Members thoughts on extending our race evenings

[bedsrcmcc]

Just a thought from last nights very busy meeting. What would members think if we suggested adding another hour to the race meetings (if the hall would allow it) to either start at 6.30 and finish at 10.30 or continue starting at 7pm and running through to 11pm?

With so many drivers now racing with us and both Russell and I know of more who want to join we can see that more time is needed to hold more heats, otherwise we will have to look at dropping 1 final or 1 heat to get as many people racing.

This is just an idea so I would be interested to see what members think...

[HPI Paul]

I am in favour of a 6.30pm start. Think it is important to have the two minutes between the races.

What are peoples thoughts on converting the 2 x 3 minute qualifyers to 1 x 5 min qualifyer (so 1 qualifyer and 2 finals)? or maybe 2 qualifyers and one final?? or do we prefer the 4 rounds?

[Smartalec]

Just a suggestion but how about two four minute qualifying rounds and one five minute final and starting at 6.30? TQ qualifying with top qualifier gaining one extra point and then points for wherever you finish in the final.

The problem with two finals that both count together is it doesn't allow for mechanical failure or someone being taken out by a slower driver and can often mean that the fastest man on the night can TQ, win one final by several laps and then have someone take him out on the first bend and break his car. This means that he gets the extra point for TQ and one win but because he doesn't score in the second final he gets beaten by someone that is far slower. Just my opinion, but it seems a bit unfair

By having two qualifyers that are slightly longer than you have now it means that you get a more even spread and the qualifying is more enjoyable. Also you probably need to reduce the time in between calling the cars off at the start to one second intervals, as in most heats the first car was already coming down the straight before the last car was called off. In a couple of cases the first car had already overtaken the last car off before it had actually left the line

I think the extra hour would work a treat, just not sure which end of the night it would be best put. If it's at the start of the night some people won't be able to make it because of work, if it's at the end of the night then some people will undoubtedly declare that it's too late for the smaller children. I doubt whether everyone will be happy whichever way you go but you can't please them all

Sorry if i'm out of line to comment as i'm not a member yet (I will join in a couple of weeks) but hopefully all comments are helpful.

[hashiriya]

The extra time could always be helpful. If starting at 6:30, the track could be setup and ready to run on by 7:00 this means that if racing began say 7:20 giving 10 minutes of practice to each class run.

A 7:30 start means that 5 heats of 5 minutes with 2 minutes between heats would mean that qualifying could be over by 8:40, if you then took 10 minutes to sort the finals, you could still run two legs of 5 minute finals and finish at about 10:00. The take a few minutes to clear everything up and we could be out well before 10:30

With a combination using more time and all the members being a little more organised with some key members taking the lead, some helping Scott by calling the relevant heats or getting the track setup efficiently, we could get more racing in as well as accomodate the new extra drivers we have been getting.

Scott, Once i get back to the office on monday i'll send you that sheet we talked about.

I think the key here is that certain more experienced people can help lead the way and then eventually more and more members can get a better idea of how a meeting should run etc.

Also maybe worth putting together some guidelines on how to marshall effectively. Things like not running out on track when other cars are comming, checking how your position when on the track waiting to get back to the perimeter affects the viewpoint of the racers etc are all parts of learning race craft of RC racing.

The most importantpart of marshalling is get there as quick as you can but never at the expense of those who are still racing. At the end of the day, it's the fault the the person who crashed no the marshall who can't be ther immediately.

[bedsrcmcc]

Regards the points, the computer software (RC Timing) does all that and the only change we've made this time is select points for qualifying and extra point for A Final win and TQ on the night, so lets see how this works out this time, after all it's only our second championship.

Comments of interval for calling has been noted and I've amended the system to reduce the time. This is the first time this has accured simply because we have so many drivers/cars now in each heat...

I understand where your coming from re: both finals counting. At the end of the day similar skilled drivers should be in the same finals following qualifying on the night and I agree that occasionally someone will breakdown (be that through self inflicted or accident) in either of the Finals and find their overall position on the night, and therefore points, will be less. I always take the view that what goes around comes around and you might find that over the course of our 7 rounds everyone will have one of those 'off nights'. That's also why we increased the championship to 7 rounds with 2 rounds now being dropped to allow for a couple of crap nights .

You can also look at it the other way, if you only had 1 final and you crashed out you've screwed the whole evening. At least with 2 finals there is always that chance to increase your points overall. Swings and roundabouts as they say...

As to timings... When I get that spreadsheet from you Maz I can play with loads of options as we do oexpect more drivers to join the club in the coming weeks and therefore we need to seriously look at all options, be that extending time in hall or maybe dropping to 3 races a night to fit us all in, or worst still to start restricting numbers but that's the last thing we should be considering as a new club.

In one way it's a great position to be in as a new club

Trouble is it's also a bleeding nightmare to get as many races into a night as possible

[bedsrcmcc]

Originally Posted by HPI Paul

I am in favour of a 6.30pm start. Think it is important to have the two minutes between the races.

What are peoples thoughts on converting the 2 x 3 minute qualifyers to 1 x 5 min qualifyer (so 1 qualifyer and 2 finals)? or maybe 2 qualifyers and one final?? or do we prefer the 4 rounds?

Hi Paul,

As briefly mentioned in my other post, it would be a shame to drop to only 3 races a night, even if the Q rounds were increased to 5 mins. Not sure if people would find 3 races a night worthwhile, but I could be wrong.

I think what is more critical is that we have the hall booked for 3hrs and we are wasting 1 of those hours with getting the track ready. I would be in favour of dropping practice altogether and just running 2 x Qs and 2 x Finals. Do people really get anything out from the practice? And if we sort out the track setting up, we could out racing by 7.30pm which gives us plenty of time. I think also with so many heats now there is no need to have a gap between heats and finals. There is more than enough time for people to charge cells so that would give us back a few more minutes too.

As mentioned above, let's see what time we need to run 4 rounds of 4, 5 or 6 heats and then we can decide what's best for the club.