Why did I DNF?

[t-ray]

It's a general and a specific question. In general, when one DNF's, and doesn't know why ... what do you do? Whom do you ask? When do you even have an opportunity to ask?

Specific question - I'm in the orange camaro. I had 4 DNF's this past Saturday. I know what happened the first time; cold tires and I put a wheel in the grass. For the other three ... I genuinely don't know. A couple of times I thought I had clean runs, then saw I had a DNF. I don't believe I missed any gates. The only thing I can think of is dropping a wheel in the grass? I was using the curbs pretty aggressively. The car has really wide tires; 285's and 305's ... I don't think I actually put an entire wheel over a curb, but it might have looked that way.

But how do I actually find out? How do I correct it? One obvious answer is to use less curb.

[nickrd10bk]

It's a general and a specific question. In general, when one DNF's, and doesn't know why ... what do you do? Whom do you ask? When do you even have an opportunity to ask?

Specific question - I'm in the orange camaro. I had 4 DNF's this past Saturday. I know what happened the first time; cold tires and I put a wheel in the grass. For the other three ... I genuinely don't know. A couple of times I thought I had clean runs, then saw I had a DNF. I don't believe I missed any gates. The only thing I can think of is dropping a wheel in the grass? I was using the curbs pretty aggressively. The car has really wide tires; 285's and 305's ... I don't think I actually put an entire wheel over a curb, but it might have looked that way.

But how do I actually find out? How do I correct it? One obvious answer is to use less curb.

You'd likely have to review footage if you have it available to see any possible areas of DNF. If you're unable to find where you are off course, it could be a good idea to ask somebody to ride along with you.

You can ask corner workers during the worker changeout that would have recalled seeing your runs.

You can also have somebody watch your run instead of riding along.

Lastly, I'd ask the event chair. It is important to note that the event chair has likely not seen your run and has no idea. This is however something that can be investigated with an inquiry to corner stations after reviewing the audit sheet. This will take time. At national events, there are audit sheets at each corner station and each cone has a number so not only do you know which cone you hit, but you'll know which corner you DNF'd at. This is not something in place at regional events.

Taking the curbs aggressive is fine and something most of us will do in moderation but there should be no car called off course for a little tire brushing the grass as this is a very arbitrary thing to call. We score "wheel in the grass".

Personally, (without seeing any video) I think you may have DNF'd in the slalom. I saw several cars getting crossed up on the order of the Slalom. You were supposed to enter on the left side of the first cone and exit to the left of the last cone while switching sides each cone.

Finally, if you think you have been called for a DNF that was not deserved, you can protest the result of the run to the event chair (not timing). The way you would do this is to ask the grid worker to speak with the event chair. When you speak with the event chair, this will start the formal protest process. It will take rearward facing video to overturn a call made on the run as I can't argue the perspective of the course worker who ideally would be standing much closer to your car on a run than myself.




Sorry about the DNF"s at the last event. The course was a bit tougher than usual and I think it caught several drivers out.

[t-ray]

Thanks for the detailed response Nick. I'd like to stress that I am not complaining. I don't think anyone did anything wrong. I'm trying to learn how to handle things like that in future events; either things that I did, or how to handle procedural things/ask questions/get answers.

I did have a camera with me, but the mount wasn't functional, so I couldn't actually use it. I'm also pretty sure that it wasn't the slalom; I walked the course several times and I entered the slalom the same way every time (at least I think).

Great information, thank you.

[nickrd10bk]

Thanks for the detailed response Nick. I'd like to stress that I am not complaining. I don't think anyone did anything wrong. I'm trying to learn how to handle things like that in future events; either things that I did, or how to handle procedural things/ask questions/get answers.

I did have a camera with me, but the mount wasn't functional, so I couldn't actually use it. I'm also pretty sure that it wasn't the slalom; I walked the course several times and I entered the slalom the same way every time (at least I think).

Great information, thank you.

I knew you weren't complaining. I really just wanted to leave a detailed response for others who might read this post later on with similar inquiries.

We will have a quick meeting with the corner captains at the events going forward just to be sure they are all on the same page with scoring the runs. This was something national SCCA could have done at the Red HIlls National Tour to improve things also I think. It only takes 5 minutes and I'd feel like that would give us the best possible scoring going forward.

[t-ray]

On the topics of corner captains - any particular training needed there?

[nickrd10bk]

On the topics of corner captains - any particular training needed there?

Really just need to be good with coms and know the appropiate times to red flag.

EX of coms: "Control This is 1" when acknowledged "+1 on AS12" or "Off course on AS12".

You will also be responsible for throwing the red flag when your corner is not safe. If a car spins, you'll likely give them a few seconds to get the car going the right direction again. If they stalled the car and can't get it going again, or they've gone completely off course you'd throw your red flag up and call over the radio "RED FLAG". If you think you need to red flag a driver who is catching up to a problem on course then you should do it. I'd rather be proactive in regards to safety.

You'll also want to look out for the corner workers and make sure they aren't placing themselves in harmful areas. Many of our participants are new to motorsport and keeping an eye out for them is a priority.

[James M.]

I just seen this post today, I was corner captain # 5 of the second run group. I do remember calling multiple DNF for the same car at the beginning of the slalom. I don't recall which car it was. My suggestion which is similar to Nick's if you are getting DNF but don't know why/where ask to ride along with someone else. I was is the same situation at a event & by riding with someone I was able to see where I was missing a cone.