In my race car, I rotated all the gauges so that the needles are
all pointing straight up when their readings are 'normal.' You don't
have to think about values, it just takes a glance to notice if anything
has deviated from the 12 o'clock position. I also have a light for
oil pressure set at 15 psi, and a rev limiter.
When I've autocrossed my street car, I almost never get a chance to
look at gauges. I'm way too busy trying to avoid cones!
Happy Roadstering,
--
Chris Coker
69 1600 SPL311-24529 <http://members.home.net/cfcoker/roadster.html>
6? 1600 GP Race Car <http://members.home.net/cfcoker/racecar.html>
Royal Oak, MI
> From: Ronnie Day <ronday@home.com>
> Gotta disagree, to an extent anyway. As Fred already mentioned, in
> competition and especially in auto-x things happen so quickly and your
> attention is focused so intently outside the car, you have little if any
> time to read gauges. You can glance to see where the needles are, but
> digesting the readings usually doesn't happen.
>
> You may have heard the term "in the green". It's an aviation term that
> means that critical engine gauge readings are within normal operating
> range, not too high nor too low. In addition to numerals around a gauge,
> colored arcs were used divide the gauge face. Low range is usually
> yellow, normal range green (hence the term), and red for over. You'll
> often see race cars with marks or pieces of tape next to a gauge face to
> identify the low and high ends of the normal range, and it's pretty much
> accepted practice to mount a tach so that your shift point is at the 12
> o'clock position. All of this goes to being able to glance at the
> position of a needle not to read the gauge, but just to make sure the
> needles are they should be.
>
> Having gone through all of that, I'll still probably be using a BIG light
> and maybe a buzzer set for the shift point and at least a BIG light set
> for around 15 psi for low oil pressure, particularly for auto crossing.
> If I'm turning 6K to 7K and the low oil pressure light comes on, I hope
> I'll have enough presence of mind to hit the kill switch in as hurry.
>
> FWIW, Ron
>
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> Ronnie Day
> ronday@home.com
> Dallas/Ft. Worth
> '71 510 2-dr (Prepared Class Autocrosser)
> '73 510 2-dr (Street Toy)
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