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That said, given the variances in lap times achievable by the members of our group; to make PP penalty work we must first establish a venue where lap times have the least deviation. From there, a PP penalty can be prescribed after testing for that particular venue. Of course, the PP penalty would likely have to change to maintain effect at other courses. For a one-off race, this could be tested in a half-hour. If a series was to be planned, it would take an evening to develop a plan for each venue .
This might ramble...
To elaborate upon that; there is already a few clubs that have niches that are well defined and have little competition. To grow, we need to do something that noone else is doing(and has interest), or do something that is already done, but better. So the question is, what direction do you want to go? Right now we aren't well defined. We know what we are, but to outsiders we can appear almost like more of a troupe or club, than a league or series. Yes, I know that is what we are, but the appearance of such can be daunting to new members. I've said it before, but it is very unlikely that I'd have raced with any but a couple of you if not for the Alfa championship.
...snip....
Sorry for all the editing Marcus, but I highlighted the parts I thought were most relevant for me. I'm not as elegant or diplomatic as you so if I may be so bold, the issue I see with ORCA is, no offense to anyone intended, there is too much talking and not enough racing. I think Marcus is right, it would come across to the casual observer/interested newcomer as more of a social group that gathers for informal racing once in a while and every few months a big event.
Unless you're part of the group/clique already, what reason would anyone have to join or come to a casual event? I think most new guys and established guys for that matter, just want clearly defined rules and regulations and regularly scheduled events. They'll take the banter that comes along with it, but if you're a new guy how can you banter with anyone if you're not racing? Doesn't mean an elaborate championship or points or prizes necessarily although that can help. I believe that something just as simple as "
show up at this time and date with this car(s) and let's race". And by that I don't mean posting it at 3PM the day of, but a week or more in advance.
Just noticed Carr's post and that's certainly an idea worth considering, that is, doing it in an Open Lobby situation to recruit some new blood. You could even denote someone once in a while to just steward a race here and there to observe how the non-ORCA guys are driving. It could be an additional event along with regularly schedule ORCA races, and maybe an ORCA member could host the event.
Only over time with regular events and clearly defined goals and objectives, will you attract new blood to any series or league and keep the old blood around and interested. After all we're here mainly for racing, not talking. The talking and social part of it is great, but without the racing it's just a social group, not a racing group.
In other words, I think what works best, is to just establish a formula or idea, schedule events, and soldier on regardless of attendance. If 4 people show up to race, you have to continue regardless, and hope to build momentum. If you want to race vintage cars for a month, one make spec another month, Cappy's another month, I don't think it really matters as long as it's cars that appeal to the majority of the group and the races are scheduled and the format is well defined.
When it comes to the PP penalty, again as Marcus has pointed out, you need only do some testing with a consistent driver to figure out how much of an effect 5PP, 10PP etc. has. It's not the type of thing you can figure out during a race, with a field of varied cars, there are just too many variables.
