VLR Class Rep - 2023

[dvelpel]

Hey Hey ROKKERS!

If anyone is interested in filling the class rep role for 2023+ please feel reach to reach out to myself and/or Fred.

Thanks
Dan

[rob_slv]

Hi Dan,

If someone has not put their hand up already, I would like to volunteer for the Class Rep for VLR.

Let me know.

Thanks,
Rob

[rob_slv]

I am happy to report that I will be the Class Rep for VLR and Dan has passed the torch to me.

I’m looking forward the class to continue to grow and prosper in 2023.

[dvelpel]

Evening everyone,

I do want to acknowledge that additional people have reached out to myself with interest in the role for next year, I've suggested that they post here to make that known. In the event that they do, I feel that we should have a class vote, rather than just passing the baton.

That being said… I would like to bring up items that I observed over the last season that I unfortunately wasn't able to address at the time.

• Tire limits - carry over from the year before. I would like to see a limit of tires across the season. This is an effort to maintain the cost effective nature of the class. This would not include testing, non-race days, or special events such as N49.

• Starting procedure for Masters - Half way through the season we did separate the Senior and Master grids which I believed improved the starts for both classes. I would like to see a defined and agreed upon starting procedure for the Masters. To include distance from seniors from the start(if required/requested), when to accelerate, when to race (move from tram). I did suggest this starting procedure at the very start of the year but it was shot down.
  • Sub point… Clearly defined rules on when/if we can split the class, and the result of other classes being governed the same. Ie if another class has low attendance, they should be combined with another class.. In an effort to save time in the day of course.

• ROK CUP Tickets - If this is still an incentive for the class, it should be determined at the start of the year if this is based on Class Championship or N49/Special race.

Thanks
Dan

[Brian Turner]

Good evening all vlr racer just wanted to know what is up is Rob the vlr Rep or is there others.
How soon to get a head count on who is in I know I'm early on this but racing all of you is fun.
Last point if numbers are up enough what do you all think of the executive board splitting are senior and masters??

[Cyruspischke]

Hey all,

Figure we had best get talking about this stuff, so there's time to implement before the season starts.

- I would like to see tire limits brought in. 4/season would be plenty, in my opinion (3-ish race days each set). An alternative might be to require the same set for 3 or 4 consecutive race days, this may make things easier to keep track of for racers and for tech (though they already do this for Rotax Masters, can't imagine it's too difficult either way). This would restrict tire strategy across the season, but would lessen the impact of drivers who don't attend every race and gain an advantage by having to run less races on their allotted tires. Food for thought.

- I think everyone was quite happy with the split grid starts, I'd like to see those come back this year. As for being able to split the seniors and masters fully, I think if the class grows any more we will have to press the issue. The more populated days toward the end of last year were pretty busy on track, and those were definitely worth splitting for. It may be that we have to settle for a few less race laps too, if there are no reasonable opportunities to mix other classes to absorb the extra time. Most other classes are too populated to mix with even a fairly small group, especially when you start to filter for speed differences. Like Dan says, some clearly defined rules on when to mix and who can mix would be great to have, so that we can save time when necessary (though I feel the amount of people who register at 11:30 the night before a race could throw a wrench into things. Race mornings are busy enough without having to rewrite the schedule.)

- If we have more willing victims- er, candidates for class rep, let's have a vote!

[phil]

There is virtually no chance of running Senior, and Masters as separate run groups. The largest field of the season was 17, with 34 allowed on track at once. Any other two that could be combined are considerably higher. If there is to be another run group, I would expect it would be for a junior class, as there are already many more adult classes than junior, so a junior class could be put between the adult run groups, and allow more time between races for those running multiple classes. I agree with Cyrus that there should be a tire limit. Personally, I would think four sets would be lots.

[dvelpel]

RE:Laps - We are currently following the ROK format which we voted in last year and other classes have adopted as well, I don't think we should deviate from this. If the concern is back markers then we should be looking to our current rule book and enforcing min lap times. (Enforcing min lap times is not a good way to market the class, so we should look to other means to accomplish this)

RE:Tires - Im keen to even push it down to 3 sets (I don't believe i've ever used more then that, including when participating in N49)

RE: Separating Classes - I would like to put this one to bed, but have an official statement backed by reasoning and consistency.

If the direction is not to split the Senior/Master VLR class due to:
Time in the day - A maximum race day duration should be defined, this also means that we cannot add *any* other class to the grid for any *other* reason. If we are looking at reducing the day, we could always look at moving trophy sermonizes to end of each final, rather then adding 1-2hours to end of the day.
Amount of drivers - We have a Max on track, and it does sound like we have a Min(?). If we are combined for 7+7, this *rule* should be applied to other classes. We should have consistency on how we cater to groups.

In the end its would be nice if we can get a statement that we will never be split for a defined reason which we accept, or we will know a path forward to how to split the classes. The above reasons conflict with each other...

RE:Starts - I would like to hear from the Master class on how they feel their starts were and if they would suggest any opportunities for change. Im not to sure if they left a gap between the seniors or if they lined up bumper to bumper with the seniors. If they feel the starts are adequate and the only concern is back markers from Seniors, well we already have rules in place for that (which as mention above, we should look to an alternative).

[John Kwong]

Back in the day when we raced at Kart Gardens, were forced to have our raceday completed by 2pm to allow Kart Gardens to be able to use the track for prime time kart rentals. When we first started racing on our own track at Varsity Speed Park we thought we had all the time in the day to conduct our racedays. We ended up finishing racing at 6pm several times before we figured out that it was just wearing out our raceday volunteers and the participants. Over the years we have refined systems and streamlined the raceday into a well run enjoyable experience. Rules such as having a minimum of 6 karts to be recognized as a class is one of these. This minimum is an average calculated over the course of a season and if achieved, then the class can be accepted as a core class.

The maximum number of karts is determined by ASN Canada when they initially did a track certification of our track.

The number of classes for seniors vs juniors reflects approximately the same ratio of Senior drivers vs Junior drivers.

[Cyruspischke]

There is virtually no chance of running Senior, and Masters as separate run groups. The largest field of the season was 17, with 34 allowed on track at once. Any other two that could be combined are considerably higher.

I could have sworn we had more than that at one point, but turns out that 17 was our peak (though we had that number all of the last 3 races last year). Most other classes consistently had 10 or more entries, with the exception of Rotax Masters. Still would like to bring it up to the exec, because as Dan says it would be good to at least establish a threshold maximum/minimum entries for mixing classes as the ebb and flow of classes goes on. It might not get us split in the short term, but it would keep the process fair to all classes. I don't really expect to get split this year, unless we see a big jump in our entries or some other classes lose some.