So we've had a couple issues at SCR events with course working and such. Nothing that was the end of the world, but a couple times it was enough that with one or two more mistakes it _could_ have been the end of someone's world... Course workers that get hit with cars typically end up dead or otherwise fairly well injured.
So I figured I'd start a discussion about "how to work the course" for autox.
First, my favorite rule, "Don't get hit". This sounds really simple and straightforward, but its sometimes more difficult it seems. There's a challenge to working course and getting cones back in place before the next car comes through and sometimes folks forget that getting in the way of the next car can have fatal consequences.
When you're working the course, first off make sure that you've got a safe "home position". This may or may not be where the cones and fire extinguisher are (though we try to make it so). You want that home position to ideally be on the inside of a corner and close enough that you don't have a long way to run to cones that are the most likely to get hit. You also want to be out of the driver's view if at all possible, so that you don't screw them up. If the course is such that you need to stand on the outside of a corner (our Sunday event's far right hand corner was a good example of this) to get to a frequently hit cone quickly, make damn sure you're _well_ back. A car going even 40mph can slide a long freaking way, and people get confused and drive off course at speed sometimes.
There's another reason to not take chances as well... Its not a safety thing (as much), but if you're pushing the interval to the next car to get the cone back in place, the driver of that next car will see you in their (future) path. Even if you're able to get away quickly, that driver has to decide what to do... And that can screw up their run. This happened to me personally 2nd heat in the morning on Sunday. I ended up keeping going, but during that momentary decision point, I lifted a bit and my attention shifted. 1st run, so whatever, but drivers shouldn't be needing to make judgement calls like this while driving.
2nd, red flags... At the meeting, I said that the flag should be in the hand of someone at the corner station. Which was good as far as it went, but I should have said some more. You need to hold the red flag. You also need to keep it furled up... NOT rolled up, just gathered up under a finger so that you can wave it quickly if you need to, without unrolling it. Waving a red stick at people isn't as effective as waving a flag... Keep that furled flag down by your leg so that drivers don't mistakenly think the red flag is being shown to them. Finally, if you _do_ decide to red flag someone, WAVE THE DAMN FLAG LIKE YOU MEAN IT! This past weekend I watched someone decide they should redflag a car, then sorta willy wag the flag around. Predictably, the driver of the car never saw the flag. If you decide to bring out the red, DO IT. Wave the flag vigorously, move so that you're in the field of view of the driver (NOT IN THEIR PATH HOWEVER!), etc. If you're working out there without a redflag, if you or others decide to stop a car, wave your arms up and down and get the driver's attention.
As a driver, if you think you see a red flag being waved at you, even if its not particularly clear, STOP. If you haven't already gone off course or whatever you'll get a re-run. Its not worth taking a chance.
Note, however, that if you try to play the "safety" card to get a rerun on a run that you've hit a cone on or otherwise made a mistake (but stayed on course)... I'll take a very dim view. At best it'll be unsportsmanlike conduct and you'll probably be done for the day. In questionable circumstances, we absolutely want you to be as safe as you can be. Abuse of that won't be tolerated however.
Hopefully that covers at least the start of the safety stuff. If anyone else has more, speak up!
Some other corner working things...
Watch the cones, not the cars. Its easy to follow the car around the course and miss the cone they got with the opposite rear corner. As the car goes by, glance quickly at each cone to verify that its not moving.
If a cone moves _at all_ you need to go make sure its still centered in the box. It may or may not be a penalty, but the next driver through deserves to have that cone centered in its box. And you can't tell if it is from 20' away.
When a car really pastes a cone, take one with you when you run over there. Sometimes the cone gets caught in the car, sometimes its just punted fairly far away. You can often run over, put a new cone in the box, grab the punted cone, and get to a safe place (which may not be your home) prior to the next car arriving much faster than you could have run to get the punted cone and gotten it back into the box and gotten back home. Teamwork helps here too. One person goes after the punted cone, one takes a new cone to the box.
