I agree Remmy.

Sure getfast, EV should be the ones "putting out the fires" but if YOUR car was burning would YOU want that extra body responding with a fire bottle to knock down/out a fire while EV responds to deal with the situation fully? Fire bottles are on station for this very reason. Drivers are trained to pull off at a station if there is a fire in the car. I would feel real bad if I was flagging solo and couldn't respond due to my priorities being focused on the track.

This is a one off thing, but we had a car go off at Summit, drivers left on the exit of 3 on the first lap of a start. There was only one flagger in the tub, a car shot off the track, hit a rock, and jumped the tire wall disappearing into the woods. When I say disappear, I mean disappear, the trees opened up, and poof, he was gone. As it was, he wasn't quite sure where the car went, the only evidence where he went in was a single tire bail fell over, but had he missed it because of all the cars, it could have been bad. Here is the video, see for yourself Flying Miata

Don't take this as a knock on NASA. NASA Mid-Atlantic has come a long way. There events are safe, the group has some great folks in charge. I have no problem with them at all. I just wish they put more folks on the turns at least for the race groups. Maybe if they offered a discount for HPDE costs if they spent some race sessions on station the day of your event.

The NASA vs. SCCA question isn't about who is better, they both have their strong points. I would say, both are great, they are just different and each has it's role in the racing/HPDE community.

 

1) Of course I would. But I also wouldn't rely on anyone to put the fire out for me. Nor would I seek them out just because they had a fire bottle that they may or may not actually use (I have attended two SCCA 'crash and burn' flagger training schools and neither of 'em ever mentioned putting out fires as a mandatory task.) Similarly, I have never seen an SCCA flagger put out a car fire (although to be fair I haven't been to a MARRS race in years.)

2) See #1. Drivers pull off where-ever they can and get the hell out of the car if it's on fire. They're not going to coast down to a flag station just because there's a bottle available there. Plus, racers all have onboard bottles (or more likely triggered fire suppression systems with aimed nozzles.)

For what it's worth,

Jon
ps- not arguing, just discussing

 

We're good..

SCCA puts out over 30 fire bottles at each event. "If" I have a fire and "if" I could pull off at a station safely, despite there being no requirement to put out fires, I expect if I pull off in a safe (enough) area, a worker would be there to help beat down the flames until EV arrives.

 

i know some "corner workers".... ill put the word out for u

 

Having worked a few corners in my 20 years with SCCA I can attest that more isn't always better. Hell, a few times I'd have rather been by myself! Ain't never worked a NASA corner, but I do agree, anything SCCA does, NASA pretty much does it better. Sorry SCCA. My opinion, NASA is there for the racers, SCCA is there for themselves.