S.A.S.C.
Winter Driving => SASC Schools => Topic started by: Reijo on November 26, 2015, 05:26:42 PM
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1. Sat. Dec. 26/15 (WDT1 tentative): Instructor training - (maybe classroom in the evening?).
2. Sunday, Dec. 27, 2015 - Student school (WDT2) - (designed specifically for students - high school, college, university during the Christmas break).
3. Sunday, Jan. 3, 2016 (WDT3) - 1st regular Winter Driver Training
4. Sunday, Jan. 10, 2016 (WDT4) - 2nd regular Winter Driver Training
5. Sunday, Feb. 7, 2016 (WDT5) - 3rd regular Winter Driver Training
6. Sunday, Feb. 21, 2016 (WDT6) - 4th regular Winter Driver Training
7. Sunday, Mar. 6, 2016 (WDT7) - 5th regular Winter Driver Training
Note that all regular events are also open to students at student rates as well as adults.
The purchase of Gift Cards in Motorsportreg.com will be available for the Winter Driver Training - good for Christmas and otherwise.
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All of the dates are open for registration.
Let your friends, neighbours etc. know. :)
R
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Thanks Reijo.
Link is here:
http://www.motorsportreg.com/orgs/southern-alberta-solosport-club
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Thanks Tom!
14 people have signed up so far today. If you know of someone interested, please let them know ASAP because they are ALL open for registration and obviously filling up quickly like usual.
Also, note that I am making some more improvements for this year for more seat time and better learning ... ongoing improvement! Life goes on! :)
Reijo
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Thanks Tom!
14 people have signed up so far today. If you know of someone interested, please let them know ASAP because they are ALL open for registration and obviously filling up quickly like usual.
Also, note that I am making some more improvements for this year for more seat time and better learning ... ongoing improvement! Life goes on! :)
Reijo
Good news. Do you have a designated recovery vehicle?
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Good news. Do you have a designated recovery vehicle?
How much is a good tow strap? I will have winter tires with spikes and lockable awd, should do the trick for recovery yes? Lol until I get myself stuck ::)
Edit: Any suggestions on where I can buy a good snatch strap to use for recovery?
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Good news. Do you have a designated recovery vehicle?
How much is a good tow strap? I will have winter tires with spikes and lockable awd, should do the trick for recovery yes? Lol until I get myself stuck ::)
Edit: Any suggestions on where I can buy a good snatch strap to use for recovery?
Princess Auto. I got mine for about $40 and its a 32k?ish lbs recovery strap.
Last year I found the majority of people stuck on ghost lake were just randoms in trucks with all seasons, I spent a day on my own once rescuing people in my Civic RT4WD without studs including a few full size trucks.
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How much is a good tow strap? I will have winter tires with spikes and lockable awd, should do the trick for recovery yes? Lol until I get myself stuck ::)
Edit: Any suggestions on where I can buy a good snatch strap to use for recovery?
I paid $30 (on sale) at Princess Auto.
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I'm working on getting a group together for this...mostly Mazda's but we will see. We are looking at Feb. 21st. hopefully.
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How much is a good tow strap? I will have winter tires with spikes and lockable awd, should do the trick for recovery yes? Lol until I get myself stuck ::)
Edit: Any suggestions on where I can buy a good snatch strap to use for recovery?
I paid $30 (on sale) at Princess Auto.
Was it just a tow strap or one of the elastic type ARB snatch straps?
If I could find this locally within Alberta I would be very happy
http://store.arbusa.com/ARB-Snatch-Strap-17600lb-ARB705-P3619.aspx
***Don't forget your ice shoe/boot attachments, will be digging for mine this week***
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About 8"+ of nice smooth ice out at Ghost Lake today ... looks like a nice smooth surface this coming winter! :)
A couple of ice surfers were out on the lake .... They went all the way out to the island etc.
The big expansion crack was showing some open water in between and under some of the cracks next to the logs.
Photos posted on FaceBook.
R
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I suggest if possible we try to obtain a gas auger this year for poking ice depth test holes.
Any updates on current ice depth/condition?
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We have more room in the Dec. 27 student winter driving schools so if you know of anyone interested (please note that friends and parents are also welcome to enter!).
