-----Original Message-----
From: Glen E. Thompson
>Ever since I've read about Rocky's mirror-khana, I've been very jealous.
>I would love to have a place to stage one. I'm having a hard enough time
>with finding suitable parking lots.
>
>If I were doing a mirror-khana as a charity event, I'd make it a single
>elimination tournament with the ability to buy back into the match for $x.
>Add the rule that if you lose to the same person twice, you're out for
>good. Apply the rest of Rocky's rules to the event.
IMHO, does not work for two reasons.
The one I ran in 1968 (from which I stole the concept; that club never did
another anyway) was a single-elimination. After making the trip there and
paying the entry fee, getting just one run felt like something of a rip-off.
And they did not have practice either. That is why I have both practice
(minimum two runs, one from each startline) and double-elimination. That way
everyone is on course at least four times and feels like they got at least
the "usual" number of runs they'd get in a regular event.
Second, You have to set up some sort of elimination bracket. So if you have
a single-elimination bracket (rather like an NHRA bracket), where do you run
the driver who buys his way back in if you have not provided for him at the
beginning? And who does that buy-in run against? As a practical matter, that
would create all kinds of administrative difficulties.
BTW, while Mirror Khana may work best as a big-lot event, it does not have
to be giant. My lot is long and skinny (a former runway) which dictates a
lot of our course designs including Mirror Khana. They have been done on
square lots where the parallel straights are at one side of the lot, then
the course turns out and wiggles around through the middle of the lot with
about half of each lot devoted to one "end" of the course. See Ben
Thatcher's NOPI Nationals design. My course runs 70-85 seconds. WichiKhana,
by comparison, runs 45-55 seconds. I don't know what the NOPI run times
averaged, but I think it may have been a bit less than mine. The main key is
that you can fit the parallel straights for the S/F and that you can run two
cars at a time safely.
If you find a place you'd like to try one and have questions about "how to"
I'm happy to help. And, my way is *a* way to do it, not the only way. Both
NOPI and WichiKhana have their own distinct variants.
--Rocky
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