RJay

I dunno, at my last event at LRP, I had checked my oil before loading the car on the trailer. When the car was teched, the inspector noticed the oil cap was off and sitting on the engine shroud. I'm certainly glad he did Could have ruined my day if that cap got caught up in the fan belts. OTOH, anyone that thinks that the event tech is sufficient is an accident waiting to happen.

Nevertheless, as hard as I try to be relaxed before an event it is pretty damn difficult. Theres a lot of work to do, lots of things to remember and its pretty easy to leave a valve cap off or leave a wrench in the back seat, see an old friend get caught up in conversation and forget to check something. For me, I'm glad to have someone else look over the car. And I imagine that if there were no tech line a lot of people would never think about the basics of preparing the car for the track a all. So, I think it serves a purpose, but that purpose isn't to ensure that the car is truly track worthy, I think its more of a reminder.

Before each event I take my car to my mechanic and it goes up on the lift to check all the suspension bolts etc are torqued etc. as required by our region. When you drive a powerful old tin can like I do, I wouldn't do it any other way. Even though my car is gone over pretty thoroughly before each event, I'm still happy to spend the ten minutes in line just to make sure I haven't committed some form of stupidity, like that oil cap.

Z-man

RJay: I was referring to pre-event techs - having only one a year is just about as bad as never having one.

I truly believe that having a pre-event tech AND a trackside tech for every DE event is essential: both are necessary to help ensure a safe environment. Doesn't guarantee it, but it certainly helps!

-Zoltan.

38D

While I agree that tech (pre and at-track) are a good thing, I alos think it has its drawbacks. The issue is is it lulls people into a false sense of security. Every driver needs to go over their own car, each day at the track, to make sure it is safe. What will happen when someone goes out on the track and loses a wheel because of loose lugs (sooner or later this will happen...no matter how careful the tech guys are). The driver may feel the tech line is at fault (the aren't...the driver is always at fault). I guess it's liability reasons like this that Todd (TracQuest) doesn't do tech.

RJay

Oops sorry, re-read. I guess maybe I should have my brain pre-teched before posting. One too many times over the curbing seems to have knocked something loose up there

DGaunt

I guess different regions have different policies. UCR has always had a pre-tech and a trackside tech. I think all of the examples shared above should be caught at a pre-tech e.g: ancient brake fluid, thin tires/pads; leaks; loose CV's, etc. Pre techs seem to be absolutely neccessary on less experienced drivers' cars. As someone said, they simply don't know what to look for most times.

Am I to understand someone has a LIFT for track-side techs? wow! thorough but time consuming? I think Tracksides should look for things that might have changed since the pre-tech, such as tires, wheel torque, fluid leaks, loose items, etc.

A Tech is not required by Dexter Autosports' events and I feel our mechanical failure record is about the same as UCR's. I agree one issue in the Red group is the proliferation of race-type cars and the higher limits alluded to.

Last, everyone misses things sometimes. Last weekend I was under the car to simply adjust the clutch and inspect the cable. 'Course I looked around while i was under there, and what did I find? THREE--count 'em--three bad CV boots. glad I caught them before I pooched the CV's or threw a halfshaft in the middle of a corner! going to be a bit of a race to get it back together in time for the MCO's event @ Shannonville this weekend, but we'll do it!

DrJupeman

How do you determine "ancient brake fluid" at a pre-tech? I do not believe my region looks at this, but I'm also not sure how they'd tell if they did.

Bill Gregory

I thought I recall a BMW? trackside inspection saying they used a litmus-type of tape that could be dipped into the brake fluid, I'm guessing, to show water content?

APKhaos

Potoamc PCA has a fluid tester that we use whenever there is a question about the condition of brake fluid. Its kinda surprising to many newbie track guys that their pretty blue ATE fluid they put in last year is pretty much shot. Our tech team has been known to flush fluid on suspect cars just to demnstrate how rank old fluid becomes. Nice and blue in the reservior, but nasty in the calipers where teh work gets done.

Jimbo951

We ask the owner.

Alan Herod

Tony and a few others and I are in the same region and generally have a good NNJ turnout our events and our tech system is pretty much the same. As mentioned before our pre-techs are very thorough and I think as a whole much more thorugh then some of the shop techs. On the other hand, I think that our morning techs are as thorough as they can be, but they end up stretching the tech guys pretty thin. The idea of the buddy tech (in lieu of grid tech) where the instructor techs the students car was to spread the wealth so to speak. The instructor has a vested interest in the car he will be instructing in and it is important to go over the car with your student before you go out on the track with it. I have considered that the first two laps driven at 60% are part of the tech. I found this part very enlightening when instructing in non-PCA events. This buddy tech system only leaves the relatively small non-instructor solo group requiring grid tech. I know that I am sort of beating a dead horse because I did not have enough support for the change but it was one of the ideas presented in the forum here two years ago.

APKhaos

FWIW Alan, NASA uses the buddy tech system for instructed drivers - the instructor techs the car and issues the tech sticker. This approach in combination with our fairly exhaustive pre-tech seems like a good combination.

Matt Romanowski

Tech is always an interesting thing....

Groups like SCCA do an annual tech. This is more for rule violations than actaul safety. During the course of this year, we have had our motor out 3 times and numerous other things on and off - transmission, rear suspension, uprights, etc. A tech at the beginning of the season doesn't help this.

At PCA events, I've had the motor out overnight on a 2 day event. Does morning tech get anywhere near this?

For me, I consider morning tech a good thing - it helps 90% of the people out there. For me personally, it doesn't do much. I have my cars up on stands for a few hours before an event checking things. Some of the race cars get over 8 hours of pre-event work.

Unless the person really checks there car, any form of pre track tech won't help.

Matt

Alan Herod

When I began SCCA racing we had no annual and teched at the track, that was a really bad thing with a lot of incredibly poor fixes. You worked on your car until the day before the event, towed to the event, and then something was found in tech. This was in the day when we did the rolling brake check on slicks -- in the 80s we went to the anual tech with a 'laundry check' at the track. I have no idea where it stands now. For PCA DEs I see a lot of instructors switching wheels from side-to-side and checking pads at the end of a day.

Z-man

I understand your point, BUT: the fact that a different set of eyes is looking at your car is helpful. While you may focus on checking to make sure the nuts and bolts of the engine are all in place, the folks on the tech line would be looking at other just as important stuff on your car. For example: you're used to the way your wheels look - over time the spokes on them sort of blend into the background. But a new set of eyes may catch that hairline crack that you may not see, no matter how detail oriented you are.

While it may take an expert to determine that everything is 100%, it doesn't take an expert to spot something that's off, just someone who pays attention to details.

-Z-man.

38D

The buddy tech idea sounds like a pretty good idea.