bella1

What is the general rule of thumb with respect to the maximum number of drivers in a Run Group? Using VIR Full Course 3.27 miles as an example, we have five run groups where Green and Blue are instructed and/or solo. Then we have White, Black, and Red. Black and Red are instructors and/or advanced drivers with Extended Passing.

Generally we might keep Green and Blue at 35 Max with White at 50 (allowing for some Blue Advancement) and Black and Red at 55. I am wondering if others have information they consider when determining the maximum number per run group. Thanks and hope to see some of you at VIR May 20-22 for our First Settlers Region DE!

ProCoach

SCCA and others used 25 cars per mile for a long time. NASA and Grand Am pay no attention to that.

I recommend somewhat less (along the lines of your numbers) for a more pleasant DE experience.

One of the reasons for the migration to more open (and open) passing is to accommodate more cars per mile without an accompanying increase in trains...

Have fun at VIR but aren't you coming May 20-22?

gla924sem

As I recall from the PCA manual.......15 cars per mile of track

bella1

Whoops I should know better. Thanks Peter for your feedback

Driver8

Here is the cars per mile guidelines that our region uses:

Beginner group (Green) 10 cars per mile
Novice group (Yellow) 12 cars per mile
Intermediate group (White) 14 cars per mile
Advanced group (Black) 18 cars per mile
Instructors (Red) 20 cars per mile

mjdavis

I've been wondering about this...

I signed up for DEs at Lime Rock (7/22) and NJMP (10/15). I'm on the waiting list for both, even though the number of "confirmed" Green cars seems pretty low. 7 confirmed for Lime Rock (6 on wait list) and 3 confirmed for NJMP (5 on wait list). I've never driven LRP, but in my experience NJMP can handle a lot more than 3 cars on track at the same time. Seems odd.

Or is it more that there aren't enough instructors confirmed?

Land Jet

Note to self- don't run with First Settlers, 55 cars on track at the same time is a cluster f**k of a run group.

Z-man

Dude - 55 cars on a 3.27 mile track is 16.8 cars per mile. If spaced out right, you could run lap after lap without any traffic issues...

-Z

PJorgen

Wow - those numbers seem huge to me. Maybe we like more space out here in the west (j/K) but I'm CI for an upcoming event at Thunderhill and I'm try to keep it to no more than 25 cars total on a 3 mile track.

bella1

We have found that the passing zones have an impact. For example, we have gone with passing on any straight with Green, Blue, and White while identifying what part of the tracks we consider a straight. Our Black and Red groups have an equal number of instructors as we try to have the higher HP cars in Red and lower HP cars in Black. Both of these groups operate under the "Extended Passing" rules as proscribed by PCA, generally passing anywhere with a point by.

If your advanced drivers are running extended passing it has been my experience that 50 to 60 cars on three miles of track should be no problem. If some have a problem with giving a point by anywhere then that can hold things up.

My reasons for asking are due to our waitlist and large number of instructors. We have more than enough instructors so that the instructor/student ratio is 1:1. We would like to accomodate everyone but not at the expense of safety and general track enjoyment. So thanks for the input.

PJorgen

Excellent info thanks. Agree that total distance allowed for passing is essential to determining appropriate number of cars on track.

Would be great to have a table of values, something like maximum number of cars per mile of track with X% passing zone. Clearly the more room for passing the more cars you can accommodate.

bella1

Like Peter said above some groups do more and some do not keep count. Without naming any groups I have seen events at VIR with 70-80 in an advanced session and it was too much for sure. Good luck with your event!

M_Weining

Alex, The info below is close to guidance I rec'd from Peter Temper a few years back (12, 14, 15-16, 18 & 20-22). Number & nature of passing zones is obviously a key factor along with experience of those in the run group and extended passing or not.

Mark

kush07

Instructor thing.

bella1

From Zone 2 to Chin to our region, 55 to 60 in Black and Red has never been an issue with Extended Passsing in effect. It works very well. Perhaps we may see you someday?