GCR choices

[dickita15]

I like the paper book and asked for one but next year for the first time in 2010 the electronic version is the official rule book. SCCA members are now 90% online. National expects some savings from printing fewer books. I would also think that the printed version might not be out quite as fast as previous years.
It will certainly take some getting used to. Not so sure about having to look something up on a cold rainy day while teching a car.

[Dave Gomberg]

I like the paper book and asked for one but next year for the first time in 2010 the electronic version is the official rule book. SCCA members are now 90% online. National expects some savings from printing fewer books. I would also think that the printed version might not be out quite as fast as previous years.

It will certainly take some getting used to. Not so sure about having to look something up on a cold rainy day while teching a car.

There will be printed copies available for those who need them (tech, stewards, etc.) into the future. The primary advantages to the downloadable version is that it costs nothing other than staff time to produce and it will be updated on a monthly basis (all the Fastrack rules changes and tech bulletin items will get folded in each month) so anyone can have a "fresh" version.

Dave

[joeg]

I'll take paper (and gladly even pay for it).

[R2 Racing]

What are the chances our yearly dues would then go down, because the SCCA is saving so much money by not sending us hard copies? I'm going to go with "about zero".

[RacerBill]

What are the chances our yearly dues would then go down, because the SCCA is saving so much money by not sending us hard copies? I'm going to go with "about zero".

Yes, but the cost of a license will not go up until 2011!

Seriously, what are the implications of the 'on-line version' being the official version? Will the club provide on-line access at events so that members will have access to that version (especially if you are the 10% that are not on-line. I know competition members that do not even own a computer, much less internet access!) If you opt for the CD version, will the club send you a new CD with FastTrack changes monthly?

I can see pros and cons here, but recognise the club's efforts to keep costs down.

[tom_sprecher]

Ever since the GCR was available for download I have used that format. By using the search function in Reader the amount of time saved looking up any information has been reduced by an order of magnitude if not more.

The GCR has got to be one of the most unorganized reference books I have ever had the misfortune of having to read.

[John Nesbitt]

The GCR has got to be one of the most unorganized reference books I have ever had the misfortune of having to read.

Good news. The 2010 GCR will be extensively reorganized. It's much more accessible than recent editions: like topics are pulled together and a lot of the administrivia is moved to appendices.

[Xian]

Seriously, what are the implications of the 'on-line version' being the official version? Will the club provide on-line access at events so that members will have access to that version (especially if you are the 10% that are not on-line. I know competition members that do not even own a computer, much less internet access!) If you opt for the CD version, will the club send you a new CD with FastTrack changes monthly?

And what good will a CD do for those without a computer? Also, let's not forget that one part of Novice Driver School involves the GCR as reference material and for testing. Lastly, how will the volume of printing impact per copy pricing?

[gran racing]

Lastly, how will the volume of printing impact per copy pricing?

Depends on how many copies are printed. Even if they do rise per copy, there's still a considerable cost savings considering the number of them being printed, cost to ship them from the printer to distributor, then to the member. Storage costs for those copies saved for new members. Costs associated with the time it takes to ship them out. It all adds up and pretty quickly.

So few people these days (especially racers) either don't have a computer or don't have access to one where they could view this at work. Absolute worst case, have someone print the sections that you want a hard copy of...which leads to:

The GCR has got to be one of the most unorganized reference books I have ever had the misfortune of having to read.

Seriously! And talk about intimidating for anyone looking at it for the first few times. When it boils down to it, there really isn't a huge portion that a racer needs to have at the track. Portions of the various appendixes and in our case the IT rules sub section which is only 12 pages not including each cars specs.

I've always felt there are much better ways to spend these resources than on printed copies of the GCR.