Quote:
Originally Posted by lucid
Yes, that sounds like a drastically different approach, and a significant improvement. However, it is based on the assumption that run groups will be tightly controlled. My impression is that there is a lot of "upward" pressure to move people into the next run group for several reasons. One of them is simply financial. What does one do if there is an uneven distribution of participants across the 4 run groups on a given day? I am under the impression that the distribution is usually bottom heavy--especially when there are credits for first timers. I suspect another reason has to do with social issues/connections. Anyway, let's see if the model you outlined propogates. I've seen such moves elsewhere, but they weren't as extensive.
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You are absolutely correct. There is a lot of upward pressure. I've been involved with a couple of events as organizers and believe you me, the MAJORITY of people for these schools are classed one or two groups BELOW what they ultimately ended up placed in. Especially when they share cars. We had a FIRST TIMER at Laguna Seca being placed in "B", which is supposed to be pretty advanced, because he was sharing a car with his sons, who are also there for the first time.
We've had some pretty good success though, with the A+ program, in that the attendees are hand picked. Without a recommendation from a prior in-car instructor they can not sign up for A+. While the end result can sometimes be mixed, for example, at Laguna Seca we ended up with only 5 cars in the A+ program, while at the last Chuckwalla school we had about 20 in A+, it does mean that anyone driving in A+ are only there because they're TRULY A+ drivers.
An interesting comparison between Laguna Seca and Chuckwalla raceway, in that Laguna Seca being so darn famous that it attracts a ton of first timers (OMG Laguna Seca! Bucket List! Have to do it at least once!), but a lot of very advanced people skip it because, well, it's hard on equipment (lots of up-hill, murder on brakes, and after a while, the Cork Screw can only be so alluring for so many times...And it's easy to MASTER). Chuckwalla was a brand new track so all the big hitters, the guys who's been with the program forever, and are very advanced wanted to come out and experience a new track with BMW CCA in a safe, controlled environment so a ton of advanced students with novices and intermediates sort of filling up the rest of the available spots outside of A+.