January 2002 Driving Events Committee Minutes
	by George Bixby	January 30, 2002

The meeting was called to order at 6:30 pm. In attendance were Mike Francis, Mike Lussier, George Bixby, Peter Duffy, Alan Legerlotz, Gordon Geick, Phil Brown, Melanie Ray-Tripp, Ian Nersesian, Lee Walsh, Erik Wensberg, Dick Cadieux, Pat Francis, and Maeghan LaFortune.

The first topic of discussion was the post mortem on the October 19th and 20th End of Summer Driving School. Alan Legerlotz suggested that the club not enter in any future arrangements with the company that was testing in car communications (the Formula Atlantic Car). He emphasized that it wasn’t a good mix with the instructor run group. Mike Francis, Phil, and Erik agreed with him. It was decided, by the committee, to not entertain the any similar proposals in the future.

Mike Francis voiced that he thought sign offs for solo drivers was not handled well. He maintained that control was having difficulty in determining who was signed off and who wasn’t. He added that there was further confusion when signed off students were bumped up to run group two. He elaborated that run group two was already over subscribed to begin with and the additional students made matter worse. Another unintended consequence was a shortage of flaggers when run group three was flagging.

There was much discussion about how to correct this situation in the future. One of the suggestions was to allow signed off students to solo with run group three. George asked about students in run group three that had not been signed off to solo. It was noted that some students had been bumped up to run group two, who had not been signed off, based on their number of track days. George suggested that run group two contain just signed off students to limit the size of run group two. He added that the club could allow newly signed off students to solo in run group three. He stated that managing accompanied and solo students in one run group would be easier. Peter Duffy agreed with this suggestion. Phil Brown was reluctant to make this decision now without consulting Bruce Smith about how registration could manage this. Mike said that this should be tabled until the next meeting, stating that that we still had some time before a decision had to be made.

George mentioned that he thought flagging on Saturday had not been up to the chapter’s usual standards. He reported an incident were a car had spun in turn nine and the flag was not waved (just held out). He continued that during the red flag situation, a station had displayed both the red and yellow flags. Erik commented that may have been a result of some confusion at control. Lastly, George reported that during his flagging assignment, three group four students walked to turn eleven while the track was live. Lee Walsh added that he had viewed spectators outside the fence standing with group one students at turn three. Erik replied that this sort of situation is unacceptable and said that the club needed to take measures to correct it. Mike added that we should probably spend more time discussing flagging during the morning driver’s meeting.

Mike asked for the report on this year’s driving events. Peter Duffy told the committee that Pocono dates were no longer available to us. He continued that he had discussions with the Track Chair for the Allegheny Chapter about being involved with an event at Beaver Run. Peter explained that Beaver Run is located in western Pennsylvania and the trip would be about the same distance as Mt. Tremblant. The dates mentioned were June 14, 15, and 16. The committee decide that this was worth looking into and asked Peter to pursue it further.

Erik reinforced the idea of expanding the clubs driving venues and suggested that we should look into joining with someone that already had a date at Pocono. He added that this could provide some familiarity with the track so that an event could be scheduled next year.

The question was asked about pursuing a three day (weekend) event at Mt. Tremblant with Phil Abrami. Mike said that Bruce could not attend tonight but he thought there was no new report.

Phil brought up a proposal by the Boston Chapter to swap our September 6th date with their August 23rd date. After some discussion it was decided that swapping dates would work in the club’s favor. The proposal was motioned by Phil, seconded by George, and was passed by unanimous vote.

The next topic for discussion was the number of advanced skill schools. Mike Lussier reported that last year we had lost money on advanced skill schools. Mike Francis said that the club needed to break even (monetarily) on the skill schools to add dates. Phil added that the loss of the May track date and poor timing had caused this to happen. He said that we should communicate with the Boston Chapter about their proposed dates before we schedule ours. Further, Phil stated that there was still some flexibility with scheduling dates for "I" lot.

Phil said that two dates were already scheduled (April 13th for instructor development and April 14th for students) and he asked if we wanted to have another "Spouse and Sprouts" school? Erik replied that he saw the value in this if we could make it work. Phil responded that last year’s event did well considering how quickly it was put together. Erik replied that if we are going to do this, we should start pushing it now. George said that his article about last year’s school was still unpublished but was ready to go. Erik suggested that George forward the article to John Cloutier to be published in the next issue of the "Profile". George said that he would do so this week.

Under new business, Erik suggested that the club consider requiring experienced students take an advanced skill school refresher course. The idea was received favorably but no decision was made.

Mike Francis brought up the issue of the Rally-Cross and said that it was scheduled for Sunday Feb. 17th. He added that we should do everything we can to promote this. The committee decided that the event would be limited to fifty (50) participants. It was agreed that White Mountain Chapter members be charged forty ($40) dollars and non-members be charged fifty ($50) to participate. It was also decided that no awards would be handed out and thus there was no need for renting a facility. Peter volunteered to write an article about the event for the "Profile" and Alan volunteered to take pictures. It was also stated that lunch would not be provided and that participants bring lunch with them.

Lee asked about auto cross dates? Mike Francis said that he would talk with Matt about this and try to schedule the dates close to the A.S.S. dates.

The question was asked about attending ice racing events with Stanley Jackson (at Newfound Lake). It was commented that the Boston Chapter attends these events but Stanley attends our autocross events.

Mike mentioned that Alan Legerlotz would be taking care of contacting and registering instructor for the Driving School events and that Dick Cadieux would take care of Tech inspections at Driving School events.

Gordon Geick relayed an experience with the Genessee Valley Chapter about instructor development. He reported that they pursue run group one students to see if they are interested in becoming instructors. If they are, they put into a program specifically for instructor development. Erik responded that this was a good idea and something the club should consider. Peter added that he was working on an outline for instructor development and would present it at a future meeting.

The meeting was adjourned at 8:10 pm.