Posted: Sun Nov 02, 2008 8:00 pmPosted: Sun Nov 02, 2008 8:45 pmPosted: Mon Nov 03, 2008 3:00 amNZ255 wrote:QUOTE (NZ255 @ Nov 2 2008, 09:45 PM) <{POST_SNAPBACK}>So was it just the bridge they had to slow for or.....
Looks like a fun day. Was this the job that was offered here a while ago?
Yes and no. The person who took the job that was offered is the one wearing the vest and waving.
There were three bridges on that particular stage (Akatarawa, by Wellington) which were subsiding so the race cars couldn't be allowed to hit them under full brakes for the very tight corners afterwards. The very explicitly documented procedure for each bridge was that the cars were required to stop within 7 metres of the bridge then proceed across at 10km/h.
I was standing next to the other end of the bridge with a video camera seeing who stopped and who just slowed right down, and Dazza was at the other end of the bridge with the speed gun (doesn't he look cute with his beanie on under his cap). I forget the exact number but I think we ended up pinging about 20 for speeding and about half of the field for not stopping properly. The teams on the other bridges weren't as draconian but then they didn't have video cameras (this year ...) There were 60 protests lodged about penalties awarded from that stage, most of them would have been mine for not stopping.
For some reason most of the crews that stopped waited for me to indicate that they could go again (some of them waited an awfully long time), and once they got across the bridge they waited for Dazza's signal they they could accelerate again. He's far too kind, I would have just watched them drive slowly past. But then I'm the sort of a$$hole who would say "Hey, we've got half an hour spare, let's hide our distinctive car behind a parked car and set up a rally car speed trap in a 50km/h suburban street on the touring route"
Mainly the job was a mix of exactly what I said (find somewhere with a decent straight and try to catch people going over 200) and something even better that got sprung on me (stand at an intersection watching the cars try to get round the corner and keeping a log of who went past and when, and only using the gun to look good or if we wanted an excuse to watch from a better spot in front of the tape).
I put nearly 3000km on our loan car over the week, am absolutely knackered, and can't wait for next year.
Nice videos victor_alpha_charlie, I'd post mine too but they're all of cars stopping or going really slowly
If anyone else wants to do the petrolhead thing I think I have a couple of other jobs going, next week at Pukekohe we probably need a spare body or two to work in pit lane for the NZV8 meeting, and in January I'm pretty sure we'll be looking for extra people in pit lane for the A1GP weekend in Taupo.
Gary
Posted: Mon Nov 03, 2008 11:01 pmPosted: Tue Nov 04, 2008 1:24 am Posted: Tue Nov 04, 2008 3:21 pmChairman wrote:QUOTE (Chairman @ Nov 4 2008, 02:24 AM) <{POST_SNAPBACK}>Awrighty, I'll see if I can get some answers this weekend at Pukekohe about requirements.
Oh and before I forget happy birthday
Cheers
Gary
I've found out that we're actually staying near Turangi around the time of the A1GP so I'd be keen too. Can we see some of your pics from the time we had to fill in at the end of the day? I'd like to see how they turned out
Cheers for having me there, it was an awesome day!
Posted: Thu Nov 06, 2008 8:09 pm
Posted: Thu Nov 06, 2008 10:32 pmTimmo wrote:QUOTE (Timmo @ Nov 6 2008, 09:09 PM) <{POST_SNAPBACK}>Pretty cool Vid- The GTR didnt look like it accelerated very hard from the bridge?....and the 355 was already doing 80kmh over the bridge it seemed.
Go the MR2 too! I lent him some tools at the last track day I did (us Mr2 drivers have to look after each other
Doing a Targa is on my 'list of things to do before I die'....not sure if Ill have the money though.
OMG I just checked the carnage from penalties in that stage on the results on the Targa website ... The ferrari picked up 3 minutes worth ... Gavin Riches in his Porsche put up the 4th fastest time for the stage but dropped back to 49th after his penalty ... Emma Gilmour (sorry Emma!) dropped from 5th fastest to 54th, Tony Quinn in the R35, Steve Millen in the GT, Richard Mehrtens in the AMG Black (I queried that one with the rally top officials, after all his wheels came to a complete stop even if the car didn't
And now I have to spend this weekend at Pukekohe at the NZV8 meeting with JDE who was Targa's Clerk of the Course and had to deal with the 60 protests about penalties from that stage (do we have a cringing emoticon ?)
Gotta remember Targa is expensive but it's also big - I've been told it's the cheapest rally in NZ on a $/Stage KM basis ... and the Tour is cheaper, although limited to 160km/h and travel in a convoy ...
Gary
Posted: Thu Nov 06, 2008 11:16 pmvictor_alpha_charlie wrote:QUOTE (victor_alpha_charlie @ Nov 4 2008, 04:21 PM) <{POST_SNAPBACK}>I've found out that we're actually staying near Turangi around the time of the A1GP so I'd be keen too. Can we see some of your pics from the time we had to fill in at the end of the day? I'd like to see how they turned out
Cheers for having me there, it was an awesome day!
Thanks for coming, it was a good day all round. Just a shame Shelly Bay got washed outIf the weather had been good that would have been an awesome spot to watch from.
I'll tell our organiser that I've got two of you coming to Taupo and see what he says. There's normally a big panic as people drop out at the last minute so he should be glad to get some new keen people.
Here's the pics. Click on them to open larger copies in a new window.
Cheers and Thanks,
Gary
