Racing Sunday 29th November 2009
 

Hi

I missed a todays racing and the promises of having a high turn out of numbers!!! Can our commited winter racers post to confirm there entry for the 29th.

Also can we have some comments regarding the starting process that we were using over the last 2 weeks and advise what the majority prefer.

Starting process options.

1) 1st round staggered, followed by final start process round 2 onwards, based on last result. No Finals.

2) All qualifying heats staggered on 1 - 10 round one start, round 2 based on overall standings. With finals at end.

3) 1st qualifying heat staggered 1-10, 2nd round qualifying based on rotation start eg 3,4,5,6,7,8,9,10,1,2,3, 3rd round 6,7,8,9,10,1,2,3,4,5 etc

4) Any other posted options

Remember we governed by the timing loop location?

Any other suggestions with regards to solving this issue would be appreciated.

Steve

Option 2 for me please

2nd vote for option 2

Appologies if this is one of the above, but once we had
1st round qualifying
2nd -5th rounds grid races with grid set by qualifying or race finish
6th race a final using the fasted times set in any round

To be honest the though of 5 staggered qualifying sessions does not appeal

What do you think?

Don't think that is possible on the software. I would have to look into it.

The bonus about staggered starts is less breakages.

For me racing for a grid position and then having one grid final appeals more. Otherwise it devalues the end of day finals. That's my opinion.

True, for me it just seems that 5 of the 6 races won't mean as much as they did. If it can't be done i think i have to vote 1. Also can we not move the loop further down the straight?

How much further? We only have so much cable. Reason?

Julian said he had loads. I wasn't too keen on starting before the start finish straight. What did the others think?

I will double check with Kulian. We ran for the normal area today without issues. I think we started on the corner last time whilst we learn't the system.

What do you mean? " Won't mean as much",

I believe that some of our racers that run on our circuit week after week may prefer a crash bang wallop start??? This hardly engaging to new racers. We all spend varying amounts on our cars, its safer and better on our pockets not all to go off at once. The excitment of having a main final at the end is great and more motivating. At least your race is less likely to be over in the first few races if all cars done fly off down the straight into the back of each other!!! Option 3 is the fairest method and everyone get a chance to head off first or at the front. Option 2 tends to be an advantage to the fastest racer, I like to race not sprint at the begining.

I raced all over world and option 3 is the most common and prefered.

Wicked, hope i don't sound ungreatfull mate, you and Steve have done a cracking job, just throwing an opinion into the ring :)

For me, if i was fasted in the last race i want to be on pole next time, not be the first to go in a one by one order. I am pretty hard on my cars as you know :woot:, but i have not seen that many first corner incidents that have broken cars, can;t think of any right now. Sure you may get tangled up and it cost you time, but that is racing isn't it? I want to have a bit of fun and do as much racing as i can :)

Don't forget numbers have increased with the current setup so people must like it? Maybe if we change it could put new and old members off

Personal Bests should be posted and rankings from that can be made, is quite appealing to me, so that you can rate yourself agaisnt others and see how you improve over a season. With a timing system in place and individual times being recorded, Mike could create a fastest time spread sheet for wet and dry meets/2wd/4wd etc?

Dave, What do you think?

Option 3 sounds like an interesting one, but I have never done that one before.

At the moment I'd still have the 5 staggered qualifiers to set te car up for the final showdown.

We could post in the main section to confirm what the standard is at other clubs.

If I get a copy of the database when each week. If I don't race someone will have to send me a copy of the file so I can load it up into my VM

I shall try and do a Spreadsheet this week and post it on here for comments.

Fair point, so if this forum works, then hopefully some may add there interest to the opportunities or threats that we are presented over this issue.

Yep that appeals, really liked it last week when Mike put the times up on here and i could see how i did. Happy to help with any of that if needed

I dont see the first few as races they are qualifiers for the main final at the end of day and see it as a challenge to keep up with the faster guys, should'nt those who are fast have the best spot for the next round of qualifying?

Agreed, hopefully we will get some feedback on here this week. Need to get Julian and Ian on here too posting what they think

Why dont 1/10th use the same format as 1/8th for qualifying a rolling start, where you as a driver have to find your own space on track and do your run in the alloted 5 mins

What I'll do tomorrow is create a poll in the main Titchfield section and we can see what vote we get.

