The IPO and STEWARDS have to GO !~ !

[GTRMagic]

Well it seems officialdom did its level best to manage what seems to be a very messy race meeting at Wakefield Park this weekend.

The NSW Formula Ford championship field had a race stopped yesterday after an accident on lap 1 of their first race.

Now as I understand it, wthe major problem here is the apparent 'reluctance' (read refusal) of the leading cars to acknowledge the safety car board or the single/double yellow flags all around the circuit, with the top few continuing to race at speeds only tenths off their qualifying times.

You would have thought that as the drivers passed the start/finish line, and there were all these dead cars, and bits of dead cars all over the place, that they might be just that little bit cautious on the way thru... perhaps not

The CAMS-supplied Clerk of Course read the riot act this morning to the NSW FF field, charging 6 drivers with a variety of offences regarding the disregard of the yellow flags, and safety car board.... All were fined $3,000 each, $1,500 suspended until December 31st, pendng review of their future racing activities.

A very strong stance against a serious control issue. Good to see, consistent, intelligent response to a safety breach of this scale.

Except....

...in today's final FF race a car managed to get itself bogged in the sand at turn 1. The Control Tower called for the safety car to come out....

...but what does one car decide to do?

Trying to 'redress' passing moves taken before the Safety car boards went out around the circuit, one particular car passed car 96 right in front of the control tower under the watchful eye of the CAMS officals...(first mistake)... then decided to pass car 11 at the top of the circuit whilst again being scrutinised by race control (because they couldn't believe the stupidity of the previous pass).

All of this apparently done whilst yellow flags and SC boards were being displayed all around the track!

Now if this driver is one of the 6 charges yesterday, the $1,500 extra fine may be invoked, but you might also see the driver go on holidays for a while!!!

How is this relevant? Well when drivers do not know the rules well enough, that they do all manner of stupid things to redress situations that should not be redressed... we need a firm hand at the tiller to make sure that the acceptable standard is made known by stealth!

This applies to every category from V8Supercar to the lowest clubbie event...

... if any of this actually happened of course

[mtpanorama]

Gee,
A NSW Formula ford race with a safety car being deployed, a red flag and drivers behaving stupidly.............things never change. If you happen to be the unfortunate catagory to follow them on the track, you are more than likely in for a long wait.

[Kerri]

After watching trackside today, i bet the IPO at Mallala last weekend was busy especially with the Utes.
I can honestly say that although it may have been great for the spectators, some of the driving put an HQ race to shame.
I have not seen that much carnage for a very long time.

[vatuloa]

I don't believe Ambrose and Lowdnes would have been to happy to hear Wayne Cattich say they would have they would give the stewards using the Radar guns training. This won't address the action and there needs to be a discussion on redress from a situation penalised during a race and found to be incorrect afetr the event.

[lcfp2297]

Vatuola...could you please refer me to the evidence that shows that the decision was indeed incorrect...

If you are refering to the data discussed above, all it does is cast doubt...NO PROOF AT ALL!

[SRabbit]

sorry - made mistake - mods delete me please

[vatuloa]

No one said the action was incorrect just that they would give the gun operators training No one is going to admit anything I didn't expect the officials say they were going to offer more training.

[GTRMagic]

Here's an interesting question... why cant Mr Plod run the radar guns on behalf of AVESCO? They have the training, experience and skills necessary to perform this function on our streets, why not our race circuits?

Or is this too obvious a solution?

[SRabbit]

not a bad option - there are plenty of them floating around the place anyway - im sure theyd love the chance to get so close to the action to be honest. And icpf2297 - there isnt any evidence anywhere because the rules state that the teams dont have anyone to present it to - we'll just have to take their word for it