Well, the art of open passing is to know when it can safely be done. Advanced drivers should know better. If somebody is at your door as you go into turn 5, my advice would be to lift and fall back onto the line asap. Open passing involves some sacrafice at times, and it requires the most alert of drivers. We've yet to have a problem with it, to be honest. However, if you guys don't like the idea of open passing, drop down to B group. Still a fast bunch, and some of those guys are A groupers that just don't like open passing.
We always feed cars on, so the chances of passing to occur will decrease anyway. The sessions are 20 minutes long. I have not a clue as to the expected lap times, I'll have to ask around on that one. I never timed myself on even the 1.6 or 2.3 mile tracks, so I dunno. I run between a 2:10-2:12 at Thunderhill, and it's a 3 mile track . . . so maybe a 3:30 or less would be decent? I guess we'll just have to find out.
BW