Town Hall Outcomes?

bumpsteer said:

I agree that the problems aren't insurmountable, just throwing reasons out there for why someone might not register in multiple classes. 

As far as having team members all work course, I think generally WR has been good natured enough in the past to work more than its share and cover other drivers when they need to work on the car.

For the sake of discussion, in an "all hands" fix the car scenario between run groups who would be there to cover the WR team?  I wouldn't want to put them in a situation where they have to choose what members (who also aren't getting the privilege of driving) have to sit out of helping work on or fix the car so that they can subsidize the course work with half the team.

I would be more ok with obliging an equal number of workers to the number of driver bands or some similar scheme. I understand no solution is going to be perfect, but think it's good to consider things from the flip side of the coin. 

Honestly I think part of the coursework issue this year was that once the schedule was off-time and you couldn't hear them announcing run groups from the paddock, you had no clue when you were supposed to actually report for coursework. I had to text people who were on grid to figure out what was being announced every time.

I know that several people offered to course work for me so that I could work on the car.  I also was aware of the timing for things happening so I declined.  It was brought up in the Town Hall about paying more in registration to avoid course work and using the money to pay TR or others to work for those people.  I'm all for that not because I think I'll break down each year but because working the course takes a lot out of me each year when I could be chilling/relaxing/napping.

In reply to Stampie :

They covered me for one run session while fixing the car. Would something like paying a $20 fee to not work course, which is then used to reward any non-driver who works course with a free T-shirt seem reasonable? Work for freebies (or a dinner ticket, Will Work for Food?) might be enticing? If there still aren't enough people then start calling random names off the liability waiver form until it's covered?

bumpsteer said:

In reply to Stampie :

They covered me for one run session while fixing the car. Would something like paying a $20 fee to not work course, which is then used to reward any non-driver who works course with a free T-shirt seem reasonable? Work for freebies (or a dinner ticket, Will Work for Food?) might be enticing? If there still aren't enough people then start calling random names off the liability waiver form until it's covered?

Honesty, I opted not to show up on Saturday because I didn't think there was anything for me to do and Auto-X is kinda boring for me to watch. 

If I knew there was a volunteer opportunity I probably would have done it.

In reply to CrustyRedXpress :

I will make you an official Zebra Butt Racing member with full T- Shirt privileges if you work autocross for the team.  I'll even throw in free drinks at my bar.

I came to my 1st Challenge when I was responding to a request for volunteers to help with the autocross. That request was announced at one of our local events. I recall that there were several of us that responded.

I was a member of Zebra Butt racing last year. I don't recall much effort or available time to help. This year, I intentionally got there by about noon on Friday so I could help set up. It's easy for me, I'm less than two hours from the track.

Ask for volunteers ahead of time, I know I'm not the only person who is willing to help.

Stampie said:

In reply to CrustyRedXpress :

I will make you an official Zebra Butt Racing member with full T- Shirt privileges if you work autocross for the team.  I'll even throw in free drinks at my bar.

Hell yes! I'll shoot you my contact info, lmk what else i can do.

I am glad we have (temporarily) moved past the FMV and trade questions.

I had some folks (family of a co-worker) visiting the event from less than an hour away that are dyed-in-the-wool car folks. They were very suprised that they had never heard of the event before. I am not sure how but the number of entries, both over and under budget, could be increased by more advertising/word-of-mouth/whatever. Does anyone have any ideas to help grow the number of competitors?

I have been trying to get folks local to me to join me for th trip, knowing that these people will love the event and likely form a team of thier own if the get drawn into it the first time. The challenge is obviously advertised within the family of magazines (GRM and Classis Motorsports). Are there other avenues that I am not aware of that are being used to promote this event? I am open to ideas and would love to offer suggestions to the magazine to help spread the word and get larger attendance, mostly by increasing competitor count, but increasing the spectator audience also helps spread the word.

I know the event may be changed to May in 2023 is there any potential in doing it in February or March to get us Northerners out of the cold. Maybe change venues and go farther south to Bradenton?  I heard Sick week was in February in Florida and instantly I wanted to find a car to take. 

I've complained in the past about the younger car enthusiast population's lack of awareness of the $2000 Challenge. No one has heard of it or even GRM magazine. When I would bring a Challenge-winning racecar to the notorious Caffiene and Octane of Atlanta, stickered up and everything, I spent more time explaining the $2000 Challenge and GRM magazine than talking about my crazy custom build. 

For reference, Calvin Nelson has the same amount of youtube subscribers as GRM magazine, and he's not a professionally run media company. I have two new coworkers with radical engine-swap projects. When I explained my builds, one of them said "Oh I think that's what Calvin Nelson's dad used to do. Have you heard of him on youtube?" "Yeah...I've raced against them for years in this thing you've never heard..." I don't mean to throw shade just sharing my perspective as a younger car enthusiast. If increasing attendance is the goal, the problem is not the minor minutia of Challenge rules.

