spda competitors please comment

[Tony Kloosterma]

I'd like to hear some thoughts on the course today.
good and bad.

I know there were a couple tricky parts in it.

Your comments can help make the next layout better

Tony

[gatherer]

personally a walk would have been nice :p

umm for the start of the second lap I would have removed the tight slalom section. and left it open, you still wouldn't hit max speeds because people would have to brake for the slalom, however it would have made the slalom much more interesting...

thats the only section I would have changed ... were those cones 45 feet apart? since they were a slalom? it seemed very tight...

also the left hander was nice... it worked.... but I would have moved it to a different spot.. since that always seems to be the same place it's setup... but there really isn't much you can do in that side of the lot....

[nitrowsb]

Yes, that 90 left hander seemed pretty tight...but I was going too fast anyways...

How about making a clockwise course next time...start at the the bottom left of the lot and go up and around to the right coming back?

[Tony Kloosterma]

I like the counter clockwise idea. on the way home i was envisioning the same course in reverse. I think there may be a couple of hot spots.

The kink in the start of lap 2 was done purposely......It would have been way hot if we didn't slow you guys down some.

both 90 lefts were done for the same reason to slow you down.

the last thing we want is someone putting it into a curb

Tony

[Marsh]

Originally posted by Tony Kloosterma
I like the counter clockwise idea. on the way home i was envisioning the same course in reverse. I think there may be a couple of hot spots.

The kink in the start of lap 2 was done purposely......It would have been way hot if we didn't slow you guys down some.

both 90 lefts were done for the same reason to slow you down.

the last thing we want is someone putting it into a curb

Tony

What's this? Tony "flowing courses" K. making excusses for tight ellements? I think we have a new organizer on our hands.

[Tony Kloosterma]

Marsh?

[gatherer]

ohhh well it was excessively tight .. it could have been left there but a little more open to better the flow in that section... too slow people down you don't need to have them hit the brakes... just not be able to go full throttle...

ohhh well had I had more energy I would have suggested a course Drive after the event and fun runs so that I could see for myself it it would have been too open...

Best bit of forsight we had: writting down the times.. that was genius... I think I screwed up the results on the laptop... I can't seem to extract them.... so at least we have a back up... the times still exist but I ned to sit down with Wes and see how I managed to Fubar the results.

[Marsh]

I'm trying to insult, I'm just making a point that most of the people that were complaining about course design a couple of years ago were fairly inexperienced in terms of course design and organizing. Tony, you yourself were part of this charge to open up courses to be faster. But now that you are organizing events under your own club banner with insurance that is protecting you, your making comments just like I've been making for the last couple of years.

[StewPiddass]

I know, I can't believe I'm hearing a Civic driver say that SPDA set up a tight course...

Sounds like a good day, congrats to Tony et al. on your first event, here's to many more...

[Tony Kloosterma]

Marsh
we slowed downa couple of spots because they were way tooo fast,
don't mistake that with mickey mouse corners every 50 ft....

you weren't there


Tony

[Tony Kloosterma]

The course was plenty fast......
jason did you drive the same course i designed?

maybe that explains the off courses


Tony

[gatherer]

LOL like I first states a course walk would have been helpful....

[opal]

A few observations:

(1) There were a lot of off-courses: maybe some leaners on a few of the gates, to make things very explicit?
There was a gate that people were going around in the back corner of the lot (after the first tight 90 degree) and that put them very close to that lamp pole and the marshalling station.

(2) I agree with Jason's comments about the tight left-right sequence before the slalom on the second pass. Then again, an Insight doesn't move so quickly, so consider your audience.

(3) Seemed like the slalom started in the wrong direction. Then again, if you'd gone in the other direction, everyone would have made that 90 because they'd have been crawling...

[haniforama]

I liked the course overall though my car didn't.

The starting section and right-hander into the slalom was excellent IMO. It was fast and flowing enough to allow fun, yet it was layed out pretty safe.

The tight left hander at the end of the slalom was pure torture in my car (heavier motor, 50% more power, LSD, 225 tires, and NO power steering). Yes it slowed you down, so yes it did what it was intended to do.

The far left hander into the left kink, then right-hand off camber sweeper was also extremely fun and flowing. I was nearing the top of second gear in my car (which is probably the fastest I've gone in that lot). The next section was tricky, but again well laid out though I do echo the sentiment that there was a bunch of speed taken around the pole. Unfortuantely we have to live with it at the BCSE. The elevation changes (off camber) bit me here a couple of times and I clobbered the two tight left-right transition cones more than once.

The ending had a really tight entry into a pair of offset gates into the stop box. The tight entry kept people from gaining too much momentum. I do believe that there were only a handful if any stop cone penalties (one of them mine since I stupidly decided not to stop after going off course - My Bad).

Overall the course was one of the better ones at the BSCE. Unfortunately for me, my car is a pain in the #$$ to drive through the really tight sections so I didn't fare as well as I would have liked.

Hanif

[DonS]

I liked the layout overall. It was pretty fast and the wider than a Miata gates made it much fun to slide. With all the tail wagging I was doing I still didn't hit a single cone. That kind of flowing layout suits me fine.

I never mastered the two 90s so that was a challenge and hard for me to comment except that it served the intended purpose.

I am an expert in going off course since I seem to do it on 1st run as a habit. :mad: After missing a gate on the Kennedy side 90 the 1st time I could find my way no problem afterward.

While marshaling I was trying to figure out how so many went off on the back side sweeper exit. The bigger WRX combined with my loose setup had me drifting toward that mystery gate so it was impossible for me to not see it. If you were too slow you might cut to the inside and miss it. That back side section was a treat for me.

My second favourite section that initially had me concerned about potential problems was the stop box. Lots of stick there and you could grab a few 10ths by puckering up and powering through the kinks. Usually the stop box has a very slow entry but I like the faster ones.

I think the layout covered all the bases pretty well. Slow sections designed to keep it safe and faster sections that rewarded nerves of steel.

When the worst off or spin is done by an experienced driver and if you get a buzz after a run I call it a good layout with safety in mind. Considering the rules (vs a normal club event) I think it was a great day and well thought out.

[Wesman]

I'm not exactly sure how to design it, but some stop boxes we have seen take braking skill, some don't. Learning how to be fast under braking will help us all right?

[holliko]

Excellent course... not overly tight in my opinon... just the one left hander after the slalom... Probably the fastest course ever in Brampton.... very little braking required... basically only one spot twice... into the tight left after the slalom.....

Cheers to SPDA for a great event.....