VCPs at San Felipe 250

[Chainguide]

90 racers penalized out of 132 finishers!!! Almost 3/4 of all the finishers penalized?! SCORE needs to re-think how and why they are using the VCPs. The intended use of VCPs was to keep racers out of areas the would do harm to our sport such as cutting through a farm field or sacred grave site. They were NOT intended to mark the course corner to corner, especially in the wide open, chewed up desert of San Felipe. The old SCORE had designated that area North of Borrego as "Multiple lines, open running".

New SCORE, if you read this, please tone it down a bit for the 500. You don't need hundreds of VCPs, rather an appropriate amount would be more like 40. It just takes a little time to place them properly to achieve the goal with less.

 

[Baja Bryan]

For bikes I understand it can be difficult. But for cars I disagree I have not had a single penalty in over 3 years because we prepair for it. Only this I did not like is the vcp being on top of a spot we all would mark dangerous. Hard to see the wpt and vcp on top of each other. Just move the vcp a little and it would be good.

 

[DanMcMillin]

I thought the VCPs at San Felipe were some of the best ones yet.

120 feet isn't far in the wide open desert so I can see how people may of missed a VCP or two. But with open pre-running and the new Stella System that beeps when you hit them, I really see zero excuse to miss a VCP and no one to blame but ourselves. For bikes I'm sure it's much harder to hit them but honestly, I don't care. Don't miss a VCP. It's simple.

What SCORE does need to improve on, and they didn't do this at San Felipe which was awesome, was add VCPs once pre-running is allowed, or the day before the race. I would rather the courses be littered with VCPs and SCORE says to disregard certain VCPs than to add them before the race.

We need more VCPs if we want to continue racing in Baja, especially along the Pacific side through the agricultural areas of San Quintin. People can get really creative if there isn't a VCP, trust me. It's not only going to keep the racers on the approved course that the the local officials have graciously allowed us to go on, but it's much safer for spectators/chase crews/etc. knowing that the racers are only going on a certain road, not one that is behind on them or the one they're parked on.

Just my $0.23.

 

[Chainguide]

For bikes I understand it can be difficult. But for cars I disagree I have not had a single penalty in over 3 years because we prepair for it. Only this I did not like is the vcp being on top of a spot we all would mark dangerous. Hard to see the wpt and vcp on top of each other. Just move the vcp a little and it would be good.

Good job on a clean record! I do my homework, too but still 62 of 90 penalties were not bikes or quads. Dan McMillin makes a good point as to the value of VCPs in the post above. My concern is more about the placement of them and how they impact on the racing. For the bike classes, poorly placed VCPs causes us to run through some of the nastiest junk out there. In another case, I was broken down by VCP 29 around race mile 95. There I then became a spectator and witnessed a TT spec get stuck in the silt bed that was caused by a VCP in the middle of nowhere, forcing an unnatural 90 degree corner is soft silt.

BTW, my Stella was not alerting me when I came through a VCP although it did work great at the 1000

 

[Chainguide]

I did a quick look at the first 100 miles of SF250 course and the VCPs placed on it in Google Earth. Since I ran that section, I know it pretty well. It looks to me that SCORE could have easily done away with about half of the VCPs and still achieved their goal. Here is a list of the VCPs that I would have deleted as I see them as unnecessary. Delete 2,5,6,8,9,11,14,15,19,21,23,26,27,30,32,and 33. Check it out and see who agrees or disagrees and why.

 

[XR Baja]

Jn

 

[Chainguide]

Course notes from 2009 Baja 1000 regarding the area from Laguna Salida to Borrego