Well, Dennis,
Answers to all your questions are on the
web page.
The rule book is still not required, only if
you want to get into this program.
Yes, it saves tech inspectors times at every
event by reducing the number of cars to inspect.
And the tech lines should not grow as much.
But the program is really about increasing
participant awareness of car safety.
No, the 12 inspections are our chance to educate
you about safety issues with cars, and what needs
to be checked to verify the safety of a car.
Once you go through 12 logged ones, you are
in the program, and can be trusted to tech your
own car at every event, which is what this is
all about. Assuming the program lasts beyond
one year.
Basically it trains you to be your own tech inspector.
The annual tech inspection is done to the standard
of a Divisional or National Tour tech, which is
more detailed than the regular event techs. This
really should not be the case, but it has always been
so as long as I have been autocrossing, and this
insures that each car gets one very thorough inspection
for the year. In addition, this gives the inspectors a chance
to educate the drivers about their responsibilities in
the program, at the very least making them competent
tech inspectors themselves. This would include
when they need to present themselves or their cars
or helmets for reinspection...
The SCCA rule says
"The Annual Tech should be honored for all SCCA
sanctioned Solo II events."
That is "should be", and I for one won't count on the
tech at your region to have read that part of the rules,
since after all they are from FasTrack, not the 2002
Rulebook.
No stack of rulebooks is necessary, just the most recent one.
No need to get ANOTHER rulebook, just the one you'd
normally want to have. And it's not inaccessible, you can go
to http://www.scca.org/news/index.html#comp_regs and
print a form, lick a stamp, and you get a book in the mail,
for $15.00. Or just buy one when you register for an SFR
autocross... they are available at the table. There's no need
for the cost of a racer-style logboook, because any damage
to the car would most likely not occur at an event, and so
there's nothing to log.
No ads in the inside back cover of the 2002 rulebook. If there
are ads in the 2003 book, and the program continues, we'll
insure that the driver reads it aloud to us before we cover it
up, thus guaranteeing the advertiser careful study by the
important focus group of experienced autocrossers -- they
will have it forever emblazoned internally in their minds.
I don't think the advertisers will complain.
Roadrace tech is a completely different animal from
solo2 tech, isn't it? It seems to be completely inappropriate
for Solo2, but maybe I'm wrong? The solo2 safety equipment is
pretty much limited to helmets, and only Snell certification
is checked now, perhaps if an inspector notices a big
bash they might question the driver further. Is there other
safety equipment that needs to be checked? I don't think of any.
This is not about another SCCA bureaucratic structure added to
autocross, it's about training our drivers about safe vehicles,
and geting them to be responsible for ensuring their own
car's safety. If I drive a car day after day, I'm going to
be a lot more aware of potential problems with it then the
novice who volunteered to be a tech inspector on any
given day.
The problem is insufficient driver attention to car safety, and
the solution is to teach them more and make them aware of their
own responsibility for the safety of their vehicle.
Of course, the existing quick-check tech inspection done at
autocrosses is adequate for the purpose, and if the annual
tech does not appeal, by all means do not participate. Go ahead
and feel superior about, too, it if it helps your psychological
well-being ; -)
Jerry
Jerry Mouton mailto:jerry@moutons.org Laissez les bons temps rouler!
----- Original Message -----
From: "Dennis Hale" <dhale_510@yahoo.com>
To: <ba-autox@autox.team.net>
Sent: Saturday, March 02, 2002 9:59 AM
Subject: Re: SFR Solo2 Annual Tech begins
> Does this annual tech thing that requires 12 entries
> in an otherwise not regionally required rule book
> really save any extra effort for anyone?
> Does the 12 entries start over each calendar year?
> When the otherwise not required rulebook becomes
> available each year? On big Johnson's birthday?
> Why do the "special" techs need to be done seperately
> and in addition to the standard one for those already
> done for the day? Are there newly discovered risk
> areas to be investigated?
> Will the annual tech thing be good anywhere?
> Everywhere?
>
> An annual Roadrace tech is a one day thing. On a day
> not otherwise busy with the running of an event. SCCA
> knows how to set this up. It is done at the beginning
> of the season. It uses a small, cheap, logbook that I
> am pretty sure is made up by the region, not the fancy
> and relatively inaccessible national book and it's
> back cover. This book also is used to log all the
> events the car is entered in.
> This document also serves to grandfather in some
> things that change over the years as the rules evolve.
> Solo2 folks at least in the P & M classes could be
> well served by this feature. But this seems missing
> from this program. A stack of ten rule books with
> sticky back pages seems not the same somehow...
> Isn't that back cover still sold off as an
> advertisement? You're going to paste in a log page
> over it? Is that legal? 8-)
> Annual Roadrace techs still require daily safety gear
> inspections. You still gotta stand in a line. The tech
> is about the car. It must be redone if any incident is
> recorded in the log book at the previously attended
> race. It is not exactly an annual tech.
> Annual tech is not exactly what this Solo2 program
> seems about. BUT it is already in the GCR rules and
> could be adopted for use without any of the secret
> handshake dance that is going on here! You really
> could do a once a year thing and use simple logbooks.
>
> Does anyone remember the "problem" and does this
> program represent a "solution"?
> I think the Solo2 tech process is looking mostly for
> missing lugnuts and forgotten bowling balls in the
> back seat. These are safety issues. Annual Roadrace
> tech is largely looking for class compliance and
> mechanical soundness. The daily safety issues remain
> daily safety issues.
>
> I guess I am just as glad my region is without those
> "Experienced and responsible autocrossers" and is not
> one of the chosen few to impliment this brave new
> program.
>
> =====
> Dennis Hale
> Yahoo! Sports - sign up for Fantasy Baseball
> http://sports.yahoo.com
|