land-speed
[Top] [All Lists]

Re: New Car Procedures-Drivers

To: Dave Dahlgren <ddahlgren@snet.net>
Subject: Re: New Car Procedures-Drivers
From: William T Smith <WmTSmith@landracing.com>
Date: Sun, 30 Sep 2001 14:28:23 -0600 (MDT)
Bill, First of all let me say that I just completed my 
Rookie season. I think that if you had  Hi Speed exits 
like airports have high speed taxiway exits with a J 
shaped u turn as you got close to the return road. WOS 
had some Black Panels that let a driver know where he 
had to get to to "clear the course" these sure helped 
the drivers and the Marshals just where they were. WmTS

PS I sure liked the set up where you turned into the 
middle from either course if you had troubles. wmts


Quoting Dave Dahlgren <ddahlgren@snet.net>:

> When I stated the waits were long I hope no one took 
it like they weren't
> working their butt off! Everyone i see is working 
real hard to keep things
> moving and i am real sure I couldn't even begin to do 
a better or as good
> job as
> is being done. i was just stating things as i saw 
them. What i saw from my
> view
> of the event is it takes much longer for the course 
to clear than to do
> anything
> else. growth in LSR racing as i see it is a 2 edged 
sword, brings more
> people
> and interest and cuts down on the number of runs that 
can be made by an
> individual at a meet. Seems the way to cut down on 
the delays from clearing
> the
> course is in layout and education of the drivers 
along with some thought to
> what
> is the hardest thing to clean up that takes the 
longest to do. I am with
> Bryan
> on the glass thing, There have to be better 
alternatives to glass for use
> in
> racing and Lexan comes to mind. The right thickness i 
have no idea but i
> bet
> someone here does ( or a better material)! Maybe 
after some set speed
> require a
> composite for 'glass' and suitable straps especially 
in types of cars that
> have
> had problems of using it(breaking or blowing out).  I 
always though you
> ought to
> have windshield and rear window supports as a bare 
minimum and side straps
> as
> needed especially on cars that have no support around 
the edge of the
> glass.
> Turks Camaro is an example of what i mean. There is 
nothing holding the top
> edge
> of the glass in or the outside edges. not picking on 
him as he has never
> lost a
> window that i know of just a body style example.
> The thing to do is ask the course workers what they 
pick up the most of or
> what
> in their mind is the longest delay. If you do a 
little math and realize
> that if
> 30 seconds were saved clearing each car you have 
added 16 hours to the
> meet.
> Makes me think if return roads are an issue then 
maybe ask and see what the
> racers might want to be different if it gets them off 
the track 30 seconds
> sooner. None of this can come from working harder as 
everyone I am sure is
> at
> the limit now. it might come from working smarter 
though and not allowing
> things
> that have always failed in the past or making it 
easier to get off the
> course.
> the other thing is if the car is not running right at 
the 3 it is not going
> to
> clear out and magically run great at the 4 or 5. Turk 
and i had more than
> our
> fair share of issues with his car this year, but if 
it was not running
> right at
> the 1/4 we picked him up at the 3 and did not drone 
down the course going
> nowhere for another minute while everyone waited. 
That's a driver issue
> though
> and maybe everyone that drives there has to think 
that one over for
> themselves.
> Dave Dahlgren
>
> Bill McDowell wrote:
> >
> > Hi Guys,  this is my first post to the list.  I am 
the guy in the timing
> > tower that is trying to make the short course run 
as fast as safety will
> > allow.  I know some days you wait in long lines.  
After working in the
> tower
> > for 6 days, 12+ hours a day, a few things come to 
my mind about making
> the
> > line faster.  First, I recomend we have more 
turnouts available after the
> 3
> > mile marker if the salt is not smooth enough to 
turn out.  We had one at
> the
> > 2 3/4, and one at the 3 1/2,  but for some reason 
people liked to turn
> out
> > past the 4 mile marker. Most of these were not fast 
vehicles.  If drivers
> > would angle off the track, I can see from my 
position the track is clear
> and
> > can send another vehicle.  From the drivers 
perspective, are the turnouts
> > two sharp?  We waste alot of time waiting for cars 
to turnout and clear
> the
> > course.  If you are haveing a problem and need help 
or have posible left
> > parts on the course turn in toward the middle so we 
know it.  Many times
> the
> > drivers coast on the track untill they roll to a 
stop.  More so this year
> > than past years,  people were not ready when they 
got to the line??????
> just
> > what my starters tell me.  These may seem like 
little things to some, but
> > from my chair and what I do all week, it adds up to 
alot of time.  The
> good
> > thing was, we ran alot of runs, and had a safe 
meet.  Bill McD
>
> ///
> ///  land-speed@autox.team.net mailing list
> ///  To unsubscribe send a plain text message to 
majordomo@autox.team.net
> ///  with nothing in it but
> ///
> ///     unsubscribe land-speed
> ///
> ///  > ///

///
///  land-speed@autox.team.net mailing list
///  To unsubscribe send a plain text message to majordomo@autox.team.net
///  with nothing in it but
///
///     unsubscribe land-speed
///
///  or go to  http://www.team.net/cgi-bin/majorcool
///
///


<Prev in Thread] Current Thread [Next in Thread>