The first of our three event fall series was held Sunday. The event had a very different format - Australian Pursuit.
CONCEPT The concept of Australian Pursuit: two cars start on opposite sides of a circular course at the same time. The first to return to her/his starting point after completing 2 laps is the winner. This competition is called a Joust. This event is a double elimination. Each entrant will get a minimum of 2 attempts at the 2 lap course.
IMPLEMENTATION Each heat consists 16 drivers. All 16 drivers are initially placed in the Winner's Bracket. Drivers are randomly paired and each pair completes one Joust. The winners of each of the 8 Jousts are placed in the second round in the winners bracket. The losers move to the consolation bracket. The jousts continue for 4 rounds in the Winner's bracket and 3 rounds in the Consolation bracket leaving one entry in both. To insure that drivers of slower PAXed cars have a fair chance, faster cars will be given a starting handicap of 1 foot for each .004 PAX points difference. This handicap will be rounded to the nearest 2 feet. Additional heats are run until all competitors have jousted. Then the winners of all brackets compete in a final bracket.
PROCEDURES After registration and tech are completed for all cars, entries will be divided by car number into initial brackets. The brackets will be posted on the posting board. All cars in the current heat's bracket should be in grid and ready to run. In turn each jousting pair will be called to the line via the PA system. The slower PAXed car should enter the course first and proceed to the start line on the short straight. The faster car will start on the long straight and the start line worker there will be informed as to the number of feet handicap. When both cars are positioned, the starter will point at each car in turn. Each driver should raise her/his hand out the window to indicate their readiness. Sometime after both drivers have indicated their readiness the starter will raise his flag. Drivers may start as soon as the flag is in motion. Drivers that jump the start will be lose that joust. Drivers proceed around the course twice; the first one to cross his finish line will be declared the winner. If a competitor knocks over a cone, exits the course, or DNFs that driver will automatically forfeit the joust and her/his opponent will be declared the winner. Also if the separation between the two cars is deemed unsafe by corner workers or control both cars will be red flagged and the slower car will forfiet the match. In the event that both competitors cone then the last one to cone will be the winner. After completing your joust please drive at reasonable speeds to the course exit. Exit speed should not exceed 25mph. Grid speeds should not exceed 5mph.
WORKERS As in all autocrosses in our region all competitors are expected to contribute to the success of the event by sharing the workload. For each heat we will need 1 Starter, 2 Start line people, 1 Announcer, 1 posting person, 2 timing and scoring people ( 1 experienced using Microsoft Excel ), 2 grid people. We will also need our regular complement of 4 sets of corner station workers. Each person will be trained in his duties.
AWARDS In a bracket competition there will always be some ties. While the overall winner will be undoubted, other positions will be determined in pairs. Trophies will be given to all competitors who have won at least one round. Awards and results will be available immediately after the event so please stick around!
37 Entrants competed in the event. Here are the results:
Heat 1 Winners Bracket
Heat 1 Consolation Bracket
Heat 2 Winners Bracket
Heat 2 Consolation Bracket
Heat 3 Winners Bracket
Heat 3 Consolation Bracket
Finals