At 10:21 AM 03/03/1999 -0800, Steve Couture wrote:
>
>> I just hope Steve's not still sore I mangled his name at the Detroit
>SCCA
>> Awards Banquet in January.
>
>Not sore at all. I did use a :) in there, but I can see that it could
>have been missed. The comment was meant to be a little light ribbing
>to a fellow Detroit Regionier. I probably should have just left it out.
Naw, I saw the :), and I got a chuckle out of it. No worries here.
>And believe me, I've heard it ALL. Combine it with the first name
>Stephen (pronounced the same as Steven, really!) and some interesting
>things have happened.
I've gotten some choice ones, too, although they don't seem to mangle
"James" or "Jim" too bad. I'm stepping out on a limb here and exposing my
intense dislike of "Jimmy" as a nickname to the autocross community at
large. If you're not one of my mother's family needing to distinguish me
from my Uncle Jim, you'll find I won't respond to "Jimmy". The one person
who's ever tried to call me "Jamie" quit trying as soon as they realized I
didn't even register that they were trying to address me, even though I was
the only other person in the room at the time.
My last name is another story. It's pronounced CRIder, with a long "I"
sound like the personal pronoun "I". Over my short 30 year life, I've
gotten Sider, Critter, Cridder with a short "i", Cryer, Sy-er. When I
moved to Michigan from Oklahoma in 1990, I started having people pronounce
it correctly but try to spell it with a K, particularly Kreiter, which is
German for "chalk" (anyone who has seen my complexion and the amount of
sunscreen I typically go through in a usual autocross weekend will
appreciate that). As best I can figure, that's due to the large number of
people of Eastern European extract in this area.
>AutoX content (ok I'm admittedly streching):
I'll attempt to answer Stephen's ProSolo question from his original post. :)
ProSolo format gives you twelve runs (six each side), plus if you qualify
for the Challenge, you'll get at least one more pair of runs. Scoring is
best left side time plus best right side time.
There are three heats: Saturday morning, Saturday afternoon, Sunday
morning. Each heat runs thusly: you'll go from grid to the staging lane
for one side or the other (let's say left for illustrative purposes). When
it's your turn, you'll come to the line and make your first left-side run,
then immediately go to the right side staging line. When it's your turn on
that side, you'll make your first right-side run. When that is over,
you'll go back to grid on the right side (since you started on the left
side). When it's your group's turn again, you'll be brought up to staging,
then you stage and run 2nd right side run, immediately go to the left side
staging line, stage and run 2nd left side run, and you're done for the
heat. Sat. morning, you go back to Paddock, Sat. afternoon and Sunday, you
go to the designated Impound area.
The starting line procedure is similar, but not exact, to a dragstrip.
There's a Christmas Tree with three yellows, green, and red lights (with a
0.500 sec. interval between lights, similar to an NHRA "Sportsman" tree.
An NHRA "Pro" tree lights all three yellows simultaneously and has a 0.400
sec. interval between yellow and green). Up top are "prestage" and "stage"
lights, which are triggered by photocells at the starting line. You must
light the "stage" light before the starter triggers the tree, or the
starter will signal a "no-stage" to timing and that run will be
disqualified. It doesn't matter if the "prestage" light is on or not.
Approximately 18" in front of the stage beam is a third beam that triggers
the red light. Break that beam before the green light comes on and you'll
light the big red eye and get no time for the run.
Unlike drag racing, where the timer starts when you leave the line and thus
you can lose the race on the line even if you run a faster time, the
ProSolo timer starts when the green light comes on. This plays a part in
handicapping the Challenge, as I'll explain below.
ProSolo also has a "shot clock" to enable the heats to run relatively
quickly. Typically the clock is about 20-25 seconds, and is started by the
starter when the last cars to start pass a certain course feature (which
varies from site to site). You must be staged when the clock hits 0. An
alarm sounds, and the starter will start the 'Tree somewhere between 2-5
seconds after the alarm sounds. When I start, I usually give a "three one
thousand" count before pickling the tree switch.