There are 13 thus far so plenty of room.
Cheers!
Reijo
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I suggest if possible we try to obtain a gas auger this year for poking ice depth test holes.
Any updates on current ice depth/condition?
That is a good idea however they cost a few hundred bucks each ... more to store and move to the site.
The hand auger was about $65 ... and I found as long as it was sharp (have to buy a file I think), it would drill through very quickly ... plus something to keep one person a little bit warmer in the morning! :)
R
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Instructor training scheduled for Dec. 26 - let me know if that does not work for you. The student school is on Dec. 27 so it would be good to do the training beforehand.
I'm thinking the ice should be close to good now but will check soon.
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I'm in for the 26th, the 27th is a maybe though.
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No prob ... whatever you can make ... no pressure! :)
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What's the limit of students we're allowing to sign up for the schools? Seems to be something fishy on Motorsports reg.
WDT3 - 13 confirmed + 2 waitlisted
WDT4 - 28 confirmed
28 would be a very large group of students. Are we capping it at 15? 20?
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No, capping at 30.
We were toying with the idea of capping it below 24 or 20 even but charging more. The problem I saw with that was that it was becoming an exclusive thing that ordinary people could not afford easily and we were losing our target audience. Just depends on who you want to cater to. I would like to have as many people as possible take these schools but still maintain the quality at a reasonable level.
We had 32 or more in previous years before with no problem.
One time a few years back we had 42 and that got out of control. Quality, seat time and overall structure fell apart. It was just too much for the way we were running it back then.
Since those earlier years, quite a bit has changed and I'm doing more changes for this year to the course, etc. ... although a little more subtle this time. Had an off-season to conjure up new stuff! :)
R
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Sounds good Reijo if that's the case then "WDT3" (January 3) needs to be fixed on Motorsports Reg as it looks like it's capping max participants at 13.
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Sounds good Reijo if that's the case then "WDT3" (January 3) needs to be fixed on Motorsports Reg as it looks like it's capping max participants at 13.
Jan. 3 is overbooked ... bunch of gift certificates were sold and do not show up on the registration list.
R
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Ahh I see, ok.
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Jan. 10 is full too .. closed registration for it too. :)
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Sounds good Reijo if that's the case then "WDT3" (January 3) needs to be fixed on Motorsports Reg as it looks like it's capping max participants at 13.
Jan. 3 is overbooked ... bunch of gift certificates were sold and do not show up on the registration list.
R
CORRECTION: There are plenty of spaces available on Jan. 3 - 14 entries as it stands right now. For some reason people are buying a single entry but some of them are being recorded on Motorsportreg as 4 entries! I can't seem to figure out why this is happening and I'm working on it ... have to get a hold of tech support because everything looks good until the final counts where extra entries (not paid for so the monies are ok) show up. Very odd.
Anyway, there are 16 spots still open Jan. 3.
R
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Instructor training for Dec. 26 is cancelled and I will combine some of it on Dec. 27 and perhaps other dates. This is due to an insurance that I won't get into here.
Thanks,
Reijo
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Jan. 10 is full too .. closed registration for it too. :)
Due to the same issues as the Jan. 3 registration, I opened this one up again since there are another 2 spots open.
Cheers,
Reijo
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Went out to Ghost Lake this afternoon and there was 11-12" of ice. 11" of blue ice is good enough for a 3/4 ton truck. There was a 1-ton parked next to me out on the ice as per the photos on Facebook. The expansion crack is a bit sketchy still but relatively flat ... so I figure another week of cooler temps as forecast and we should be good to go for the 27th. Might do one more trip out there to be sure next week.
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Looking good for tomorrow ... ice is good: minor soft drifts that break apart with smooth ice underneath.
A number of trucks and other vehicles out on the ice today.
R
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Twas a good day on the ice on Sunday ... photos posted on the SASC FB page.
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If anyone would like to help setup on Saturday afternoon, send me a msg. or a text. I'm wondering how the snow drifts will be ... we might have to do a few laps or so?
Thanks!
Reijo
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The ice is good but the snow drifts around the island are too much ... got my truck stuck for a while and so we will be running a couple of km. west on the south side of the lake ... where we have run before last year.
