> But it would be terrible to disrupt the event. After all it was
> deemed safe at the onset!
> And it was a "Pro" event... With 9 year olds and a huge number of
> firsttimers competing.
Just to be clear--Formula Junior runs by themselves. No cars on course
with
the little karts. For now obvious reasons.
Deciding if a course is dangerous *for you* is a personal decision.
Deciding if
a course is dangerous for competitors at large is the responsibility of
the
folks in charge of the event, and second guessing that at this point
seems
like an exercise in agitation and concern. Have they all thought about
it?
Sure. Will this event be remembered when other course designs are
evaluated?
I hope so. Should we have only safe courses? Sure, but what is that?
Not a
straightaway (mAs's diatribe noted that amateurs--which, despite the
name, we
are--can make mistakes even there). Not slaloms (people can spin in them
you know).
Not sweepers (ditto). OBVIOUSLY not Chicago boxes. (heavy sarcasm)
You design a course the best you can. You walk it, looking for any
potential
trouble spots. You pre-run it, again looking for potential problems.
Then, in
your best estimation, it's safe, and you open it up to competitors. You
can't
possibly have pre-run it in every kind of car, and even if you could
have, you
couldn't simulate the heat of the competition *or* the differing degrees
of
experience and skill that will be out there. So what then? Design to the
lowest common denominator--the worst set up car, the worst driver, the
worst
weather? I'm taking this to extremes to make a point. I wouldn't want
to
drive a *local* event designed for my grandmother and her Ford Fairlane
in the
snow, much less a National event. (BTW, I am saying *nothing* here about
any of the drivers/cars who left their side of the course--this is a
general point, not
a situation specific one!)
As has already been pointed out, there were 5 or so spins--none of them,
I don't
think, involving the same person twice. That is, 5 people had difficulty
with one
part of the course, and even those 5 people navigated it without incident
11 times
out of 12. (Or 8 of 9.)
I chose to take my Sunday afternoon runs after the major incidents
because I
still thought that I and my car were not at risk. (The spins involved
front wheel drive
cars--I and the other MR2 I was paired up with were not likely to spin in
that manner.)
I chose to let Matthew take his Sunday afternoon runs for the same
reason. That
incident at that spot was simply not likely for him driving his kart.
One more thing. ProSolos are wonderful learning experiences--and the
failed experiment
last year should have demonstrated to everyone that ProSolo *needs* the
little dogs (not
just the medium and big dogs) to survive. At the same time, the two
drivers on course at the
same time set up necessarily ups the degree of risk even without course
design issues. (Hubs fail, for instance.)
mlc
'91 MR2 NA
-----anything after this, I didn't write, and don't necessarily agree
with----
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