Ridiculing Race Volunteers

[Matt H]

“The car has sustained a lot more damage than it needed to and had the fire marshals acted a bit quicker at Sandown we might not be in this predicament."

a quote from a release on the v8supercar site.

wouldnt that be against sum sort of rules. considering word from the fire marshall was that the kill switch had shorted.

now whos fault is it ??

perhaps that should be a test done at scrutineering ?? im not sure if it is or not. but im sick of teams and media blaming us, volunteers, for trying our best.

prepare the cars properly

no wonder ive seen officials leave the sport.

[Morris 1100]

Who started the fire? Poor preparation is not the fault of officials!

[Matt H]

it was an airbox fire..

[Aquarius]

So why blame the volunteers for your shoody preparation and workmanship.

What is their email or webiste so we can give them a bit of a basting.

[Trevor P]

How many of the drivers acknowledge the trackside volunteers at the end of their races? Very bloody few. Ambrose did at Sandown, and good on him. As for those who don't....

[laser]

Originally posted by Matt H
[B]
perhaps that should be a test done at scrutineering ?? im not sure if it is or not. but im sick of teams and media blaming us, volunteers, for trying our best.

I've witnessed this before when being with a team going thru scrutineering (NOT a V8 team). The team KNEW that their kill switch and window net didn't work properly, but they just prayed that those things wouldn't be checked (and let's face it, no one has the time to check every safety feature on every car). Unfortunately the kill switch was tested and found to not work.

Scrutineer : The engine doesn't die
Team : Yeah, we thought we fixed that this morning, it was working earlier
Scrutineer : No worries, fix it after this one [race] and make sure it works this arvo
(moves on to next car)

The arvo race came around, kill switch still didn't work, but no one came near the car at all.

Bottom line : kill switch didn't work all day. Window net didn't work all day .... REALLY putting your life on the line if you have an accident !!, but some people obviously do it.

[Onlooker]

So what you are saying is that the official passed a car that was not fit to race ????? Well done

If this is the case then we could be doing without these people who are serving no use but to sign the sticker regardless of the cars condition

[Matt H]

onlooker, totally agree with you.

if the strutineers cant do their job properly, it risks the lifes of drivers and officials, possibly even spectators.

but....who is accountable for officials doing there job properly ?? its got to be someone higher than the chief of disipline.

[Onlooker]

Unfortunatly they are not being paid and largly do not want to be paid to maintain the "volunteer" tag that is trotted out as and excuse for lack of performance when ever it is convienient. At supercar level they are usually fairly intimidated by the cars and teams in that they are not able to enforce there rules. They are constantly tricked into thinking they are checking one thing and infact are being fed the answers that they are looking for.
Whilst well meaning and enthusiastic and in genberal a capable bunch that do a great job, for a few this is the most power thay have had over any single breathing thing that does not chase a ball in the park of an afternoon or raise one leg to relieve it's self.But as they are "volunteers" they are all welcomed and maybe set tasks that are beyond there capabilities.
if this cahampionship is to be as huge as we are led to believe then maybe a dedicated crew should perform such tasks and leave the others to look after the support class's.
I don't mean this as a dig at all officials but if any of the no doubt offended "volunteers" have a long hard think about these points i am sure that they can think of a few that fall into this group.

[Matt H]

i would go as far as suggesting avesco supply a group of scrutineers that are professional enough to maintain these supercars.

the same group of people going to each round wont be intimidated into making mistakes or letting small breachs go un noticed.

i think this might be the only way to make sure this job is right. we have series stewards, techincal advisers, driving standards advisors, i think we could go one further and have series scrutineers.

but... i think the series scrutineers should be picked from the current batch of cams volunteer scrutineers. find which ones are perhaps, the best, the most vigilant, and use them.

[Matt H]

and being a volunteer offical, i do know a few people who would fall into "that" category.

[Onlooker]

Yes they should there are plenty of able people out there , but they don't feature where they should

[Matt H]

because even at club level onlooker, as you may be aware, motorsport is so political.

it deepends whos arse u kiss, how much kising up, who you know. in many different aspects, in many levels, from flagging, comms, trackies you name it , its an old boys club...

if your not in the click, your never going to get any oppourtunitys. it doesnt matter of your ability.

[Dirk]

In my days in the scrutineering shed I have seen and heard a lot of stories! One for instance where well known drivers in a premier tin top class have done things like leaving the fuse out so the brake lights didn't work to divert the attention away from the the more major problems like an out of date extinguisher.

Generally I think it is more of a game to see what the drivers can get away with, which is stupid cause scruitineering is there for their own safety.

[mitzi dude]

Thats so true Trev.Not many race drivers do thank the marshalls or the rescue crews after races.Ive seen very few. The ones that do I tell my marshals to look after them.With the season commin up well see just how much thanx we do get even the odd bottle of bubbly???.One day the Gods will smile on us. Go Foggy.

[aj_308]

AVESCO should get off their pile of cash and hire professional firies, marshalls, etc. only then can we pass judgement. its pathetic that they haven't already.

[Onlooker]

It depends on weather anyone will do it even if they are payed.
A few years ago this came up (now there is a suprise) and a heap of people got on the net and said that they thought it would be an insult to be payed and they did it for nothing more than the satisfaction of being a part of the event .......... blah blah blah, maybe some people quite like the lack of accountability that comes with not being a paid member of the circus

[Chronicle]

It is a good idea to have paid volunteers there, and don't get me wrong I DO think it is a good idea, however lets look at the reality of having a full time bank of officials.

Lets look at any round, and the numbers supplied by the track to run a V8 meeting, now these numbers are only guesstimates:

Race Control - 10 people
Stewards - 4 people
Timing - 6 people
Security (whole track) - maybe 50 (probably on the lower side)
Media Personnel - 2 people
Pit Lane - 10 people
Grid - 10 people
Starting - 2 people
Track Marshalls - 2 people
Sector Marshalls - 8 people
Flag Marshalls - 30 people
Recovery - 12 people
Medical - 10 people
Fire - 20 people
Gate - 20 people
Misc Managers (eg Fire, Recue, Medical, CAMS, AVESCO) 30 people.

If anyone wants to add any please feel free.

That's about 216 if my maths is OK, and at about $20 per hour (a fair bit light on, I know), now that works out to be about $116,000 for a 3 day event. Who is going to fund this 13 times per year at $1.5m.

How do you pay all these people, plus their travel, food, accomodation.

Do I need to go on, or does everyone get the picture.

Let's be realistic here, where do you draw the line, and what job(s) do you drop off the end?

[Onlooker]

You would only have to pay some key people, maybe 30 of them,in my humble opinion

[Matt H]

your probably underestimating in a few departments there onlooker.

try 15 track marshalls, as used at sandown, and close to 30 pit lane, as used at sandown

then there is at least 15+ scrutineers,

so yes, it get to be quite a lot.

i think the only people who should be paid would be the scrutineers, for the safety aspect, therefore, if the job isnt done properly, with our day and age, they can be accountable..

[Chronicle]

Bloody hell, how could I forget the scruitineers, sorry everyone I thought I did pretty well though.

I thought the numbers were a bit light on. So is the $20 per hour, probably closer to $50 if you take in the brass.

[Matt H]

and probably close to 20 recovery, plus vechile costs, two trucks and a crane truck

[Matt H]

umm and bout 10 + communicators

[Chronicle]

God, how pathetic am I? Forgeting all those.

[Matt H]

not pathetic

its easy to do though.

at 7 for timing, and bout 10 for the secretarys office

ok i think im done :d