Drew
04-04-2003, 09:23 AM
To everyone who will show up at Sunday's autox at Midway:
This of course is MAC's first autox of the 2003 season. Just as everyone needs to get their car and driving skills cranked back up after the winter layoff, those in the club who are working at running the event will definitely need a lot of patience and understanding as we get things going. Don't expect everything to run perfectly this first time out.
We've got more to deal with at this event:
1. Weather - It ain't going to be balmy. It looks to be pretty cold. But the forecasts as of Friday morning don't seem call for snow any more. :)
2. Equipment Set Up - The club purchased a new trailer during the offseason. It has a concession-type openning on the side, and we plan to have timing and scoring operate from the shelter of inside the trailer. But this is going to be a new setup that will take time to get hooked up satisfactorily.
Also, Josh has been working very hard to get the timing display to work with the new timing sofware and equipment the club purchased last year. He just recently succeeded (possibly saving the club up to $1,500 for a new display). He's run tests, and it appears to work. But it hasn't been used at an event yet. Sometimes there are more bugs to work out of the system. Everyone should be aware that there may be some downtime at the beginning or during the event.
3. Registration & Membership Renewal - The majority of the members seem to wait until the first event to renew their annual membership. This will create an added burden on Paul and Darryl, leaving Paul with less time to prep his cute car. :D (BTW, Paul asked in a separate post that if you haven't renewed yet, and will be at the event, please wait and renew at the event. Anything you mail to him now won't get to him in time.)
4. Class and Run Group Set Up - With software changes and the added burdens on registration, there's can be a lot of stress involved in producing the run groups by the time of the drivers meeting (even if we use pre-established run groups). Another time to be ready to go, but also to be patient.
5. Tech - Lee Frisvold is Chief of Tech this year, and he's much more knowledgable and capable in that position than I was. However, there will probably be some new inspectors who need your cooperation. In addition, there are a few rule changes this year. Please take the responsibility to make it easier on the tech inspectors, and everyone else in the tech inspection line behind you, by thinking about really having your car READY when you line up for tech. That means a safe car and a legal car for your class. Have a secure battery, proper numbers and class, legal helmet, and a cleaned out car. The function of Tech is to verify that you and your car are ready to participate in competition. The function of Tech is NOT to tell you what you should have done to get ready for the event. (Obviously, that happens a lot; but by taking a little responsibility ahead of time, we can keep it to a minimum.)
6. New Paricipants - There will probably be some new people who are unfamiliar with what happens at an autox. Keep in mind that we all had to learn how things go during the day.
With a reasonable amount of cooperation, we can pull off a decent event, despite some of the additional issues we have to deal with. Thanks to everyone for your help.
Drew Baumbach
This of course is MAC's first autox of the 2003 season. Just as everyone needs to get their car and driving skills cranked back up after the winter layoff, those in the club who are working at running the event will definitely need a lot of patience and understanding as we get things going. Don't expect everything to run perfectly this first time out.
We've got more to deal with at this event:
1. Weather - It ain't going to be balmy. It looks to be pretty cold. But the forecasts as of Friday morning don't seem call for snow any more. :)
2. Equipment Set Up - The club purchased a new trailer during the offseason. It has a concession-type openning on the side, and we plan to have timing and scoring operate from the shelter of inside the trailer. But this is going to be a new setup that will take time to get hooked up satisfactorily.
Also, Josh has been working very hard to get the timing display to work with the new timing sofware and equipment the club purchased last year. He just recently succeeded (possibly saving the club up to $1,500 for a new display). He's run tests, and it appears to work. But it hasn't been used at an event yet. Sometimes there are more bugs to work out of the system. Everyone should be aware that there may be some downtime at the beginning or during the event.
3. Registration & Membership Renewal - The majority of the members seem to wait until the first event to renew their annual membership. This will create an added burden on Paul and Darryl, leaving Paul with less time to prep his cute car. :D (BTW, Paul asked in a separate post that if you haven't renewed yet, and will be at the event, please wait and renew at the event. Anything you mail to him now won't get to him in time.)
4. Class and Run Group Set Up - With software changes and the added burdens on registration, there's can be a lot of stress involved in producing the run groups by the time of the drivers meeting (even if we use pre-established run groups). Another time to be ready to go, but also to be patient.
5. Tech - Lee Frisvold is Chief of Tech this year, and he's much more knowledgable and capable in that position than I was. However, there will probably be some new inspectors who need your cooperation. In addition, there are a few rule changes this year. Please take the responsibility to make it easier on the tech inspectors, and everyone else in the tech inspection line behind you, by thinking about really having your car READY when you line up for tech. That means a safe car and a legal car for your class. Have a secure battery, proper numbers and class, legal helmet, and a cleaned out car. The function of Tech is to verify that you and your car are ready to participate in competition. The function of Tech is NOT to tell you what you should have done to get ready for the event. (Obviously, that happens a lot; but by taking a little responsibility ahead of time, we can keep it to a minimum.)
6. New Paricipants - There will probably be some new people who are unfamiliar with what happens at an autox. Keep in mind that we all had to learn how things go during the day.
With a reasonable amount of cooperation, we can pull off a decent event, despite some of the additional issues we have to deal with. Thanks to everyone for your help.
Drew Baumbach