Hyperfest registration is open

[Maengelito]

i think its fairly simple. mail out the wrist bands for you and your pit crew. if you forget, then tough luck, pony up the money. its not hard to put an envelope in your car. if thats an issue, then summit has two sides to the gate. preregistered and crew go on the left side and get checked off some list. people entering the right gate pass by that little shack thing and sign the waiver.

[bimmerboodle]

If you already have a list why cant the list just be put at the gate? If you're on it, and you show up between certain hours (like friday evening, very early saturday), you dont pay for your wristband. If you come in at a different time, you pay, and ask for a refund voucher from the gate which you can redeem in tech.

A possibility but a line at the gate will jack up the road and everyone else. Plus the guards will need to find you on the list. You have been thru the gate there........

[bimmerboodle]

NOT at TECH... at registration.

ATTENTION!!!!
see the tech officials for refunds...Ding Ding

[.RJ]

A possibility but a line at the gate will jack up the road and everyone else. Plus the guards will need to find you on the list. You have been thru the gate there........

I've never been caught in much of a line early morning or on friday evening. There's always a small one, but never have to wait more than 10 minutes.

[bimmerboodle]

Well most of us dont have crew, and our significant others/friends/etc dont want to stand in line when its 112 degrees out to get the refund.

Sure it sucks for everyone involved, and if thats the way it is, we'll do it of course but I just think a list at the gate is a better idea. For the $$ the event brings into the track that weekend, I would hope they could deal with a minor inconvenience of a list at the gate.

Edit: Thanks for passing along the suggestion. Love you long time.

This headache is ultimately mine anyway and I am *ALL FOR* a better plan. Trust me, anything that makes this go more smooth is a good thing. Mailing stuff to entrants is just not an option because the only info we have for the entrant is the info that is in their NASA member profile. That is less than accurate, hell, I get bounces every event from emailing the confirmation letters. I spend a bunch of time preparing info and making sure things are as right as they can be for the entrants yet there is certain percentage who simply do not read the instructions when they register, when they get the confirmation email with the link in it, even don't pay attention at the all hands......

Maybe we can have wristbands at registration Friday night since I don't think gate fee starts until Sat early AM...but I can't remember.

[white_2kgt]

Maybe we can have wristbands at registration Friday night since I don't think gate fee starts until Sat early AM...but I can't remember.

That sounds like a grand plan! DO IT. No need for gate fee's Friday. I doubt people are going to camp out overnight for a free entry to hyperfest and if they did, they probably needed the entertainment and $20 more than NASA does.

[bimmerboodle]

Maybe we can have wristbands at registration Friday night since I don't think gate fee starts until Sat early AM...but I can't remember.

That sounds like a grand plan! DO IT. No need for gate fee's Friday. I doubt people are going to camp out overnight for a free entry to hyperfest and if they did, they probably needed the entertainment and $20 more than NASA does.

Will work on this idea........

[NASAlaura]

How bad is the line to get a refund on Saturday? Maybe we can get Summit to have a few more officials to process the refunds or make the hours longer?

Couple of thoughts:
We will NEVER do mailings again. That was a horrible failure.

Remember that this is a joint spectator event with Summit. We have to start charging the gate fee on Friday afternoon after 2PM or so because of the FATT participants and the fact that we have agreed with Summit to only allow 3 crew per racer. Most racers have more than 3 crew for this event, and we did have spectator campers on Friday night. Summit is basically doing the same thing for this event that they do for all other spectator events (SCCA, etc) as far as everyone being charged at the gate starting Friday afternoon.

This is the same procedure that Summit does for other spectator events. But the difference for SCCA events which are all spectator events is this: All gate entrants for an SCCA event pay at the gate and immediately go to the registration building where they wait in line for registration. After registering with SCCA, they wait in another line to get a refund. Those lines can be horrendous depending on when you arrive (Chris and I used to do it several years ago). With our system, as long as you are a preregistered racer or HPDE, you do not have to wait in a registration line. For Hyperfest, you just have to go to the refund station between 10 and 2PM or whatever the hours may be.

If the line has been too long at the refund station, we can see if Summit can extend the hours or add more people, but I really can't think of another way to do it that would be faster. And, since it is a combined event with Summit, the track will not agree to allowing anyone for free in on Friday evening.

Laura C.

[.RJ]

You guys do a much better job at refunds than SCCA does - now that is a colossal pain in the ass

[white_2kgt]

Summit is basically doing the same thing for this event that they do for all other spectator events (SCCA, etc) as far as everyone being charged at the gate starting Friday afternoon.

Like everyone here, I'm sure you have your reasons for doing what you do and are very grateful you guys work all this stuff out for us to come out and have fun. Just remember, there's a reason we are with NASA and NOT SCCA. Please don't let NASA turn into SCCA or set your standards equal to theirs. Unlike those in SCCA most of us are no where near their level and don't pretend to be. A lot of us do things all on our own and taking an extra 1/2 hr, hr whatever to get $20 back might not be an option at the designated times. All we ask is always look for ways to improve and never settle.

Thanks NASA.

