[414bhp]

VictorH, I just did a NASA event at Sears Point (aka Infineon) here in Northern California, and I have to say the experience was very much the same as you reported. It seems that NASA's focus is really on racing and this mindset detrimentally infects the safety and instruction of the HPDE run groups. An example of this is NorCal NASA's policy of point-bys being optional for _all_ HPDE groups. This policy hardly seems safe for HPDE 1 and 2, where drivers are still learning basic track protocol and are prone to making unpredictable moves and having less than perfect situational awareness.

Last weekend, as usual, NorCal NASA overfilled the HPDE run groups so I hardly got any clear laps. I was in HPDE 3 where we were supposed to be progressively introduced to passing on short straights, then passing in braking zones, then open track with passing in turns. They did session-by-session update the rules to increase our passing freedoms, however the classroom instruction was so bad -- it mainly consisted of reactively scolding students for things they "should have known" but were never taught -- that we were basically left to feel out for ourselves how to handle these new situations. As a result there were some really risky apex-stealing passes being done by participants. Bad instruction and drivers frustrated by on track traffic certainly results gutsy/stupid driving!

I used to think it was an advantage of NASA that NASA has its own safety trucks and safety crew which extracts disabled cars under hot-track conditions. The benefit here is that you hardly ever have a session ended early to pull someone out of the gravel pit. However, after hearing from the classroom instructor about the numerous times when drivers have missed flags and then careened into the back of the safety truck, I now think the safety truck is more of a liability than a benefit to HPDE groups.

As long as I am griping, why does NASA nickle-and-dime drivers by charging $10/person gate fees and $5/person fees for ride-along-passengers? Why do they consistently oversell run groups and also give you less track time? Considering that other local clubs (Trackmasters, NCRC, SpeedVentures) offer less crowded/better behaved run groups with an additional 30min to 60min track time per day, I think I'll be avoiding NorCal NASA in the future. Shame that they seem to have captured 75% of Sears Point's HPDE weekends.

(Ok - thanks for letting me get that out of my system!)