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I found this on www.mulhollandraceway.org Great site.. I learn from this too...


On the racetrack, you encounter the same series of turns, over, and over, and over, and over, ad nausium. It's only a matter of time before you get it right. In the canyons, no turn is the same. You encounter it but once. You have but one chance to get it right. On the track, there is no oncoming traffic. You can shunt another driver into the Armco, and not have to pay for it. Canyon driving is significantly more dangerous. Point-to-point driving requires uncomprimised concentration, diligence, patience, and an infinitely greater degree of financial responsibility. On the race track, the ambulance is right there for you. In God's canyons, it will be the ravens who find you first. If nothing else in life you heed, heed this:


* First do no harm. God's canyons belong to nature. Being there, we are her guests. Act accordingly. Never smoke cigarettes in Southern California Canyons (refer to geography page for detailed information).

* Sports car driving is dangerous... to the second power. Eat well, and rest well the night before your canyon drive. Leave home with your house in order. Dress comfortably (wear appropriate shoes), then shower affection upon your loved ones as you depart. You may never see them again.

* Commit all aspects of the route to memory. Don't spend all your grid time socializing. Business first... memorize every aspect of your drive. ASK QUESTIONS...White glove the rallymatser's cartography. Find out who reconnoitered the route; when recon was performed. Good rallymaster will have performed due diligence within the week of his driving event.

* Cinch your seat belts tight. Get comfortable. Get your mirrors right. Wear gloves. Stow loose objects. Keep your left foot on that dead pedal when you're not banging through gears. Clear your mind. Know how to access your hazard switch, audio, and climate control, traction control, brake bias, torque bias, intercooler spray, and whatnot, by touch. If you have to look down to do that? You're in trouble.

* Do not do what you cannot do. Stay focused; get it right. The implications are awesome. One tiny mistake, God's going to tap you on the shoulder for a little chit-chat. Bad enough it's going to happen eventually, all the worse the sooner it does. So, do it right; don't make mistakes. Stay cool. You may not be able to do rudimentary algebra, but your brain computes level III integrals, and differential calculus for you, automatically. You have an internal, self-correction, self-equilibration mechanism that does a fine job of keeping you out of harm's way, by telling you, instinctively, what you can, and cannot do... do not do what you cannot do.

* Chain Rule: Start slow. Get some heat to your tyres, and brakes. Make sure everyone else in the caravan does likewise.

* Know when to say uncle: When your arms or legs begin to cramp is when it's most likely you'll make mistakes. Ask for a replacement driver to take over behind the wheel for a short time, or relegate yourself to the rear of the caravan. No shame in that...

* Stay focused upon the vanishing point as it unfolds before you: At speed, never fix focus upon fixed, stationary objects (you'll lose your equilibrium, and you'll shunt). At the very least, you'll succumb to motion sickness. At speed, fixing your focus upon successions of stationary objects, hopping from one fixed object to another, as they pass by, is a signal indication of mental fatigue, for which the only cure is deep, interrupted sleep.

* Chain Rule: When traversing through villages, hamlets, or high population density areas, show respect by observing local speed limits.

* Never follow another participant into a braking zone when he/she is passing in transitions.

* NEVER focus on tail lights. Peripherally monitor the tyre/wheel-whel relationship (...this will tell you everything you need to know about the car ahead).

* Usurp your braking zone (the distance between you and the car in front) only to pass, and only when the car ahead is accelerating or has achieved constant velocity. Do not slipstream in transitions if you do not intend to pass. Do not pass if you won't be able to draw away; do not increase tempo after you are passed. Drive your own canyon, not somebody else's.

* Know exactly what you're doing. Bring your driving to a conscious level. Assess how your body reacts to the information your car provides (ie. you constantly reach down with your left hand from the 9:00 to the 8:00 position on the wheel; you feel compelled to take your foot off the dead pedal... what does this mean?).

* Anticipate. Constantly. Factor one turn ahead.

* Do not use your hand brake when parked (...you'll warp your rotors). Use wheel chalks, or 2nd gear.

* Chain Rule: Go gingerly through runoff (conventional brake pads absorb water). There's nothing medicinal about immersion in cold water for your pipping hot rotors, pads, bushings, calipers, and exhaust. Once through, put some heat back in your brakes, and scrub off your tyres. Information only has initial marginal value now: If you went through a rock laden stream bed, you'll need pull over thereafter, and inspect your tyres; make sure you haven't cut one down... better to find out now than later.

* Chain Rule: Factor braking axom of the car slipstreaming directly behind. Corvette brakes are only as good as the brakes of the car directly behind. Bear down hard, and that mini van or SUV behind you will have little choice but to go off the side (...if you're stupid enough to panic stop your two seater, oblivous to the Chevrolet Suburban, directly behind, who you've just changed lanes in front of, then you deserve to get rear ended).

* Chase car (outrider) should be delayed several minutes, the driver should possess intimate knowledge about the characteristics of the drivers ahead (who's experienced, who isn't, who has ABS, etc). He should have the route (and an alternate route) memorized. Chase cars should be driven by someone who intimately knows the route. Chase car should have a navigator to handle up communications and look for telltale signs of cars going off the side (tyre marks; ABS makes this quite difficult).

* If a scout (bird dog) is to be employed, then it makes little sense to do so without some type of electronic gear (jammers, detectors, communications).

