Cal Club Autocross Forums

Following up on Christine's post, If you have a problem with a cone call or DNF checking with timing is the proper thing to do assuming there is somone other than a worker in there to answer your question. Please do not talk to the computer operator or other workers. There is usually somone overseeing timing like me, Christine, Mari or a couple of others who will try to find the answer. But if we are in the middle of a lot of penalty calls we may not be able to address it right away.

We have radioed out for clairification at times. We have even given provisional reruns at times and talked to course workers after the group to straighten it out. All depends on the circumstances. Even though the course logs are considered the final word, they can be over ridden. Things like video proof can do it. We know it can be important, especially near the end of the year in a hottly contested class. Bottom line is it's an imperfect system and we do the best we can to be fair. I have no problem with people questioning a call, just be a little patient and understanding of our job in T&S.

Stop, stick your arm up - tell radio guy you stopped because of the worker and ask him/her to call you in for a rerun. Just like stopping for a downed cone really.

Got it. So I just need to be more obvious in what I'm doing. Thanks.

And do not continue around the course at full speed, go ~3/4 speed, but not so slow that the person behind you catches up to you and gets red flagged

Max Hayter wrote:

Kurt Rahn wrote:Since we're talking about safety issues, I have a question. On my second X run, I got to the end of station 1/start of station 2 (the tight increasing radius corner at the top of the course) and saw a worker frantically running off the course to get out of my way, but no one red-flagged me. I slowed WAY down and stayed slow until about halfway through the following slalom, then I kept going at full speed through the remainder of the course, hitting a couple cones on the first lane change. When I finished my run, I was told I double coned, but that nobody had seen me slow down, so I wouldn't get a re-run. I didn't care much at the time, since it was just X-runs.

If this happens during my competition runs when it counts, I need to know what to do to. If I slow for a worker on the course (or one that's too close for safety), how do I indicate that that's what I've done, so I get a re-run? Or should I just barrel through until I see a red flag waving?

Stop, stick your arm up - tell radio guy you stopped because of the worker and ask him/her to call you in for a rerun. Just like stopping for a downed cone really.

No reasonable person could refuse your request!

And don't go back up to full speed and hit cones afterwords or they will call that a competition run. Proceed to the finish quickly enough not to slow others, but not at race pace.

When stopping for anything you always need to come to a complete stop and make sure the workers see that you came to a stop.

Got it. That was the first time I'd been confronted with a situation where I felt like I had to slow down (other than a couple times when my car felt I should slow down and let me know by swapping ends)

... and then move briskly away so that you don't cause a Re-Run for someone else.

Following up on Christine's post, If you have a problem with a cone call or DNF checking with timing is the proper thing to do assuming there is somone other than a worker in there to answer your question

What do you do when the 1st time you see a DNF is after final results are posted after the event is over and you have no clue why you got the DNF and just want to learn from your mistake? It doesn't change my poor performance but I really would like to know where I went outside the course....

Steve G

Steve Glusman wrote:

Following up on Christine's post, If you have a problem with a cone call or DNF checking with timing is the proper thing to do assuming there is somone other than a worker in there to answer your question

What do you do when the 1st time you see a DNF is after final results are posted after the event is over and you have no clue why you got the DNF and just want to learn from your mistake? It doesn't change my poor performance but I really would like to know where I went outside the course....

Steve G

The DNF calls and other announcements are not official and are sometimes wrong. If you have a spotter to watch you it will help.

Walk more next time. Take notice of details. Look ahead as you walk. Touch the cones that you need to look for.
I DNFed 3 runs at one SD event in 2004 (I rushed my walk and the layout was poor with no chalk). After that I never DNFed a run without knowing why. I am not sure I have DNFed at a Championship in the past 4 years and I don’t hit that many cones. It is all in the walk. Now I need to drive better.

Not that we could do it at our events ... but at Nationals, don't they post the results of every run "right away," so you can check them before you run again ... in case you had a DNF that you weren't aware of?

The yellow sheets in the background?

Mako Koiwai wrote:Not that we could do it at our events ... but at Nationals, don't they post the results of every run "right away," so you can check them before you run again ... in case you had a DNF that you weren't aware of?

The yellow sheets in the background?

Yes they do. All the cones are logged too.
At the El Toro Divisional WE could not do it because the computer was messed up (lack of power I think).

