Pitboard signs

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TheMakipaa

Original Poster:

22 posts

81 months

Wednesday 9th August 2017
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Hello folks,

Not sure this is the right place for this question but I am sure I'll soon be put right if not. :-)

My job is wielding the pit board during our races, currently mainly with CSCC but next year we are thinking of doing some of the Masters races with the Mustang (including the 6 Hours - oh the insanity of it!).

I know for the endurance races there is a whole new level of pain with having to light the pit board etc but for now I am just thinking of getting some extra signs made in addition to the regular OMV set we currently have. We did the 3 Hours in Spa Summer Classic and could have benefited from something referring to penalties, such as "DriveThr" (or something). I also thought "Stop&Go" might come in handy.

Any top tips? What signs have you had made and what signs do you find yourselves missing?

Thanks in advance!

Graham

16,368 posts

283 months

Wednesday 9th August 2017
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Biggest problem we have it getting the drivers remember to read the pit board.

we do the spa 3 and the spa 6 and the most important thing is to have something the driver can easily see and recognise as an IN NOW signal. especially important at night needs to be simple and clear.

we then have a number of manual signals such as driver through dont stop that we give to the driver in the pit lane.

the important thing if you have a penalty or a problem the driver doesnt know is to get them in the pit lane.


as to other signals that really depends on the driver. We have some drivers i can give detailed info and instructions on a 4 line pit board and they will read and react, others who will not remember what it means, some that will say what pit board, and others that will crash trying to read it !!!

The ultimate has to be a 3 line led board that i've used in modern endurance races, you can even say rude things on those lol

TheMakipaa

Original Poster:

22 posts

81 months

Wednesday 9th August 2017
quotequote all
Thanks for taking the time to reply, Graham!

I've more or less managed to train the boys to read the board - they know they'll be in trouble with me if they don't. ;-)

You make a very interesting point actually about then having signs on the pit lane rather than cramming stuff on the board for penalties; I agree the simpler the better on the latter. This would mean they only have to follow the "IN" sign.

I'm very tempted by an LED board.. Any specific recommendations? Also, did you find the pit wall very busy during the Spa 6 Hours? We were one of 3 teams located and signalling from the old endurance pits this year and it was... the pits... The monitor connections weren't turned on and we were basically flying blind. Had lots of room though! :-)

megamaniac

1,057 posts

215 months

Wednesday 9th August 2017
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I find NOW a useful addition.I have also tried to train the various nuts behind the wheel to use the indicators, left for no/staying out and right for yes /coming in, with varying degrees of success.

Thurbs

2,780 posts

221 months

Wednesday 9th August 2017
quotequote all
As a small brained driver who has been known to miss a pit signal or two I feel I should provide some defence to my kind...

1. Dont wave the f'king thing around. When your eyeballs are being vibrated at 8,000 RPM, you are not going to sync in to the same wavelength very easily.

2. Dont stand next to post 1 where flags, boards and numbers are also regularly displayed as our attention may be distracted by messages to us or other drivers.

3. Dont move around during the race, stay at the same point as it is hard enough picking out almost identical boards with the same number when traveling at 150mph.

4. In the same vane, dont move it up, down, left, right, angled or pointed. Just hold it horizontal to your sholder, steady and straight. Do it the same every time. We can read in straight lines best when on the same plane as our eye balls.

5. Dont stand at a corner, braking zone or turn in point. These are places where looking, reading and reacting to a sign at the same time may overload our small brain.

6. When there is somthing important to show, take everything else off it (except the name of the team!!). Sometimes you can only read one line on the board so make that line the one that get's read.

7. Put it out each lap, even if it has nothing new on it. That way we become familuar with it and it becomes our friend, somthing we look forward to each lap.

HTH wink.

TheMakipaa

Original Poster:

22 posts

81 months

Wednesday 9th August 2017
quotequote all
Ok, so "NOW" is a useful addition too. Thanks!

I wouldn't trust us with the indicators; one of the other would get things the wrong way around. At best the drivers remember to flash their lights if they are planning to come in for a pit stop at the next lap (if they haven't been called in)...




TheMakipaa

Original Poster:

22 posts

81 months

Wednesday 9th August 2017
quotequote all
Hey Thurbs!

Good pointers; I am glad to say we already follow all these rules (pretty much common sense, eh?)

As for point 5 - we agree with the drivers in advance what the best place will be to have the board, just for these reasons. When you have the pit wall between La Source and Eau Rouge to choose from, there really isn't an ideal place....

And your point 7 is actually a really good tip - in the longer races I admit I can get a bit blaze with it when there really isn't anything else to add though I know the guys like to feel/know there is someone from the team "out there" with them throughout.

Thanks!!!

