The biggest thing for me is that i have gotten bored with ECC-N… Ive driven there ~ 10-15 times and ive seen a bunch of people wreck there lately… and my new car is too expensive for me to whack into a curb there… Ie i cant fix most of the stuff that could happen to it with junkyard parts and my own time…
that and i just bought a house, and need new front tires, soooo yea
Ugh… the truth… I kind of wanna sell mine now, so I can abuse something else
Lack on info, results on website -> our server crashed and we had to start over. I forget everything that was on the last site, so we may have overlooked details. My apologies.
There is a road tire class -> STS, STX, STU. If you care that much about winning, then step up and buy the right tires. We are trying to provide an environment where having a good time is first and foremost. Now I realize that some people have to win in order to have fun, and I feel sorry for those people. I have just as much fun finishing last in my class as I do finishing first. But that’s just me…
Bored of ECCN -> I hear this a lot. We have gone out of our way to make use of the lot as differently as possible this year. Please stop out and check it out. As for people “zonging” it, those few incidents from years prior were limited in scope and happened for specific reasons other than the course was dangerous.
Not enough local sites -> we don’t have the money to pave a lot just for us, and as I mentioned in the first post, help us find new sites! Until we have new sites, we are limited to what we have.
Dunnville/track days are better -> well, if that’s your thing, then cool. Chino hit the nail on the head as far as I am concerned.
Too expensive -> We have done everything to keep our prices low. National Office raised the non-member rate so we had to bump it $5. As for the trailering issue, I should have specified that I was asking local Buffalo guys about this one. I realize that transport costs are high, and I don’t expect to get a bunch of FLR guys to our events like we used to. That being said, I did think we’d get more FLR people at Sunday’s event since it was in their region.
Not having a car -> a common excuse, which can be quickly rectified by contacting Jeremy Washburn for the use of his loaner car, or making friends with someone that does it already and wants a tire warmer. (that’s what I have been doing lately)
“too many classes makes it confusing” -> if you have a question about classing, just ask. There are plenty of people willing to help you out with any info you are unclear about.
“i dont wanna bother trying it because theres too much shit going on.” -> personal shit, or the events are too busy and you don’t know what’s going on?
There is some good feedback here. If anyone wants to suggest other solutions to these issues, jump right in.
I’d be there if I had a car that was running that was conducive to auto-x.
Also, my weekends have been pretty much accounted for for all of this summer between mountain biking, and moving to Vermont later this summer.
dunville…
LOL “zonging” it!! I really dont know who started that but it must have been a mean bastard.
Lack of a running car and seat time. I haven’t been to season event yet but I will attend some. I liked it at novice school because there was a lot of seat time. Got to learn the car and the course. Going out and doing 4-5 runs just doesn’t like it worth it.
Last year we only had 1 there, and this year 2 of 8. If anything I think that this would increase participation at ECCN events because they’d go there instead of SeAD to get points.[/quote]
This one may make a small difference… maybe 10 since that’s about what FLR gets. But if competitiveness is the concern there, why don’t people seem to be concerned with times at Dunnville? For those that don’t know, back in the late 90’s we ran a RT class and had 50-60 people per event total.
This is thanks to the extra $5 weekend membership fee the SCCA forced on everyone. It’s goal is to increase membership.
I agree and understand these are having an impact. Though the lack of times at Dunnville would drive me crazy. If I’m wrong about the no time thing at Dunnville please let me know.
I’ve heard from too many poeple that have been around when local regions tried it and have heard things ranging from it sucked to it was a disaster, so that’s why it’s met resistance.
Not shooting the messenger, just providing counterpoints and explanations.
I agree there is something wrong and think that for the most part it’s in the gas, though it doesn’t seem to be hurting FLR as much as WNY which I find interesting since we’re cheaper and generally get more runs. Though I think having their 1st 2 events at RIT helped with their large novice crowd plus our weather has been sketchy.
I like autoXing… I’m mostly going out there for fun and to improve on driving. Which is why dunnville kind of spoiled it. The non member price is high for the amount of seat time. I don’t like having to work longer than I get to run. I also like doing more than 1 lap at a time. If I mess up on a turn, then I get to take the second lap and get it right while its fresh in my brain. The fewer people there the better.
I’m not in that area anymore so I’m not attending the events there anyways, but my views are still the same.
I thought even last year that attendance seemed to be on a downward slide. It seems to me that things were much bigger a few years ago.
The one thing that sticks out to me is the general lack of information available for our region. The old site wasn’t really much good at providing it either.
There is definitely a lower interest overall though due to all of the reasons posted. I haven’t been a novice in a while but maybe there is something turning people off there. After a quick look at lest years novice classes there seems to be not many that have returned so far.
I agree about the lack of information. I asked one of my friends to look at the site with the presumption that they wanted to go racing (not even auto-x specifically) and they had a very hard time trying to find even basic info. The site needs to be desined so that even a casual web surfer spending a few min reading the front page will have basic SCCA event info, and specifically auto-x.
I’d recommend surfing as many other regions / clubs websites as you can and make a note of anything that catches your eye, combine all the good things and let someone who you know who knows nothing about racing take a look at it and see what they think.
When I first started auto-xing at the end of '05 I remember going to the WNY website and not finding much and then going to a lot of other places to actually learn about how to do it.
Meh. After all these years I still have soft spot for auto-X. Simply because it is the most accessible form of production car racing. It is more rewarding than open lapping.
It does use up more time than I would like, but if we went to half day heats I’d still be there for the whole day. And ultimately would just end up being more work for the “core” workers.
$30 does seem like a lot for those that aren’t sure if they are going to like it. Any chance of lowering costs for the very first timers?
The Dunnville crowd may play a part in the low numbers, but the, what 24, people does not account completely for the difference in turn out.
I agree. I personally would rather auto-x than track. I prefer the “quickness” of auto-x courses over the road course design.
I’ll see what I can do and let you know. Are you a ‘regular’ at FLR events?
As far as attendance, the only issues I have are sites and gas. As was pointed out, these are two things that are somewhat out of my control. Therefore, I will continue to show up to Seneca and ECC and be thrilled at the fact that for $20, I get an ass ton of fun and a big rush on the weekends. Also prepares me for the nationally competitive events (where I am somewhat less than competitive).
If sites are the issue, please please please help us find sites! A free season is a huge incentive!
Although, we in FLR only have two sites this year (RIT and Seneca) and our attendance has been pretty good. However, our first two events were at RIT which draw big crowds as was pointed out. Our first event at Seneca had only !93 competitors. That was disappointing, especially for our first event of the season at that site.
I’ve just had so much going on during the weekends like weddings, showers, picnics, vacations, etc. but I miss it alot!! I hope more people come out and participate to keep auto-x alive 
cuz i like drifting instead. its messed up you guys can auto x at ecc and we cant drift there
money and having to commit a full day (or most of it anyways)
To be blunt: I quit autoX after I got tired of spending an entire day in a parking lot for sake of 10 minutes of seat time.
My car (then, and now) will not be competitive in the class that it fits in.
Why I don’t come out and support it now? Same reasons, plus bang for the buck.
I’d hate to see it go away locally… especially since I’m planning on making the little sister attend a day, as she has a freshly minted license.
I have no ideas on how to “fix it” for you though, so hope the input helps.
IMO it’s an outrageous waste of money vs seat time. Do not get me wrong, it’s fun and a great place to get the rust out of your driving and work on minor setup tweaks. I owe a LOT to years of AutoX but it’s just not something I get excited about anymore.