So you鈥檙e the course designer for an upcoming Solo event.聽 At some point the site utilization plan has been finalized and you know where the pits, grid, boundaries, viewing areas, and maybe even the course area entry and exit will be.聽 Finally, you can get to work on the actual course itself.聽 What should you figure out first? 聽Where to put the fast stuff?聽 Where that diabolical C-box derivative you鈥檝e concocted will fit in?聽 How close to the stage line to put the timing start lights?
Nope.聽 The finish should be done first.聽 Too often the finish design is left to the last, after the rest of the course has been laid out.聽 Doing this can lead to鈥攁mong other things--insufficient runout distance, car-upsetting final maneuvers too close to the timing lights, and/or overuse of exit lane cones.聽 The designer may have become so fond of the course route and planned content that he/she is reluctant to give up some of it toward the end of the course in order to allow space for a safe finish.聽 That鈥檚 putting the cart before the horse; safety is always first, and the sanctity of what Roger (Houston) Johnson humorously calls 鈥淵our Glorious Creation鈥� is always a secondary consideration.
You have to design your finishes for all kinds of potential unpleasant scenarios; wet and/or dirty surface, fast approach, powerful heavy car, bald (or slick) tires, insanely late braking, no ABS, driver with more aggression than skill, brake system problems.聽 Laying out the finish first allows you to decide important features like where it will aim (think of it as a loaded bazooka; where do you want it pointed?), and how long it needs to be (typical 60-zero braking distances of normal street cars are well over 100 feet, and while not all finish lines are crossed at 60 mph or more, almost no drivers hit the brakes immediately upon crossing that line).聽聽 If your site dimensions or features constrain the length of your finish for some reason, you鈥檒l need to allow for that in designing your course鈥檚 final maneuver(s) so that finishing speeds are reduced.
When I look at a designer鈥檚 draft map, the most obvious sign that they聽 did the course first and the finish last is an exit lane of something like 60-90 feet in length with tons of cones on both sides and a cone wall at the end, with something nobody wants to hit--or someplace very unsafe to go--shortly beyond it.聽 That鈥檚 not a calculated element, it鈥檚 an afterthought.聽 What should have happened is that the exit lane, finish line, and finish approach should have been designed first, and the rest of the course then made to flow into that sequence.
In the case of a course for something like a Divisional or Tour that will be used forwards and backwards, doing the finish job right should mean designing two finishes.聽 Why?聽 It鈥檚 generally easier to change a finish that works into a start that works, than to do the inverse.聽 A start doesn鈥檛 typically require the kind of length, careful timing equipment placement, or other safety margins that a finish does.聽 If enough room is allowed--and enough care is taken--to create a successful finish, it鈥檚 reasonable to think that the component should be safe and sane, with minimal revision, to use backwards as a start.聽聽 You might have to add a bend to keep a relatively straight exit lane from becoming a drag-race start, and you鈥檒l probably (though not necessarily) have to move the timing lights.聽 But if you thought about both uses of both ends when you laid them out, the switchover should be pretty easy and you should get to the Saturday night party before all the food and beverages are gone.
So what鈥檚 a good after-the-line length for a finish?聽 I鈥檓 happiest if I can get at least 200 feet, more at a big event like a Divisional, Tour or the Nationals (where the crazies really come out and nobody wants to brake early). 聽That鈥檚 not a hard-and-fast number by any means, just an order-of-magnitude guideline.聽聽 It鈥檚 entirely possible to have a safe finish-and-exit that鈥檚 150 feet long, or an unsafe one that鈥檚 250 feet long.聽 But it鈥檚 at least a place to start. 聽Once the rest of the course is filled in, I may extend the exit if there is room and it turns out the last course elements allow greater-than-average speeds.聽 If I don鈥檛 have room to do that, I鈥檒l revise or move or delete some of those last elements.聽 Shortening the course up a second or two is better than putting cars, drivers, workers, and property in jeopardy.聽 45 mph = 66 feet per second, so two seconds is 132 feet at a typical average Stock class speed.聽 At 60 mph (88 fps) it鈥檚 176 feet. 聽聽You can make that finish a lot safer by giving up a very small amount of course length in terms of time.
In all cases it鈥檚 important to look at what鈥檚 past the end of the exit, where that finish car is going to slide when the driver comes in too fast.聽 Open space?聽 Paddock?聽 Grid?聽 Sanikans (yikes!)?聽 Concessions?聽 Curbing?聽 Buildings?聽 Another part of the course?聽 If that exit lane can be aimed somewhere comparatively harmless, it鈥檚 a good idea to do so.聽聽 If not, it needs to not only be plenty long (with extra distance after the coned exit lane ends), but the last elements need to rein in the speeds.聽 Like the rule book (2.2.A) says 鈥渢he fastest portions of the course shall be those most remote from spectators and property.鈥澛犅� In most cases the finish and start will be in the same general area (to facilitate grid access), and that鈥檚 not likely to be 鈥渞emote.鈥�
Maybe you should have a dense lane of cones after the lights to 鈥渕ake them be careful and slow down鈥� for safety? 聽Simple problem with this: they won鈥檛.聽 This feature may be effective on a few newer drivers, but experienced competitors know that cones are just hunks of flexible plastic, and those drivers will take whatever chances they think they have to in order to finish as fast as they think they can.聽 If they miscalculate and take out a wall of cones at the finish, workers will be scrambling to get them all back up when the next car comes through, likely as not in a similar out-of-shape attitude.聽 That too is a safety issue.聽 Keep the exit lane obvious but simple and easy to maintain.
In summary, the finish can be the most trouble-prone area of the course, just because of where it frequently is located and how people usually drive it.聽 Safe finishes are a critical component of safe courses, and our odds of making them that way are much greater if we think about them first, not last.
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KCB