VERY long, analytical, and boring post.

[OversteerS2K]

I've had too much time on my hands. I'm sure you'll have to pass judgement after this post and either decide it's some true autocross math, I'm just F*kin nuts, or I'm on crack.

Try this system. If my statistics class pays off this should actually give you some insight (when plugging in your own numbers) as to how you fair against the competition on different types of Solo2 courses.

Here's the math:
Take your best run time and determine your placement in the event (counting all entrants): <a> (let's say you were 10th)
Take the total numer of entrants: <b> (maybe 75)

Divide <a> by <b>. 10 divided by 75
The resulting number will be <c>, in this case 0.1333
Convert that to a percentage by sliding the decimal point over two spaces right.
Your percentile rank is a 13.33.
Covert that to a standardized grading scale by subtracting the number from 100.
You were graded a 86.66 or 86.6 or 87, whatver degree you want to take it to.

Using the PAX numbers in the same manner, you can get an even closer gauge as to how you stacked up.

Now there are errors. Weather is not taken into consideration. For example, my grades or percentages look much better at Sebring on Saturday because I had two dry runs, whereas the second run group had zero or one. It won't be perfect unless every driver has the same course conditions.

I hope that makes sense. If you really want to be particular, take the ladies out of the run times and the PAX times. Be sure to take the novices out of the total entrant number when calculating off of PAX numbers. Hell, take the carts out too if you want.

Below are examples for myself.

BAIL OUT NOW IF YOU DON'T UNDERSTAND
OR ARE GETTING GROGGY.

And by the way "Cory" is the DSP V.W. GTI, black. We have some bragging rights, bets, etc. riding on the PAX at every event and for the year end (accumulated from one event to the next). The year ender will hopefully keep climbing in value and end up being a set of tires or something useful.

[Tits McGee]

Is there going to be a quiz on this???

[OversteerS2K]

GAINESVILLE 5/4/03 Over Cory by 6.183 Raw / 4.554 PAX
Next S on OEM's: - 4.024
Finished #29 of 98.
PAX was#31 of 98.

Graded by time: 70.4 "C-" Points: 2
Graded by PAX : 68.4 "D+"
__________________________________________________ __
LAKELAND 5/11/03 Lost to Cory by 0.363 Raw / 0.533 PAX

Finished #20 of 49.
PAX was #29 of 49.

Graded by time: 59.2 "F+?" Points: 6
Graded by PAX: 40.8 "Sucks"
__________________________________________________ __
FLORIDA STATE FAIRGROUNDS Over Cory by 1.661 Raw / 1.004PAX

Finished #17 of 66.
PAX was #18 of 66.

Graded by time: 74.2 "C"
Graded by PAX: 72.7 "C-" Points: 9

[OversteerS2K]

Continued

SEBRING 6/7/03 Sat. *Skewed by rain on run group 2

Time #25 of 109
PAX #18 of 109

Graded by time: 77.1 "C+" Points: 3
Graded by PAX: 83.5 "B"
________________________________________________
SEBRING 6/8/03 Sun.

Over Cory by 0.033 Raw / Beat by Cory PAX 0.375
Next S on OEM's: -4.814

Time #42 of 110
PAX #31 of 110

Graded by time: 61.8 "D-" Points: 6
Graded by PAX: 71.8 "C-"


Cory, since the Hoosier addition for you we have run a combined PAX + / - of 0.096 THROUGH 3 EVENTS! (to my advantage, of course :) ). Pretty damn close now. Street to street (G'Ville) it was a +4.544 PAX in one event.

The bet's still on. I don't need my Hoosiers for that one.

[sloaccord]

not only does my head now hurt, it's almost guaranteed to make me cry if i see how much i suck. i'll have to pass on this one.

[sloaccord]

oh screw it i'll do it.
the only thing i dont like is having to count the entries and then go through each and every person and see just how many people beat my times. . . . . very annoying. there must be a quicker way.
PAX, not counting novices -
gainesville - 34.7
saturday lakeland - 57.7
sunday lakeland - 34.1
sebring sunday - 61.2

not one passing score. i feel great.

