Would you still go to Fort Macleod if it wasn't required for the championship?

[Reijo]

At this point in time, 9 events into the 14 event Championship, I feel it's inappropriate for the SASC to even consider a change to this season's attendance requirements. That's a decision to be made pre-season, or at this year's AGM for next season.

My personal opinion is that it's too the club's detriment to marginalize attendance at Fort Macleod and risk losing it. A venue lost historically is never recovered.

Also my opinion that this year's Fort Macleod events have been below SASC standards. We can't do anything about the weather, but organizationally we must improve.
- First car out 10:00 sharp, means drivers meeting 9:30 sharp
- 40-50 sec course designs only

This weekend...
- First car out 10:26
- +80 sec course average
- ~4 hrs to complete 3 runs each
If...
- First car out @ 10:00
- ~40 sec course
- 3 morning runs completed @ ~12:00
- ~60 min lunch break
- 3 afternoon runs completed @ ~3:00
- Course cleanup, on the road by ~4:00
- Home by ~6:00

It's not rocket science!!

I don't think anyone was suggesting changing anything this year.

Not all the FM events were late like this one and the last one.  I remember distinctly starting on-time or earlier before.  In any case, I agree, we can do better.

Something else that delayed the start were  the people still walking the course such that I did not want to start the driver's meeting until most of them were back (there were still a few walking when I started).

Perhaps if we announce before the start of the day (or during registration - have a sheet with a schedule posted?) or something or other such that people will know to head to the pits for the driver's meeting.

A typical SCCA course is 60 seconds long so it would be nice to run something of that length every now and then.

Something else:  If we get, say, 45 or more drivers, then we should run 3 heats which would eliminate the lunch and move us forward an hour.

Someone else also mentioned that people working in the far end should be driving down there to save time on the turn-over.....or car-pooling etc.

And all the other suggestions to consider as well....

So, yes, another case of changing the way we do things due to increased attendance.

R

[Canuck]

Out-of-the-box idea for maintaining Fort Macleod event counts -- have we talked with the LSCC about co-sanctioning more events? If we bring funding and equipment, and they bring some attendees who might not otherwise attend, perhaps we could maintain the same number of events and similar levels of participation without making the events mandatory for the SASC championship.

Sorry for being late to the party.  LSCC would appreciate the dialog...our max attendance this year at FM is 15...lowest was 7.  We have all the equipment, insurance and cones we need...I can't promise attendees as you can see.  As this is the Southern Alberta Solosport Club, I like the idea of keeping the venue.  I haven't been able to make any SASC events this year and LSCC is struggling.  If SASC pulled out, I'm not sure we'd take both days on a weekend given our poor attendance (we'd be broke in less than a year).  We were also not able to book an August event - this reduces our numbers as we will go almost 2 months between events.  So Wayne is right...use it or loose it. 

[Reijo]

Out-of-the-box idea for maintaining Fort Macleod event counts -- have we talked with the LSCC about co-sanctioning more events? If we bring funding and equipment, and they bring some attendees who might not otherwise attend, perhaps we could maintain the same number of events and similar levels of participation without making the events mandatory for the SASC championship.

Sorry for being late to the party.  LSCC would appreciate the dialog...our max attendance this year at FM is 15...lowest was 7.  We have all the equipment, insurance and cones we need...I can't promise attendees as you can see.  As this is the Southern Alberta Solosport Club, I like the idea of keeping the venue.  I haven't been able to make any SASC events this year and LSCC is struggling.  If SASC pulled out, I'm not sure we'd take both days on a weekend given our poor attendance (we'd be broke in less than a year).  We were also not able to book an August event - this reduces our numbers as we will go almost 2 months between events.  So Wayne is right...use it or loose it.

Hmmm.....yes the interest seems to have waned in Lethbridge over the last few years ... not sure why?  Mind you there were a few more Lethbridge and Fort Macleod area people in the last couple of our events ... So maybe the bottom has been hit and there will be rebound?  I hope so.  More marketing needed maybe?

R

[PedalFaster]

An alternate way to interpret increased attendance from Southern Alberta residents at SASC events is that SASC is cannibalizing LSCC's participation.

[Reijo]

An alternate way to interpret increased attendance from Southern Alberta residents at SASC events is that SASC is cannibalizing LSCC's participation.

True, there are a few people from Lethbridge and area who do come to our events (even the Calgary ones!) but that has really been a phenomena that seemed to start just this year with a few exceptions from the past years.  Also, I would estimate we are talking about less than a half dozen people - not too many.   Back in the early '80's the LSCC had a regular membership of between 45-50 people and I don't think that has been matched yet (population was about 65,000 at that time if I recall correctly - 3rd largest city in Alberta at that time - Red Deer and Ft. McMurray have grown to be bigger now.  Lethbridge is around 85,000 now).

However, I think this (limited) migration to our club, may be because of a few different reasons - the YYC lot (a great venue always draws people), less LSCC events over the last couple of years resulting in an unmet demand, and perhaps some other reasons (maybe someone from down there can jump in here and let us know what they are thinking?).

