NCCAR lessons learned

Todd Breakey · **Posted:** Mon May 23, 2011 10:01 pm

I think Mary (Thanks for the compliment Mary) hit the nail on the head regarding what is called in and what is recorded. We could not see the whole course (we usually can't, so no big deal there) and have to rely on course workers for everything. If it is called in wrong, it gets written down wrong and we have nothing that we can use to correct the error definatively.

As for the 2 off in the pivot not being a penalty thing, this is the first I have heard of it and I worked heats 1 & 4. That is something that HAS to be told to T&S and the workers. I know for a fact that someone called in asking if 2 off was a DNF and I responded yes. I'm sorry for the person who got the DNF that wasn't warranted.

I did not like the remote pit area at all. I also didn't like the fact that we didn't have a set of remote speakers out there so people could hear any announcements that were made.

I do like the spectator area. I wish I could have checked out the view from up there.

Next time we go to NCCAR, we need to plan for flow better. I didn't feel like the drive from the course back to grid was very intuitive. I can't imagine what a complete novice thought. Signs would help this situation.

We need announcers. I know we were short on people, but we need announcers. The T&S workers can't be responsible for making announcements while trying to catch car numbers, cone calls, false DNFs and times.

JamesShort · **Posted:** Tue May 24, 2011 9:43 am

Hey Todd, thanks for the feedback and for working T&S so much.

Again, we definitely need better communication regarding this 2 off/DNF thing if we were to do it again. It needs to be mentioned:

A) at the drivers meeting
B) during the novice walk
C) by the WCs as they send workers to said station
D) possibly on the PA between heats to double remind people
E) to the T&S workers as well

To do so, the GM/ECs etc just need to get all the parties on board with this, ie telling the novice coordinators and WCs etc.

Unfortunately we can't do anything about the location of the pit area at NCCAR, but we can try to see if we can get a speaker setup in the pits (assuming our current technology can broadcast that far) and/or go for FM transmission and let people know at the drivers meeting what station to tune into.

We'll try to get an announcer for every heat or so (ie ECs or non-GM VPs or Marcus

).

JenniferBedell · **Posted:** Tue May 24, 2011 10:34 am

+1 on signage at future events -- something simple, like "Grid -->" is worth a thousand words -- and some way to communicate announcements to the pits. I think Steve and I both totally forgot about having an announcer in all the chaos, and though we were a little thin on workers, we probably could have pulled one person for that each heat. I'll make sure we think of it next time.

Steven Carter · **Posted:** Tue May 24, 2011 12:06 pm

I did not forget about an announcer, but gave up after asking (and being turned down) by 5 or so people. I could have done it if there was a wireless microphone at the WC table.

JamesMilko · **Posted:** Tue May 24, 2011 1:16 pm

What about a chalk board to hang near the WC station that has important info like rule changes on it?

JamesShort · **Posted:** Tue May 24, 2011 1:36 pm

JamesMilko wrote:

What about a chalk board to hang near the WC station that has important info like rule changes on it?

Obviously you weren't there on Sunday or you would have seen Steve/Jennifer's blingy board

.

Les Davis · **Joined:** Fri Aug 29, 2003 2:04 pm **Posts:** 2059

I too would like to thank Mary and Todd for their extra efforts this weekend, they really stepped up and worked their butts off filling in for folks that missed the event.

I take responsibility for the two off/not dnf issue, I really should have made sure that everyone knew about that decision, I think I told Steven, but I don't think I told Todd and I should have.

I would really like to see us have announcers all the time at the events though I realize that getting volunteers could be difficult. Maybe the idea of off duty AXVPs taking that role is a good one, also getting a wireless microphone for the WCs is a good idea. A second wireless speaker would be really nice to have at NCCAR to go to the pit area. All in all I'm fairly happy with how things went in general and I'm glad that the wireless display actually worked. There are a few weird issues with it like the 1th, 2th, and 3th, maybe I can get that worked out with the axware guy.

Matt McGrain · **Posted:** Tue May 24, 2011 4:14 pm

Les Davis wrote:

I would really like to see us have announcers all the time at the events though I realize that getting volunteers could be difficult. Maybe the idea of off duty AXVPs taking that role is a good one. All in all I'm fairly happy with how things went in general and I'm glad that the wireless display actually worked.

I'm down to announce if need be, especially with the cool new timer that will be showing a few things other than just the current time.

With the challenges like the new bus and the myriad of electrical stuff recently changed over, the fact that we made a seamless transition from the EV Challenge to a classic autocross with 5 runs and almost 100 cars, and the heat, I'd say it went pretty smooth.

