the basics For some LeMons drivers, the first time they pull on the track is the first time they've pulled on a track. Others have done autocrosses or track days but no wheel-to-wheel. Then come experienced roadracers--most of whom manage to do even worse than the rookies. This section is a basic walk-through of how to prepare for driving in LeMons, no matter your skill level.
Fitting Yourself to the Car: Try your car on for size before the race weekend. Make sure everyone on the team can reach all the controls, latch and unlatch all the safety and comfort devices, find the kill switch and extinguisher, and most importantly get the hell out when they need to. If your door handles are hidden or your window net doesn't make sense to the driver, things will go bad pretty fast in an emergency.
When race day arrives, get your teammates to strap you in super-tight—you should feel like a hippo is parked in your lap. (You really can't get your own harnesses tight enough; everyone needs help.) Tight harnesses minimize the chances of excessive movement in a crash. Recheck your ability to reach and operate all of the controls, then head for the track.
Exertion, Hydration/Nutrition, and Heat: Overexertion is one of the most common ailments suffered by racedrivers: You simply don't realize how much you're pushing yourself while you're in the car. You can be in the zone, passing cars left and right, and driving your Pinto to its limit. Suddenly, you have to slow for a caution flag and you realize you haven't taken a breath in 20 laps. Or, your left leg is completely numb. Or, there's excruciating pain coming from your arm where it was banging against the rollbar padding. The list goes on.
Dehydration is another potential driver-killer. Every team member should take in at least a gallon of water or sports drink per day. Wind, heat, and adrenaline suck moisture out of your body at an incredible rate on the track, and standing outside in the paddock continues the process. If you don't already need to pee on your way to the track, you haven't had enough fluids. Go back and stock up. The same goes for food; while it's easy to forget to eat amidst all the excitement, your body needs decent food all weekend long to keep going. If you don't feed it, it'll conk out on you.
Heat stroke can finish the job that exertion and dehydration start. The car is abnormally hot; you're wearing a restrictive, highly insulating fire suit; and the moisture built up by your sweat can quickly turn into an air-blocking barrier. Worst of all, very few of us experience physical exertion in our regular lives that comes close to the strains of the racetrack.
Lightheadedness, nausea, vision issues, elation, headache, and concentration problems are all classic symptoms of heat, hydration, and exertion problems, but many times drivers don't even notice these symptoms until it's too late. Absent any built-in warning system, we very strongly encourage all drivers to run very short stints--a half-hour for novices max--and to concentrate on liquids and nutrition throughout the weekend.
So remember: Before you get in the car, drink a lot more water than you think you need to—you'll end up sweating off the excess anyway. Keep decent food in yourself, stay strapped in tight, and pay very close attention to what your body is telling you inside the car. The moment you do get the sense that you might become physically over-taxed, there's a very good chance that you already are—just come into the pits and make a switch. That's way less embarrassing, and a whole lot less dangerous to everyone, than pushing yourself too hard over a stupid sack full of nickels.
|
'tude After doing a bunch of these races, we've lost track of how many times a team has wound up in the pits or the penalty box due to over-aggressive driving. It's real simple, guys--no pass in the world saves enough time to make up for a crash or a black flag. It's a race, so feel free to drive hard, but be honest with yourself about your limits. If you take an unnecessary chance and wind up smashing your car or facing an angry Judge Jonny, you've got no one to blame but yourself.
Being too defensive can be just as bad as being too aggressive. If you're intentionally blocking a faster car behind you, you're either going to cause a wreck or get black-flagged. If you're concentrating more on your mirrors than what's ahead of you, that's a good sign that you're being too defensive.
When you're in the car, be aware of those around you—especially the corner workers. No matter the racing conditions, shoot a glance at each flag stand as you approach it. Not only does this let you know when it's safe to race, missing a flag will earn you penalties and/or a shot from the paintball gun.
Driving and flagging is a two-way relationship. When a worker is waving a flag, it doesn't hurt to give them a wave or a nod of acknowledgement. If you're stuck on track, a gentle, friendly wave lets them know you're OK, so they don't have to stop the race and call for an ambulance to check on you. By the same token, panicky flailing lets them know you're in trouble. (You know, REAL trouble, not the "I drove into the mud because I'm an idiot" kind of trouble.) Under all circumstances other than fire, stay strapped inside your car no matter what--that's the safest place on the racetrack. Unless you see flames or hardcore smoke, just wait for the corner and rescue guys to come help you.
Also, communicate with your fellow drivers. If you spot a yellow flag, are having a problem with your car, or are experiencing anything that alters your driving pattern, wave your hand in the air to alert others of the change in circumstances.
Oh, and a final note? The corner workers can totally see you. If they're calling you in, it's 'cause you did something. Maybe not in the last 30 seconds, maybe not in the last five minutes, but you did something. They saw you. It's not like they've got nothing better to do.
|
flags To first-timers, race flags can seem pretty confusing. Actually, the rules are quite simple--the real problem is paying attention. There's a lot to take in on the track, and remembering to look for and process the flags takes real mental effort. It's critical to a safe and fun weekend, however.
First and foremost: Get in the habit of checking the stations! It just takes a lap or two to memorize where the flag stations are (a teammate who's already been out there can help you before you even get started). Remember, some stations might not be manned--if there's nobody in it, that station is "dead" for our purposes.
