If I remember correctly, it's about 8 hours of driving to San Diego. For
the National Tour events, there are things to do on Friday like register,
tech, practice runs, course walking, etc., so ideally you want to get there
on Friday, early afternoon at the latest. However, it's not totally
mandatory - if you can't get the time off, you can usually register, tech,
and walk the course early Saturday morning. Just remember, though, it's
not like a local event. You really want to be able to walk the course more
than once or twice like you do at local events. Tech takes a little
longer, registration takes a little longer, and getting your car ready
takes a little longer (you need to put on the mandatory stickers, etc.).
Last year for Nationals we left from Reno really early on Wednesday
morning, and got there either really late on Thursday or sometime on Friday
- I forgot if we spent one or two nights on the road. That gave us time to
do the practice starts for the Pro, register for the practice event, get
through tech, set up our paddock area, run to Kansas City to pick up the
"arrive-and-drive" codrivers, etc., etc., etc. If you aren't doing the Pro
or the practice event, you can plan on arriving later. If you really are
strapped for vacation time, and just want to do Nationals, you can get
there the day before you run, run for two days, then leave right after the
awards banquet on the second day of running. However, you'll miss out all
the fun of cheering on or crewing for the other people in your region,
clapping for the trophy winners at the banquet, wild partying, etc...
If you leave Topeka on Friday night, or really early on Saturday morning,
and really hammer, you can get back to the Bay Area in time to get some
sleep and go to work on Monday morning. Or, you can take it a little
easier and get back to the Bay Area sometime on Monday.
One of the best things about the travel to and from these big events is
hooking up with a bunch of people to caravan. A great way to travel!
Jim
At 11:20 AM 2/14/2003 -0800, jake@codeworm.com wrote:
>So assume some idiot decided driving cross country for
>10 minutes of Autocross would be a nice way to spend
>his tiny allotment of vacation time.
>
>How many days should that idiot leave on each end of
>the event for transit time? Keep in mind the idiot
>would be driving a tiny Toyota with no cruise control
>hauling a trailer covered with tires.
>
>What about San Diego? How long a drive is that?
>
>I happen to know of someone who is at risk of being
>such an idiot, but he'd have to talk to his boss real
>soon to get it all worked out..
>
>Jake
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