Kirk says, in part:
>Hi Ed:
>
>Great job yesterday. You and Ben ran a wonderful event. Fun runs and all.
>The
>only thing I would like to see in the future is a much bigger track.
The primary thing (about the course) that keeps the event moving on-time is
the start interval, independant of the course length.
>That would
>have made the event longer and would probably have canceled any fun runs but
>its
>not the fun runs that count.
With longer courses, given a consistanly short start interval, there
actually is still a real time penalty associated with length. That penalty,
which varys with frequency of red-flags, is both the fact that with more
cars on-course, red flags cause more re-runs and the last car to be
red-flagged takes longer to clear the course, when traversing at slower (25
mph) speeds. An additional factor is, that with the longer course, the
probability, per run, of a pylon penalty(s) or DNF leading to a red-flag
increases dis-proportionately as the course length increases.If everthing
else, about the event, is "equal", like quick change-overs and starting on
-time (thanks, guys) then the impact of a, reasonably, longer course is not
very noticeable. To go from a 45 second course to a 60 second course isn't
too significant but, as happened once last year, to go to a 90 second
course, coupled with a large turn-out on a relatively short (sun) day, the
S--- hits the fan.
Don
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