2005 FSAE - Detroit Auto-X Track Map

[JPaolicchi]

Hi all,

This Joe Paolicchi the FSAE Auto-X event captian. New for this year, we will be giving out the auto-x track map with the registration package. Each team should recieve a registration package when they check in to the event site on Wends in Detroit. Please look for the map and have your driver's study it. Please note that during track setup this spring the pavement is even rougher this year than last, so please be prepared with an appropriet suspension set up. I will be following up with more rain proceedures etc.. in future postings.

Regards,
Joe

[JPaolicchi]

Hi all,

This Joe Paolicchi the FSAE Auto-X event captian. New for this year, we will be giving out the auto-x track map with the registration package. Each team should recieve a registration package when they check in to the event site on Wends in Detroit. Please look for the map and have your driver's study it. Please note that during track setup this spring the pavement is even rougher this year than last, so please be prepared with an appropriet suspension set up. I will be following up with more rain proceedures etc.. in future postings.

Regards,
Joe

[IsheeM]

Thanks for the update. Do you guys have any plans to sweep the loose gravel off any of the courses? I remember hearing many teams complaining of this in the past.

[fade]

what? that just sucks the fun right out of it http://fsae.com/groupee_common/emoticons/icon_smile.gif

[JPaolicchi]

Last year, the Silver Dome had a lot of corporate events on the north lot making it very dirty. This year the lot is a bit cleaner. We will not have time to clean the track the day of the event, but I am planning on getting a work crew to sweep it up on Thursday. jp

[Freedom Fries]

This seems like pretty important information. Especially the comment about setting up suspensions to accomodate for the bumpy track. If this means that you will be penalizing/disqualifying cars for bottoming out, it is even more important. Maybe a public forum that is not officially connected to SAE is not the place to be posting it. If there are teams that do not read this forum they would not have gotten the message. I believe this should instead be information that is released to all FSAE team captains either in email, or some other official posting (sae.org site???)

[Garlic]

"Freedom Fries", please don't bash mr. JP for being nice enough to try and inform FSAEers about this. He didn't have to do it and never has in the past, and comments like yours discourage him from doing so in the future.

Who said anything about penalizing cars that bottom out? That's never been done in the past, and he gave no hints of that. Where'd that come from? Bottoming out is enough of a penalty, and teams surely appreciate even hints like these.

[Agent4573]

Garlic, it states in the rules that they can disqualify you for an event if you bottom out your car.

[Denny Trimble]

Yes, and I've talked with one of the endurance event captains about this. To paraphrase his opinion, if your car occasionally bottoms out, that's not a problem, but if you're dragging on every other corner, they'll pull you off the course.

[JPaolicchi]

My guess regarding the roughness of the track was only a comment/opinion. No roughness measurements were taken. I could be wrong.

My point was only to highlight the areas of the rules regarding required suspension travel.

jp

[Cement Legs]

Well that seems helpful enough. Allthough we wont be at the competition this year, we are planning to attend as a first year team in 2006 we would love to have an illustration of what the course map will look like. I know it would be different but when we are testing this summer we could setup a similar track in our bumpy rotten pavement (civils http://fsae.com/groupee_common/emoticons/icon_razz.gif) parking lot. Are you able to post that here or is anyone else willing to post that when they receive their package?

[Agent4573]

I'm sure you'll be able to find it after competition, but they'll probably keep it locked up pretty tight until then

[Nick McNaughton]

JP,
I'd be very interested to hear more about the official procedures in case of rain - do the marshalls/organisers have contingency plans for adverse weather conditions, or is it decided upon on a case by case basis? Some sort of pre-agreed guidelines for this sort of thing would help ease the confusion we all went through last year when autocross was half washed out.

Cheers,
Nick