More GPF Updates
Casey Creamer
Hello fellow Stone Bridge Drivers,
Rules for Laps of the Old Course for Stone Bridge Drivers
No cameras, cell phones, etc usage during laps.
During your 2 lap tour of the Old Course it is an open road, not a closed course. There will be oncoming traffic and there may even be local traffic mixed in with your group if you wrongly let that happen.
Be aware that one third of you want to drive too fast, and wish the rest would speed up. (Casey would be in this category if he was still allowed on the Old Course)
Another third of you want to drive too slowly, and are annoyed at how fast everyone else is going.
While the other third just wants to do it properly with everyone keeping it at a safe and proper speed.
My goal is to keep this festival going for as many years as possible. That means NO MISHAPS on the Old Course. It is better to have a little bit of fun for a lot of years than to have a lot of fun for only one year.
Although each Stone Bridge Driver Event will have its own lead car, there will be one common pace car that will pace each group for all of the Stone Bridge Driver Laps. This year the pace car will be a Corvette driven by Robyn Resch, our veteran Pace Car Driver. Our Sweep Car for each group this year will be a red Ferrari driven by Par Scopelliti if he can get that car up and running in time for our event.
Most groups will not be split car by car but rather the first half of your group will go up the right lane towards the S/F line and then the second half of your group will be directed by our professional splitter Dancing Dan to take the left lane to head towards the S/F line for the start of your 2 laps. The person who does the splitting is a pro and is used to splitting real race cars driven by pros, so act accordingly. Meaning look for his signals and do what he tells you, and try not to hit him. He is trained to not move, so you only have one spot to avoid. By splitting the group in half, it should work out that whichever cars are in front of you and behind you as you approach downtown Watkins Glen for your standing start, will be with you for the entirety of your laps whether you like that or not.
As you grid on Franklin Street for your standing start, don’t leave a big gap between you and the car ahead of you. If you can’t keep up with the car ahead of you when you are standing still, how are you going to manage when you are moving? We have a lot of cars to grid on that street and there is only so much room. So pack them in please.
Each group will get a standing start, beginning with the right lane with the cars that are in the left lane following on the end of the first half of the cars. This will happen one lane at a time. In other words one lane will proceed and then the other will follow. This will all be at the direction of our traffic people who will all be wearing yellowish safety vests. So, all you have to do is pay attention and go when and where they tell you to go. If the one car in the moving lane is slow on the uptake, the next car in the waiting lane might be directed to go, to try to keep you all together. Of course then you will be out of order, but that is just one of the many bad things that can happen when one of you fails to keep up with the car ahead.
There will be no passing at all while doing your two laps on the Old Course. Sorry, but we really have to keep it safe for the longevity of this great event.
Keep in mind that when we do our laps, the Old Course is still an open road. It is NOT a closed course as it is for the SVRA cars, later on.
There will be no breaking of any speed limits while doing your two laps on the Old Course. There will be Police cars patrolling the course in the opposite direction who will be issuing traffic tickets to any violators.
Standard NY seat belt laws will still be in effect and will be enforced. And the driver and every passenger in your car must have signed a waiver when they showed up at their respective events. That means no added passengers for your two lap tour. And if I catch any driver texting or talking on a cell phone while driving, you will instantly be thrown out. And definitely no stopping anywhere on the course to switch drivers or pick up or discharge passengers.
While speeding is prohibited, driving too slow will also not be tolerated. If you and/or your car are not capable of maintaining 55 MPH outside of the village limits, we ask that you agree to not participate in your respective two lap tour of the Old Course. Please tell your event chair at your drivers meeting that you won’t be able to keep up and you will be told where to go and what to do so that you will still be able to park with your group.
Anyone who is taking part in the two lap tour, who fails to keep up with the group, will be pulled out of their group on Franklin Street by one of the traffic workers and asked to remain there while the rest of their group completes their laps. I know this sounds harsh, but I have to tell you that not keeping up with the car ahead of you can be as dangerous and/or disruptive as driving too fast.
It will be up to each and every Stone Bridge Driver to KEEP UP with the car in front of you. You will not be required to break any speed limits or drive in a dangerous manner to accomplish this task of keeping up. But it will only work if everyone does their part. If one car lags behind, they hold up the train behind them, and then they have to go too fast to catch up, and then we have huge holes in the group, which in turn encourages pedestrians to cross the street, which can of course put them and our entire festival in jeopardy. Also even relatively small gaps will unnecessarily allow local cars and trucks to get into the mix which will then make it impossible for you to keep up without dangerously speeding. When I see the gap on Franklin Street and you tell me there had been a big truck who got into the line, I automatically know you were not keeping up properly. That is the only way that truck could have gotten in front of you.
Treat it like a funeral procession in a big city that has to go through traffic lights all together as one unit. They can do it, so can you.
You all know the old joke: Why did the pedestrian cross the road? No it really wasn’t to get to the other side. It was because one of you failed to keep up with the car ahead of you and now we have a bunch of pedestrians in the way. Shame on you!
Not keeping up with the car ahead of you not only encourages stupid pedestrians to put themselves into harm’s way, but it will also allow cars, trucks, and dreaded RVs out on the course to get into your line and in the way of everyone. The best way to keep them out is to keep up with the car ahead of you. This will also make it impossible for the interlopers who try every year to get into the act.
We have a lot of Stone Bridge Driver vehicles to put across the Old Course in a very small amount of time. That creates a very tight schedule that only works when you are doing your part by following directions and keeping up with the car ahead of you.
Another thing to consider is that while you are enjoying your 2 laps of the Old Course, you are also “The Show” downtown for many, many spectators. Well, it isn’t much of a show if there are big gaps between groups of cars. That leaves you just one choice:
Keep up with the car ahead of you.
Please help the festival by doing your part to obey these rules. You will still have a fun drive and you will find that it will be so much more enjoyable for everyone when you are all going at approximately the same speed.
Casey