although I didn't see a smiley, this is a joke, right? Loof Lirpa is six
months away.
Mark
In a message dated 10/7/02 7:35:02 PM Central Daylight Time,
matthew@powerplug.com writes:
> As a follow-up to the late to grid thread after Nationals, I have come
> up with some proposed ideas to address the "real" issue -- having an
> unfair competitive advantage by having warm tires.
>
> One of the main issues people had against the 30 minute rule for grid
> was the potential issue of accidently coming to grid late and losing
> runs. I do not want to see anyone lose runs over something like that.
> I just don't think anyone should gain an unfair competitive advantage by
> having warm tires before first runs. I've written up what I think would
> be a fair process to cover this issue (see #1 below).
>
> The other two proposed rules below I wrote up are to provide some more
> fairness to single driver cars and the low numbered driver of two driver
> cars. While most people can probably agree that having two driver cars
> is unfair for those cars with only one driver, it is an integral part of
> Solo II to allow two drivers in the same car/class (cost sharing, fun
> for driver teams, spread work load). But at least we can do something
> to help single drivers to be less disadvantaged over two driver cars.
>
> I plan to send something similar to the SEB after gathering feedback
> from Team.Net folks. Here is what I've come up with, in two sections,
> one for Solo II events and a repeated list for ProSolo...
>
> Solo II rules wording:
>
> 1. Tire warming before reporting to grid is explicitly prohibited. When
> two grids are used for a course, competitors shall place their car in
> grid 30 minutes prior to running (first heat, scheduled event start
> time), before the prior heat starts their last runs (later heats), or
> in the case of a scheduled course walk before the heat, prior to the
> last run of the previous heat. All tires must be in grid at the same
> time as the car, except if it starts raining or tires are corded
> (must check in with Grid official), then people may retrieve their
> alternate tires outside of the grid area. At approximately 5 minutes
> after the time cars are to be in grid, the Chief of Grid will take
> attendance. Any cars reporting to grid after attendance is taken
> will be required to get approval of the Chief Steward before being
> allowed to run. Anyone warming tires should be reported to a event
> official or chief before runs are taken.
>
> 2. All tire warming devices (active and passive blankets, wind blockers,
> car wraps, etc.) are explicitly prohibited. Anyone caught using
> them, will be required to talk with the Chief Steward before taking
> any further runs.
> *** A possible alternative to this would be to allow passive tire
> blankets only (no full car wraps) for single driver cars.
>
> 3. Each driver of a two driver car is required to run first one day of
> two-day events. On the first day, drivers with the lower car number
> will run first. On the second day, drivers with the higher car
> number will run first.
>
> ProSolo rules wording:
>
> 1. Tire warming before reporting to pre-grid is explicitly prohibited.
> Anyone warming tires should be reported to a event official or chief
> before runs are taken.
>
> 2. All tire warming devices (active and passive blankets, wind blockers,
> car wraps, etc.) are explicitly prohibited.
>
> The rules above do not cover the penalty aspect of not following the
> rules (like most of the Solo rule book). This is because the Solo rules
> have provisions for a range of penalties. As such, it would be up to
> the Chiefs and Protest committee to come up with an appropriate penalty.
>
> Further comments and questions on the rules written above...
>
> For #1 above: In the case of coming to grid late, the penalty could be a
> warning (for someone that was accidently late) or when the official
> checks the tires of a late car and they are warm, they lose runs. For
> people who are accidently late to grid, just make sure you have stone
> cold tires and you shouldn't have to worry about losing runs, just try
> to be to grid early in the future. The wording about explicitly not
> being able to warm tires should prevent people from the quick run to
> the gas station for "air" (covers the potential line up in and out of
> the site). For Solo II events, the 30 minutes should mostly cover
> those who choose to ignore the rules and warm tires anyway (basically,
> the approximate 30 minutes helps avoid the need for going out of the
> way to police cars trying to warm tires). For ProSolo, I skipped the
> grid procedure since it is already covered in the ProSolo series
> supplemental regulations.
>
> For #2 above: Do single drivers think they would be at more of a
> disadvantage if no one was allowed to have tire blankets compared to
> the current rules where everyone is allowed to? Of course, I know it
> would be better for single drivers to be allowed tire blankets and
> two-driver cars to not be allowed -- just it would be easier to police
> when no cars are allowed instead of some cars being allowed while
> others are not allowed. At ProSolo events, no one would be allowed to
> use tire blankets at all since Pros already have a procedure where the
> leading driver runs first, so single drivers are usually running
> against the faster of the two driver cars after the first heat.
>
> For #3 above: I don't think any second drivers are going to like this
> rule, but hopefully those people will agree it is more fair for
> everyone else (first drivers and single drivers). Also, those people
> who normally do not have a co-driver, won't feel they HAVE TO get one
> at every event just to be competitive. This does not apply to ProSolo
> events, because of the current procedure for handling two driver cars.
>
> Thoughtful feedback welcome...
>
> Matthew.
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