dgrobs

....but with a point by, yes?

docwyte

I expect instructors to know their cars, however I've dinged some of those too. Most of the cars that get dinged aren't instructor cars, or racers cars. The worst are when we run a novice DE or a Ladies Day, a lot of those cars don't pass tech.

There's no tech inspection at the track open lapping days, some of the stuff there is horrifying and one of the reasons I don't run open days out here.

911 Rod

You should have a lift if you are self teching.

Locker537

Is this not how many organizations tech already? 5-7 people, one on each corner of the car, one front, one back, one working paperwork and checking helmet, etc.

garrett376

It seems the PCA Club Racing program has worked well its self-tech process.

dgrobs

Club Racing, yes, you have a whole crew looking over the car before the race and between races. If you wanna finish first you first gotta finish. I get it. Racers have their chit together when it comes to their cars. The racers I know anyway.

DE, not so much. I worked tech for my region for a bunch of years, but not last year. I took it too seriously and didn't want the headache anymore.

I cannot tell you how many cars came through with 25% pads left before a 3 day DE, and rotors that were cracked to the edges, as well as puddles that were under cars when they moved up in the tech line.

Cars coming through with NO numbers on them, incomplete tech forms, frunks and trunks loaded with crap, tires with no tread on them (not Hoosiers or slicks, tires like RE71R's and R888R's), etc.

Yes, we had them correct everything and come back to the tech line, but sometimes things got through, and sometimes it caused incidents on hot tracks.

I remember one guy (out of region) coming through tech at LCMT. NNJR was doing the tech and NER was running the event. I was torqueing wheels that morning. I noticed some "wet" on an axle behind the rear drivers side wheel as I was bent over torqueing it. I asked the driver about it. He said it was an axle boot that was leaking slightly that he was gonna replace it when he got back home. I let him through tech as I didn't know any better and when I asked our steward about it, he confirmed the axle boot thing and passed the car. That car dropped fluid that afternoon, and while there were no incidents from his fluid drop, we did lose about an hour of track time due to the "self cleanup" and "self towing" at LCMT. I am not a mechanic, nor do I know chit from shinola about fluids leaking from a car and what that means if it's only a leaky axle boot. What if someone was right behind that guy at speed when the fluid dropped?

Just not sure self tech is s great idea at DE's.

Can't tell you how many times I'd ask a driver coming through tech if their wheels were torqued. "Yes, I torqued my own wheels." "What did you torque them to?" "I don't know, whatever my wrench was set at."

I think self tech at DE's can be a recipe for disaster, especially if someone really doesn't know the mechanics of their car.

Needless to say, I am very cautious when I get behind older cars and am about to overtake them. I always leave room to set up on them and never get directly behind them waiting for a point by. It just scares me.

What scares me most on a hot track are the things that are out of my control. A mechanical at speed, a blowout, the car in front of me dropping fluid at speed. I guess I am just a ***** when it comes to that sort of stuff.

I very rarely drive at 10/10ths, and I'm not really sure what that even means as I'm just not that great a driver yet, at least not at the level a lot of you folks drive at.

I have my family's blessing to do the insane amount of track days I do every season, and in return, I promise them that I WILL NOT die on a racetrack. That, and my wife asks me to text her a thumb's up emoji after every session when I'm back in the paddock. I do that, and all has worked out fine so far.

Just don't think self tech is a great idea at DE's. That's all......

Edit: The most serious I have ever seen a PCA region take their tech lines is at Niagara events. Those guys are very serious about their tech inspections, and they also have very few on track incidents. Coincidence?....

Frank 993 C4S

It works because there are random safety checks for 15 - 20% of the cars every weekend.