Hi all,
I started with SFR autox in may or so, 2004, I also have run many
Sacremento events since this time, I will continue to do autox cross but
there are things that have come up as I've done autox that were not
apparent when starting, for example, autox initially seems like a
relatively cheap thing to do, join scca, buy a helmet, and pay for
events. Well, then there are tires, maybe some mods, maybe more tires,
maybe more mods, still not a major burden for me, but it simply might be
too much for those who are initially interested but notice that their
really nice street tires were torn to pieces at GGF.
Also, as I've said before, the SFR autox events typically take a huge
amount of time relative to the amount of seat time one gets, if one is
starting out and you don't know that many people and you are essentially
hanging out for 4-5 hours on a parking lot dotted with squashed and
smudged traffic cones ( after my runs, at least), well, its a pretty
long day and initial enthusiasm can start to fade. Combined with this
is a hunger for more runs that can manifest itself in people going on
about how many runs they finally got at Marina, for example, and this
seems to miss the point somehow, there seems to be a split in SFR
between those who want to pitch in, hang out with others, help with the
new people etc, and those who want as little as possible to do with
anything that is not directly involved with seat time, I have tried to
figure out a balance in this regard and now try to do set up when
possible, not only to limit the amount of time I need to be out at the
track/parking lot, whatever, but also its a nice way to learn about
course set up and meet people who are similarly bleary eyed and want to
pitch in. The sacrmento events, because you essentially get as much
seat time as you want, have a different feel to them, there isn't the
seat time hunger and you don't feel like you are waiting around forever,
and because the fields are significantly smaller you feel like you get
to know people easier, (nothing to be done about the size thing, I
guess) so things are less rushed and for a new person, more friendly in
general. Again, the SFR novice walks and the discussion about drive
alongs is one good approach to dealing with some of this, but some of it
is unavoidable due to the large numbers, and this isn't necessarily a
bad thing because large numbers give you good competition, but it will
also be a bit more off putting,
Getting everyone on the email list could help foster more SFR community,
one easy way is to simply have an emal list at registration, this might
even occur on someone's laptop, so there doesn't have to be a person who
needs to manually input records. Perhaps an evening introduction to
autox would be nice too, a meet and greet thing where new people can
come and hear about what things to expect when autocrossing, this could
be combined with the autox cross school, which I really have enjoyed.
Such get togethers could happen a couple times a year, who knows, this
might have been tried before. I realize there are different reasons
for doing autox, the national champs who hardly ever attend, or do so
irregularly have their own schedules for what they are doing and are
completely dialed in both in terms of their cars and the costs involved,
others like it as a community event, trying to be competitive but also
enjoying the other competitors, others just want seat time, my sense is
that the best thing to do for participation is to focus on the more
community aspects of autox because the seat time thing really won't
change that much and the national champ aspects really are not that
accessible to many of the drivers, or at least will not be the initial
impetus for many.
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