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This is my first time into this event. I'm attending on January 10. Are we at Days Inn Cochrane (5 Westside Drive) at 8:00 am?
Also, my friend (not participating) would like to watch from somewhere. Any suitable place for him to watch?
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Hey cfyung85,
Yes - 8am at the Days Inn. There will be some instructors there a bit earlier ~7:45 if you end up there early.
There isn't really a good spot to watch the events in most cases. Sometimes we're out in the middle of the lake, sometimes by the island - but it depends on conditions on the lake for that day that determines where we set up. Reijo might have a thought here.
You'll have enough fun on the lake and learn enough that we're confident you'll end up convincing your friend to come another day :)
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This is my first time into this event. I'm attending on January 10. Are we at Days Inn Cochrane (5 Westside Drive) at 8:00 am?
Also, my friend (not participating) would like to watch from somewhere. Any suitable place for him to watch?
7:45 am at Day's Inn so you can sign the waiver ... your friend would also have to sign it.
It might be a bit boring for your friend all day but I suppose if he wanted to be out there, it would be adviseable to generally stay out of the way so nobody bumps into his vehicle and vice-versa. He would also have to sign the waiver and would not be allowed out on the courses with his vehicle due to insurance reasons (he would not have insurance, of course).
As Brett mentioned it is simply better to take the course and learn more that way since it is the conversations behind the wheel that are important and the particular feedback we give to the individual ... Yes, the feedback is individual ... customized to suit your driving. A different person does not necessarily learn the same skills as you. :)
Furthermore, some people have taken these courses a number of times. The courses have changed and the feedback will also change for you as you progress as a driver. Therefore the "same" school is really never the "same" school ... if that makes sense. :)
In some ways I think you can say that driving is a lifelong learning process. Even after over 30 years of competition I'm still learning interesting little aspects of high performance driving ... go figure. :) So, do you ever know it all? I would have to say "no". :)
Reijo
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Thanks guys! I'll let my friend know ;)
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Setting up at Ghost later today .. late afternoon ... after about 2 pm ... got time? Come and help! :)
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We had a couple of very successful schools again this past weekend with great feedback! Thanks to all who helped out!
Ice thickness was 18" on Friday and there was only a hint of drifts left (which were inconsequential). Yep, it was a skating rink which made for very slick conditions and low speeds of course even with studs. But sometimes that can make for a better learning environment since "mistakes" are greatly exaggerated and there is time to "correct" them in the middle of the maneuver.
I have posted some photos on the SASC Facebook page if you are interested.
We have two left to go for this season:
1. Sunday, Feb. 21
2. Sunday, March 6
Reijo
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I was out at Ghost Lake yesterday and despite the warm weather this past week, the ice remains almost identical to the previous weekend with about 18" of ice thickeness.
One of my thoughts was that the Chinook clouds over the mountains actually shield the lake area from the sun during the warmest part of the day in the late afternoon. It was quite chilly and barely above freezing I estimate yesterday afternoon whereas it was about +8C in Calgary when I left.
Another factor, of course, is the fact that the elevation is higher as you travel west and therefore it is naturally colder than Calgary just on that basis.
Will likely check later on this week to ensure we are good for the coming Sunday, Feb. 21 SASC Winter Driver Training.
Reijo
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About to head out to Ghost to set up for tomorrow. If you have some spare time, we will appreciate the help! :)
Otherwise see some of you tomorrow! 7:45 at Day's Inn.
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In-car video from Ghost Lake - Feb. 21/16 ... top down. :)
BTW, the track was 4.3 km (2.67 mi. ... remember that Race City was 2.2 miles?).
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Oeyl-WSVTv8
Reijo
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Lots of ice at Ghost Lake (most of the season) today - 2 feet thick ... measured near the ramp and then near the training area we have been using most of the year.
Photos on FB: https://www.facebook.com/groups/12062776685/
R
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Last Winter Driver Training scheduled for this season this coming Sunday. We have 10 entries thus far so it will be a nice day. If you know of anyone wanting to take one of these, this is your chance. Remember these driving skills apply to all conditions including the summer! :)
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Cones are set up for this morning, we are a go for the final Winter Driver Training of the season. I find it hard to believe the season is over already.