Now, MM, with all the extra people showing up for the event (hint hint) maybe we could designate someone in the club to be 'refund guy' on Sunday. He can have one of my crew passes .

[Dragon]

Now, MM, with all the extra people showing up for the event (hint hint) maybe we could designate someone in the club to be 'refund guy' on Sunday. He can have one of my crew passes .

Now that's what I call thinking.

[NASAlaura]

I just mentioned SCCA as a reference, but Summit told us that for all spectator events at their track, it is usually handled that way. Their staff handles the gate policy and refunds. They were nice enough to allow us to provide refunds during the day on Saturday rather than having to wait in line on Friday night and Saturday early morning when you first arrive as they do with other groups.
And Summit will not allow a list at the gate since it ties up too much traffic. If the road in front of the track gets backed up, we can be completely shut down by the police.
One year we did a mailing. Didn't work. Racers either said they didn't receive the passes or they received them but couldn't get them to their crew. They wanted to leave passes at the gate for their crew. Gate staff got really angry. Not good.

One year we did a list at the gate. Gate workers (at minimum wage) don't sift through the list very fast and don't want to look through a list. (We have to keep the gate people happy).

Now, we mail out passes to workers, sponsors, media and VIP and everyone else is charged. It makes it easy for the gate staff to say, "we have to charge you unless you have a pass". That way no one can argue with the gate staff like people are prone to do.
If we put people prior to the gate to give out wristbands on Friday evening, it becomes an accounting nightmare because you have to make sure those people that didn't pay don't come up to the refund station to attempt to get a refund. And you can't have a variety of color wristbands......way too confusing for the gate staff.
Believe me, we are up for ANY ideas, but things have to be uncomplicated for the gate staff.
If people know they must come prepared with the cash at the gate and we convince Summit into having more refund staff and possibly longer hours, doesn't that work?
Laura C.

[Nis01]

Hey guys sorry to be a little off topic but I had a quick question based on the Hyperdrive. I promised myself I would not take my car out on the track this soon but this hyperdrive seems a like a great alternative to a full out track session. I was wondering if anybody in the club has participated in them or is planning on doing this (I think DJ mentioned he has)? I'm not sure if it is filled already but I was thinking about perhaps signing up. If anybody could throw out some information that would be great. Would I need to do much more than to prep the car and bring a helmet? How safe is it? I perceive it to be similar to HPDE 1 but for only one session? I couldn't really find too much information on it. I'm a track newb so any help would be appreciated. Sounds like a good opportunity and it might be nice to be running on a smaller course for my first time... Thanks in advance...

[Feersty]

I believe they throw Tony Politi in a pace car and he keeps everyone from going over 70-80 mph, and does it for 15-20 minutes.

[Evan]

I was wondering if anybody in the club has participated in them or is planning on doing this (I think DJ mentioned he has)? I'm not sure if it is filled already but I was thinking about perhaps signing up. ... How safe is it?

I instructed for HyperDrives a couple years ago. They are run by BSR (ie- same as Friday at the Track) so they are not Nasa instructors in the classroom or in your car. Me and another Nasa instructor were recruited by BSR to "help out". Both of us said we would never work with BSR again at the end of the day.
My personal opinion is they are a complete clusterfuck, from beginning to end.
First and foremost, HPDE and driving on track is a serious thing. You want your students to be serious enough to make the time investment, and financial investment considerable enough that they are very serious about learning to drive on track. A $40 session on track that a drag racer hops in because he came to see the drifting is NOT who you want to be out on track with. I also feel that the BSR events are the poorest educational driving events. Ive done 2 FATTs and didnt like either of them.
Shea I strongly recommend flagging a couple weekends to get a feel for the track and earning a free weekend, then do a full weekend in NASA HPDE1. (CarGuys is another excellent alternative with a flagger program)
Much safer, less jackasses on track with you, and you will learn much more

[Evan]

I believe they throw Tony Politi in a pace car and he keeps everyone from going over 70-80 mph, and does it for 15-20 minutes.

no, thats touring laps aka parade laps aka "Hyper Cruise"
Hyper Drive is a full HPDE1 session

[Nis01]

Evan, this is exactly what I was looking for. I have flagged one weekend and plan on keeping with it to earn some more credits. I will probably not be doing any HPDEs for some time to come but I'll get out there eventually. This has swayed my opinion on it being a safe alternative a bit. Thanks again.

[bimmerboodle]

I believe they throw Tony Politi in a pace car and he keeps everyone from going over 70-80 mph, and does it for 15-20 minutes.

This is O-SO-WRONG
Evan has it more right. It is basically a single session for about 20-25 mins on the Jeffy circuit after a basic classroom instruction and a BSR instructor rides with you. I did one 2 years ago and there was no jackassery but that was only one session. A full HPDE is much more beneficial but a hyperdrive is fun thing and not much for learning....it is over too quick.

[Andy]

Sean, are folks allowed to pass during Hyperdrives?

[bimmerboodle]

Sean, are folks allowed to pass during Hyperdrives?

You know I don't remember. I did not pass anyone....I think the cars are spaced out by releasing them in intervals.. i will find out