possible idea for next year?

[wannabfast]

since i work nights, i normally can't make meetings, so heres my idea
possibly get a site for a weekend saturday/sunday and divide up the classes so less people run between the 2 days, which could potentially give us more runs, and encourage people to run in classes

im not sure if that proposal has been brought up at all, or if it is a viable idea for the size of our community, altho it may make us have to work more than 1 run group, and we would have less cone chasers, unless people wanna work both days or what not, but it would make the smaller sites a little more parking friendly, so maybe do this with the smaller sites such as midway where space is a premium

any feedback on this?

[MNbiker]

Interesting idea, but I'm not sure demand is quite high enough to make it financially viable at this point. We could probably make it work at Midway (our least expensive site), but very few full weekends are available at Midway, due to a very full event schedule.

It would also put more demands on our already busy core volunteers, and I think we already have about as many event days as our current group can handle.

If our club continues to grow, this might be a better approach than the split days used by some large clubs - which limit everyone to 3-4 runs.

[JRTritsch]

Just curious, I am sure it has been brought up before, but how feasible is it for a club this size to purchase/pave a permanent site?

[MNbiker]

Just curious, I am sure it has been brought up before, but how feasible is it for a club this size to purchase/pave a permanent site?
shhh, or you'll start Dwight on a rant! :bigeyes:

Seriously, it's not at all realistic. I'm only aware of one (that's right, ONE) club in the entire U.S. that's close to pulling this off - and that's San Francisco Region SCCA. From what I hear, they're still a ways from reality - even with a far larger membership base and years of planning.

The estimates I've seen from the SCCA put the total cost of a Nationals-worthy asphalt pad at $3M - $5M, and that doesn't include any amenities. Even a less than Nationals-worthy budget site would cost $1.5M - $2M. A club in the Southern U.S. has a better shot at making the economics work, but our limited season makes the ecomonics pretty bleak.

In my opinion, the most intriguing option is some kind of partenership with a racetrack or other sporting facility, where local clubs provide some guarantees to help the sports facility justify building a larger and/or more suitably designed parking facility than would otherwise be required.

-Steve

[phile]

In my opinion, the most intriguing option is some kind of partenership with a racetrack or other sporting facility, where local clubs provide some guarantees to help the sports facility justify building a larger and/or more suitably designed parking facility than would otherwise be required.

-Steve
Right. Beaver Run is a good model, or so I've been told. The park being put in just across the border in Iowa might be a good deal. Closer than the 110 miles or so would be nice, but the NIMBY factor runs pretty high close to the Twin Towns.

[seannabend]

It seems like doing the two day split groups would also have some issues with knowing ahead of time what day you would be driving. Since class sizes change from event to event there are usually a few groups that get shifted around to try to balance out the numbers of the two run groups.

[wannabfast]

well it was just a thought, midway was basically why i wanted to do this with anyways, since 100+ people at that site becomes very hectic with people goin in to the runs and people tweaking their cars before runs, keep in mind, it might work better with smaller sites, but again becomes the viability of renting out sites for the ENTIRE weekend, which i dont think most sites would like that very much, im just thankful we are able to hold an extra novice school every year, its a great opportunity to learn something new and to help spring us into another season of auto-x