Since by the time of the morning drivers meeting it was clear that the event
was going to be run in fairly extreme conditions, basically standing and
sheeting water over all the course (and course lines that washed away
immediately), the need and procedures for extra caution in both driving and
working were covered in detail at the meeting. We were all very happy with
the overall performance of everyone. We did learn after the fact of one
oversight that needs to be looked at although fortunately no harm came of
it. For those of you who were not there, the event was run in sometimes
ankle deep water, even through the reg. table; No course lines or cone boxes
survived, and routine tasks like tech and posting fell victim to pens that
would not work in the wet. It was terrific!
Dennis, Natalie and I talked about it and have decided that we would extend
our gratitude to all of the people who pitched in, and not single out
individuals because we though we might inadvertently omit out some one, and
we absolutely did not want that to happen. Under a constant downpour from
setup until the end of group four, people just pitched in to make it a
success. If we weren't all so cold, it would have been genuinely funny, but
people worked multiple groups, did three jobs, whatever was required to make
it happen. We sent the first car to the line at 8:55, did morning fun runs
(and by the way we couldn't believe any sane person would want to do that in
those conditions but they did), had time to rechalk the cones, sent the
afternoon groups out at 1:00 sharp and did an hour of very well attended
funs before pickup. Special thanks to the new comers in their discharge of
work assignments, particularly where one group had almost no experienced
help either on course or in the trailer. We don't know the count for
attendance yet (or the amount of rainfall) but both were more than we
expected. What a group!
Thanks to all
----- Original Message -----
From: "Jerry Mouton" <jerry@moutons.org>
To: "Chuck Jones" <chuck.jones@oracle.com>; "Bay_Area_Autocross_List"
<ba-autox@autox.team.net>
Sent: Monday, March 18, 2002 10:33 AM
Subject: Re: Red Flag at Oakland event, 3/17
> Hi, Chuck,
>
> I was not there, but you have described a perfect
> red flag response.
>
> I am not sure what you mean by "track workers pulled out red flags"
> vs "course workers to pull out the flags" -- I am not aware of
> these two sets of workers??
>
> But from your description there was no dangerous situation -- the
> second car finisned a safe distance away from the first,
> delayed car. The flaggers showed excellent judgement!
>
> A car spinning out or stopping on course is not in and of itself
> a reason to throw the red flag. BUT the judgement that an oncoming
> car will get close enough to a slowed or stopped car to make
> a dangerous situation REQUIRES a red flag to be thrown.
>
> Flaggers must use good judgement and leave a wide margin
> of safety for cars and other course workers. If a car spins and
> another car is coming, red flag holders must get ready and watch
> the developing situation carefully, and move to a spot where their
> flag can be seen -- but not throw the flag while they see no danger
> will develop. As soon as things get too tight, they must get the
> following car or cars stopped. And if the third car is too far away
> to be involved, and things appear to be clearing up quickly, there's
> no reason to stop car 3 until they get close. Note that the flaggers
> have to be awake and paying attention to everything on the course
> -- this is always required for safety!
>
> It's the judgement that matters, and safety is the rule. So, if red flags
> had been thrown immediately for every running car, but there turned
> out to have been plenty of time -- it's not wrong. The judgement
> of the flaggers is always OK.
>
> But many times flaggers can see that the situation will clear up fine,
> and let it go safely. This is great.
>
> Many times, flaggers will red flag the whole course when a car
> spins and takes out 10 cones. If the offending car is out of
> the way, this is generally a bad call. This is not a dangerous
> situation.
>
> Courseworkers are
> (should be) watching traffic and get well clear when a car is
> coming, whether or not all the cones are back. A car on
> track may be in the middle of the run of the century, and the
> missing cones may not be critical to the course. The driver
> can make a call about a downed cone, and stop and claim a rerun
> if they want. (They have to judge whether the cone might be called
> against them, of course -- this is going through the driver's head
> -- but it should not be a concern of the flagger)
> The courseworkers can replace more cones
> between cars. Don't red flag for downed cones... unless you
> judge there is a dangerous situation developing.
>
> Related item: If you stop for a downed cone, or you're red flagged,
> hot foot it through the course (safely) after you get started again,
> watching carefully for courseworkers and other cars.
> Not racing, but driving smartly -- otherwise you may cause a red
> flag for the car behind you, or even wind up in a dangerous
> situation yourself, and further delay the event unnecessarily.
>
> Jerry
>
> Jerry Mouton mailto:jerry@moutons.org Laissez les bons temps
rouler!
>
> ----- Original Message -----
> From: "Chuck Jones" <chuck.jones@oracle.com>
> To: <Webmaster@sfr-solo2.org>
> Sent: Monday, March 18, 2002 9:44 AM
> Subject: Red Flag at Oakland event, 3/17
>
>
> > Hi,
> > I am a newcomer to this activity, and expect to become a member and
> > participate in the events. I went to the Sunday event (March 17) at the
> > Oakland Coliseum. Even though the race was more like water skiing
> > because of the rain, I was intrigued and enjoyed myself.
> > I do have a question for you. There were typically 2-3 cars on the
> > track at any one time. In the third group, a car spun out about mid way
> > and took its time getting back on track. There was another car behind
> > it. Two track workers pulled out red flags, at which point I expected
> > all the course workers to pull out the flags, and all cars to stop.
> > However, neither of those things happened - Both cars continued on, and
> > the red flags went away. The second car finished close to the stalled
> > car, but not dangerously so.
> > One of the reasons I am attracted to autocross is the safety
> > provided by one car on (a section of) the track at a time. I was
> > watching by myself from the other side of the track, so I couldn't hear
> > any comments from the announcer. What should I have expected to see?
> > I know you are probably not the person to answer this, but I'd like
> > to know...
> >
> > Thanks
> >
> > Chuck
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