April 28th, 2023 – Ensenada
Apr 30th, 2023 by rallyadmin
Today is the beginning of tech for the vehicles and the drivers. Because we got in yesterday, we are early to the tech line. But before the car can even start tech, we have to stop the car in front of a huge banner for the race. We all line up around the car for the official team picture. Then the car moves into line for tech.
The tech is pretty simple and basically only safety oriented. There’s no FIA-style foot thick book of regulations. And no FIA-style self-appointed tech tormentors. Lots of smiles and joking.
Our inspector is super impressed with the InterState Batteries decals, a wrap actually, and wants to know who in NasCrap is running InterState Batteries sponsorship. A quick Google search brings up Joe Gibbs Racing and Denny Hamlin. We pass that on to the inspector and he happy. You can’t make too many friends in Tech. A happy tech inspector may not ever help but a pissed off, unhappy inspector can ruin your race.
Out of tech and on to Stella setup. The Stella system is the GPS tracking system that reports the current location of the race car. It also provides disaster reporting (like the SOS system on GPS trackers) and the Push to Pass system.
The Push to Pass system is used by a racer when he/she/it comes up behind a slower racer. The following car activates the Push to Pass on the Stella and a signal is sent back to Race Control. The system then sends a signal to the slower racer in front to warn him that a following car is trying to pass. If the slower racer doesn’t yield, the slower racer will get a time penalty. The idea is to eliminate use of the “chrome bumper”. (For those who aren’t familiar with the term, the “chrome bumper” refers to hitting the back of the slower car in front to “encourage” the slower racer to move over and allow the faster car to pass.) The Stella system doesn’t completely elimanate the “chrome bumper” but it does make it costly to use.
We make it back to the parking area and have a bit of lunch which appears to generally mean a can or more of beer. We really have only minor things to do until tomorrow when we get the Lowrance GPS devices “chipped” with the route information for the race. Until then there’s a small setup todo list for the car and drinking more beer.
Finally, it’s after 5PM and we quit for the day. We all head out to a steak house for dinner. The steaks are pretty good. Dinner done and back to the BRB for one last nightcap. (Yes, rally people do their part to keep the economy going but mostly by consuming beer. It’s also no coincidence since Dick’s livelihood and Dan’s (Dick’s son’s)has been tied to the Cactus Bar in Boise.)
Tomorrow, get the route chips and get the GPS trackers all linked to the BRB (aka the Mothership). We have a number of different tech/communication systems but that’s for tomorrow’s post.
Obi-wan