In reply to stafford1500 :

To expand participation and awareness, in addition to the tire classes, I'd do expanded budget classes. Budget versus the benchmark. $2000 class, $4000 class, $6000 class, $10,000 class then have them matched up against GRM project cars and high performance models (Porsche, Vette, McLaren, Tesla, hellcat powered bits). Keeping the pointy end of recognition for the $2000 builds, but preventing the lionshare of the event from becoming a regular autocross and effectively a drag strip test and tune while ensuring that entries should exceed 75 without having a high dollar barrier of entry. 

Back to volunteering...

Every team member buys a ticket. I see no reason why the expectation for people who buy tickets couldn't also be that they help volunteer. 
 

It's not prison. Of course exceptions could be made for an "all hands on deck" moment (or trade volunteer positions with other people).

Im pretty sure WR has been there every year I have (since 2004).  I've never seen a moment when they (or any other team) had 14 people working on the car at the same time. A team as large as WR would never have all their team serving volunteer needs at the same time, so I think it is a mute point.
 

My answer to the "all hands" moment is that they would be in the exact same position other smaller teams would be. Relying on the help of other teams to lend a hand (which ALWAYS happens). 

Another possible outcome... if team members understood that they were expected to volunteer, perhaps cars would show up that were better prepared?  (To Wreck Racing's credit, their cars are usually very well prepared, and perhaps some of the least likely to have a crisis moment)

My daughter used to work at a fast food restaurant. They were assigned their shift positions a month in advance. If something came up and they couldn't make it, they were expected to contact their co-workers and negotiate a replacement for themselves. 
 

Same could happen for volunteers. 
 

I have filled in for other people's volunteer positions several times. 

I hate course work and would pay extra not to. As a one man team I don't have time for that E36 M3 

In reply to Patrick :

And with my suggestion, as a one man team you wouldn't have to.

In reply to Andy Neuman :

Us Floridians would be pretty happy with a Feb/March date as well. 

The answer is probably that attendance cures all ills-if the challenge gets larger and more profitable scheduling probably gets easier.

In reply to CrustyRedXpress :

The only reason I wouldn't love a February/March date is weather concerns during transit for people traveling from the mid west and north east. Otherwise sign me up for the added daylight in FL that time of year. 

Captdownshift (Forum Supporter) said:

In reply to stafford1500 :

To expand participation and awareness, in addition to the tire classes, I'd do expanded budget classes. Budget versus the benchmark. $2000 class, $4000 class, $6000 class, $10,000 class then have them matched up against GRM project cars and high performance models (Porsche, Vette, McLaren, Tesla, hellcat powered bits). Keeping the pointy end of recognition for the $2000 builds, but preventing the lionshare of the event from becoming a regular autocross and effectively a drag strip test and tune while ensuring that entries should exceed 75 without having a high dollar barrier of entry. 

I'm sure it was simple mistake and it could happen to anyone but you forgot the most important class of $1000.

Stampie said:

Captdownshift (Forum Supporter) said:

In reply to stafford1500 :

To expand participation and awareness, in addition to the tire classes, I'd do expanded budget classes. Budget versus the benchmark. $2000 class, $4000 class, $6000 class, $10,000 class then have them matched up against GRM project cars and high performance models (Porsche, Vette, McLaren, Tesla, hellcat powered bits). Keeping the pointy end of recognition for the $2000 builds, but preventing the lionshare of the event from becoming a regular autocross and effectively a drag strip test and tune while ensuring that entries should exceed 75 without having a high dollar barrier of entry. 

I'm sure it was simple mistake and it could happen to anyone but you forgot the most important class of $1000.

I thought it would be an interesting part of registration for the overbudget cars to give an Estimated Market Value for the car.  Maybe not a "Build Budget" in the build book sense of the Under cars, but just a "My GT4 would cost ~$115K" and "A Tesla Model 3 performance is $58K MSRP".  Not to beat people up over, just as a yardstick.   

Like the Blue turbo Miata at the challenge was approaching FTD (excluding FSAE).  Compared to the other top 5 autox times that thing was probably a real performance bargain.  

That blue turbo Miata was awesome! 

In reply to nocones :

What you might find more interesting is how much a half budget build cost.  I had an oh E36 M3 moment this year doing my budget before I clicked on the Yes exempt button.

In reply to dyintorace :

Chris and Michelle build some awesome E36 M3.  IMHO they are the sleepers of the Challenge.  I'm watching them.

In reply to Stampie :

Oh damn, they made the blue miata?  Didn't realize that.

That thing was hot.

In reply to Mr_Asa :

That's a different one that I was thinking.  IIRC they have an NA and ND.

What engine is that?

In reply to SV reX :

That's a duraMZR, not sure which displacement.

In reply to ralleah :

Nice!