"Rocky Entriken" <rocky@tri.net> wrote:
>
>IMHO, the rule against tire warming has always meant that you
>cannot go off to some distant corner of the lot and do donuts
>for 60 seconds before coming to the line.
The local interpretation ALSO includes "tire warmups" as the
burnout that you see at the drag strip before a car runs. It's
unsafe, probibited at the drivers' meeting, and is grounds
for immediate expulsion from the event. I don't recall
seeing anyone locally try this in the past 6 years.
I do have a personal record of ejecting three (yes, 3) drivers
from one event for reckless driving in the paddock, though.
Before somebody labels me a safety Nazi, two were running a
1/8 mile drag and the last one was deep into third gear at the
far end of the lot that was being shared with a Jehovah's
Witness convention. Second gear gets you an "education,"
third gear gets you ejected, and 4th gear gets you bodily
removed from the site without even being allowed to return to
the paddock and gather up yer stuff. :-)
http://www.empirestateregion.com/Photos/auto730/DSCN5382.jpg
[Arthur violates the site's 95 dB sound restriction ;-) as he
"educates" a member of the Ferrari Club about the proper use
of first gear in an autocross paddock at a July NYR-SCCA
event. Photo courtesy of Empire State Region web site,
Ferrari Club of America!]
>It most emphatically does NOT and NEVER HAS been a rule that
>forbids a driver driving from his grid slot to the start line wiggling back
>and forth on the way.
There *is* a 5 MPH rule on all of our local sites, which includes
every inch of the pavement on the site not located between the
start line and finish beams. The 10 MPH wiggle that you cited is
in violation of that, if nothing else.
I, for one, am NOT going to question the call of the KC event
official. I wasn't there, didn't see the incident, and most
importantly don't know the layout of their site. At one
of our primary sites, the lane from staging to the start line
passes within 10 feet of the timing trailer. It's unsafe to
wiggle, burn out, or even drag your brakes in a 3-pedal car.
If the safety steward or any event official tells you that
your actions are unsafe, your duty as a card-carrying SCCA
member is to say "Yes, sir" or "Yes, ma'am" and modify your
behavior accordingly. Tell the Knuckledragger to put away
his guns too, :-) because I don't think that even Paul Foster
will take your side against an event official.....
-Arthur ("Licensed to eject" edition.)
_________________________________________________________________________
|
