It happens that the driver in question is an evo instructor and one of the
best driver's out there. It also happens that his class was in the first run
group so he had first hand knowlege of the speed potential of that course
and he expressed his concerns. I'd bet, knowing Robert and the car he was
driving and the fact his times without the cone penalty would have put him
13th in SS he probably WAS exceeding the prescribed speed limits or dang
close to it, so it wouldn't be hard for him to extrapolate that the higher
class cars would definitely be well above the limits. I wasn't there, but I
would also assume he filed the protest soon after running when there was
still an opportunity to adjust the course, another potential solution open
to the protest committee. Course adjustment tho was what got the event
chairman's panties in a bunch 2 years ago and kept the national events off
"his" site in 05 I hear, so IMHO they chose another solution to avoid a
similar confrontation. It seems to be chronic issue with that course
designer and site, I remember the NT course where the Subie lost control at
the finish and went completely across the runway into a shipping container
on the other side hard enough to have to be trailered home. I was well into
third gear in our GS Celica (the sister car to Rob's) going thru the 6 cone
finish slallom and barely being able to stop at the person writing the
timing slips 50 yards or so past the finish, and I'm not a quick driver.
----- Original Message -----
From: "Eric Salem" <ebsalem1@cox.net>
To: "'Jamie Sculerati'" <pullg@tampabay.rr.com>; <autox@autox.team.net>
Sent: Monday, February 20, 2006 11:53 AM
Subject: RE: Course speeds - was Ft Myers protests
> <<
> There's even a solution within the SCCA for your desires: the Solo Trials
> rules, and the club infrastructure backing them, were set up specifically
to
> permit higher speed events. Yes, they come with extra baggage as far as
> site and vehicle saftey, driver experience, and so on...but none are
> particularly difficult to live with.
>
> Jamie (SSS when needed)
> >>
>
> I don't disgree with any of Jamie's post.
>
> My point was a competitor in one of the slower classes was protesting
> because a car in one of the faster classes was going fast. There is no
> Manifest Destiny to be able to solo. We have rules and we have to follow
> them, both for the financial safety of the club and the personal safety of
> the persons at the event.
>
> That said, and I'm speculating here, the competitor in GS wasn't going as
> fast as the Porsche GT3. The GS car most likely wasn't even breaking the
> insurance speed limit.
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