Hi, Chuck,
I was not there, but you have described a perfect
red flag response.
I am not sure what you mean by "track workers pulled out red flags"
vs "course workers to pull out the flags" -- I am not aware of
these two sets of workers??
But from your description there was no dangerous situation -- the
second car finisned a safe distance away from the first,
delayed car. The flaggers showed excellent judgement!
A car spinning out or stopping on course is not in and of itself
a reason to throw the red flag. BUT the judgement that an oncoming
car will get close enough to a slowed or stopped car to make
a dangerous situation REQUIRES a red flag to be thrown.
Flaggers must use good judgement and leave a wide margin
of safety for cars and other course workers. If a car spins and
another car is coming, red flag holders must get ready and watch
the developing situation carefully, and move to a spot where their
flag can be seen -- but not throw the flag while they see no danger
will develop. As soon as things get too tight, they must get the
following car or cars stopped. And if the third car is too far away
to be involved, and things appear to be clearing up quickly, there's
no reason to stop car 3 until they get close. Note that the flaggers
have to be awake and paying attention to everything on the course
-- this is always required for safety!
It's the judgement that matters, and safety is the rule. So, if red flags
had been thrown immediately for every running car, but there turned
out to have been plenty of time -- it's not wrong. The judgement
of the flaggers is always OK.
But many times flaggers can see that the situation will clear up fine,
and let it go safely. This is great.
Many times, flaggers will red flag the whole course when a car
spins and takes out 10 cones. If the offending car is out of
the way, this is generally a bad call. This is not a dangerous
situation.
Courseworkers are
(should be) watching traffic and get well clear when a car is
coming, whether or not all the cones are back. A car on
track may be in the middle of the run of the century, and the
missing cones may not be critical to the course. The driver
can make a call about a downed cone, and stop and claim a rerun
if they want. (They have to judge whether the cone might be called
against them, of course -- this is going through the driver's head
-- but it should not be a concern of the flagger)
The courseworkers can replace more cones
between cars. Don't red flag for downed cones... unless you
judge there is a dangerous situation developing.
Related item: If you stop for a downed cone, or you're red flagged,
hot foot it through the course (safely) after you get started again,
watching carefully for courseworkers and other cars.
Not racing, but driving smartly -- otherwise you may cause a red
flag for the car behind you, or even wind up in a dangerous
situation yourself, and further delay the event unnecessarily.
Jerry
Jerry Mouton mailto:jerry@moutons.org Laissez les bons temps rouler!
----- Original Message -----
From: "Chuck Jones" <chuck.jones@oracle.com>
To: <Webmaster@sfr-solo2.org>
Sent: Monday, March 18, 2002 9:44 AM
Subject: Red Flag at Oakland event, 3/17
> Hi,
> I am a newcomer to this activity, and expect to become a member and
> participate in the events. I went to the Sunday event (March 17) at the
> Oakland Coliseum. Even though the race was more like water skiing
> because of the rain, I was intrigued and enjoyed myself.
> I do have a question for you. There were typically 2-3 cars on the
> track at any one time. In the third group, a car spun out about mid way
> and took its time getting back on track. There was another car behind
> it. Two track workers pulled out red flags, at which point I expected
> all the course workers to pull out the flags, and all cars to stop.
> However, neither of those things happened - Both cars continued on, and
> the red flags went away. The second car finished close to the stalled
> car, but not dangerously so.
> One of the reasons I am attracted to autocross is the safety
> provided by one car on (a section of) the track at a time. I was
> watching by myself from the other side of the track, so I couldn't hear
> any comments from the announcer. What should I have expected to see?
> I know you are probably not the person to answer this, but I'd like
> to know...
>
> Thanks
>
> Chuck
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