Working Race Staff At Autobahn Country Club

Autobahn is a nice 3.6 mile club circuit, with a bit of elevation change in the longer, faster, 2.1 mile
South Loop. 

My club ran its annual event on Autobahn Country Club's South Loop last weekend.  (Sometimes we run two, plus the spring drivers' school.)  As usual, High Speed Autocross was on Saturday and wheel-to-wheel racing on Sunday.  I try work Autobahn every year because it's close to home (no motel) and I feel like a slacker if I don't.  Adequate event staffing is a concern in club racing, especially at longer venues.  Working Autobahn makes up for not working our vintage event at Blackhawk Farms, when I want to be free to roam the paddock and watch the races.  At least it does in my mind.

On Saturday two of us, both novices, worked the green light to start HSAX runs.  The trick is to release cars as quickly as possible.  This maximizes the number of both practice and timed laps for entrants, while minimizing the possibility that cars will encounter each other on course.  It complicates matters that each driver gets a cool-down lap after his timed lap, so up to half of the cars on track at any given time are going for a hot lap while the other half are cooling down.  Further complicating matters is the fact that cars within a "run group" vary in speed, and the next run group is available for release while the previous one is completing its runs.  Further further complicating matters is the fact that a fast Miata driver may be faster than a slow Corvette driver.  And that we had some race-prepared cars in the mix.  And that some drivers took "cool down lap" too literally and got in the way.

But this is in the nature of things for a relaxed, "run what ya brung" club that tries to maximize participation.  My club is more about fun on the track than winning, and I wouldn't have it otherwise.
We starters got some snarky comments (not to our faces) from flag stations to the effect of "What idiot releases such-and-such a car when this-and-that car is completing a run?"  I invite them to try it themselves.  Not all starters are good at leaving the line, and we had a few who were asleep at the green.  And estimating when a car leaving from a dead stop in the middle of the pit lane will reach Turn One compared to a car coming off the last turn is a lot harder than estimating who will overtake who when you're flagging a corner.  It was the most intense "fun day" I've ever had.  I was exhausted when I got home.  Temperatures in the 40's with a stiff breeze didn't make it any funner.  I would not willingly volunteer for this duty again.

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On Sunday, I safety-flagged for the wheel-to-wheel racers in Turn 1 (the "carousel" on the map above).  I was (by far) the least experienced of the three workers.  My captain has flagged professional races for the SCCA and ALMS.  The other worker flags our club events all season long.  I was given the light duty of showing the blue passing flag to cars that were being overtaken, and looking for off-track excursions by oncoming racers.  The other worker watched from corner-exit down the track to Turn 4 (Turn 3 was not staffed).  Our captain ran the radio to Race Control and watched the center of Turn 1.

We had a more relaxed day than we expected.  Turn 1 is passing zone at the end of pit straight, so it is often lively.  This day the "bad" action was at other stations.  The competition in the Formula Ford/small-bore open wheel/small-bore sports racer class was fierce and race-long, but the driving was clean and even masterful.  I rarely used my blue "you're being overtaken" flag because the runners knew the other car was there--they'd been battling for laps.  We expected "the usual carnage" in the Miata-dominated classes with large car counts.  The cars are closely matched but driving skill is not, and sometimes the Red Mist overcomes a racer.  Somehow they sorted themselves out with minimal off-track excursions and even the novice drivers were using their mirrors.  My blue flag was furled most of the time.

 We took Turn 1 yellow maybe half a dozen times in 7 hours of racing, and never for more than a couple of minutes.  My club has rules that say no car-to-car contact is acceptable, "four wheels off" gets  you black-flagged, and "two wheels off" twice ditto.  Any two-wheels off is reported by corner staff to Race Control, including the "assist" by another driver (if there is one).  There were maybe 10-12 black flags all day, two of which were for mechanical issues.  The main reason for these rules is to minimize squirrely driving and maximize personal safety.  But it also makes life easier on race cars.  All of our members are owner-drivers and few of us are rich.  HSAX drivers run their daily drivers at speeds far higher than parking lot gymkhanas.

Sunday was fun and the drama was of the good kind: clean passes in the braking zone.  Nobody outbraked himself onto the grass although a few came close.  We saw two really good races, with up to 8 cars racing hard for half an hour.  My corner captain drives a Honda Civic Si too, so we had some high-fives when they did well in the small sedan race.