Tucson Course Layout - Day 2

We left Day 1 with a list of items to follow-up:

1. Test and review the effect of water on course with cars doing multiple passes
   
2. Work out spacing of cars (how many cars can we have safely on course at the same time)
3. Look at where ruts are forming and find a solution
4. Measure the distance and time the course
   

Luck would have it that we actually had a good amount of rain roll in about 3 hours prior to us making it out to the location. By the time I got out there, Lee was already dragging the skid through the course and snipping off any and all remaining protruding obstacles on path. Apparently according to Lee, they had also brought a water truck earlier in the day to actually water the course. With a little digging, we found out that the water soaked in approximately 3 inches into the ground, but we weren't sure if that was enough to suppress the dirt from forming dust clouds and potentially get us in trouble with our friendly neighbors.



While Lee was finishing cleaning up the course with care, our designated photographer (Keola) and I discussed how best to capture action shots which would later be used for advertisement material. Here's a few sample of his talented work of art (I've not had the time to touch them up with PS and they already look really good).






After the media session, I had Lee take my car and Keola jump into his Red Evo X and do hot laps around the course, with the purpose to check out dust levels, spacing, and potential rutting locations. We did this for a total of 15 runs back to back.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~End of Day Report~~~~~~~~~~

Here's a summary of our discovery

Course Distance: approximately 0.6 ~0.7 miles
Course Lap Time: average of 1 minute 20 seconds
Dust Level: None to Low (typically settles in less than 20 seconds)
Intervals between cars: 30 seconds (3 cars can be on course at the same time)

We discovered at two specific locations the course was designed with turns that caused too much potential for rutting (at the middle of the course and at the transition from dirt to gravel at the last 1/3 of the course), and we have plans to fix it.

We also discovered and were quite pleased with how much the water helped with suppressing the dirt from kicking in the air. Lee and I both agreed that water trucking and skidding will be required a few times throughout the event, but we're not overly concerned.

Next on our plate is to gain the local chapter SCCA members favor, obtain and secure liability insurance and sanctioning rights, and work out finances.