Graham

16,368 posts

283 months

Wednesday 9th August 2017
quotequote all
The 6 hour will be the GT pits so very busy, and not really a choice where you go to signal just the closest space available to your pit.

The point about putting the board out every lap is a good one, as it means the driver will know that they missed it, not that you didnt put it out.

in long races with radio or pit board if the driver can cope with it when we have nothing to say we will put pre agreed signals such as laps completed, position, time to go etc. a good tip here is also is to let the rest of the team know that too, as i've seen some guys from other teams not have a clue what their car is doing, other than when its been called in. once we've shown the board to the driver we usually then show it to the guys in the pit.

The led boards are good although can be a pita to mount. I'e always borrowed them in the past as they used to be mighty expensive


IanUAE

2,927 posts

163 months

Thursday 10th August 2017
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Having wielded the pit board at 11 24hr races and 6 seasons of short circuit racing, discussing with the drivers / riders what information you will display is useful, and always keep the information in the same order.

Use the pit board in all sessions so the drivers get used to where they "should" be looking for the pit board (and as said before, stand in the same place.

For normal pit stops, Use T45, T30 to tell the driver how much longer they have left in their stint and L5, L4, L3, L2, L1 as a countdown for planned pitstops.

To help our drivers, I use LED lights to help identify and illuminate the pit board.



After telling the driver to Pit / Box, have somebody stand at the pit entrance with a whiteboard where you write the instruction on. This keeps the pit board easy to read (and for the driver to understand.........).

TheMakipaa

Original Poster:

22 posts

81 months

Thursday 10th August 2017
quotequote all
First of all I have to say that you guys taking the time to respond has re-confirmed what I already knew - people who take part in motorsport are (for the most party any way) a really good bunch.

@Graham - Having the board near where your pits are makes sense, right? And showing the board to the guys at the pits is a really good tip - means the team is all on the same page. At the 3 hours this year our garage was right at the bottom of Eau Rouge and you obviously can't signal from there. So we had the board right at the other end of the wall. It was a nightmare. And you raise the point of the radio; this is something else we need to look into. Obviously not allowed in all races but would be great for when it is.

@IanUAE - Whoa - that is quite something! 11 24h races??!! I am actually quite jealous, must be amazing to be part of something like that. Like the idea of counting down the laps as well rather than just relying on giving them the time left and then calling them in. Your board looks good with the LEDs. Just need to rig something for the battery like you have there.

Thanks for all the tips guys! The things that I have taken away, in addition to the ones stated in the messages above that you all prefer to count time down rather than giving time spent on track. Also, noone has mentioned differences to cars ahead or behind - I guess this is really not that important in the endurance races.

Oh I am quite excited now instead of dreading the 6 Hours next year. Might see some of you at Spa this September, so if there is a girl in a yellow t-shirt spying on your pitwall set up, that'll be me! :-)

TheMakipaa

Original Poster:

22 posts

81 months

Friday 11th August 2017
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Oh, I did have a follow up question actually - so say you have brought your driver "IN" because they need to serve a penalty. How does the whiteboard trick work when the penalty box is right at the beginning of the pit lane? Would you just run to meet them as they enter the pitlane or am I just being totally thick here (not unheard of..)?

IanUAE

2,927 posts

163 months

Saturday 12th August 2017
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TheMakipaa said:
Oh, I did have a follow up question actually - so say you have brought your driver "IN" because they need to serve a penalty. How does the whiteboard trick work when the penalty box is right at the beginning of the pit lane? Would you just run to meet them as they enter the pitlane or am I just being totally thick here (not unheard of..)?
Correct. Having a couple of walkie-talkies helps as you can send a pit crew member upto pit entry earlier than the planned pit stop and inform them when the driver has been told to pit. The person can then report back when the driver has served their penalty.

eastlmark

1,654 posts

206 months

Monday 14th August 2017
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One issue we have in club racing is we don't usually have a pit and its basically a free for all to set up on the pit wall while the driver is in the assembly area. so once our driver is out on the track he has no idea where we are located. Even if we say we will be where we were in practice, chances are someone else has grabbed that opening in the fence. We are not allowed on the pit wall for gridding up or the start so the first lap is the only time the driver will get a chance to see where we are and he is usually too busy at that time to do so. Was very tricky last year when we were doing CSCC races with a pit stop as he would pit often not knowing where we were with the inevitable hand waving and sign waving of all the teams going on due to the narrow pitstop window.

77racing

3,346 posts

186 months

Tuesday 15th August 2017
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eastlmark said:
Was very tricky last year when we were doing CSCC races with a pit stop as he would pit often not knowing where we were with the inevitable hand waving and sign waving of all the teams going on due to the narrow pitstop window.
I have been racing with CSCC for some years now and have the complete opposite experience, no problems at all seeing my pit board and no problems locating my team for driver change simulation in a busy pit lane. just saying how it is for me.

