Mike Schroder

iTrader: (10)

Tony I agree to a point yes the Marshall's were a bit slow as in my final I lost 6seconds when I ended up on my roof BUT it was my FAULT so I only have myself to blame.....

Maybe TJ needs to run a night as Marshall your own car than everyone needs to drive to there limits and not over as there is no one to help except yourself.

We have had do this many a time at moorebank nitro racing due to lack of Marshall's in the finals so try doing it for 1/2hour no Marshall's due to having just enough guys there to refuel your car that becomes intense...

So maybe being that all novice newbies need to take as much opportunity as possible to practice learn setup and learn racing instead of worrying about marshalls and quick lap times etc.

Remember the main thing for a novice is to practice consistency and getting around and letting people through with out causing incident.

I don't believe in novice you actually purposely get taken out novice is a learning class and accidents will happen but I don't think they are intentional. They same can be said for all class's no body intentially takes out people but we do have brain fade sometimes......

There is my 2 cents worth so take it as you all will....

NuttsnBolts

Might have a look at that as well. To be honest I didn't even think of that.
It's not just novice cause I know in a few races I've had to run halfway along the track just to get to a car. I don't wanna say too much cause I might end up starting an argument but a marshal shouldn't be socializing in a way that distracts them from their job and someone shouldn't drop from 1st to last because of a slow marshal.

My main issue is when they're on the track they can become a large visual obstacle. The chicane is a notorious spot because drivers can loose all sight of the sweeper. Sometimes I've had to slow to a stop because I literally cannot see my car!

roknrolla

iTrader: (6)

Amen Mike! Sam and I did our best consistencies last Friday, with Sam getting a 0.4 consistency. Was a great night racing the clock, and not so much racing each other but we were so close that we did bump now and again. All in all was a fun night. See you all next Friday!

AUSCAN

iTrader: (6)

I don't think anyone in novice, or in any of the other classes for that matter, purposely runs into other drivers to take them out. As they said in Days of Thunder, "He didn't run into you, he rubbed you, and rubbing son, is racing". No, I didn't think at the time (nor now) that anyone purposely took me out. When we're all going as hard as we can these things happen. It's a racing incident and that's all. Actually I have to say that I enjoyed a very tight battle with one of the other drivers who doesn't normally go as hard as they did on Friday night. It was a good battle that lasted a few laps. I came off second best but it was good. It was racing!

I understand what you say about people in Novice learning race craft etc but at the end of the day we all want to race. I don't ever go out to just make up the numbers. I go out to race to the best of my ability. Novices aren't alone in having self made accidents. It happens to everyone from Novice to Mod. I've seen some cars launched in spectacular fashion by people with a whole lot more experience than me because they've hit a kerb or whatever while racing as fast as they could. If we weren't all trying as hard as we can then it would be a pretty boring night.

Cheers

Telinoz1975

Nice meeting Trevor and Linda on Friday.
Now that I've checked out the club, will join soon.

Quick background;
Back in the 90's in Scotland I raced 1/10 touring, Schumacher SST for about a year.
Back in the late 80's when I was still young! I spent about 4 years racing Modified 4WD 1/10 Buggies - Still have my old Cat XLS.
Moved to Australia in 2000 due to work transfer I asked for (I'm in Engineering - Production, Electronics, Electrical, Mechanical and some Chemical).
In 2011 I came across helicopters, noticed they had dropped in price a lot and bought a couple. Recent trip to buy a basic one for my father for his birthday in July I noticed a 1/24 Losi Micro Truggy and had to try it out! Now ordering 2.4Ghz conversion kit for it and brushless motor... so bug back and picked up a DX3R Pro radio earlier in the week.

Made 2 decisions.
First one is that I will try something new to start with, the 1/10 F1 class at Castle Hill as I've not done 2WD and the range of scale models for F1 has grown. So now waiting for a F104 v2 chassis to turn up and completing my research on latest electronics (Wow, that has changed!).
Second one is after I'm up and running with F1, got used to racing again, have all the pit gear setup right I will take on a 2nd class for racing in touring cars that I've done before.
My guess is 1 month after F1 before I feel I can manage 2 cars on one night!
Settled on Xray T3 2012 chassis for that.

Nice forum and nice meeting new people, will pop by again this Friday to continue talking with the F1 people this time and some questions on the new MyLaps gear.

ta04evah

iTrader: (2)

Tony,

Grievances in regards to marshals have been around as long as I can remember in the hobby.
Yes, some do get distracted by talking to friends, checking their results on smart phones or watching the race and not the section of the track they should be watching.

Sometimes it isn't your fault having your car ending up stuck on its roof or go flying off the track, sometimes you can be on one side of the track and a car caught up on the other side spears at yours from an accident they were involved in.
In that scenario you are hoping the marshal is on the ball and can get to your car both quickly & safely, I don't want anyone to get themselves hurt trying to get to my car too quickly.
I've taken a hit or 2 many years ago in the ankle/leg and I can tell you it hurts alot, and seeing the speeds the cars do today compared to what they were 20 years ago, it's going to leave a nasty injury.

