I want to preface this post by saying that I very much appreciate all the hard work and long days that go into running our chapter autocross events. I've had a lot of fun participating in these events for the last seven years and intend to keep participating. Having said that, I would like to start a discussion about the format change to our autocrosses that was apparently made before this season started.
In the past the events always consisted of three heats run over the course of the day with each heat split in half to provide course workers. This always seemed to work well and provided a fair balance between actual seat time and course work.
Both events that I've been able to attend this year have consisted of two heats, again split in half to provide workers. In my opinion this format seems to present more problems than it solves. I can only assume that the change was made in an effort to make the day shorter for the autocross committee volunteers who are running the thing. If that was not the reason, please correct me. If it was, it doesn't seem to be working out that way for them.
So, why do I bring this up? I would like to suggest/request that we return to the three heat format. I enjoy autocrossing and I enjoy the camaraderie of my fellow club members and even some of the visitors, but seven hours at the event for four minutes of seat time is too much.
Below is my list of reasons why I prefer the three heat format. Please do not take this as negative criticism. My goal here is not to hurt anyone's feelings or trivialize the amount of work the committee puts into these events. I'm only interested in starting a dialogue and keeping our autocross events as fun and as efficient as we can make them.

The number of participants referenced here are based on the results for Event #4 of July 11th with 113 showing. I'm going to use 110 since I know there were at least three cars that were shared.

1. Parking - with a total of 110 cars paddock parking could be an issue depending on the venue. This problem is less pressing in the three heat format as it's unlikely that all the participants from all three heats would ever be there at the same time while this is the case with two heats.
2. Grid - 55 cars in a heat means there will be 28 or 27 cars on grid at a time. This was nearly unmanageable at the Summit Point course despite the valiant efforts made by Woody and Bogdan. A heat of 37 cars (110 split over three heats) would yield 18 or 19 and would be much easier to manage. Also, if you happen to be last on grid, you could be there for around 2 hours. See the math below.
3. Coursework time - assuming an average of one minute for one run and four runs per car, the time spent working the course comes out to just shy of two hours for 28 cars. If there are timing issues or other delays this could easily reach the 2.5 hour mark. Not the end of the world and I realize the volunteers are out there all day but if we have the option of 1.75 with 19 cars I'll take that.
4. Tech/Registration/Course Walk - clearly there is one less of each required if you only have two heats but it doesn't seem to add much time to the length of the day.

If you've made it this far you have my thanks. I hope that we can have a constructive exchange about this and keep it positive. If no one else prefers the three heat format then we can just drive on and make the most of it.
Thanks for your time,
David Bullman