Huntly red lights (Read 5,665 times)

[artnmotion]

Dunno bout anyone else but huntly offîcials seem to be pretty dam slack with the red lights RE:thumbs down from drivers?! I was sitting on turn 3 and on a number of occasions the drivers thumbs down for an entire lap wasn't enough and it wasn't until a further entire lap was completed with the crowd waving and screaming until the officials realised?! No exaggeration at all used , surely there is a better system or more spotters with communication with the lights operator

[Admin]

The SNZ ref has the call on red lights, nothing to do with Huntly.

[ford82]

yes it is the ref call
but do think that it pritty sad sad at most tracks when a driver puts thumbs down an no 1 wants to stop the race if marshalls say got thumbs down then the ref should stop race str8 away not let it go a few laps as it has happen

[salooncar]

Rather more worrisome was 591P completing 1/4 of a lap around and between parked cars under a red light and being allowed to continue the race. He should either have been black flagged for an unsafe car (no brakes), or for failing to stop under a red light.

[bru68]

just to add to this what about the roll over in turn 1

[speedfreak]

Also there wasn't even a flag man, there was a man but he had no flag, on turn 1 for the first 4 or so races of the night, hence why there was quite a few over runs on the red lights,.,
Ok i'll admit I'm not skilled up on the rules/regulations covering what to do when flames are apparent under a car, but sure common sense must prevail & the need for an extinguisher might be called for, at the very least one would think that the 'fireman' might pick the bloody extinguisher up and make an attempt to head in the direction of the flames just on the off chance it develops further, but I'm not even 100% sure they even seem the flames, they definitely appeared slow on the uptake!,., I guess it was lucky for those drivers who were in that position that the flames didn't take hold and develop further,.,

[Skorp]

Jan 29, 2012 0:47:02 GMT 12 speedfreak said:

Ok i'll admit I'm not skilled up on the rules/regulations covering what to do when flames are apparent under a car, but sure common sense must prevail & the need for an extinguisher might be called for, at the very least one would think that the 'fireman' might pick the bloody extinguisher up and make an attempt to head in the direction of the flames just on the off chance it develops further, but I'm not even 100% sure they even seem the flames, they definitely appeared slow on the uptake!,., I guess it was lucky for those drivers who were in that position that the flames didn't take hold and develop further,.,

here at palmy if one of us guys holding a flag sees debris on the track, or a driver with thumbs down, or a car on fire, we have radios and are to calmly call it in so that the ref can make the appropriate call on weather to stop the race or not. no idea how other tracks do it

[penman]

Jan 28, 2012 23:24:32 GMT 12 salooncar said:

Rather more worrisome was 591P completing 1/4 of a lap around and between parked cars under a red light and being allowed to continue the race. He should either have been black flagged for an unsafe car (no brakes), or for failing to stop under a red light.

You can't be a total Waka knocker about it though - 591P wasn't the ONLY car not to stop on the reds last night (when they finally came on), but the particular time you refer to wasn't great was it? Not sure if it was lack of brakes or something else, but he sailed through everyone else while they were stopped.
He did get put back into the correct position before the greens were thrown again, but the only time he seemed to be able to stop was when the new Waka decided it was going to stop for him (which, unfortunately, it did a couple of times).

As for the reds coming on - they seemed to be late every time. A lot of people commented on it last night and I'm hoping something's going to be done about making it a bit more efficient tonight, because there were times last night that entire laps got completed last night with cars in dangerous positions before the reds came on.

[Row]

Ok - I work on the infield at Huntly so this is how it is. We all have radio's and call in incidents etc as we see them. As Macgor stated earlier in this thread, it is the NZ ref who puts on the Red lights not the Huntly officials. At the start of the night we were all given very clear instructions - DO NOT MOVE TOWARDS THE TRACK UNTIL THE REDS COME ON!!

Also a second point - there were no fires last night! People tend to get a bit too excited about excess fuel burning off in the exhaust pipe.

For the benefit of those less experienced real car fires tend to occur at the back of the car where the fuel cell is or at the front in the engine bay. A few flames underneath the car in the center is always the exhaust. (but we do keep an eye on it)

[chris56]

good reply row ;D its how i seen it too the flames in question was the car 38r i guess and you could tell it was what you just told us

[beachboy]

Must admit the red waka paddler/driver has always been one that's been interesting to watch when the reds come on, be one to keep an eye on at teams champs, if he is there.
Maybe something to do with the colour.


it seems at the moment when the reds come on everyone slowly stops when the car in front does & it's only really the front of the field that gets moved back.

[chris56]

also with the sun out on the lights it makes it hard to see so yeah cant blame anyone on this as sun makes bums on seats ;D

[penman]

Jan 29, 2012 8:42:53 GMT 12 Row said:

Ok - I work on the infield at Huntly so this is how it is. We all have radio's and call in incidents etc as we see them. As Macgor stated earlier in this thread, it is the NZ ref who puts on the Red lights not the Huntly officials. At the start of the night we were all given very clear instructions - DO NOT MOVE TOWARDS THE TRACK UNTIL THE REDS COME ON!!

Also a second point - there were no fires last night! People tend to get a bit too excited about excess fuel burning off in the exhaust pipe.

For the benefit of those less experienced real car fires tend to occur at the back of the car where the fuel cell is or at the front in the engine bay. A few flames underneath the car in the center is always the exhaust. (but we do keep an eye on it)

Is it politically correct to ask you then ROW (given you are on the infield) why it took so long to throw the reds on last night? Not just once, but fairly consistently.
I don't like to criticise refs, officials, etc, because it's so difficult to see all of the track all of the time, but there were a number of occasions last night when almost everyone could see cars in dangerous positions or drivers indicating for assistance, but the reds not coming on for some time.

[Row]

Sorry penman I cannot answer that - you will need to go and talk to the SNZ ref who makes the call as I outlined in my earlier post.

[SprintCar Crazy]

maybe it cos the ref cant see very well from were he is the track lighting isnt the best

[penman]

Jan 29, 2012 9:01:42 GMT 12 SprintCar Crazy said:

maybe it cos the ref cant see very well from were he is the track lighting isnt the best

I'd certainly hope the SNZ ref can see very well from where he is...for all sorts of reasons.

[Deleted]

it is not that easy from the infield to see thumbs down all the time due to car angle, how driver strapped in, as often drivers cant get their hands out enough to be visable, so it can sometimes take a bit longer to clarify if driver is thumbs down, sometimes it does take crowd to make it more aware to infield as if a car out by wall you can only get so close to end of track to see.

[peteg181p]

Jan 29, 2012 9:04:17 GMT 12 penman said:

Jan 29, 2012 9:01:42 GMT 12 SprintCar Crazy said:

maybe it cos the ref cant see very well from were he is the track lighting isnt the best

I'd certainly hope the SNZ ref can see very well from where he is...for all sorts of reasons.

maybe its one of those one eyed refs you keep refering too ;D

[Parrot]

Certainly looked like a new version of the mexican wave from the turn 3/4 crowd when that stockcar sat in the wall for a lap and hundreds of people were doing the thumbs down and still they kept racing

[Dirt_Fan]

I wonder how hard it is for officials to not watch the racing or their favourite car.

Im not being cheeky but its a spectator sport and weather your an official or a fan you watch the racing, I wonder if things accidentally get missed as attention is drawn elsewhere.