We often remember the bad marshaling incidents rather then the good ones, like when Greg C last week did his best to return my car to the track after I monged a corner when I was leading the 21.5 A final, that allowed me to still come in 3rd place. (Thanks Greg)
Some of the best marshaling efforts I have seen are done by the younger members and a good number of them are in the novice class.
One that comes to mind who I haven't seen for a while is Kate, not only would she due her best to marshal and do it safely but she often also helped those that got their cars stuck in practice time.

Another factor that has to be considered is that some of us "maturer" racers aren't as nimble as we used to be and take a little time to get to the stuck cars as well.
With a little bit of guidance and positive recognition, I believe both young & "maturer" drivers will try their best when it comes to their turn to marshal a race.

Cheers
Rob.

mangoman

iTrader: (11)

Mike there was one car stranded in the middle of the track that i remember, i think about 1.5 to 2 minutes in.

I was on the right side of the drivers stand and trying to run out but cars were kind of spaced evenly every two metres and i couldnt get a clear spot to run into the middle of the track from that right side, the cars are generating a lot of rip coming out of that second hair pin.

Having 9 cars on the grid and most of the field pretty well matched probably didnt help.

But marshalling is very much luck at the time, some people take marshalling a lot less seriously although the cold doesnt help!

M24

Whilst on the subject of marshals, I have to say most do a really good job. I would like to think that others would marshal my car the same as I would marshal theirs, firstly without impeding anyone else's race and secondly not putting themselves at risk by being hit by another car just to marshal me when I've put it on it's lid or into the barrier. Sometimes you just have to wait a few seconds longer.

This'll stir the pot - I think most of us (and definitely not all) need to smarten up our act and get out to marshal quicker after we've just finished our last race. How often have you grided up on the start line and only have a couple of marshals ready, whilst the others are dilly dallying around in the pits. Doesn't take long to take your car & radio back to your table and quickly check the motor temp and get back out to marshal. Can easily be done in less than 1 1/2 minutes as this is my normal routine after a run and am normally one of the first back out to marshal. With the way numbers have been growing lately, if we want to keep 5 minute heats this will be the only way to do it if we still want to finish before midnight.

Rob - I thought it was my car I was marshalling!

Greg C

Mike Schroder

iTrader: (10)

Hey Mangoman,

Not to sure if we have meet mate ?

Not having a go at anyone on my side champ, Michelle Lewis was on one side of the track and young Jordan Mazzarolli (hope I spelt your name correct Jordan ) on the other and both struggled to get to me due to the position i was in BUT I put myself in that position and even though i said a few choice words about getting my car on the stand and fairly sure Graham and Beth will vouch for this I was more annoyed at myself for making the mistake.

My point was based mainly at all novice drivers that are new to RC and don't understand how it works...

Also its great to see my wife doing really well with her consistency and lowering her lap times and doing a PB as well 21/5:10 and a 13.7s if I remember and finishing 3rd in the final and having three good clean races....

NuttsnBolts

Telinoz: Welcome to the track and it's always good meeting up with some new racers. What class are you going to race with the Xray?

I can understand that completely cause no everyone is as nimble as the young guys, plus what Martin said about the 9 cars all on the same part of the track at once. Sometimes getting to the car is just plain hard because of the circumstances.

I do agree with Greg though when it comes to speeding up the night between racers. It does come down to whether the marshals are ready and occasionally we do have to wait for them.

All in all the guys all do a great job and racing wouldn't exist without them so I don't think anyone can disregard that but it's a shame that the bad sometimes outshines the good. Personally I enjoy marshaling and often you can see some good races while you're manning the track.

You should know him... He's the man that stole my regular spot.

Radio Active

iTrader: (2)

From someone who gets around to other clubs a bit, the marshalling standards at Castle Hill are pretty reasonable. They're certainly no worse than club days anywhere else I have been lately, probably a little better, and because the track is smallish it doesn't take 10 seconds to run to a car, so things aren't so bad.

Telinoz1975

F1 to start with, for first month or so then I will also try touring cars at the same time (the Xray, not sure yet - prob not modified at this time until I get into it again).
Lots of parts ordered just now, waiting on kit being main thing!
If everything comes together, should be racing in 2-3 weeks.
In the mean time I'm checking out clubs in the area and will pop back to this one on Friday again.

ta04evah

iTrader: (2)

Oh wow, that brings back some memories for me.
I remember racing at Castle hill with one of those in modified using a brushed Fantom 13x6 motor and a HPI Supra body (before the days of the tc blob shells)
I can't exactly remember when but it was soon after I raced there with a Tamiya TA03F.

The Xray T3 is a good choice, a well made and race proven car for touring car. What class are you thinking of entering, 21.5, Stock or Mod?
Is good to see another bitten by the racing bug again and if you need help with anything there's lots of folk that are more then willing to help out..

Greg, I agree with you on that one, usually I pick my car up to the right of the drivers stand, have a quick look at my results on the computer monitor, turn off my car & radio before placing them on the table before going back out to marshal.
If you're only running one class then there's plenty of time after the race you marshal to work on and/or prep your car for the next race.
Sure if you're entered in 2 classes then you don't have as much time but with the numbers we've been getting there's still a considerable amount of time to work on/prep your cars for the next round.

Cheers
Rob.

Mad Mackem

iTrader: (12)

Good point Greg, there are some serial pests from this point of view. Some try to hide and get away without doing it.

NuttsnBolts

Haha Rob!!!!