Whoo Hoo...
I actually agree with Dennis! On all points!
----- Original Message -----
From: <dg50@daimlerchrysler.com>
To: <autox@autox.team.net>
Sent: Monday, May 22, 2000 3:04 PM
Subject: Peru Pro Report
> Hmm, not much reportage on the Peru Pro, so I guess I'll fill the gap
> somewhat:
>
> Weather: Cold, some drizzle, but track surface dry after Friday (practice
> starts in the wet) Some sunny breaks Sunday
>
> Hoosier people seemed to be hating life a little, as cold Hoosiers don't
> seem to work as well as cold Kumhos.
>
> Course very tough, some fast sections where power helped, but lots of
cones
> struck, smashed, mashed, or even sliced in two.
>
> The Chicago boxen in the front section turned out to have a freak property
> where certain cars in certain circumstances could spin though the box and
> cross into the other lane. We got a warning about it on Sat. after a near
> miss, but then we paid full price Sunday when 2 Neons had a coming
> together. Nobody hurt, but a rear suspension bent pretty badly. This
> followed by 2 or 3 more near misses.
>
> To be honest, I'm having a hard time pointing a finger of blame here. I
> don't blame the course designer - the sections appeared to be well
> separated, and there was nothing that (to me, at least) suggested a
> problem. We had probably 50 people on site who are registered Safety
> Stewards (including myself) and none of us saw fit to do anything about
the
> course. Neither, for that matter, did any of the other 220 drivers,
> although I heard more than a few bitching.
>
> in 20/20 hindsight, the course should have been reconfigured after the
> first incident on Sat AM. It happened early enough in the day that only a
> few classes would have been afftected, and it might have saved some folks
> some body work. But I'm having a very hard time fingering a single
> individual with the responsibility of making that decision when 220 people
> were perfectly content to take their chances with the course as it stood.
>
> And this _is_ an auto racing sport after all. While the SCCA tries very,
> very hard to reduce all the risks involved, this ain't lawn bowling.
> Sometimes, stuff is going to happen.
>
> If I had the weekend to do over again, after the first incident I'd go
find
> a bunch of other safety steward types (ones whose certifications are more
> than a month old) and taken that group to go get the course changed, now
> that a problem had been unequivicably identified. I guess I'm a little
> disappointed in myself and everyone else who was there that nobody tried
to
> get the situation rectified. But I certainly don't think there's any need
> for any more rules making or hand wringing. We all got a warning, we all
> failed to respond, and so we wound up with an accident that was, IMHO,
> preventable. Case closed, and we'll all just have to do better next time.
>
> SM had a good turnout, although we lost one to engine failure before the
> event started. Kent stole the win from me on his last freakin' run.
Phooey!
> But the whole class had good, close competition. SM is a fun place to be.
> We've certainly got the trash talking down pat. And we have the Kone King!
> - Jamey Abersold, who was killing 'em in batches of 6 at a time.
>
> My new turbo works nice too. :)
>
> Tunnell laid some serious smack down on ESP, but I don't think it's
> entirely representative, and some of the better ESP "big iron" cars were
> struggling with tire heat issues. Had it been a few degrees warmer, or if
a
> certain Mustang had been on Kumhos, it'd've been a different race. Good
> driving on the part of Brian Fitzpatrick though.
>
> And speaking of Kumho, look at DS, and see and phear Steve Couture and
John
> Tak in a Kumho-shod Neon! Hark! Do I hear a paradigm shifting?
>
> Overall, a good, fun event. Aside from the course issue, and the slow
> posting of results (don't know what happened there) one of the better Pros
> I've attended.
>
> DG
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