After running STPR many times on routebooks, I tried my first go driving on stage notes. The experience was not totally new, as I had the chance to co-drive on them several times last year, so I do not think my experience had any 'transition' problems, in regards to what to expect.
The positives:
1) Many more instructions, more often, so one had a better picture of the road immediately ahead. (This could have really made a difference on the fastest, flowing stage, if the car was not running at 60% power!) This allowed a bit more attack on some turns, but I am sure I did not take full advanatage of this.
2) Possibly more comfort and less sweat
The negative:
3) I found in the mid-portion of the rally that I was "imagining" the corner more ahead of time, and slipping in use of my visual read of the characteristics of the corner. I did this on one R3 corner and suddenly 'snapped' myself out of it, realizing that I was slipping into to something between a red-mist situation and thinking I was sitting in front of a video game. BAAAAAAD! I forced myself back into full road-reading mode.
I think I need to run some satges that I have never run before, with notes, to get a full assessment of their value. I have always thought that the real benefit was to let new competitors hired for the big teams to be on more fo an equal footing when coming over here to compete with the US 'locals' who have been over the present ProRally stage roads many times. (This is not to say it is a bad thing.)
My feelings against stage notes for ClubRallies remain the same:
a) They can be more dangerous if not used properly and are not a good substitute for learning to read the roads. The makers of the notes are explicit in saying that they do not include information on the exact nature of each turn, only the radius. They do not note the camber, gravel content, road base materials, and degree of crown on turns; this is left as 'an exercise for the reader'. This is the value of learning to read the roads. For this reason, I'll continue to oppose their introduction in Club events.
b) The expense cannot be justified for younger competitors, trying to start out on their own finances. With the difficulty of moving up in seed to qualify for a Pro event, the introduction of notes in Club events will make the gap between the 'have's' and the 'have-nots' even greater. Since this is a club, I do not want anymore financial burden to be added onto the expenses that have to be borne, in perticular for those just starting out.
Regards,
Mark B.
The positives:
1) Many more instructions, more often, so one had a better picture of the road immediately ahead. (This could have really made a difference on the fastest, flowing stage, if the car was not running at 60% power!) This allowed a bit more attack on some turns, but I am sure I did not take full advanatage of this.
2) Possibly more comfort and less sweat
The negative:
3) I found in the mid-portion of the rally that I was "imagining" the corner more ahead of time, and slipping in use of my visual read of the characteristics of the corner. I did this on one R3 corner and suddenly 'snapped' myself out of it, realizing that I was slipping into to something between a red-mist situation and thinking I was sitting in front of a video game. BAAAAAAD! I forced myself back into full road-reading mode.
I think I need to run some satges that I have never run before, with notes, to get a full assessment of their value. I have always thought that the real benefit was to let new competitors hired for the big teams to be on more fo an equal footing when coming over here to compete with the US 'locals' who have been over the present ProRally stage roads many times. (This is not to say it is a bad thing.)
My feelings against stage notes for ClubRallies remain the same:
a) They can be more dangerous if not used properly and are not a good substitute for learning to read the roads. The makers of the notes are explicit in saying that they do not include information on the exact nature of each turn, only the radius. They do not note the camber, gravel content, road base materials, and degree of crown on turns; this is left as 'an exercise for the reader'. This is the value of learning to read the roads. For this reason, I'll continue to oppose their introduction in Club events.
b) The expense cannot be justified for younger competitors, trying to start out on their own finances. With the difficulty of moving up in seed to qualify for a Pro event, the introduction of notes in Club events will make the gap between the 'have's' and the 'have-nots' even greater. Since this is a club, I do not want anymore financial burden to be added onto the expenses that have to be borne, in perticular for those just starting out.
Regards,
Mark B.