How do you decide if an autocross is organized safely enough?

The best drivers don't have the best cars. It's true very where I look.

We were at an event in Phoenix, slalom a decent piece away from the fence.

My son spun, got about 8 feet from the fence.

Safety stewards immediately asked how close my son got, told them. They stopped the event, checked the guidelines about distance, and even though it was "in spec" for room, the offset the course on that side another 5ft.

Only a couple other cars spun in that section (hero runs from guys in fast cars), and nobody got as close to the fence/spun as large a distance as my son.

Just an odd thing, but they were Johnny on the spot about making sure there was more than enough room for any more freakishly long spin outs.

I'm an SCCA Solo Safety Steward and am currently my region's Solo Director with 15 years experience doing this stuff. We've always strongly encouraged anyone who has any safety related concerns to talk to the Safety Stewards and to speak up. This approach works for us and our SSSes are very good about being responsive. Maybe I've been extra lucky, but all the different SCCA regions I've been to have been this way. I suggest that if whatever group you're looking at doesn't operate this way, find another, and politely let the poorly run group know why.

My region has some good safety stewards that respond to concerns pretty well. We have had a few accidents over the 15 years I've been racing, and only one that I know of could have been blamed on course design.

A neighboring region I go to from time to time is another story. Some sketchy courses and you get blown off if you bring it up to the organizers. One in particular involved a very fast finish with a very short shut down chute pointed directly at the spectator area. I saw many DNFs from cars blowing through the shut down lane. That was one I probably should have just packed it up and went home.

paranoid_android74 wrote: Ouch! I hadn't seen this one.

aussiesmg wrote: IMHO this famous incident was caused by a very poor course design. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=K6Kj2iY3u1k

And here I was expecting this one. A combination of both poor venue (Really, you couldn't find someplace with less trees?) and poor driver choices (Throttling on it after botching the run). And what sanctioning body allows passenger's to ride with their arm out the window?

NickD wrote:

paranoid_android74 wrote: Ouch! I hadn't seen this one.

aussiesmg wrote: IMHO this famous incident was caused by a very poor course design. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=K6Kj2iY3u1k

And here I was expecting this one. A combination of both poor venue (Really, you couldn't find someplace with less trees?) and poor driver choices (Throttling on it after botching the run). And what sanctioning body allows passenger's to ride with their arm out the window?

No link?

$5 says it's the really old really Mustang video.

Duke wrote:

NickD wrote:

paranoid_android74 wrote: Ouch! I hadn't seen this one.

aussiesmg wrote: IMHO this famous incident was caused by a very poor course design. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=K6Kj2iY3u1k

And here I was expecting this one. A combination of both poor venue (Really, you couldn't find someplace with less trees?) and poor driver choices (Throttling on it after botching the run). And what sanctioning body allows passenger's to ride with their arm out the window?

No link?

https://youtu.be/b5JEo4haM_k

Whoops sorry. And RedGT gets a gold star!

I think it's part driver, part course design, but also the lot size. Of the incidents I've seen at our local I'd say some of it is the fact that the lots are small and there isn't much runoff room if you really make a big mistake. We try to make it so that you have room to make mistakes, but some huge mistakes are hard to solve. We had one guy come through the lights and just mistake the gas for the brake and blow right through a fence.

That said, I have been involved in one event where I felt like the way we setup the course contributed to the incident that occurred even though the person made a big mistake. I should have changed the course up so that it went a different direction or slowed down the element in question.

Luckily we have a lot of guys that work really hard to make sure the courses are safe and everyone takes input when it is given.

I've never been to an event that was poorly run, but if I thought that a course was unsafe and the people running it didn't take input on it then I would leave.