TheMakipaa

Original Poster:

22 posts

81 months

Wednesday 16th August 2017
quotequote all
IanUAE said:
Correct. Having a couple of walkie-talkies helps as you can send a pit crew member upto pit entry earlier than the planned pit stop and inform them when the driver has been told to pit. The person can then report back when the driver has served their penalty.
We need a bigger team. And definitely need walkie-talkies! :-) Thanks!

TheMakipaa

Original Poster:

22 posts

81 months

Wednesday 16th August 2017
quotequote all
eastlmark said:
One issue we have in club racing is we don't usually have a pit and its basically a free for all to set up on the pit wall while the driver is in the assembly area. so once our driver is out on the track he has no idea where we are located. Even if we say we will be where we were in practice, chances are someone else has grabbed that opening in the fence. We are not allowed on the pit wall for gridding up or the start so the first lap is the only time the driver will get a chance to see where we are and he is usually too busy at that time to do so. Was very tricky last year when we were doing CSCC races with a pit stop as he would pit often not knowing where we were with the inevitable hand waving and sign waving of all the teams going on due to the narrow pitstop window.
We are racing with CSCC for the first time this year and I have to say that I find the pit wall roomy enough, maybe it's our class (Future Classics) as I know some of the other classes are busier. Our "team colour" is yellow and I always wear either our team t-shirt or the hoodie so the driver coming into the pits always spots me fairly easily when I wave them down. We have also used the yellow in the pit-board so that helps. There is a lot riding on these non-timed pitstops though and I would love for them to make them 1 minute minimum, just to keep the competition on the track and not about how fast we can get the driver changed. :-)

eastlmark

1,654 posts

206 months

Wednesday 16th August 2017
quotequote all
TheMakipaa said:
eastlmark said:
One issue we have in club racing is we don't usually have a pit and its basically a free for all to set up on the pit wall while the driver is in the assembly area. so once our driver is out on the track he has no idea where we are located. Even if we say we will be where we were in practice, chances are someone else has grabbed that opening in the fence. We are not allowed on the pit wall for gridding up or the start so the first lap is the only time the driver will get a chance to see where we are and he is usually too busy at that time to do so. Was very tricky last year when we were doing CSCC races with a pit stop as he would pit often not knowing where we were with the inevitable hand waving and sign waving of all the teams going on due to the narrow pitstop window.
We are racing with CSCC for the first time this year and I have to say that I find the pit wall roomy enough, maybe it's our class (Future Classics) as I know some of the other classes are busier. Our "team colour" is yellow and I always wear either our team t-shirt or the hoodie so the driver coming into the pits always spots me fairly easily when I wave them down. We have also used the yellow in the pit-board so that helps. There is a lot riding on these non-timed pitstops though and I would love for them to make them 1 minute minimum, just to keep the competition on the track and not about how fast we can get the driver changed. :-)
yeah have to admit that although we had more people sometimes, it was often just me and the driver so really needed to be in the assembly area incase of an issue and then sprint into the pits. Of course a bigger team would not have such issues.

TheMakipaa

Original Poster:

22 posts

81 months

Wednesday 16th August 2017
quotequote all
eastlmark said:
yeah have to admit that although we had more people sometimes, it was often just me and the driver so really needed to be in the assembly area incase of an issue and then sprint into the pits. Of course a bigger team would not have such issues.
We usually go the three of us (2 drivers and myself) and only head to the wall after the cars have left the assembly area and it works ok. I think people probably end up making space for me at the wall as the pit board is big enough that they feel it safer to just move away... ;-) I have to say we've really been enjoying racing with CSCC; perfect for the Mazda.

Thurbs

2,780 posts

221 months

Wednesday 16th August 2017
quotequote all
TheMakipaa said:
Our "team colour" is yellow and I always wear either our team t-shirt or the hoodie so the driver coming into the pits always spots me fairly easily when I wave them down.
I am surprised the marshalls haven't said anything. They dont like any colours being shown which is the same as a flag, hence why marshals wear orange. I have had team members removed for wearing green jackets, hi-viz jackets etc.

TheMakipaa

Original Poster:

22 posts

81 months

Wednesday 16th August 2017
quotequote all
Thurbs said:
am surprised the marshalls haven't said anything. They dont like any colours being shown which is the same as a flag, hence why marshals wear orange. I have had team members removed for wearing green jackets, hi-viz jackets etc.
Oh interesting, noone has ever said anything and we have been racing both in the UK and at Spa in Belgium. I have seen others in yellow as well so we are not unique. I guess we are easy enough to distinguish from a flag, still.. :-)