Thats not what I was saying.
The total time it takes to run the event depends on the start time between
cars.
The start time between cars depends on the overlap of the course (ie the
number of cars on course at one time). The limiting factors here are the
total the clocks can cope with, and the safety aspects of the course (and
probably the relative speeds of the drivers).
Therefore, the total time it takes to run an event depends on (but not
only on) the number of cars on course at one time, and the length of the
course. This is the opposite of the earlier poster's comment that
"Actually the number of cars on course simultaneously has very little to
do with how many cars can get through the event" since the event time is
usually constrained by the site.
However, it is still true that if you just lengthen the course by 15
seconds to let you have one more car on the course at the same time then
you might not, in fact, gain anything, which I think is the point the
original poster was trying to make.
You could, theorertically, organize the start with particular groupings of
fast and slow cars (depending on the speed of the car and the skill of the
driver) to optimize the overlaps and therefore the event length, but in
practise this would be way too difficult.
I wasn't talking about the clocks!
Giles
On Mon, 4 Mar 2002, Kevin Stevens wrote:
> On Mon, 4 Mar 2002, Giles Douglas wrote:
>
> > Yes, but the interval between car starts is dependent on the number of
> > cars you can have on course at one time. If I can only have one on a 45
> > second course, its 45 seconds. If I can have 2, its 22.5 seconds
> > (depending on where the overlap is)
>
> No, it isn't. The clocks can handle up to eight cars at once.
>
> If you're talking about safely starting cars due to course design issues
> (cars pointed at each other, etc.), that's true, but it has nothing to do
> with the number of cars.
>
> KeS
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