jittsl

As an ex-track chair of the NER region let me add an opinion.

In the times I have helped out at the tech line I cannot tell you how many times we have found cars with wheel nuts loose, brake pads gone or brake lights not working. All of these cars have passed a pre tech but have just had their wheels changed, failed along the road or been to three events between pretech and now.

Likewise how many of you have seen one of those staging people remind you, or someone in front of you, to do you your helmet up.

I am of the opinion that a few minutes contributed by all can be extremely beneficial as well as fun and educational.

Just for the record I do think that flagging is a job that should be left to professionals. If only we could find some.

As to whether or not we would all happily pay more. I wish I had known that no one cares. If I had I wouldn't have gone to such lengths to keep costs down for all. Let Bruce and Joyce know they will be delighted.

jittsl

Dave,

Forgot to say thank you to you and Irene for your efforts in control. I know from experience that is a thankless task.

Brian A.

This year NCR is going to have the paid folks handle control and staging (they were already doing flagging and pit out). The only assignment some participant might have is to work the tech line.

And when I say some participant I mean you Dave.

Coochas

Thanks for this heads up Brian. We'll see how this goes in the April opener and maybe we can learn from it,....for good or for bad.

I've put on too much weight to torque all those bolts myself. Then again Irene is an ER doc so she'll know what to do. We're very happy together so the whole mouth-to-mouth thing is always good.
Thanks Laurie. The bulk of the thanks should go to Joyce and Bruce. Irene and I enjoy helping out and we always will.

38D

While tech lines may find some things, I think they also lulls people into a false sense of security. Few of the people in tech lines are really trained to know what to look for....maybe 1 out of 10. My personal favorite was a guy in a tech line that told me my brake pads were "dangerously low". I explained that these were brand new pads, and had literally never even been run. He didn't want to hear it, so I had him call over an actual mechanic, whom pointed out the nice new shiny paint on the pads. Anyway, I think we should teach newbies what to look so they can better understand their car themselves.

Matt Romanowski

^^I got that all the time in the 914 before I was an instructor. People don't realize old cars don't come with 5/8" of brake material.

I agree that you need technically proficient people in the tech line. Luckily in NCR we have a great crew.

jittsl

38D, and in what arena do you plan the newbies will learn if not part of the process? Sorry if someone could not identify right from wrong in your particular case but I would still rather have someone care. Better to be wrong 100 times and right once than wrong 101 times - that one time might be the important one.

sparks259

Just to clarify things at least with NNJR;
yes, back in the day the drivers, not the instructors used to man all stations;
flagging, tech, pit out, etc.
We then enlisted the services of either paid flaggers, or depending on the track, the tracks' flaggers.
As of today, we still request volunteer workers who get compensated by a reduced track fee for future events.
However, the questions that one should ask are "who works front gate? to see that the waivers are signed" for one.
Sure, you can pay people for any job that might arise, but that certainly would escalate the cost of the event.
FWIW, at NNJR events, NO ONE misses any runs, and having been there myself, I can say that not only was my time as a worker educational, but teaming up with an experienced member certainly goes a long way to making friends in the club.
BTW, NNJR also holds a "Tech School" every year so as to give the tech line people some idea as to what they are looking for.
You'd be surprised at how many loose lug nuts, low brake pads, craked wheels and rotors have been found over the years.
Just because a person attends and drives at these events, doesn't mean that they have ANY degree of mechanical aptitude.
BTW Colin, sorry you had some problems in the past, but, as you said, the matter did get cleared up.
Shiny side!

VaSteve

I have worked the morning tech and it's amazing the kind of **** you find on people's cars. Since the cars have been looked at during "shop tech" the week before, we check pads, throttle return, helmets, did you take everything out of the car?

We find people all the time with all manner of crap in the car. On a two day event, they have loaded up and headed to a hotel, and forgot what's in the trunk. Floor mats, etc. On one occasion, we abused the guy and told him he'd have to buy us coffee. Then he did! The guys with the out of town tech forms, or from a local shop (vice the one the region puts on) tend to be the ones with the random junk in the car. We have a surely chief tech who loves to pick on folks.

I have never blag flagged someone on pads, I always ask if they have more with them if they look low.

Our group doesn't check lug nut torque. I have seen some regions do that and it takes forever. They did every nut!

The one guy we had in the fall pitched a bitch because his Mustang Challenge car was teched by professional mechanics...he was the mechanic. I said it was our club, our rules. That thing blew up on more than one session that weekend.

Grid tech is a real value to the club.

Jay Gratton

I remember that! I saw a paid flagger sitting in his mini van reading the paper for most of the run groups. My student and I spun right in front of him and he barely moved.

pontifex4

UCR has them. I find them really enjoyable, but as a green student, I was (maybe I still am) totally out of my depth in handling cars in staging. It's actually a source of some anxiety for me, so I often ask for some remote post.

michael lang

The way I learned was to go through the Tech Form a month ahead of the inspection, then go through it again the weekend before the inspection and got involved with grid tech. I've been doing it that way since I got hooked. Outside of my torque wrench and flashlight, it's been 13 events since I've had to open the tool bag. Point is, I agree, DE newbies should have an understanding of the mechanicals of their car.

kurt M

We do the same in our region without resorting to assignments. We have a solid crew of previously experienced volunteers. They do ask for help now and then and have folks check straight up things like helmets and the like.

Good example of the need for already experienced tech line people. Yes some aspects can be taught in a few min things like helmet sticker checks but things like an engine compartment sweep need eyes that are working from a detailed mental list of inspection points and personal safety training.

Shadowing side by side during a tech line or far better working side by side at pre tech is the way to go. I think that using DE tech line cars as a training ground goes counter to the whole idea of the tech line.

Bill Verburg

I always volunteer to work the tech lines, the big things that come up are,
junk in the trunk
car #s that don't match entry #s or no #s at all

it's also a good place to check that each driver knows what run group he is in

M758

Our PCA tosssed this idea around alot and the biggest issue was simply getting all the workers changed between run groups was more effort than it was worth. It took so long to do change the workers that you could simply add another run group and cover the costs of the paid corner works. That was on top of the all the other challenges.

The participant flagger comes from the model of autocross and there is not too bad since they can all walk in. But even on a 1.2 mile track just changing the workers take 10 mintues. Waste of track rental time.