Sand and Sage Sports Car Club
September Meeting Minutes
The meeting was called to order by el Presidente Mitch Lewis at 6:30. There were 14 members in attendance. The Treasurer Bob Bromm opened with the good news that we netted over $1,700 from our two Dust Devils autocrosses and followed it with the fact that we have over $6,000 in our checking account and over $4,000 in certificates of deposits.
It was concluded that our Hastings Night event was a success. A couple of dozen people stopped by and at least 5 attended the Dust Devils autocross. It was decided that we would do it again.
The first Dust Devils event was a practice event, wherein times were not recorded and do not count for the Steve's Tire Factory Season Championship. As a result there was a lot of car swapping going on. In other words, it was like fun runs all day long. There were mixed emotions from the members about having more practice events so it will have to be discussed further. The good news from those events was that the FM transmitter worked superbly. It was a great hit with all those racers with radios in their cars. The lines at the remote terminal were nonexistent.
The suggestion of a Dyno Day in Yakima, hosted by Steve Schreiber, drew a lot of interest. We would spend the day tweaking our cars then putting them on the dyno to measure the improvement J or otherwise L. One problem though, it is not a 4WD dyno so those members with 4 wheel drives (an increasing number) can't be accommodated.
The idea of hosting a track day at the Spokane Raceway was discussed and dismissed. It was decided instead that we would find out when another club was already hosting one, maybe in Spokane, Seattle, or Portland, and just tag along with them. All the fun with very little effort. There are also a number of hill climb events in the region, and we will try and keep publicizing them for those members that are interested.
The task of getting sponsors for next year was brought up again. A couple of members had some ideas of who to approach, but no commitments yet. The Washington State Wild Wild West Championships were also brought up, but there is no new news.
We discussed course safety and how we might handle course design next season. Starting a Òdesign data baseÓ was also discussed. Course safety was also discussed. We need methods to ensure that courses are safe, fun and fair for all size vehicles. A course committee was proposed, but tabled until the off-season. It was mentioned that we need to ensure that all of our courses are safe for all drivers, especially novices. Stan Crow has condensed the large 100-page course design manual down to a couple page summary.
At our September events, it was also decided to have a moment of silence in remembrance of 9/11 along with the flag raising ceremony. Bob Bromm also volunteered to BBQ hamburgers for lunch and Norm Powell volunteered to bring his BBQ. (editors note: I still don't know how Norm got the BBQ into his S2000! Thanks Bob and Norm!)
The location of our October event was discussed. On Saturday, Mitch talked to Montana at Tri-City Raceway about this. We were reminded that we had a verbal agreement to our dates with them. So in order to maintain our relationship with TCR, it was decided to hold the October 2-3 events at Tri-City Raceway.
During Event 7 on Saturday, August 21st, the finish timing lights were accidentally placed very close to the finish line cones. Then, because of high winds causing the lights to tip and misalign, heavy spare tires were placed on top to better secure them. This was done in the middle of the first session, with no notice given to the drivers running in that session. A few cars later a novice participant driving Lynn Roger's car lost control at the finish line and struck one of the finish lights/tires damaging his car. The point was made that this was a very unique circumstance. If the tires (an obvious hazard) had been placed on top of the timing lights prior to the morning course walks, participants would have been aware of the potential hazard and would have had the option to choose not to participate due to the added risk. The SSSCC executive officers determined that this was an obvious mistake on the part of the club. Because of this, the officers determined that the club is partly responsible for the damage and paid $500 towards the repair of Lynn's car. Everyone unanimously agreed that it was the right thing to do.
The NWR-SCCA (Seattle club) changed their class structure for the 2004 season. The idea of changing the SSSCC's class groupings for next season to better match the NWR-SCCA was discussed. An alternative to our street tire class was also mentioned. In that proposal, cars on street tires would be given a handicap of, say 2 seconds per minute, and would run in our normal C1, C2, etc. classes. No decisions will be made until next year after much discussion and debate over the winter. If you have an opinion on class structure, please attend the club meetings so your opinions are heard.
It was suggested that mandatory driving instructors/navigators be assigned to all novices. Unfortunately, until we have enough entries accommodate 3 or more sessions, the personnel aren't available to always accommodate the novice drivers. But everyone agreed that we need to offer more tutoring and training to novices to help them improve and keep them coming back. We'll continue to research ways to handle this.
Worker chiefs were reminded that the October events are the last events of the season and that they should try and train replacements for next season. We will be looking for additional volunteers for next season to further spread out the workload of putting on events. Look for descriptions of the duties of each position to be posted on the clubs website soon.
Finally, the club is looking for a new timing trailer or vehicle. Criteria for trailer: tandem axle, a little larger than our current trailer. Rear door(s) would be ideal. Criteria for vehicle: full-sized rear door for loading cones and side door for people access.
The meeting was adjourned at 8:10pm.