Kurt Rahn wrote:Since we're talking about safety issues, I have a question. On my second X run, I got to the end of station 1/start of station 2 (the tight increasing radius corner at the top of the course) and saw a worker frantically running off the course to get out of my way, but no one red-flagged me. I slowed WAY down and stayed slow until about halfway through the following slalom, then I kept going at full speed through the remainder of the course, hitting a couple cones on the first lane change. When I finished my run, I was told I double coned, but that nobody had seen me slow down, so I wouldn't get a re-run. I didn't care much at the time, since it was just X-runs.

If this happens during my competition runs when it counts, I need to know what to do to. If I slow for a worker on the course (or one that's too close for safety), how do I indicate that that's what I've done, so I get a re-run? Or should I just barrel through until I see a red flag waving?

I must admit that this same thing happened to the blue corvette while I was at station 1. I started flagging him right outside of the slalom but I think I was out of his view and so I ran across to flag him while he came around the sweeper but my radio guy called me off... my back was to the course workers so I assumed that they had cleared and put the flag down. However I knew they could not have possibly picked up all those cones in such a short time. Sure enough the vette had to slam on it's brakes to avoid hitting the workers.

When I looked over at the radio guy he said "sorry, that guy has had to do so many reruns and I thought he could make it"

I made a big mistake not continuing to flag him. And I think for anyone out there, it's better to flag someone and let them be upset about doing a rerun than the alternative...

Jake Fazeli wrote:

Kurt Rahn wrote:Since we're talking about safety issues, I have a question. On my second X run, I got to the end of station 1/start of station 2 (the tight increasing radius corner at the top of the course) and saw a worker frantically running off the course to get out of my way, but no one red-flagged me. I slowed WAY down and stayed slow until about halfway through the following slalom, then I kept going at full speed through the remainder of the course, hitting a couple cones on the first lane change. When I finished my run, I was told I double coned, but that nobody had seen me slow down, so I wouldn't get a re-run. I didn't care much at the time, since it was just X-runs.

If this happens during my competition runs when it counts, I need to know what to do to. If I slow for a worker on the course (or one that's too close for safety), how do I indicate that that's what I've done, so I get a re-run? Or should I just barrel through until I see a red flag waving?

I must admit that this same thing happened to the blue corvette while I was at station 1. I started flagging him right outside of the slalom but I think I was out of his view and so I ran across to flag him while he came around the sweeper but my radio guy called me off... my back was to the course workers so I assumed that they had cleared and put the flag down. However I knew they could not have possibly picked up all those cones in such a short time. Sure enough the vette had to slam on it's brakes to avoid hitting the workers.

When I looked over at the radio guy he said "sorry, that guy has had to do so many reruns and I thought he could make it"

I made a big mistake not continuing to flag him. And I think for anyone out there, it's better to flag someone and let them be upset about doing a rerun than the alternative...

One time in SD Kathy did not red flag a sports racer that nearly ran me over. We were both working in station two. She had the flag in her hand and I was setting up about 7 cones in a box just after an open area. I am not sure if she was trying to kill me or if she was just stunned. She froze as the car flew past her and then toward me (I was about 300 feet from Kathy yelling RED FLAG!!!!!!!!!!!). I was working radio and shagging cones (calling in the cones and setting them up at the same time). I noticed that the sports racer was heading at me and it was moving at about 75MPH. I heaved some cones in the air as I ran. The driver hit the braaks and missed me but went off into the marbles. The starter did not look ahead and just sent the sports racer out and then another car. Kathy told me that she did not use the flag because someone told her not to. Pay attention to the downed cones in the next section and use the flags!

Thanks Doug... the car was working very well! It was one of those situations where the car and the driver both showed up on the same day.

Someone else that drove very well was Aaron Goldsmith. He was in Richard Jung's Evo for the first time ever, and kicked butt on the whole STU class. His driving has come a long way this year. Maybe he would be a good candidate for "most Improved " for the year.

Yes Aaron scared us at some ProSolos this year too.

I think he needs to run PAX next year, he was 5th on a semi-wet surface.;) I had to do X-runs in a dry run group to redeem myself!

We need to find Aaron a full time national level co-drive again. He's proving himself as a driver. He can carry his weight as a teammate. And he's a nice guy.


I'll ignore the fact that all moderators are.......