Auto X and Endurance Track release
With the way the tracks are released early as of now it seems to really give heavily funded/well grounded teams a major advantage of driver training on a track that will be identical at competition. Many teams do not have access to facilities that allow for a full scale enduro/autocross. After watching a video of a team test a full day at a private Bosch event for the enduro course it really seems to give an unfair advantage to a select set of teams. Especially given the driver levels which make the driver arguably the largest variable of a reliable car. So why not actually in the spirit of real autocross racing not release track maps until the start of competition to flatten the playing field?
Compromise Course Map Proposal
I just discussed this issue with a good friend of mine (John Carriere - SCCA Nationals Autocrosser). He has also been a Design Judge at MIS in past years.
John suggests that FSAE release a 'Track Map' to all teams a few weeks before competition so they get an idea of what is coming at them. But, it's NOT and exact to scale drawing. Pretty close but not exact. And, its not so far in advance that really serious simulations, tests and practice runs can be made.
This allows teams to evaluate their steering, gearing, swinging and swearing at their designs, gets a driver some idea what's in store and lets the team calculate what final design alterations might be needed.
Meanwhile, teams with high end assistance will/may be off a bit because their sims and practice runs are going to be different enough that their learnings are not so overwhelming. Besides, you don't really know what the car does on the track surface is like until you get their and grind it out.
So: Here's a 'proposed' track map, a few cones and radii will be different, do your lap sims and parking lot tests with it in mind, but what you find at the event venue will be a bit different.
That's all folks !