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2019 solo nationals

Posted: Mon Sep 09, 2019 12:59 pm
by jcox07
I would like to thank all of etr who showed up for the 2019 nationals. I would also like to thank Mark Pilson for his continued support on the chiefs team as our chief of protest along with Karl Ricket on the chief of grid team and all the other etr members that came out to the solo nationals. It was a great event except for the dust, but already planning for the 2020 nationals behind the scenes with the national staff and starting the process of our 2020 schedule as well. Thanks again JY

Re: 2019 solo nationals

Posted: Mon Sep 09, 2019 2:04 pm
by ConeEater
Thanks to you and Scott on your work the past couple seasons on it.
Super fun this year and while there were bumps, it was overall a great experience. I know Kim wants to go back as well, just not sure when it will happen.

Re: 2019 solo nationals

Posted: Mon Sep 09, 2019 3:34 pm
by thrdeye
Much better than last year for sure!

Courses were good. I liked the west a bit better although I felt totally unprepared for it.

Feels like a blur when you don't stay for your off days or do the pro. Perhaps next year. :D

Re: 2019 solo nationals

Posted: Mon Sep 09, 2019 5:31 pm
by ConeEater
It's a blur when you stay from Sunday to Saturday... So...

Re: 2019 solo nationals

Posted: Mon Sep 09, 2019 5:35 pm
by thrdeye
Did anyone happen to grab the Tailgater Express speaker from our table under the tent?

Sent from my SM-G965U using Tapatalk


Re: 2019 solo nationals

Posted: Mon Sep 09, 2019 9:30 pm
by TedV
Anyone see my blue folding chair bag? last time I saw it was on the back of the Enterprise right before the mad dash across paddock and out the gate on the ebike to get Karl his cell phone he left on the back of my truck.

If a blue chair bag ends up in an engine of a KC-135, RC-135, or E-4, it's NOT mine.

Re: 2019 solo nationals

Posted: Tue Sep 10, 2019 6:41 am
by steverife
The chairs and the chiefs and the staff were great. I worked in the timing trailer 5th heat Tuesday and even after a long day of junior karts and delays and equipment problems and no a/c, the staff had a really positive attitude. And that was really across the board.

Courses? Speeds were lower than most stuff I've ran this year and there was a far greater emphasis on car placement. East had higher speeds, but it was pinchy and painful in places. There wasn't really a line choice and you needed to minimize mistakes and get on the throttle early to do well. I liked the West better. It was slower, but you had line choices and you could make mistakes without taking out a wall of cones. The run back towards grid that had sweepy transitions to the left with a hard brake zone was a riot. Same for the righthander coming out of that section. And we had a 7 cone slalom. I'd happily take a dozen runs on that course and probably still find time.

Re: 2019 solo nationals

Posted: Tue Sep 10, 2019 6:59 am
by Scoob
Overall a great event. Clearly many things from the past several years were considered and thoughtfully addressed. Even with on- and off-course breakage things went very smoothly for at least Tues-Wed. It was the best Nats experience I've ever had.

Steve hit the nail on the courses. The East course is a lesson in what could have been. If about ten cones had been shifted 10 feet, it would have been flowing and potentially a great course. As it is it was just mediocre at best. It felt like a lot of wasted effort. The West course was almost as good as the 2016 West course which lives in infamy in my brain. It flowed well and rewarded looking ahead and preparing the car for the next elements better than most. Top speed was immaterial because you were always doing something.

If the dust had been taken care of before we arrived, by cleaning or paving, this would have been a near-perfect week.

Great job, JY and Scott.

Re: 2019 solo nationals

Posted: Tue Sep 10, 2019 7:53 am
by steverife
Also, for those that are trying to go to these and do well in the future, what are you planning to get the best seat time?

Regardless of our vision of what a course should be, I'm not sure Bristol has the shape and surface to prepare us for Lincoln style courses.

Re: 2019 solo nationals

Posted: Tue Sep 10, 2019 7:57 am
by jcox07
That all depends on who does the courses in Lincoln..

Re: 2019 solo nationals

Posted: Tue Sep 10, 2019 8:28 am
by thrdeye
steverife wrote: Tue Sep 10, 2019 7:53 am Also, for those that are trying to go to these and do well in the future, what are you planning to get the best seat time?

Regardless of our vision of what a course should be, I'm not sure Bristol has the shape and surface to prepare us for Lincoln style courses.
There's not much anymore except to try to make spring nationals a priority. I think Blytheville is gone for good for at least a while. Toledo is obviously hit and miss due to the jeeps. That leaves Grenada.

Thing is that it feels like they opt for pros wherever possible. And although that gets you concrete seat time, courses from a pro to a tour are quite a bit different.

But I do agree. Lost puppy on the west course. Could have set up islands on the east and had a concrete Smokies. :lol:

Re: 2019 solo nationals

Posted: Tue Sep 10, 2019 9:43 am
by John Brown
Ahhhhhhhhhhhhh... and another year comes and goes, leaving me not sad that I missed it.
Special thanks goes out to Wilwood Brakes for making my departure impossible! :lol:

and I might add.. I wasn't there, but all the videos I watched from both East and West looked horrible.
ZERO FLOW. and to watch top drivers execute a salom at 42-48 mph (on data) is not acceptable to me.
Glad all had fun tho! :mrgreen:

Re: 2019 solo nationals

Posted: Tue Sep 10, 2019 9:55 am
by jcox07
The courses were better than last year but far from being good to me. West didn't have any flow or any place that I was over 38% throttle and the east just had too much pinch on exit. It is sad that every national event I went to the speeds were better and the courses flowed better than nationals courses did and my opinion is that the designers are trying to do to much and get too cute with the courses at Lincoln.

Re: 2019 solo nationals

Posted: Tue Sep 10, 2019 10:02 am
by steverife
How do we define flow?

Re: 2019 solo nationals

Posted: Tue Sep 10, 2019 10:05 am
by jcox07
To me something that has momentum and isn't painful to drive and doesn't punish you on entry.