Great event!

[Corolla DRiveR]

What a day. that was a fast track! I had a lot of fun, and I thought it went a lot smoother than any event last year. Impressive since this was the first event. Judging from the overall atmosphere at the event, most everyone else felt similarly. Congratulations on a well run event!

[CivicSiguy]

It was a great event! I had a blast and it was much more enjoyable than last year (probably due to the new car as well).

The organization was excellent and I think we're on the right track on making things run smoother. The meeting at Motor Cars I think helped a lot.

Thanks Chuck for the help you provided, and for letting me use your tires while I wait for mine to arrive

[AutoXChris]

That was by far, the best, smothest running first event i have seen in atleast 4 years(or as far back as i can remember first of season events...) I think we have a good thing going!!! Im excited for the next event as well as the rest of the season!!!

So who has the event Results, and who will be posting them?

I have 2nd Heat Pictures, Will Post them when i can figure out how to get into my new FTP.... Seems i dont have all the info i need to get in there!


Domino's was a treat. The price was right for the HUGE slices i got... $5 got me 2 HUGE slices and a coke!!! thats a meal!

[CivicSiguy]

I have some good 2nd heat pictures as well. I'll try and post the best ones on here when I get home.

Hopefully, the pizza was profitable for them and maybe they will start catering all our events! also had two HUGE pieces of pizza and a Dr. Pepper for $5.00 and it was well worth the money. I also noticed we started 2nd heat promptly at 1:15PM, that never happens!

[magilson]

So who has the event Results, and who will be posting them?

I talked to Jonathan by phone yesterday at the end of the event. Since I don't yet know what needs to happen with the numbers I didn't want to screw them up. I'll be looking for some training from Jonathan before the next event. In any case he said he would get them from the trailer today (Monday) and have them up as soon as possible. In the future my goal is to have them up by the night of the Autocross.

Also, Trophies... We concentrated a little too much on making sure other things in the event would work well and so we were not ready to hand out trophies. My personal goal for the next event is to:

- Make sure work/run assignments work more smoothly next time.
- Bring trophies for at least the first three placements in each class.
- Get the "pit radio" system working so that the announcer can be heard from in car.

There are lots of other things that need to happen.

Scott won't be able to attend the next event and neither will Jim R. So we are down two people (that I know of right now). That means we will need more volounteers to commit to this next event as well as another person to design the course. I'll be working with Jim R to learn a few quick tips and potentially working with Scott on a design.

That means we'll need even more people to show up early and help. Jim R set up all the cones for this last course himself because the rest of us were working with Jonathan as long as he could be there. That can't happen the next time!

Give us more feedback! We need to improve!

[CivicSiguy]

I'm willing to help out with whatever you might need. I don't have experience designing courses, but I know I personally like fast courses like we had yesterday (that was awesome).

I can help with cone placement though, or the registration table, etc. Chuck and I managed the registration table (along with Matt from 3M).

I can arrive extra early, etc.

The most important thing to do at this point, is to get a game plan for the next points event as far as workers go. The meeting we had at Springfield Motor Cars was critical to the success in our last event. The overall communication and organization was a 10 fold improvement, and I would be all for some type of meeting or conference call before the next event.

I can arrange a meeting at Don Wessel Honda if we can get some people to attend. If we keep up this communication, I'm sure the next points event will go even smoother!

[Red Lion]

also had a great time, I was surprised things went as smoothly (and quickly!) as they did. Good job guys, I hope to help out more in the future too. I drive from Joplin so I can't help out a lot in the early preparations but I'll stick around and do what I can to help clean up the events. I liked working the grid in the 2nd heat, I got to meet a lot of cool people and talk about to them about their cars so if it means anything I'd like to do that in the next event as well.

[drivehard]

I thought the 240 ran in HS, at least it used to I think. I think Ben France ran his in HS, didn't he Chris, hell, it has been too long ago.

What A great job peeps!!!!!! I have never attended a smoother event at OMR. Thanks!!!!

[magilson]

What A great job peeps!!!!!! I have never attended a smoother event at OMR. Thanks!!!!

I was wondering if you guys felt it was the pre-registration that made it feel "smoother"? Or was it the whole event? Can you guys comment on anything that was a blip in the flow of the event?

I know a lot of people were upset about having to change their numbers. I didn't have the heart at the time to tell them that would be their new number for the whole season...

Specifics!

[scoTT]

I will say that having no duplicat car numbers really made running the timing computer really smooth...

We need to get a overhead shot of the parking lot so we can brainstorm on some track ideas...

[Crazy_Dog]

anyone know were the laptop and my printer is? lol


not in trailer.

[JimR]

We need to get a overhead shot of the parking lot so we can brainstorm on some track ideas...

Gotcha covered. Click here:



Google Maps has a usable overhead shot of the site, and that has been what I work from when designing courses. I updated the picture with what I encountered over the last couple of weekends out there.

Yellow- 25ft-ish buffer zone.
Orange - stuff to avoid, like the concrete barriers and fences
Red - ruts/holes/pits, aka things that are Very Bad for Cars.
Grey - rough spots. There's much more than marked, but I think they can be designed around.

Of course, nothing to scale, your mileage may very. I also have this in Photoshop 7.0 format for the layers-loving people out there.

I will most likely not be there for the April event. We had to change the April date to the same weekend as the Arkansas ProSolo (I'm currently registered) because of site scheduling with Ducks Stadium.

We should plan on finding a course setup volunteer for April. If that turns out to be you or someone you love, read Roger Johnson's course design guide like religion - it taught me everything I know:

http://www.houscca.com/solo/courses/coursedesign.zip

[JimR]

..and some event commentary:

The course was kind of short and breezy, but I was glad to see us have five runs, plus fun runs. That makes it worth the drive for people like Mark Hill in the S2000, who drove from Lawrence, Kansas, to run with us. OMR events have historically been a really good mix of value, casual atmosphere, and seat time. Maintaining this is a luxury and a challenge of being a smaller region. On Sunday we proved we're in a position to regain our old status, and then some.

A few years ago I would show up before 8:30AM to change tires (I'm a dork), and be the first person at Ducks. At ten 'til 7AM on Sunday, there were already half a dozen guys getting ready to run, in the dark. This is a non-profit, no-glory, volunteer-run sport, so all the help with registration and gate patrol had was awesome. And everyone who helped get the course in place, lined, boxed, and wired for timing helped make it happen.

As we work towards the goal of starting half an hour earlier in coming months, this help is greatly appreciated. The more people help and more time we save, the more runs you get for your time and money. This year we're working against SCCA-mandated weekend memberships, bigger registration hassles, stricter crowd/safety/waiver control requirements, and a site that is beginning to get rough in places.

I hope more people are inspired to volunteer and come race with us regularly this year. If we grow our turnouts by a manageable number, that's more human resources and monetary resources to improve the events.