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RE: Nationals (something I liked)

To: "Gill, Doug" <dgill@stcc.cc.tn.us>
Subject: RE: Nationals (something I liked)
From: Mark Sirota <mark@sirota.org>
Date: Thu, 20 Sep 2001 13:13:11 -0400
--On 9/20/2001 11:35 AM -0500 Gill, Doug wrote:
> The idea is to weigh as you exit the course before you go back to your
> grid spot. You should be at race weight, you don't have you grid stuff
> packed in the car, if you weigh with driver you don't have to get out
> (maybe), etc.

Pros:
+ Ensures that nobody is adding fuel after their runs, or not carrying
  their removable ballast.

+ No need to load up the car for the parade, then unload at impound.

Cons:
- No opportunity to jockey the order so that those of similar wheelbase and
  track are weighed together.  Therefore, if using the same scales we use
  today, they'll have to be adjusted more often.

- You'd have to weigh everyone, not just the trophy winners, since you
  don't know who the trophy winners are yet.  That could take a lot more
  total time.  (Possible solution: weigh a third of the cars after the
  first run, a third after the second, and the rest after the third -- but
  see below.)

- The delay to weigh before returning to the grid spot is going to bother
  someone.  For example, if they need to plug into an external battery to
  run cooling fans to prevent heat soak, that battery must be near the
  scale area and then be moved to the grid spot.

- Some drivers like to sit in the car and replay the run rather than be
  bothered with the scale procedure.  Those that get weighed after the
  final run would have an advantage there.

- The car is lighter due to fuel load on the third run.  If someone *just*
  made weight after the second run, would they get weighed again after the
  third?  Again, more time...

To make up for those, you'd probably have to weigh every car after every
run in order to be fair.  And while that's probably optimal, I think you'd
need scales you could drive right onto and read quickly in order to make
it work, and those sorts of scales are generally not portable.

Mark

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