Neal Harrington · **Joined:** Thu Sep 04, 2003 4:29 pm **Posts:** 106

I would like to add one thing to the conversation. We need to work out something with the NCCAR folks concerning waiver signing. I held my tongue for 1 1/2 hours while working the gate, but their waiver requirements are ridiculous. At the very least, we should not bother with our waivers / arm bands next time if they insist on using theirs.

Steven Carter · **Posted:** Tue May 24, 2011 10:17 pm

Neal Harrington wrote:

I would like to add one thing to the conversation. We need to work out something with the NCCAR folks concerning waiver signing. I held my tongue for 1 1/2 hours while working the gate, but their waiver requirements are ridiculous. At the very least, we should not bother with our waivers / arm bands next time if they insist on using theirs.

Yeah...I worked early gate and felt a little foolish double-banding people. I figured better safe than sorry until something got sorted out between Prez Rodney and Simon et al.

RodneyWright · **Posted:** Tue May 24, 2011 10:21 pm

Steven Carter wrote:

Neal Harrington wrote:

I would like to add one thing to the conversation. We need to work out something with the NCCAR folks concerning waiver signing. I held my tongue for 1 1/2 hours while working the gate, but their waiver requirements are ridiculous. At the very least, we should not bother with our waivers / arm bands next time if they insist on using theirs.

Yeah...I worked early gate and felt a little foolish double-banding people. I figured better safe than sorry until something got sorted out between Prez Rodney and Simon et al.

I knew this would be an issue. This may just be a fact of life while we drive at NCCAR. Maybe we can agree on one form if our insurance co would agree to it. Need to engage Bowie for the details. Things may be different if we run a solo event. Stayed tuned on this one.....

Arthur McDonald · **Joined:** Fri Aug 29, 2003 1:54 am **Posts:** 2052

Regarding the hill on the return road for the EV Challenge cars - we should have put a timer on it and scored the teams on how fast they could push their cars up the hill. Sort of like the NASCAR pit crew competitions

Was the pivot THAT tight? Tighter than the taxiway at Danville? I'm lucky that my current auto/x car has a tight turning radius. If I'd been driving my old car, assuming I could whoa it down for the pivot, I might have had to start with 2 off on entry so that I would only have 2 off on the exit.

Super job on the bus! The A/C was fabulous, and though we left it idling most of the day, it was quiet and didn't stink. Only 2 complaints about the bus:
1) Since the floor in the new bus is higher than in the old, I couldn't see the course (through the windshield) unless I laid my head down on the table, and then I fell asleep. So I didn't notice the missing finish signal for a while -- hope those 5 drivers didn't mind getting reruns. I do like to be able to see the course while I'm working the computer, to double check who is on course and make sense of what we're hearing on the radio. (I'm not instrument rated yet.)
2) We need to add a step to the back bumper. The bumper itself only sticks out about 2" from the body, so while you can get the edge of your foot on it, you really have to take a big step down from the doorway to the hitch when exiting. Someone's going to take a tumble one of these days, and falling onto the trailer's hitch/tongue would make a mark.

Chuck Branscomb · **Posted:** Wed May 25, 2011 8:28 am

Arthur McDonald wrote:

Was the pivot THAT tight? Tighter than the taxiway at Danville? I'm lucky that my current auto/x car has a tight turning radius. If I'd been driving my old car, assuming I could whoa it down for the pivot, I might have had to start with 2 off on entry so that I would only have 2 off on the exit.

Art, I'm confident you could have executed a perfect Scandinavian flick, had your inside front tire speed near zero on the back side of that cone and been out of there with a flurry of rear tire smoke. Forget that pansy drive in the grass business.

steve remchak · **Posted:** Wed May 25, 2011 9:32 am

Neal Harrington wrote:

I would like to add one thing to the conversation. We need to work out something with the NCCAR folks concerning waiver signing. I held my tongue for 1 1/2 hours while working the gate, but their waiver requirements are ridiculous. At the very least, we should not bother with our waivers / arm bands next time if they insist on using theirs.

most track events include multiple waivers and multiple wrist bands. nothing new here.

Keith Strassel · **Posted:** Thu May 26, 2011 10:55 pm

Steven Carter wrote:

I don't know if it's possible, but if there is going to be continued "remote setup" for the WC table, (which I think worked pretty well, as opposed to having it by the bus) perhaps the WC could have a wireless microphone to announce upcoming worker shift changes? I felt like it was too intrusive to have to radio into the bus to have them announce worker changes.

This is doable depending on the distance from the bus. It would have been too far this weekend.

Steven Carter wrote:

Definitely need some remote PA to the pits, since there is no line-of-sight to the VDA.

We decided to set up the remote PA for the spectator area with the idea that most folks can tune in their cars. We are always broadcasting though the freq. is site dependent. I'll do a better job of making sure that it gets announced at the driver's meeting.

The wireless display rocked! I really like the xtra info like place and fastest time.

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