gt40
04-21-2008, 11:23 AM
Some observations. Since nobody had done this before, we were pretty much flying by the seat of our pants, so here are some observations from MY perspective.
Get GOOD radios and test them before the race. We had lots of communication problems during the race. Part of which I think could be attributed to the equipment. For crew members with radtios, spend the bucks and but a setup with ear muffs. The basic setup with an earbud or a 1-speaker headphone/mic sedtup ain't going to cut it in a noisy enviornment. The same goes for the driver -- get a pair of speakers and a good mic and integrate that into a helmet -- permanently. Makes for easier driver changes, too. Use a PTT buton and NOT VOX! the car is too noisy for VOX to work correctly.
If you stil have problems understanding the driver, think about using a throat mic. They were invented for enviornments just like the interior of a race car (actually, they were invented for military pilots.)
Practice good radio discipline. It's not just for WW2 movies. Radio discipline makes it easier for you to be understood in a noisy and confusing enviornment.
Have a back-up means of driver communication, both from the pits to the driver and vice-versa. Get a BIG pit board -- as large as possible.
For pit boards, write on it in BIG, CLEAR letters. Keep it simple: "PIT" - pit ASAP; "Pn" - you'r in nth place in your class; "+" - drive faster; "-" - slow down. Include your car's number and class, if necessary. Put the car's number INSIDE the car, of you have a driver who's new to the car and might not remember the number.
If the driver can't communicate with you, he needs a clear way to indicate the most important thing -- that he's coming in for an unscheduled stop. Sticking his hand out the window may not be easy to see, especially at a track like TWS where the pits are a good distance from the racing surface. If the car has headlights, flashing them would work. Driving on a different part of the track might also work (i.e. if the driver normally heads down the front straight on the right-hand part of the track, he could drive down on the left-hand side -- just make sure he knows where the timing loop is so he still hits it -- on some tracks the loop may not extend all the way across the track surface.
Stay calm. The only mistakes we made in the pits was due to simply trying to hurry things along. We had a minor fuel spill (no penalty,) and lost a hood pin somewhere on the track, after I pulled the hood to check the ignition wires.
Assign job roles and responsibilities. Everyone needs to know what their responsibilities are under every situation.
No one is at fault. Figuring out who's fault it is when a problem crops up is counter-productive and doesn't get the job done. If you MUST finger-point, do it after the race. This leads to...
You need a recognized crew chief. His word is law -- right or wrong. A pit crew is not a committee and isn't run like one. When there's a conflict, the crew chief's decision is law. This needs to be made painfully cleear before the race.
Know the rules. Have a copy of the rules and any addendums/corrections with you in the pits. Officials don't always know the rules, so having them handy can help out when the crew chief needs to "clarify" a few things.
Know that the safety stewards can trump the rules. Get to know your safety crew, and treat 'em right. Karma rules!
Review all procedures before the race -- write 'em down and get 'em to the crew members a few weeks before the race and go over those before the race.
Make a list of stuff you need in the pits and refer to that when setting up and tearing down your pit stall.
Pack in more water and ice than you think you'll need -- twice as much, if not more. (The ice is more for the driver's coolsuit.)
Every crew member needs a chair. If he doesn't have one, he'll sit on a piece of equipment, which may not be good for him or the equipment.
Bring a canopy.
If you can manage it, bring a electric fan for the driver, especially on a hot/humid day.
At the end of the race, have a runner ready to take two large bottles of water (or more,) to the driver, since he'll be stuck in his car, waiting in line for tech inspection.
Get GOOD radios and test them before the race. We had lots of communication problems during the race. Part of which I think could be attributed to the equipment. For crew members with radtios, spend the bucks and but a setup with ear muffs. The basic setup with an earbud or a 1-speaker headphone/mic sedtup ain't going to cut it in a noisy enviornment. The same goes for the driver -- get a pair of speakers and a good mic and integrate that into a helmet -- permanently. Makes for easier driver changes, too. Use a PTT buton and NOT VOX! the car is too noisy for VOX to work correctly.
If you stil have problems understanding the driver, think about using a throat mic. They were invented for enviornments just like the interior of a race car (actually, they were invented for military pilots.)
Practice good radio discipline. It's not just for WW2 movies. Radio discipline makes it easier for you to be understood in a noisy and confusing enviornment.
Have a back-up means of driver communication, both from the pits to the driver and vice-versa. Get a BIG pit board -- as large as possible.
For pit boards, write on it in BIG, CLEAR letters. Keep it simple: "PIT" - pit ASAP; "Pn" - you'r in nth place in your class; "+" - drive faster; "-" - slow down. Include your car's number and class, if necessary. Put the car's number INSIDE the car, of you have a driver who's new to the car and might not remember the number.
If the driver can't communicate with you, he needs a clear way to indicate the most important thing -- that he's coming in for an unscheduled stop. Sticking his hand out the window may not be easy to see, especially at a track like TWS where the pits are a good distance from the racing surface. If the car has headlights, flashing them would work. Driving on a different part of the track might also work (i.e. if the driver normally heads down the front straight on the right-hand part of the track, he could drive down on the left-hand side -- just make sure he knows where the timing loop is so he still hits it -- on some tracks the loop may not extend all the way across the track surface.
Stay calm. The only mistakes we made in the pits was due to simply trying to hurry things along. We had a minor fuel spill (no penalty,) and lost a hood pin somewhere on the track, after I pulled the hood to check the ignition wires.
Assign job roles and responsibilities. Everyone needs to know what their responsibilities are under every situation.
No one is at fault. Figuring out who's fault it is when a problem crops up is counter-productive and doesn't get the job done. If you MUST finger-point, do it after the race. This leads to...
You need a recognized crew chief. His word is law -- right or wrong. A pit crew is not a committee and isn't run like one. When there's a conflict, the crew chief's decision is law. This needs to be made painfully cleear before the race.
Know the rules. Have a copy of the rules and any addendums/corrections with you in the pits. Officials don't always know the rules, so having them handy can help out when the crew chief needs to "clarify" a few things.
Know that the safety stewards can trump the rules. Get to know your safety crew, and treat 'em right. Karma rules!
Review all procedures before the race -- write 'em down and get 'em to the crew members a few weeks before the race and go over those before the race.
Make a list of stuff you need in the pits and refer to that when setting up and tearing down your pit stall.
Pack in more water and ice than you think you'll need -- twice as much, if not more. (The ice is more for the driver's coolsuit.)
Every crew member needs a chair. If he doesn't have one, he'll sit on a piece of equipment, which may not be good for him or the equipment.
Bring a canopy.
If you can manage it, bring a electric fan for the driver, especially on a hot/humid day.
At the end of the race, have a runner ready to take two large bottles of water (or more,) to the driver, since he'll be stuck in his car, waiting in line for tech inspection.