Table of Contents

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Shunts & Mayhem

"Time is nature's way of keeping everything from happening at once."

Carlton

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Tick-tock, tick-tock, tick-tock... The moment you jumped-in to our driver's group, clock started ticking. If you don't go off every once in a while? Means you're not trying. If you drive canyons, 10/10ths, like we do, then it is a statistical certainty you will bang up your machine, if not yourself. It's only a matter of time, now, before you will eventually shunt. I have. Several times. Eventually, so will you. When you do, you will feel awful about it. You'll feel awful about yourself. And, that's what our microcosm is all about... how we deal with adversity. This is its very essence:


* In the event of a shunt (e.g., accident), never attempt to advance the affected vehicle further along the rally.

* Stay cool. First ten minutes, critical thinking is paramount. You have 10 minutes, if that, to gather yourself up. Spend it wisely: restore your equlibrium. Get ready: Ten minutes, if that, Ponch & John are going tap you on the shoulder for a little chitchat. SHUT UP, DO NOT SMILE, DO NOT ARGUE, DO NOT PRESUPPOSE ANYTHING... At least give the pretense of objectivity. Stay cool.

* Render first-aid; comply with letter of the law.

* Humble thyself. Do not exacerbate the condition by breaking the law, lying, stretching the truth, minimizing, or rationalizing your plight. Doing so will beg closer scrutiny.

* SIGNAL IMPORTANCE: Get your people out of there, immediately. Move the rest of caravan forward to the next planned intermediate. The worst thing that can happen to the effected driver is for the authorities to arrive, and see 20 or 30 shiny, expensive sports cars, picnicking roadside to accident scene, passing around pics of the shunt. Get your people out of there; let your chase car do its job (assisting the effected driver).

* Do not photograph license plate numbers of your fellow rally participants while taking pictures, at the accident scene, or otherwise (... all the more reason to get your people out of there, ASAP).

* Diligently survey the accident scene. Several times. Be quick and thorough. Take photographs. You won't have much time. Look for signage impediments; oil slicks, gravel, a reflection from far off in the distance... It may not be your guy's fault, after all.

* SIGNAL IMPORTANCE: Be extremely careful what you say. You could wind up being contradicted by your own car! Realize that the effected car might have a data recording device ("black box") installed by the manufacturer (e.g., General Motors products). Soon enough, insurance carriers, personal injury laywers, or officers of the court will test their legal axiom to subpoena "black box" data from crashed cars. One way around this is no-fault insurance.

* SIGNAL IMPORTANCE: Remove all rally cartography from the effected vehicle(s). Remove all rally documentation from the effected vehicles. Remove all club identifiers from the affected vehicle(s). Be quick and nonchalant about it. If rally documentation is discovered by the authorities, and subsequently determined to have errors, omissions, or deficiencies, event planners could become vulnerable.

* Everybody makes mistakes. When your pal shunts on rally, he'll feel as badly as anyone could ever feel about himself. So would you. He'll likely feel he's let everyone down. He probably won't want to show his face in the club again. This is the ultimate test of the quality of the people in your sports car club. A good bunch of guys will realize this, they'll rally behind a beleaguered chum, and reel him back in. Be forgiving, and supportive. That's the essence of what your driver's group should be founded upon; that is the reason why drivers will seek sanctuary in your group. We never subject our people to criticism. Short of an alcohol related offense, when you shunt, or do something stupid behind the wheel, you won't have to ask for a forgiving hand up in our driver's group... we do that for our people, automatically (...that is the essensce of what we're about). Driving buddies are for keeps. That it might take a few years for your group to restore a driver's confidence, it's time well spent.

* SIGNAL IMPORTANCE: After a club driving event incident, a typical import car club on the internet will erupt in a save who may, shoot from the hip flurry of accusations, finger pointing, and a witch hunt will typically ensue. Anyone with a minor beef or jealousy will likely want to indict or condemn the beleaguered driver. At the very least, the affected driver will incur a few holier than thou jabs from the rightieously indignant. Nip this in the bud immediately, especially if you are an internet based club. All content from subsequent infighting is directly admissible evidence, and can be subpoenaed for use, not only against the effected driver, but all rally participants as well. When the en biting starts ex post of a rally accident, it's time to clean house, perhaps weed out the losers in your group. Always ensure your internet archives are stoked. Watch your web stats (... dot gov hits to your web site tend to accelerate after shunts).

* SIGNAL IMPORTANCE: If you are internet based, and incur a club driving event accident, ensure that your members don't do something stupid, by inadvertently uploading internet photos of license plate numbers of you, and your rally participants, to the internet. Unless you're intent upon becoming mutually despised by everyone in your sports car club, don't pad your hit counter putting up accident photos of an unfortunate fellow driver, on your web site. If someone does something stupid like that in your sports car club, tar and feather them. Bitch-slap that punk (...with our blessing). It's bad enough already. Show some class.

* If you are internet based, and one of your people has a serious driving incident while on rally, sensitize yourself to the possibility that it might be wise to dismantle web sites, shread listserv archives, or perhaps uproot your organization, entirely. If you have to pull the plug, then do it right. The whole point in doing so is to lay low. Do not make the mistake of mindlessly supplanting everyone, and everything, elsewhere.

 
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That last few points are important! Watch the pics of the license plates, etc.