Elvington

[Westysprinter]

Anyone going to Elvington on Saturday, Auto 66 round

[Bigbeemer]

Just in case you thought you'd be alone! I'll be there in the M5 trying not to emulate the Hamster...just a minute....where's that RR Avon jet and the tank tape.....???

[Westysprinter]

You were parked opposite me!
I hope you enjoyed it
The only dry run I messed up big style, I'm now known as Mr Whippy due to my collection of cones
The day was also spoilt by my feeling the need to put in a protest regarding a certain double driven car changing there running order to gain a dry run, only to find the Clerk had sanctioned it without asking the rest of the class or indeed the championship leader whom it could have affected

[Steve Wilkinson]

Originally Posted by Westysprinter

You were parked opposite me!
I hope you enjoyed it
The only dry run I messed up big style, I'm now known as Mr Whippy due to my collection of cones
The day was also spoilt by my feeling the need to put in a protest regarding a certain double driven car changing there running order to gain a dry run, only to find the Clerk had sanctioned it without asking the rest of the class or indeed the championship leader whom it could have affected

Did the organisers issue a STRICT running order? Or did they just ask people to go forward in 'programme order'?

[Westysprinter]

The regs said at time of entry that for double driven cars the first and second driver must be nominated, however the entry form didn't give provision for such.The regs said the second driver must run in the batch after the first driver who should be in the correct batch for their class. This pair were allocated a 7 number and that driver ran second in practice. however for the first timed run where the track had dried out, it looked like iminent rain and the second driver went out in the batch for the class, and the first driver went out second in the rain.
I spoke to the secretary who spoke to the clerk and apparently the clerk had sanctioned it, without consulting the rest of the class and the person he was competing with for the overall championship.
I asked if I could wait till it was dry for all my runs and suprisingly I recieved no answer.
I also spoke to the car drivers concerned as it wasnt meant to be cloke and dagger, they just pleaded ignorance.

[Steve Wilkinson]

Originally Posted by Westysprinter

The regs said at time of entry that for double driven cars the first and second driver must be nominated, however the entry form didn't give provision for such.The regs said the second driver must run in the batch after the first driver who should be in the correct batch for their class. This pair were allocated a 7 number and that driver ran second in practice. however for the first timed run where the track had dried out, it looked like iminent rain and the second driver went out in the batch for the class, and the first driver went out second in the rain.
I spoke to the secretary who spoke to the clerk and apparently the clerk had sanctioned it, without consulting the rest of the class and the person he was competing with for the overall championship.
I asked if I could wait till it was dry for all my runs and suprisingly I recieved no answer.
I also spoke to the car drivers concerned as it wasnt meant to be cloke and dagger, they just pleaded ignorance.

A couple of mates of mine share a single seater and they take it in turns to run first throughout the meeting. So in first practice Driver A runs first followed by Driver B; then in second practice it is Driver B who goes first. The reason for this is two fold: (a) it equalises the advantage running second provides, and (b) it means that between runs they don't have to reset the seatbelts etc back to the original settings.

I have experienced something similar to your problem some years back when two people were sharing and ran throughout practice and the first timed runs in the same order (A followed by B). The track started out greasy from overnight rain and there was light rain during the lunch break. However when a heavy rain squall hit just before the second timed runs Driver B went first. They then seemed to take an age to get the car refueled and reset for Driver A - possibly finding a few additional things to check. Meanwhile the track was starting to dry rapidly as the sun had come out. The net result was that Driver A actually didn't get on track until three classes later than they should have. This meant that the track was almost dry and they went out and recorded the fastest time in the class. This was particularly galling for the other drivers in the class as they had taken their second runs in such appalling conditions and were very upset.

I think that there is little that can be done by the competitors as it is down to the Organising Club and the Clerk of the Course to ensure that such gamesmanship is stamped out. The easy solution that I have seen many clubs take is to issue a printed running order (e.g. Hagley & District LCC and Lothian CC to name but two). Then all the Clerk has to do at the Drivers Briefing is to explain that the running order WILL be adherred to unless he or his deputy are approached with a valid reason why there should be a change e.g. stripped a gear and are swapping ratios. Obviously at a Loton and Doune if a driver gets Red Flagged they are usually returned to the bottom of the hill for a re-run and get slotted in as soon as possible, but you get the idea.

It may well be that these individuals genuinely didn't realise that their actions would upset their fellow competitors, on the other hand they might have been trying it on!

[Westysprinter]

They knew what they were doing alright. When I approached them they claimed that they wernt aware of a running order that needed to be adhered to, yet they had asked the Clerk of the course if they could change the running order. Actions speak louder than words. However as they did aproach the Clerk, who sanctioned it, I'm more miffed with the Clerk.