Shame our software doesn't record Personal Bests :(

The issue that i have is that you are then just racing the track and your previous times, you aren't racing anyone else. You maybe leading a battle with someone on track but after adjusted time you maybe below them or vice versa. Also if someone has a really good race in a dry round 1 but is terrible in the rest because it rained (and couldn't adapt) then he will always start at the front.
So all that considered, staggered starts are good (Le Mans style) when the start order is the previous race result.
After all it is racing-
Having said that we could run legged finals (like nationals) with 3 qualifying rounds (staggered) with FTD sorted into finals, then a 3 leg final (grid) best 2 finishes out of 3 count. Best of both worlds and with PTs it easy to run.

For me, qualifying staggered in order of FTD and then 2 finals.

Finals to be grid start and best result over 2 rounds.

This then means your not racing each other in the the qualys - just the clock - and can hit pbs/track records easier.

I'm only going for this as its what i'm used to and this is the format for nationals and touring cars.

Also a bit of a break before finals would be good.

The loop a little down the straight would be good, however people still need to be able to stop under the rostrum after their run to avoid holding someone up on a hot lap.

In the 2 meetings i have atttended TORCH i have really enjoyed the friendly atmosphere.

Looking forward to the next one.

Quite like the sound of this one.

Loop down the straight because?

Because i love nailing a 6.5!

Also, its a concern that the loop hangs out of the astro turf on a corner.
Possible to catch it if you run wide = potentially expensive

Just need some extra astro turf to cover the rest of the wires.

Where abouts on the straight are you thinking?

only about 6-8 feet further down, would give more room for the start of qualy.
tbh its not really an issue once the astro turf is covering the loop.

Here here, staggered qualies followed by 2 finals, combined results tho maybe?

Loop on the other side of race control, gives a bit more of a flying start and room to launch.

I was going to suggest the staggered start a bit further back as we are going to redo the area around the race hut to help with drainage.

I think we should deal with the loop position after some needed track work. Get the track sorted again and then go from there.

Great, the idea's are flowing:thumbsup: The best way will be to explain the options and vote trackside on the day, this Sunday when the Sun is shining and a bone dry track "would'nt it be great":woot:

Neil and Matt both perfect solutions but 2 leg finals would be probably simplier to do on a AM meeting.

I have looked at the options again and I'm thinking the random staggered start with a 2 leg final.

Dave, what's your thoughts re the two leg finals?

Obviously numbers also determine what we do. I.e. last weekend I opted to run mixed class. Ideally we'd run 2WD and 4WD seperately

two leg finals, no no no.................. not good. which option from the aboves is this one Mike?

4 or 5 rounds and a final, starting every time where/which position you finish...........which ones that?

I will of course run what ever but this one is my choice........

staggered start = pile ups and crashes............

and 2WD and 4WD should always be run seperately.

I don't really mind what order we go in from the start. I'm with Dave on preferring grid starts for most of the races - it just makes it more exciting. Not going to cry if it doesn't happen, though ;).

On the mixed 2wd/4wd or not, I tend to prefer separate 2wd and 4wd in the winter, when it's really uneven, but we could consider mixing it up in the summer when there's not such a difference in performance?

edit: I won't be able to make it this sunday. Yet another wedding to go to :/

I would only run mixed class when numbers are low. Eg last weekend when we had 6 2wd and 4 4wd

I think that'll work when we've got mostly experienced racers coming along, but it makes sense to have races grouped by ability when we have a few newer drivers around - (a) it allows them all to be in the same heat, (b) they're in with a group they are at least a bit more competitive with, and (c) it reduces issues between more competitive drivers and the newer ones when the inevitable collisions occur.

Don't you mean less crashes?

Are people confusing grid start and staagered start?

I thought it was like this;

• grid start - line up on the grid in qualifying results position. all leave on the 'warble' together.
• Staggered - leave when indidual number is called

maybe i am confusing myself here:blush::blush:

4 or 5 staggered heats and then finals is what I'd like.

As for the format of the staggered start I like the FTQ and random options

Nathan Ralls and Myself will be coming to race this Sunday:thumbsup:
And Nathan's little girl is going to race as well, so you will have 3 more, Me and Nathan will run 4wd and Emma will run 2wd.
Nathan is a top Schumacher driver, and I am not a top Schumacher driver, Lol, but we will be happy to help out in any way we can.
I am looking forward to coming back to this club!!!:thumbsup:

What tyres do you guys run?