Speedventures classing input thread - #72
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From: Chicago
I'm sure Aaron is kidding... if he's not, he'll see the light and say that he was kidding. Too much conflict of interest. But I really like the idea of a 10pt break with a roll bar. How about a 20pt break for a full cage? You'd be adding allot of weight, but safety should always be encouraged! What you don't want is a situation where those 20pt were the difference between winning and losing, because everyone would have to put a cage in their cars. What do you guys think? 10 for a bar and 20 for a cage?
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From: Los Angeles
Of course I was kidding. I'm always being told to use those damn smiley faces and stuff, guess I better start. Sense of humor is too dry.
- payneinthe
payneinthe: the fact that we're taking the classing structure seriously shouldn't deter you. We're only trying to make it as fun, fair, and exciting as possible. No bad blood exists between us and it's all in good fun.
Aside from my joking around etc., what do you guys think of my proposal? I have no problem adding more points for a cage either, even though I don't sell one
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dt
I've been watching this thread closely because I really would like to start road racing some day. However, it's starting to look like there may be some major conflict-of-interest issues w/ the rule-making for SV.
payneinthe: the fact that we're taking the classing structure seriously shouldn't deter you. We're only trying to make it as fun, fair, and exciting as possible. No bad blood exists between us and it's all in good fun.
Aside from my joking around etc., what do you guys think of my proposal? I have no problem adding more points for a cage either, even though I don't sell one
, , , , .dt
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From: Upland, CA
Cool. As I said before, $$$ is the big deterrent from me joining. So far, I'm sticking to auto-x, as it's a bit cheaper. When I'm ready to make the switch, the auto-x friendly mod package will probably be important, though. I think it's a good idea to keep us closeted road-racers in mind, and it sounds like you're doing that.
My opinion (which of course doesn't count, but that's cool) is that STOCK should be a money-paying class. There's a challenge to be had racing in stock, and of the three classes, it's the most likely to offer a "driver's challenge" environment where the cars are basically equivalent. Just because less money's been spent on building the car doesn't mean it shouldn't be taken as seriously.
My opinion (which of course doesn't count, but that's cool) is that STOCK should be a money-paying class. There's a challenge to be had racing in stock, and of the three classes, it's the most likely to offer a "driver's challenge" environment where the cars are basically equivalent. Just because less money's been spent on building the car doesn't mean it shouldn't be taken as seriously.
Joined: Jan 2002
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From: Encinitas (San Diego), CA
Aaron, I like your proposal, and the -10 for rollbar is a really good idea. The higher the better to really encourage drivers (like me) to get one . And a cage being worth twice as much is also great.
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From: Los Angeles
payneinthe,
I agree that there is no reason why the STOCK class shouldn't get prize money, etc. The reason I thought of that was because the stockers don't come to events consistently the way MOD and UNLIM. drivers have been. But, that doesn't mean they won't in the future. Therefore, I think we should scratch my idea and go back to having STOCK as a prize paying series. What I may do is stagger the payout amounts according to participation. The actual $$$ to be paid out hasn't been determined, but there will be something. Later, in another thread, I'll discuss how the $$$ will be paid out. It will involve participation and a certain minimum number of events attended, etc. So, if STOCK ends up having the greatest level of participation, it would get the most money paid out.
But let's not discuss prizes/payout, etc. here. Let's get the 2003 classing sorted out.
I agree that there is no reason why the STOCK class shouldn't get prize money, etc. The reason I thought of that was because the stockers don't come to events consistently the way MOD and UNLIM. drivers have been. But, that doesn't mean they won't in the future. Therefore, I think we should scratch my idea and go back to having STOCK as a prize paying series. What I may do is stagger the payout amounts according to participation. The actual $$$ to be paid out hasn't been determined, but there will be something. Later, in another thread, I'll discuss how the $$$ will be paid out. It will involve participation and a certain minimum number of events attended, etc. So, if STOCK ends up having the greatest level of participation, it would get the most money paid out.
But let's not discuss prizes/payout, etc. here. Let's get the 2003 classing sorted out.
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From: Los Angeles
Gil,
The Novice class would work something like this:
A novice driver in an UL-prepped car who gets within 5% of the best UL time at that track in that config. would lose to a novice driver in a STOCK car that came within 4% of the best STOCK time recorded at that track. The question is whether we should take the best times logged that day (by Dave Kennedy for instance for UL and by Aaron Harris for STOCK) or whether we should take the best times ever recorded by an S2000 in that class. If there's no one running UL that day other than the novice, we'd obviously have to take the best time from some other event. That coud get tricky. There's no way it will be a perfect system, but we can try to figure out some way of doing it.
The other way to do it is to just take all the data we've all been collecting and figure out a handicap value for each mod. So a supercharger = 2 seconds, etc. etc. Again this is far from accurate, but would at least be consistent event to event. In that way, the Novice class drivers could even select the best mods if they wanted to.
The other qeustion I have for people is whether novice drivers should be able to run an entire year or just six events. Remember in every region except the West, there are not a lot of races (6 in Texas Region, 8 in Midwest region, 2 in the Northeast region, 2 in the Northwest Region, and 8 in the Southeast Region). Out West since we have about 21 races we obviously have more to think about.
I think a novice should be bumped when they get within a certain percentage (say 4%) of the best driver in the corresponding non-Novice class. I like that approach I think.
The Novice class would work something like this:
A novice driver in an UL-prepped car who gets within 5% of the best UL time at that track in that config. would lose to a novice driver in a STOCK car that came within 4% of the best STOCK time recorded at that track. The question is whether we should take the best times logged that day (by Dave Kennedy for instance for UL and by Aaron Harris for STOCK) or whether we should take the best times ever recorded by an S2000 in that class. If there's no one running UL that day other than the novice, we'd obviously have to take the best time from some other event. That coud get tricky. There's no way it will be a perfect system, but we can try to figure out some way of doing it.
The other way to do it is to just take all the data we've all been collecting and figure out a handicap value for each mod. So a supercharger = 2 seconds, etc. etc. Again this is far from accurate, but would at least be consistent event to event. In that way, the Novice class drivers could even select the best mods if they wanted to.
The other qeustion I have for people is whether novice drivers should be able to run an entire year or just six events. Remember in every region except the West, there are not a lot of races (6 in Texas Region, 8 in Midwest region, 2 in the Northeast region, 2 in the Northwest Region, and 8 in the Southeast Region). Out West since we have about 21 races we obviously have more to think about.
I think a novice should be bumped when they get within a certain percentage (say 4%) of the best driver in the corresponding non-Novice class. I like that approach I think.