This year, they've split the Pro and National classes up. The 8 (P1-P6, P
Ladies, ST) Pro "feature" classes have an appearance standard for graphics
and, presumably, general car condition, and the previously discussed
hodgepodge of cars. A ProSolo ProSeries license is $95, you need one if
you're going to run more than one event. The National series consists of
all 50-plus usual Solo2 classes, does not have a standard graphics
appearance package (although use of the Pro Series package is being
"encouraged"). I don't know from memory if they'll "bump" National Series
classes to some minimum class size, but I expect they will. National
classes run first in each heat, then the Pro classes. This of course is
based on the wild (and, based on the past two years, completely unfounded)
assumption that the event staff will run the heat order as it is published
in the ProSolo rule book for 1999.
The qualification for the Challenges involves your times, the ProSolo index
factor for your class, local tidal and seismic activity, phase of the moon,
what kind of cereal Howard Duncan had for breakfast that morning, and
whether Sandy Wood likes you or not. :) (Seriously, though, Sandy, Paula,
Cindy, Howard, Tasha, Ginna, and the rest of the Field Staff regulars do a
great job under some pretty hairy time constraints during the ProSolo
events, and brilliant last-second aversion of catastrophe is pretty much
the norm in the timing truck. If you've never worked T&S at a big event,
you can't really appreciate what goes on in there.)
I had to break down and get out the '99 ProSolo Presented by Grassroots
Motorsports Magazine Rule Book. The Challenge procedures start on page 23.
The ProSeries Challenge will have 16 qualifiers, the class winners and the
rest of the field filled by closest time differential to the class winner,
with a cap of 4 entries per class. Only the fastest of a two-driver team
will be allowed in the challenge. The Ladies Pro Challenge entry number
will depend on the number of entries in Pro Ladies (Pro Ladies is scored
based on time differential to the respective Pro open class for the car).
The NationalSeries Challenge will be the top 32 NationalSeries drivers
determined the same way as the ProSeries Challenge entries are determined,
although both drivers of a two-driver team may compete in the
NationalSeries Challenge.
The handicapping is done by setting a "dial in time" for the class, which
is determined by combining the best RAW (no cone penalties added) time from
each course for the class winning driver and dividing by two. The dialins
will be set into the timer, which automatically delays the 'Tree lights for
the faster car by the appropriate difference. The timer starts when the
green light for the slower car is lit. In theory, if both cars cut perfect
reaction times and run exactly on their dial-in, they'll get to the finish
at exactly the same time.
Which brings us to the magical "break out", something John Thomas is
particularly good at as the Hoosier slicks on the EP Honda get stickier
with successive rounds in the Challenge. The break out rules have changed
a bit for this year. If a driver's combined raw time minus any handicap
delay, is lower than the class dial-in time, that driver's dial-in will be
adjusted accordingly for the next round. In subsequent rounds, combined
raw times will be compared against the original dial-in (not the adjusted
dial-in) for any additional adjustments. And this is where the change
comes in: "However, a driver may only have their dial-in readjusted two
times. If it would be necessary to readjust a third time, the driver is
eliminated from the Challenge. The Chief Steward *may* waive this
'3-Strike' rule under *extraordinary* weather conditions." [emphasis
theirs, not mine]
It looks like they clamped down on car-shopping for Challenge rounds:
"Competitors in the ProSeries Challenge, Ladies Pro Challenge or the
NationalSeries Challenge must compete in an impounded vehicle from their
class that is in the same mechanical configuration in which that vehicle
completed the class competition. This includes tires, chassis setup,
induction, etc. with the following exceptions:" which includes tires if
they can't pass a safety inspection, tire pressures, broken components
(which must be repaired in Impound and observed by the Compliance Crew and
doesn't allow adjustments such as shock settings, etc.), fuel may be added,
and if it's a declared "rain day", tires may be changed. I take this to
mean that switching from a RWD to an FWD car, or vice-versa, or to/from an
AWD car, or from a normally-aspirated to a forced-induction car, etc., are
now considered no-nos. I could be wrong, though, so don't shoot me if I am.
All that said, I think ProSolos are a huge boatload of fun, and I'm angry
with myself that my (lack of) job situation and (lack of) car situation
will be keeping me from Ft. Meyers this weekend.
Jim Crider
"will engineer car parts for salary & benefits"
autojim@delphi.com
'99 Mustang Cobra that hasn't been built yet
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