down to the next table after you register / pay.

All of this is fine, but you have to understand that what you are doing is optimizing organization at the expense of competition. Lots of other groups do that. Personally I think it is important for everyone in the same class to run in the same heat. This way you and your direct competitors run under the same conditions and at the end of the heat you know who won. Yes, doing it that way poses challenges for getting work assignments covered, but I think it is worth the effort.

As for the idea of always running just two groups... That is fine when you have 40-60 drivers. The heats would last from 45 minutes to an hour which isn't an unreasonable time to spend at a worker station. Any more than that and the time on station gets unreasonably long. Also the time between runs becomes long for the drivers. I think both of those things negatively impact the competitors experience for the day.

Well said Ray - I overlooked the fact that conditions change throughout the day. You're exactly right, it's a tradeoff. We "simply" have to decide what we value more.

I agree with Ray as well.

We cannot have the best of both worlds and I am in favor of competition coming first.

rschumin wrote:
As for the idea of always running just two groups... That is fine when you have 40-60 drivers. The heats would last from 45 minutes to an hour which isn't an unreasonable time to spend at a worker station. Any more than that and the time on station gets unreasonably long. Also the time between runs becomes long for the drivers. I think both of those things negatively impact the competitors experience for the day.

A little late but +1 from me as well.

DLingenfelter wrote:

rschumin wrote:
As for the idea of always running just two groups... That is fine when you have 40-60 drivers. The heats would last from 45 minutes to an hour which isn't an unreasonable time to spend at a worker station. Any more than that and the time on station gets unreasonably long. Also the time between runs becomes long for the drivers. I think both of those things negatively impact the competitors experience for the day.

A little late but +1 from me as well.

I agree with Dave and Ray.

I also agree with running all the cars from the same class together, that's a big part of the fun (at least for me)

Scott wrote:

DLingenfelter wrote:

rschumin wrote:
As for the idea of always running just two groups... That is fine when you have 40-60 drivers. The heats would last from 45 minutes to an hour which isn't an unreasonable time to spend at a worker station. Any more than that and the time on station gets unreasonably long. Also the time between runs becomes long for the drivers. I think both of those things negatively impact the competitors experience for the day.

A little late but +1 from me as well.

I agree with Dave and Ray.

I also agree with running all the cars from the same class together, that's a big part of the fun (at least for me)

Especially PAX class!