Alberto,
Safety is the primary concern when setting up a course, and the
course designers avoid placing cones near obstacles, in order to
minimize the risk of an out of control car hitting anything.
These kinds of accidents are rare but they sometimes do happen so
it is a risk, but it is a risk that can be minimized by good
course design. My experience over the past several years is that
the SFR SCCA does a great job of setting up safe courses, and has
safe drivers too. You should always walk the course and if
anything seems unsafe to you, you should let the safety steward
or the course designer know. While it is the responsibility of
the driver to be in control of his vehicle at all times, the
course is designed to minimize the risk of personal injury or
property damage if and when a driver loses control. The goal is
to drive at the limits of your ability but not beyond them and if
you do this on a well designed course, the worst thing that you
should have to worry about is tire wear if you slide the car or
spin out. If you're sliding around and hitting cones, you need to
slow down. The objective is to go as fast as possible while
always maintaining control of the car -- and the second part of
this objective is more important than the first. In my opinion,
when the drivers and course designers follow these guidelines it
is lots of fun and as safe as normal driving.
Anyone wanna borrow my soapbox now? ;)
Alberto Fonseca wrote:
>
> Hello everyone, I'm new to autocross and to this list. One of the things I'm
> curious about is the locations where the events are held. I know one is the
> Coliseum and the other is 3Com. Are the cones set up around the light posts
> or close enough to where people might loose control and hit a pole? Has this
> ever happened at any of the events? Just curious how much risk it would be
> if I'm thinking of trying it in my daily driver.
>
> Another question more dericted to the moderator(s) of this list, maybe they
> can answer this. I signed up online to be sent info on the speedfreaks
> program but haven't received anything in the mail yet, just was wondering if
> the system is working or if mail is just slow.
>
> Thanks,
>
> Alberto
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