Mud Run - Bus Cone Cleaning

Charlie Guthrie · **Joined:** Thu Aug 28, 2003 8:14 pm **Posts:** 832

Hey guys, we had a blast running at Wilson. The good news is that they didn't cancel the event due to muddy conditions. The bad news is that there are a lot of muddy cones that went back into the trailer. We need to develop a system to knock the mud off of cones before we put them back in the trailer (whenever possible). To be good stewards of the club equipment we need to be mindful of the dirt that we put in the trailer.
You may have noticed that the trailer doors kept being closed during the event (I'm guilty of closing them). This is due to the amount of dirt that we collected at Fayetteville by running the event with the doors open. I had to attack the trailer and bus with a leaf blower at home before taking it back. We need to come up with a good system of picking up the course and keeping dirt out of the trailer. I wouldn't mind some brainstorming thoughts here to develop a system that works. In our defense, we used to have blue-base cones that were only for rallycross, but those got intermingled when all of our cones were used for a big event (Street Survival as I recall).

I would be happy to host a work day where we take the bus to a local high pressure self-serve car wash and do some serious cone cleaning and separating. (Volunteers from the autocross folks would be welcomed to help re-segregate the rally cones.)
Enough from me.... now your turn to offer solutions. How can we make this marriage work (RallyCross & AutoCross).

I know,....we use the "excess cash" from the track program to hire a housekeeper and bus keeper.
Charlie G

Brett_Murphy · **Joined:** Thu Jan 12, 2012 2:02 pm **Posts:** 355

I tried dropping the cones to knock the mud off, then slamming some of them fairly hard onto the ground. That Wilson mud is sticky when it dries.

I had to pressure wash my wheels to get it out of there, too. The regular garden hose was taking too long.

I think the first step of keeping mud creep to a minimum would be not to stack the really muddy cones with some of the cleaner, just dusty ones. That way, we can deal with the few that really need attention instead of getting mud all up inside the cones as well as on the outside.

We could also hit a segment of the cones with some sort of marking paint and reclaim them as rallycross-only, maybe?

MikeWhitney · **Joined:** Wed Aug 20, 2003 9:15 pm **Posts:** 4724

I'll be picking up the bus this Thursday for the Street Survival setup on Fri.

I'd be happy to host a mini bus day at my place Thursday afternoon starting at say 3pm. We can work as late as needed, I've got spotlights.

I have a big honking pressure washer we can use, but getting to cleaning the cones would require enough manpower available. Else, we'll just plan on a quick organization and sweepout of the bus and trailer to make it presentable at the event.

Volunteers for 3+ pm Thu?

Charlie Guthrie · **Joined:** Thu Aug 28, 2003 8:14 pm **Posts:** 832

Brett said:

Quote:

We could also hit a segment of the cones with some sort of marking paint and reclaim them as rallycross-only, maybe?

Hey that's a great idea Brett.... Note to all, the cones with the blue paint on the base are rallycross cones.

Just poking fun Brett; we did mark the rallycross cones with blue paint. Circumstances just wound up with them getting mixed. Keeping them separated is tough when the club uses all of the cones for big events like Electric Vehicle Challenge and Street Survival.

By the way, congratulations on your placing this weekend; way to make a Forrester go.
Charlie G

Pete Guthrie · **Posted:** Tue Oct 22, 2013 11:36 am

My pupil in the red outbakc beat me! I guess between my showing him around, and dad instructing on the day b4, he is fast.Also, my fathers student the silver wrx driver.. He sound sreal into the whole meeting, party, rally cross scene. He had never done anything before, so he jumped in 2 the deep end.. Decided he liked it, and will be bakc in NOV sounds like. I think we have some more rallycrossers now. I think next year is gonna be good.

Charlie Guthrie · **Joined:** Thu Aug 28, 2003 8:14 pm **Posts:** 832

Pete and I will make it. Don't know if I can get there much before 5:00, but we can be the second shift if you get called in , Mike.
Charlie G

Pete Guthrie · **Posted:** Tue Oct 22, 2013 9:07 pm

Sounds like a plan. I got it muddy, I gotta clean it too. Dunno what car I am showing up in, but I will be there anyhow.

Scott Johnson · **Posted:** Wed Oct 23, 2013 6:24 pm

Maybe the Rallycross program need to buy a different trailer and dedicated equipment?

Charlie Guthrie · **Joined:** Thu Aug 28, 2003 8:14 pm **Posts:** 832

Scott posted:

Quote:

Maybe the Rallycross program need to buy a different trailer and dedicated equipment?

I hereby nominate Scott for the drunk poster position :lol:

Scott that is obviously not an option at the current participation levels. The recession and the shift in interest by a large contingent of former rallycrossers to LeMons racing has caused a decline in attendance that is only now beginning to rebound. As you may be aware, we marked the old busted cones with blue paint to keep them separated, but those got co-mingled during the EV challenge and the Street Survival events. I'm hoping that we can continue to share the equipment for the foreseeable future or until such time that there could be funds available for another trailer.
Best regards,
Charlie Guthrie

Scott Johnson · **Posted:** Thu Oct 24, 2013 7:48 am

Charlie Guthrie wrote:

Scott posted:

Quote:

Maybe the Rallycross program need to buy a different trailer and dedicated equipment?

I hereby nominate Scott for the drunk poster position :lol:

Scott that is obviously not an option at the current participation levels. The recession and the shift in interest by a large contingent of former rallycrossers to LeMons racing has caused a decline in attendance that is only now beginning to rebound. As you may be aware, we marked the old busted cones with blue paint to keep them separated, but those got co-mingled during the EV challenge and the Street Survival events. I'm hoping that we can continue to share the equipment for the foreseeable future or until such time that there could be funds available for another trailer.
Best regards,
Charlie Guthrie

Nope, not drunk. Rather serious. Since I've become much more of a waxer, I'm finding that I don't enjoy getting totally filthy when I help break an autocross course down. I've also noticed that the general level of abrasiveness of the cones has gone up (soft Subaru paint doesn't help). If I quit hitting them half the problem would be solved, but the other half?

Charlie Guthrie · **Joined:** Thu Aug 28, 2003 8:14 pm **Posts:** 832

A small work party descended on the bus and cones at Mike's house. Every cone in the trailer was taken out and pressure washed. Most of the really dirty cones were "blue based" rally-x cones, but because they were all mixed up there was plenty of dust to go around. Trying to hold a cone still while blasting it is a little tricky, but Mike had a small wagon with mesh sides that could corral 8 cones at the time. The trailer floor was swept and wiped down and the shelves dusted (thank heavens for leaf blowers).
Folks in attendance were:
Pete Guthrie
Roger McDaniels
Brice Johnson
Mike Whitney (obviously)
and me,
Charlie G

Brett_Murphy · **Joined:** Thu Jan 12, 2012 2:02 pm **Posts:** 355

Thanks for doing that, everybody. I appreciate the work you're putting in for us.

I saw that you mentioned the blue base cones were for Rallycross before I posted. I was thinking of painting the ENTIRE cone lime green or some obnoxious yellow color. That way they might stand out more in the mud and be easily distinguishable from the other orange cones.

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