[sloaccord]

jeez looking at that makes me wanna quit

[OversteerS2K]

So, I suck on tight, short, low speed courses and am a little better on the high speed stuff. Guess I already knew that. It just gives me an idea of how far I have to go before the results of any given event become acceptable. The luck of the draw on who bought what car, how many are in your class, how good they are, how the others are set up, and such can dictate your trophies and points. This little experiment can show you how good (or bad) you are against everyone out there.

http://web.tampabay.rr.com/solo2/S-2000,%20B-STOCK%20%2380/tRsIGpIC2.jpg


"Autocrossers always make good road racers, but road racers do not always make good autocrossers." This statement was supported by the third concept he shared, which was, "I consider Solo to be, arguably, the best place to learn car control.", T.C. Kilne

[OversteerS2K]

not one passing score. i feel great.
LMAO


Yeah, I'd have flunked out of school with mine.

Jesse or Jamal will look like a hero with this scale, though.

Maybe I should've built in a bell curve?

Go straight to the "trophy" page and the entry number will be at the bottom. Take out whoever and just look for the "faster than you" PAX's.

[PseudoRealityX]

so basically you're taking your PAX / top PAX and putting that into a scale of 100?

Hmm, ok...

PAX is nice for me, but I can see it's a pain in the butt when you don't have a car anywhere near the limits of the rules, like you street tire clad types.

[SUV-ETR]

Yeah, I agree with Jesse. It is always hard to compare someone's times against someone else. Even if the two cars are reasonably close to being "prepared" for their class (such as me vs. Jesse), you still have dependencies on the strengths and weaknesses of each course-car-driver combination.

Perfect example: My GS Subaru (and myself as a driver) tended to do really well on high-speed concrete with fast transitions. I didn't have too much trouble trophying at my first couple ProSolos at Ft. Myers and did quite well at my last one considering the class had some tough competition. But every year at the Petersburg ProSolo, which was a comparatively low-speed course on asphalt, I got OWN3D two years in a row by essentially the same people. Last year, after trophying Ft Myers, I only managed to stay ahead of Katie, one other driver, and a newbie on Falkens at Petersburg. Yeah, I think my driving was off a little, but I don't think it was bad enough to expain that result. :o

But I do see where you're coming from. Competition is FUN no matter what kind of car/course/experience you have. PAX-based results are about the best handicapping method you can use, and are interesting to play with. They ARE proven to be somewhat accurate if you look at average results over the course of the year and across a good variety of courses, but just make sure you don't make them into more than they are. :)

Neal

[OversteerS2K]

Oh yeah, I see the flaws and certainly wouldn't suggest this "system" for serious comparison. It was just for fun (well actually it wasn't much fun - made me feel like a turd).

The only cars I can compare with are very similarly prepped (not prepped at all) S-2000's. That's why you see the "Next S on OEM's" note where applicable. Those numbers say I'm driving well, comparitively, with anyone in the same set-up (or lack of).

It looks like I need to do some Miata club events and practice the first gear evil little courses.

[flmcoupe]

That's pretty cool! But, it's kinda hard to compare yourself to others with much faster cars, like carts and other open wheel cars. I usually just compare my times to experts in street cars, it lets me know if I'm getting closer to that "expert" level. :)

Looking at Sunday's times, I believe I ended up in 5th overall, so that should put me around 95%, not bad at all! It's even better using pax, 3rd overall, 97%! Wow, I never do good in pax, somehow I always end up in the bottom 2/3rd... my car ain't that fast, it just looks fast! ;)

Jamal

[0HP930]

LOL, I see I'm not the only one who tries to figure out what percentile I am in when I run an autocross.

Just like in school, I always get a passing grade and my average ends up in the B range.

Hell, I have been one of the top 5 porsches at nearly every PCA event I have ever been to.

:D

[Loren]

We had a local class based on a somewhat similar system for a couple years in Wichita. It was very cool for those of us who ran in it seriously.

What we did was, rather than using the PAX index, which relies on your car AND everyone else's being prepared to the same level (ie: Completely to the limit of the rules), we created our own index.

We called it the Driver's Index, and the class was called the Driver's Index Class (DIC... no, we didn't take ourselves too seriously!).

One of the keys to the class was that you had to leave your car alone as much as possible to make it truly a DRIVER's class.

What we did was we looked at results from the last 3 events. Took your time vs. the FTD to get an index. Average the last 3 events to get your DIC index. So your index improved as you did!

To stay on top, you had to be consistent. It was very interesting.