THSCC Forums

We need more stuff like that. Maybe something like...

"I was at this party with (insert name of overexposed celebrity of the moment) and he/she said something funny that made me think of how we can solve that wireless timer issue"

Oh, and I totally agree with the point that Joe was making.

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Richard Casto
1972 Porsche 914
2013 Honda Fit Sport
2015 Honda Fit EX
http://motorsport.zyyz.com
Money can't buy happiness, but somehow it's more comfortable to cry in a Porsche than a Kia.

Off topic but, doesn't heavy O2 concentration cause hyperventilation and accelerated heart rates?

timer content: I like it I've got a boombox at my parent's house. Next time i visit, I'll bring it down and would donate it to the club if that helps resolve the communications issue.

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www.ncvw.org
1993 VW Corrado VR6 - DSP15 (RIP)
1986 MB 190E 2.3L 16v - STX (SOLD)
1997 BMW M3 3.2L - BS for now

It can, but only if you suddenly get exposed to O2 after exercising hard. What triggers the "breathe, you dummy" response it the partial pressure of CO2 in the blood. Whether you're breathing 100%, 50% or 25% O2 doesn't have much of an effect on how much CO2 you're producing.

If you've been exercising hard in regular atmospheric air (which is mostly nitrogen) and you suddenly dump a bunch of O2 into your lungs, all that O2 will knock a bunch of CO2 off the hemoglobin, raising the ppCO2 in the blood and making you think you're not able to breathe, thus the hyperventilation.

Breath-hold divers sometimes experience the opposite effect when they hyperventilate to decrease their ppCO2. Because they've cleared a bunch of CO2 out of their lungs and blood, they don't feel as urgent a need to breathe when they start using up all their O2. What can happen is that they don't have as much of a warning that their ppO2 is low, and when the O2 is gone when they're 30 feet underwater they pass out and drown. This is why you should never hyperventilate when you snorkel.

What happens when you're punched in the stomach, spun around in circles, turned upside down, and forced to do a bong hit? You stand up and mutter

/Keanu Reeves/ "WHOA" /Keanu Reeves/

Then you feel all weird... Was it the punch, or the spinning?

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Beauty is in the eye of the beer holder.

From Timers to bong hits. We really are off topic now.

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George Bright Member # 141
One of the youngest of the old farts.
Yes I voted against you joining the club.

Silly boy, it was the weed.

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Has no responsibility whatsoever.

Wow, somehow I missed this whole thread till now.

First that statement is 100% not true, not even close. If anyone thinks back to the last several yrs at all of the events announces during all 4 run groups NEVER happened. Why, you ask? Because there was need of workers on the course to do actual work so that everyone else could actually make autox runs. There were announcers when there was an excess of workers.

Guess what the EXACT same thing happened last year when Ryan and I were worker coordinators. The most important thing is to have enough workers to cover the course. Then, and only then, an announcer as a worker position is used.

Sure an announcer is nice, but when the trade off is less workers on the course than needed, I'll pass. And I think everyone else here would make that same decison. Let's see get more runs in a shorter amount of time or hear someone call your times out and make jokes? Its a no brainer there.

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91 Jetta GLI STS/DSP 111
85 Porsche 944 ASP 11
http://www.blackforestindustries.com

wow, i may never jump from page one to page four again. (not). bong hits aside, i was working the course and a cone was missed by a long forgotten car and to my knowledge the dnf was not registered. my station buddy claimed he called it in twice but got no response. i'm guessing cobwebs, ghost in the machine?

also, toward the end of the event there were two cars off course and somehow cars were still being launched. at least thats how it looked to me. i wonder if a spotter and an announcer may not be needed.

Based upon what you are saying, my guess is that if you are working at a station and you are seeing problems, it is your responsability to make sure T&S hears about it. If you are calling in things on the radio and not getting a confirmation, then you should question the health of your radio. Maybe you can do a quick radio check, or have one of the people from your stations check with a next closest station to see if they can hear you. If not, have them call in for a new radio or something to that effect.

Same thing applies with having cars stopped on course with cars still launching. If you see something wrong, red flag from your station. You don't have to wait for someone to call for a red flag. IMHO even if we had a spotter at the bus, they are not going to be able to catch everything. That is what station workers are for.

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Richard Casto
1972 Porsche 914
2013 Honda Fit Sport
2015 Honda Fit EX
http://motorsport.zyyz.com
Money can't buy happiness, but somehow it's more comfortable to cry in a Porsche than a Kia.

unfortunately i was on the opposite side of the track with neither a flag or a radio. but yes i understand where you are coming from. the off track situations occured near the course end at least one station down from me. the lag between the off-track and the feedback to the starter was what concerned me. it was fourth heat and closing in on a very long day for everyone so that may have come in to play. i just wanted to bring this up for some feedback.

Further down the Buck Rogers highway, another way to accomplish this would be to set up wireless cellular access on the T&S laptop and send times as text messages to each driver's cell phone message queue via email, if they provided their number/address at registration. When I was doing builds I had my build machines send me status that way. No paper, and I think most folks have text-message capable cell phones.

There is one problem with this. A lot of our sites are remote and some cellular phone company's coverages suck in these areas. Laurinburg must have recently got a tower near by, for Verizon has never worked there before (at the airport that is) and now the signal is strong. - AB

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'14 Toyota Sequoia Platinum 4WD
Super Westerfield Bros - '93 Integra - LeChump Du Jour
STX 93 - Scion FR-S

They do make "portable" (as in on a trailer) cell towers for special events. I'm sure we could get all the various providers to drop them just for our events.

Seriously, except for the reception issue, I do like the text message idea. I have one of the Verizon PCMCIA cell data cards. Just recently got it. With an external antenna I was able to get great reception in lots of random places. Looking forward to having Internet access while on the road this racing season. Even looking into ways to have it automatically upload my GPS coordinates to a web server that will show the coordinates on a map (sort of a "where in the world is Donnie Barnes" kind of thing).

But then again, I'm just a little bit of a geek.


--Donnie