What is going on?

[Crash Test]

Firstly, there was the momunemenatal screw up of the Bathurst GTP 2hr, when they let the race leader by the pace car, stop goed them twice, then at the finish totally rearranged the finishing order. (Have they released final results for the race yet??)

Next, on the Gold Coast, John Bowe recieved a stop go penalty for kerb hoping, but ignored the black flag, and later had his finishing position reinstated.

Then in the BRutes, in the second race, Ian McAlister jumped the start and led the race over the start finish line on the first lap, when he recieved his black flag. Seconds later, Damien White nerfed Steve Robinson off, and on the next time past the pits, McAlister served his stop go. A little while after, the red flag was brought out, and because they back dated the race to the start of the first, McAlister was declared the winner. White was given a penalty for his incident (which occured after the finish of the race) and was classified as the last finisher....make sense?

Then in the last BRutes race, Rod Wilson missed his spot on the grid (due to the glare) by about a meter. The grid marshal told him to reverse back, but he didn't because he knew it was illegal. So when the race started, he copped a red flag. Charlie Kovacs started from the wrong grid position (as the car ahead of him did not front). This I think would have been a pretty obvious thing, and could have been fixed with the stop-go (like Wilson). Kocavs went on to win, but later had a protest lodged against him, and was subsequently relegated down the field.

And then yesterday- one guy won it, then lost it, then won it again.

I dunno, but there seems to be a lot of shenangians going on at the moment. I know it would have to be a tough job....but really, I'm sure a few of us around here could do a decent job!

[RaceTime]

Keeping in perspective that AVESCO are now providing the timing and scoring for all V8 SoupCar events (and the experience of the guy in charge - well, I won't comment on that...)

Yesterday - and I say this without having been there - BUT, the fact that Murphy had crossed the line before the red flag indicates one of two things to me (as a timekeeper with some 30 years experience...)

1. The person(s) running the system at Pukekohe were/are inexperienced and had no one with full knowledge of the rules to assist them (I rpefer this option having met the people running it)

or

2. Someone, name unknown, wanted the red flag declared, in the timing system, before Murphy had crossed the line and got caught out by one of the teams. Whilst this implies collusion or worse, knowing how some areas of SoupCars work, I wouldn't put it past them.

As to the other problems - a lot of this is coming down to too many fingers in the pie - FFS get RID of race directors for each categoryt - get BACK to the days of ONE SINGLE PERSON controlling the motor racing. Sure - have a group of stewards specific to a category but the organisation on the track is becoming confused because of the differing attitudes and decisions.

[Morris 1100]

I thought it was a strange decision to let Murphy cross the line twice before hanging out the red flag. With everyone spinning off why wait until the leader does an extra lap (unless you want him to win)

[sevi]

It did make you wonder, when the RD always overuses the red flag why this time it took so long to put it out?

[Morris 1100]

At a V8 round that I was an official (FIV driver) at the briefing in the tower before the race we were told that "Under no circumstances will the red flag be used in the V8 supercar races, it will be used in the support races but not the V8 races". So I think that shows the mentality of someone up high. How on earth can he say "Under no circumstances" That means throw away the reds the V8's are on!

[D.R.T.]

Thats what wrong with the current standards of motor racing in Australia. Its like just because there V8's , they have special dispentation from other categories. I suppose there should be a problem about the red flag, considering, half the crowd is drunk, who's guuna be counting the laps.

[Vandas]

Racetime has hit on a very important topic here.

Who actually controls the track during a session.

To the letter of the law the Clerk of Course is the person in charge of all on track activities.

They are advised by the Race Director (who has specific knowledge of the category they are in charge of).

AVESCO and CAMS have really created a number of problems for themselves with too many grey areas arising in the tower.

Did you know that AVESCO officials and CAMS officials operate on a totally different channel to the actual officials? They often tend to forget to tell the Clerk of Course and Race Control any changes they have made to their category which can often turn Race Control into a shi(t)fight for control.

The problem is: If a fatality happens on the circuit due to a mistake by Race Control then who takes responsibility? The Race Director may have made the call for no red (for example) but the Clerk of Course is the person who holds the position of authority. Therefore the Clerk of Course is the person liable.

A new trick being used by a number of Clerks of Course is to write up a legal document which states that the Race Director will take over full responsibility for their judgements that over ride the Clerk of Course. When presented with this the Race Director generally goes very quiet and takes a backseat for the weekend. This is when they understand their role.

However, this is not a suitable fix. We need to have the hierarchy of control and responsibility clearly defined before we end up in a massive legal battle which will end up hurting the sport.

[RaceTime]

But we already have a heirachy in place that CAN work - it is just that (and I will use names here) people such as Schenken, Cochrane et al overstep their mark with their own self-importance.

Wether they like it or not, the system HAS been working reasonably effectively for 30 plus years. Sure, some things have gotten better, a few have gotten worse (Oran Park is an example of one getting worse IMHO - how many 'assistant' Clerks of Course do they have these days? 3? 4? - too many cooks etc - and I have seen their circus act first hand to know the problems they cause themselves)

This position of Race Director is straight from Schenken. Formula 1 do it, so can we...forgetting that Formula 1 is a totally different ball game and is unlike ANYTHING we have in Australia - including the SoupCars.

[Ray Bell]

Oran Park has never had an efficient organisation...

[RaceTime]

Now now Ray - I never said they did. Same setup seems to apply throughout NSW though!