Thanks. At this point I'm not sure who will be doing what, but we will need people to assist with setup type activities and pre-event activities. I don't think that these will prevent anyone from participating, however.

Bob

 

Saab9-3, It seems that we need an autocross guru to help us, now. The person that I had helping has a confilct with this date and can't make it. He was going to design the course and generally show us how to run this event.

So at this point, we need some in depth help. Spread the word.

Thanks,
Bob

 

I would love attend and help out at an autox at the Tire Rack, but Sept 7 is a bad date. Most of the serious S2K autocrossers I know will already be in Topeka for the SCCA Finale or on their way there for the National Championship on Tue/Wed.

It looks like the date was picked out of the air by Urmil without any input from many of the people who would want to attend the event.

I wish everyone the best of luck with the event and hope that it goes well so I can attend the next event held there.

 

Just signing into this forum.

The date of Sept 7th seems to be very close. My opinion is to leave this event until next year, and plan for something really big devoted for a full weekend, unless we can get at least 30 participants, or whatever the minimum is for Tire Rack, to make it worthwhile for them. Bob and Jim, I can discuss this with you further via phone.

As far as how the date was picked, NO, I did not pick it out of the air. Fortunately for Tire Rack, they don't have just any weekend available for S2KCA to pick out and let us squat and do our thing. And yes, there was input from some of the racers in the area.

The main consideration that was given to selecting this date, aside from what was available to us, was what other S2KCA events were going on nationally that would affect participants in the general Midwest area. If I were running the outfit, I'd make an all out "non-compete" rule so that events wouldn't be stacked on the same weekend. So yes, I did have a favor for not having this event on other weekends in Sept.

The other criteria I was trying to work with was to try to make this a weekend affair, or at least an overnight stay type of affair. I'd think that we'd lose out on participation if it was a morning drive up, and evening drive back event....there'd hopefully be people coming from states other than IN. So there are considerations for that as well.

....but thank you for naming me anyway.

Urmil

 

If you need timing equipment, insurance, and the whole deal, you can try Caleb Miller (PM me if you need his #). He is running my roadster autocross in october. He charges $15 a head to run an event, provide insurance and timing equip. He will probably be busy on that date due to the events in Topeka, though. If you do not need insurance and timing equipment, I think we could pull it off if everyone pitched in. We could design the course to our liking, work the course, and Im sure there are people who know how to work the timing equipment.

 

We have the timing equipment and cones and track here. I could have the track set up before you get here. We have had many clubs here already this year so I'm sure we could have it pretty well set for you.
Just let me know.

Jim

 

Whew! With a motivational speech like that I sure don't make me feel like participating in any future S2000 marquee events.

Urmil -

There was no discussion about where the date came from. The last post about an S2K autox was in July and then suddenly a date was picked. It sure seemed arbitrary to me. And you are going to lose your core constituency to the SCCA National Competition.

You've made comments in the past about not dividing the club or pissing people off and chasing them away. Replies like you just made are part of the problem, not the solution.

 

Unfortunately since I do not know who you are, I have to judge your emotion towards me on your word usage.

Obviously, we have met; you know my name; to this date, I know of no one I have irritated or frustrasted after they have met me. This leads me to believe that the poster would like to remain anonymous while being afforded the luxury of criticism.

Criticism is fine, but if it is made to make me look bad, I will reply. I don't think I was offensive, but I did definitely set a tone.

You are right, I do not want to divide the group of owners into separate classes (racers, street racers, showers, enthusiast owners, and beer drinkers). However, so far this summer, the only "racer-type" I've seen out for the organized events is FD Racer. I can accomadate almost anyone, really, ask my wife. All I ask is that it be mentioned to me either in the forums, via phone call, private message, or even email.

With this event, Boiler was organizing it, I was just making sure dates and paper-work would get to him or Jim at Tirerack.

If there are any other "suggestions" or negative criticism, please pm me. I am receptive of it, and will take it more constructively than negatively in any case.

 

I don't know all that is going on here, but having planned more than a few rather large-scale S2000 gatherings, I know a little about how it works. Urmil and Bob are at the mercy of whatever dates that Tirerack has availalble, it's not any more complicated than that. The accusation of "dividing" the group, IMO, is nonsense. And it sounds familiar, as well, like when the Moto Personna/King thing fell through and Urmil set up the shindig at his house. There were no ulterior motives then and there are none now. It's simply a matter of working with the dates that Tirerack has available.

Has anyone done any kind of head/car count? Urmil tells me that the PCA has to turn folks away for events at the Tirerack facility. Somehow, I just don't see that happening with just S2000's...which I also think is natural. I don't think more than about 10-12 S2000's would attend, but I hope I'm wrong. This event, if it does indeed go on, needs to be open to others if, 1. any kind of competition could come out of it and 2. if there is to be a relatively decent number of folks in attendence to generate the competition.

But these accusations of dividing the group actually tick me off as they are unfounded and completely uninformed. Urmil has gotten a taste that while doing event planning, some people will just complain and never be satisfied...which is the BIGGER problem than solo2racer claims about dividing the group.

Urmil, Bob and Jim, thanks for your efforts, I hope to have my car running for this one. And I certainly hope that it goes off big, but there are some decisions that need to be made pretty quickly. I'm here, as usual, to help the process...let me hear your ideas.

Either way, I'm with Harry...I'll be with the beer drinkers.

 

If you want to open it to other cars let me know and we can get the word out to the other car clubs.

Jim