Once you know where the manned flag stations are, check out each one as you head toward it. Soon enough, you'll realize that at most tracks, there are lots of places where you can grab a glance at other stations long before you approach them. The flags reveal critical info, and the more info you can get, the better your race (and everyone else's) will go.
Yes, signalling by flags is, like, 15th-century Royal Navy technology, but as long as you're paying attention, it all works surprisingly well. Some series have complicated rules differentiating "local" flags (those that affect just to the immediate area) from "full course" flags (those that affect the whole circuit). We don't bother with that: When we want a full-course control, we just have each station put out the same flag. We also have a very simple method for expressing the seriousness of the situation: The harder the dude's waving, the more scared you ought to be.
So when, exactly, are you under control of a flag? From the moment you can see (or at least would see, if you bothered to look) the next station. If the next manned station you can see is waving a yellow, you're under yellow. You remain under yellow until the next manned flag station you can see is NOT waving yellow. Couldn't be simpler. This system is called "line of sight rules," for obvious reasons.
A lot of series use a different system called "station-to-station rules." The key factor there is when the car passes the flag station, not when it comes into view of the station. We've found that station-to-station rules are pretty confusing to novices, and that one moron always ends up racing like mad to beat out the next moron to the yellow flag station...at which they both plow right into the station. So, you know, screw that.
The exact flagging rules for each event are covered in the mandatory pre-race driver's meeting. In general, though, LeMons sticks pretty close to the standard roadracing flag rules, which first means you need to know the colors. At LeMons, we keep it simple by relying on just the four basic flags: green, yellow, red, and black. Here's a quick rundown of each:
GREEN: Go race. Pretty damn easy. Note that most tracks just show the green flag at one or two places: The start/finish line, and maybe one or two other stations out in the boonies. Thus, a manned flag station showing no flag at all means "go ahead, put the pedal down"--it's the equivalent of seeing a green flag.
YELLOW: Caution, no passing. There's some kind of hazard on track. Reduce your speed (don't slam on the brakes--just back off and chill out) and don't pass any other vehicles. Watch out for obstructions, emergency vehicles, fluids on the racing surface, and especially emergency workers on foot. Pay extra attention to the corner workers under yellow, and give them a wave or a nod to let them know you're on top of the situation. Passing under yellow is the ultimate rookie-dork LeMons penalty, and it'll lose you a whole lot more time than the position you thought you were fighting for. Oh, and one word of advice: If you suddenly get really, really talented and pass ten guys at once? That's cause you just missed a yellow.
BLACK: Come to the pits (RIGHT FRICKIN' NOW). A black flag means come see us in the pits IMMEDIATELY. It could be you just got a penalty, it could be your car is on fire. Don't pretend that you didn't see it--it only gets worse either way.
Occasionally we'll issue a warning—basically, we'll shake a rolled-up black flag in your direction like your second-grade teacher used to do with her finger. If you get a warning you don't need to come in, but if you see a flag waving at you, you're busted. Some tracks have number boards at start/finish or elsewhere to eliminate any chance of confusion, but let's be candid: When you get a black flag, you know it. And while some racing series have two types of black flags (one for driving offenses and another for mechanical issues) we typically don't differentiate. We just want your sorry butt off the track NOW. Proceed straight to the LeMons Penalty Box to find out what's going on.
Finally, on rare occasions you'll see that every station is showing a black flag. That means ALL cars should return to the pits or paddock immediately.
RED: Stop, doofus. A red flag means stop: Somewhere on course, there's a situation that can only be safely addressed after the other cars stop where they are. If you see a red, pull off the racing line and come to a stop as quickly and as safely as you can, preferably in clear view of a manned flag station. Don't just slam on your brakes--check your mirrors, ease up, and pull over. A healthy wave of your hand is a very good idea while you're doing it.
|
minor flags Though we don't usually throw any info flags, here's a quick rundown of some that you might see at LeMons (or anywhere else).
Blue/Yellow: A blue flag with a diagonal yellow stripe means you're ridiculously slow and you're bumming out somebody else. In LeMons, that pretty much applies to 80% of the field, so unless you're down to about 3 mph, you're probably not gonna see this.
White: Though the white flag is used to announce the final lap in some of that-thar Suthren-type racin' (and is thus commonly mistaken for the official signal to start a 50-car pileup), it can also can be used to alert drivers to emergency vehicles on the track. In LeMons, we usually just chase the emergency vehicles with yellows, but if you see a white flag, expect to come up on a wrecker.
Red/Yellow: The so-called "debris" flag. Again, if we waved this thing every time some heap dropped a lugnut or puked out some brake fluid, we'd all look like Popeye. I mean, we might as well just paint this right onto your windshield. So if you see this one, something REALLY serious is affecting the track. Technically, the red flag with multiple yellow stripes indicates a change in the racing surface--that means there's oil, water, dirt, debris, an '83 Renault Medallion front bumper, or some other hazardous substances on the track. REMOVAL OF THE DEBRIS FLAG DOES NOT MEAN THE HAZARD IS GONE; it just means that you ought to be aware of the hazard by now. Don't assume that the flag's disappearance means everything has gone back to normal--it doesn't mean that at all.
Checker: Yeah, right. Like you're gonna see this one. If only.
|
|