It's been a long time now and nobody else came up with their own suggestion (on the forum that is) for any sort of special event idea to end the year.
Not that it's a rush but with the suggested one's (below) and looking back at replies ...
To Keep it Simple with the (now) scheduled FRC MC and RC classes
A Repeat of RR86 - Laps vs Time with 9 of FRC non-IROC classes
A Grand Showdown with the 6 sets of FRC IROC classes
Other than it's good ideas yet still having concerns. Wondered if you yourself came up with (or heard about) anything as yet?
Point of interest ... I am sure you know after today (Thursday 20th. October 2016) there's only 6 weeks till a FRC end of year event ... Now other than Keeping it Simple with the scheduled MC and RC classes or possibly with these already suggested ideas below ...
A first time event at RRC - Rocky's Revenge Circuit and (maybe) with anyone of FRC's 4 IROC classes.
A Repeat of Race Report 86 - Laps vs Time (probably) with 9 of FRC non-IROC classes.
A Grand Showdown with the 6 sets of FRC IROC classes.
Yet all are keeping mum about these ideas, far less for any other future plans. I just have to wonder why the unexpressed feelings ..!
Maybe these ideas could be discussed sometime (before or after) at racing today ..?
I have two suggestions which will entail cars not running as any existing FRC classes. These are as follows:
1) Bracket races:
We can have, say, 3 classes based upon qualifying times. Classes could be, for instance 4.50 to 5.20 seconds, 5.21 to 6.00 seconds, 6.01 to 7.00 seconds.
Each class could have 5 races of 30 laps each.
2) Handicap race:
1 longish race of , say, 100 laps. Cars' qualifying times would be used to set handicap. For example, for 100 laps, if the slowest car has a qualifying time of 6.50 seconds, 100 laps should ideally take 650 seconds. This car would obviously start first. If the next slowest car has a qualifying time of 6.25 seconds, 100 laps should take 625 seconds. This car should start 25 seconds later . In order to avoid a collision from the already running car, this car should start from pit lane however. This would mean effectively losing a lap at the start but there is a way to get around this which I can discuss if required.
This type of racing could, if desired, be also broken down into different classes by time in which case there would be more than 1 race.
If either of these formats is adopted, I would suggest that races be open to all enclosed wheel cars (ie. no F1 or Indy type cars).
The crucial aspect of this racing would be to ensure that drivers don't 'sandbag' during qualifying. I know that when the computer is hooked up, it records every driver's average as well as fastest lap time. My suggestion is that any driver whose fastest lap time in a race is faster than 95% of his qualifying time be disqualified .
What I think is good about what I'm proposing here is that car specs. would be totally free, the only thing of consequence being lap times.This would allow a very interesting variety of cars to compete, including cars no longer raced at FRC due to not having classes available for them. I'm thinking about cars such as Porsche Boxsters, old spec. Mod. Prod. cars with their 30k motors, scratch built cars like my old Nissan Skyline etc. This would also enable guys without cars to race as our IROC cars could be used.
Finally, American Muscle cars would be given one last opportunity to race at FRC !
Steve
steveaca wrote:I have two suggestions which will entail cars not running as any existing FRC classes. These are as follows:
1) Bracket races:
2) Handicap race:
Steve, I think that this type of event for closing off 2016 would be brilliant. Here are my thoughts on the two suggestions:
1) Bracket races
I have found that to be reasonably competitive in most of our classes, a car has to be within 0.3 sec or less of the fastest car. Based on this, if we start at 4.50 sec as the fastest time, the three classes have to be more like 4.50 to 4.80 sec, 4.81 to 5.10 sec and 5.11 to 5.4 sec. These are pretty fast times so it limits the number of cars that can be entered.
2) Handicap race
This is a very interesting idea. In this case the biggest problem I can see is that with six cars racing at large lap time variances, there is a good possibility of a high incidence of drive throughs. Your additional suggestion of breaking down this into a series of different races by time might be the best option (basically combining your two suggestions). What about having four "categories" like this:
Class 1: 4.00 - 4.99
Class 2: 5.00 - 5.99
Class 3: 6.00 - 6.99
Class 4: 7.00 - 7.99
Then we run each race as a handicap of varying durations as per this example:
Hi Gordon,
I agree with the points you mentioned, ie. 1) in a regular race, lap times have to be similar in order to have a competitive race and 2) in a long distance handicap race,having a great disparity in lap times could possibly result in several drive-through incidents. I would fully support your suggestion for a series of handicap races, varying in length and each one for cars of different performance ranges.
Steve