Getting out to your workstation... At SCR we run then work. That means that people who ran toward the end of their heat may not have time to get their car back to their paddock spot and get back up to check in for work before we'd otherwise be ready to start running the next heat. This isn't the end of the world, we realize that you need some time (hopefully not too much though) to get this done. However, we'll be starting the next heat as soon as we have cars ready to go and enough workers out there to police the course. That means that the folks checking in later may need to work their way out to their station while cars are running. This is completely safe to do, provided you pay attention. Worker changes "on the fly" are the norm at bigger events, and we'll be doing this more and more as our attendence stays high and we continue to try and get six runs and hopefully fun runs. You probably won't be able to just walk straight to your station, you may need to walk on the edge of the lot, pick a proper time to cross over, etc.
Finally, who has to work... This one is really simple. Everyone who competes has to work. Some folks work tech prior to the event. Board members like Chris or Ricky work during the entire event, before it, and after it. But most folks work their assigned work heat. Missing a work assignment without prior permission from me or Manfred (the assistent chair) is grounds for DQ on the first offense and you won't be welcome to run with us for at least a few events if it happens again. We're not trying to be dicks about this though... If you have something happen that means you'll have trouble with your work assignement, if you have a physical problem that means you'd have trouble chasing cones, etc. just see me (preferably) or Manfred (if I'm not available) and we'll figure something out. But, if you just decide its too hot to be out there running around after cones, DQ at a minimum.
Anyone else got stuff on this? Like everything in autox, there's a ton of details and minor things that together make up being a good course worker. We don't have time to cover it all at a driver's meeting, so I figured starting some discussion wouldn't be a bad thing!
Mark SCR Solo Chair
Daewoo:
yes SIR!
I often work as the starter. That leaves me partly responsible for deciding when a car is safe to take off onto the course. SCR events often start with a Slalom, which are prone to cone bashing. That said, I notice that sometimes a worker will haul tail to get a cone back in to its spot, then lally back over to the station. Maybe out there they feel like they are far enough away, but from where I, or the van, or any other starter for that matter, it can be difficult to judge where you are in relation to the cars projected path.
So please, not only do we need to get the cone fast, but get hte hell out of the way, far and clear too.
And always, always, signal if a cone is ok or not ok. Its a pain trying to find out if the cone was merely nudged or actually out of the box. Let the spotter know by giving the appropriate signal either way.
Andy Just a guy
D.R.:
Another thing from working grid: Do what the gridworkers tell you! I had sooo many problems on Saturday, mostly because of the fast finish and people pausing to do whatever. GET OUT OF THE CHUTE. I don't want to mention anyone but there were a few drivers who would habitually stop and talk to friends and discuss the course, all the while cars are backing up. Then, by the time they get moving I'm completely backed up with getting people in and out of spaces and they have to hold the start.
So, do what the gridworker tells you to, and promptly. BUT, also check around to make sure it's safe.
-D.R. Cat Herder
marka:
--- Quote --- Another thing from working grid: Do what the gridworkers tell you! I had sooo many problems on Saturday, mostly because of the fast finish and people pausing to do whatever. GET OUT OF THE CHUTE. I don't want to mention anyone but there were a few drivers who would habitually stop and talk to friends and discuss the course, all the while cars are backing up. Then, by the time they get moving I'm completely backed up with getting people in and out of spaces and they have to hold the start.
So, do what the gridworker tells you to, and promptly. BUT, also check around to make sure it's safe.
-D.R. Cat Herder --- End quote --- Howdy,
:-)
One of the things that will be changing for future events is that grid will be moved back a bit more from the course and there will be a full fourty spaces... With the new fuel pumps, we've been trying to squeeze it in and it just isn't work. At times you've got cars trying to back into their gridspots, cars coming off a run, cars coming into the site, cars leaving the site, and cars heading out to the course.
Having grid jammed up against the course & particularly the access road/VDA corner isn't helping. We'll be changing this in the future.
Mark
Daewoo:
It was mentioned, but nothing really came of it:
Could BeaveRun enforce the concept of using the dirt road along Wilsons Circ for general site access. Now, if The carters are running, its only giving one persons problems to another, but on days like saturday, it would have eliminated the in/out traffic problem if there werent RV's and whatnot on the grid.