The enduro from a crew member's perspective...

[gt40]

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.

[mitchntx]

edit ...

You had yer chance. :twisted:

[donovan]

Looks like Team Moonlight dropped their note pad...


Just kidding...

DD

[GlennCMC70]

you kid, but Mitch and myself covered about 90% of Roberts list in the week prior to this event.
take the amount of time to do something and double it, cause thats how long it will take. we planned for a month for this 4 hour race.

[rpoz27]

I totally agree with all of the above. We didn't prep much at all. We totally lucked into a fantastic crew that had experience, literally, as the race started. Our driver changes were rough. I was the first driver change and I forgot to take my cushion with me into the car, so I could see over the steering wheel. Remembered at the last second, had to unbuckle and position it, and rebuckle. Lost lots of time for it.

Radios were an issue for us. The driver could hear most of what was being said from the pits if he was on the front straight and vice versa. We used the headlight flash method for pit stops.

And lastly, the Miata next to us was Iron Man-ing it. His crew and co-driver backed out. Sam Crumpaker took over fueling duties for him for the entire race so the driver could be bottle man and not get DQ'd. Sam has some hefty karma credit coming his way.

[michaelmosty]

And lastly, the Miata next to us was Iron Man-ing it. His crew and co-driver backed out. Sam Crumpaker took over fueling duties for him for the entire race so the driver could be bottle man and not get DQ'd. Sam has some hefty karma credit coming his way.

Are you saying that he drove the entire 4 hours and got out at every stop to man the extinguisher? :shock:

[donovan]

you kid, but Mitch and myself covered about 90% of Roberts list in the week prior to this event.
take the amount of time to do something and double it, cause thats how long it will take. we planned for a month for this 4 hour race.

I kid, but reading Roberts list and watching the multiple teams work for 4 hrs, I was obvious you guy's planned and worked on it...

DD

[Waco Racer]

And lastly, the Miata next to us was Iron Man-ing it. His crew and co-driver backed out. Sam Crumpaker took over fueling duties for him for the entire race so the driver could be bottle man and not get DQ'd.

His co-driver didn't really back out. He was told that he couldn't race in the Enduro, something about other responsibilities during the race or some crap like that. (see sig)

[rpoz27]

And lastly, the Miata next to us was Iron Man-ing it. His crew and co-driver backed out. Sam Crumpaker took over fueling duties for him for the entire race so the driver could be bottle man and not get DQ'd. Sam has some hefty karma credit coming his way.

Are you saying that he drove the entire 4 hours and got out at every stop to man the extinguisher? :shock:

He got out at every stop, manned the extinguisher, refilled his cool suit cooler, drank some water, and chilled for a few minutes. Then he'd get back in and go. He must have asked me three times to thank my crew for him.

[rpoz27]

And lastly, the Miata next to us was Iron Man-ing it. His crew and co-driver backed out. Sam Crumpaker took over fueling duties for him for the entire race so the driver could be bottle man and not get DQ'd.

His co-driver didn't really back out. He was told that he couldn't race in the Enduro, something about other responsibilities during the race or some crap like that. (see sig)

Poor Clifton! All that planning and no play.