However, generally, it appears to me that the Lethbridge folks simply stopped attending autoxes from what I can tell.  I have not really been able to figure that out ...

Some key people have left for various reasons and this may be a hint.  This means someone has to come in and take over the reins and "make it happen".  Craig has done this with some help from a few others but Craig is also out of town due to his work which makes it difficult.

Notably the "elephant in the room" is the loss of the Exhibition Grounds in Lethbridge as a venue.  Obviously this was very convenient in that no one had to drive out of town.  Even driving a short distance (1/2 hour/50 km) out of town can make a difference is something I have seen ... perhaps after becoming accustomed to not driving outside the city.

Personally I am a bit mystified why more people from Lethbridge do not come out to their and our events at FM.  I know I would be there but that is me.

[Canuck]

An alternate way to interpret increased attendance from Southern Alberta residents at SASC events is that SASC is cannibalizing LSCC's participation.

True, there are a few people from Lethbridge and area who do come to our events (even the Calgary ones!) but that has really been a phenomena that seemed to start just this year with a few exceptions from the past years.  Also, I would estimate we are talking about less than a half dozen people - not too many.   Back in the early '80's the LSCC had a regular membership of between 45-50 people and I don't think that has been matched yet (population was about 65,000 at that time if I recall correctly - 3rd largest city in Alberta at that time - Red Deer and Ft. McMurray have grown to be bigger now.  Lethbridge is around 85,000 now).

However, I think this (limited) migration to our club, may be because of a few different reasons - the YYC lot (a great venue always draws people), less LSCC events over the last couple of years resulting in an unmet demand, and perhaps some other reasons (maybe someone from down there can jump in here and let us know what they are thinking?).

However, generally, it appears to me that the Lethbridge folks simply stopped attending autoxes from what I can tell.  I have not really been able to figure that out ...

Some key people have left for various reasons and this may be a hint.  This means someone has to come in and take over the reins and "make it happen".  Craig has done this with some help from a few others but Craig is also out of town due to his work which makes it difficult.

Notably the "elephant in the room" is the loss of the Exhibition Grounds in Lethbridge as a venue.  Obviously this was very convenient in that no one had to drive out of town.  Even driving a short distance (1/2 hour/50 km) out of town can make a difference is something I have seen ... perhaps after becoming accustomed to not driving outside the city.

Personally I am a bit mystified why more people from Lethbridge do not come out to their and our events at FM.  I know I would be there but that is me.

I should probably start a separate "How to promote this sport" thread instead of cluttering this one up further...but here's my take on the Fort Mc venue.  LSCC lost the Exhibition venue and I'll be working this year to get it back (where's my horse?  I see a windmill over the hill...charge!).  The city is now 100,000 residents and apparently 10 of us enjoy autocross.  We get very good attendance at the annual Street Machine Weekend event (around 70 people) but it's not an LSCC event - we did advertise with flyers on the windshields of all competitors cars listing our next events.  As it's run by the Street Wheelers Car Club, it's not like they're going to be on the PA all day telling everyone to come out to another club's events.  It's a struggle.   We have the shortest distance to get to Fort Macleod but what I've heard is that this is considered too far for the newbies.  Basically, if you put it in the local area (like the YYC lot), then people will come and try, some will get hooked, some will never come again or only attend when they have the time ( this year has been terrible for my participation...and it shows in my driving I'm affraid).  "Last minute Lethbridge" is how we all joke about this place - we're not making it up.

We fired things back up after a few dormant years when SASC decided to stop hosting the 2 day event weekend.  We picked up the other day - I saw this as our opportunity.  This worked better last year when it was a consistent thing with SASC out on Sunday and LSCC out on Saturday.  We only lost money on 2 events.  This year we're in the hole - I can't say how much, but things like our membership drive has yielded 3-4 members - there are probably more Lethbridge people with memberships in SASC than LSCC (I've got one for both).  YYC lot is a great venue and many of the Lethbridge people prefer to race there.   

To be fair, I was told that this would happen by other LSCC members, but with a lot of support from SASC we've at least got a foothold.  I see LSCC presence (regardless of loss) as important for SASC - if we keep the pressure on Fort Macleod, when the YYC lot gets re-developed, there is an option.  I'll go start that other thread now. 

[YAnderson]

Yvonne and I would still attend all the Fort Macleod events we could. Two day events work better for us because of the distance from our home in Canmore plus the hotels are awesome Both of us like the variety of courses, lengths, and surface as well as meeting other drivers.

We haven’t hit anything on the road yet but we did slalom the cattle on Hwy 40 coming home last weekend

[Apex Carver]

I feel the below is relevant to the original post Steve made. Just shows the importance of keeping relations with every venue we have. We wont have YYC forever

https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/calgary/airport-trail-expansion-1.4753464

[PedalFaster]

To be clear, I wasn't advocating for abandoning Fort Macleod -- I was asking how people would react if racing there was no longer mandatory for the season championship.

Anyway, I think the loss of the YYC lot merits its own thread.