Letter in 'Motorsport News'

[Gordon Knight]

In response to Graeme, may I advise that the reply in Autosport was from myself.
I am a mssive fan of the K&N series and nobody was more disappointed than I that
the race was shortened. Your paraphrasing of my comment about the K&N race being
a guest race ,and that it should expect therefore to be bottom of the bill inferring
that it is the guest series who should suffer if there are problems, is totally wide of
the mark.
I did indeed say that the K&N race was a guest race and simply put that forward as
a possible reason for its appearance lower down the running order. The race was
shortened purely because we were approaching the dreaded curfew and the K&N race
was the last race. I do not for one minute believe that the K&N race was singled out
for unfair treatment, it was just unfortunate to be last race.

[KennyG]

Originally Posted by Ian Sowman

Attempting to run that schedule on the International circuit anyway - as you said, the last race was always at a significant risk. So there was too much action timetabled for that circuit. Would probably have got away with it on Fosters.

All other meetings this year have been run on the full circuit without major problems. Oil spills have happened this year at equally full meetings as well. What set this one apart was the amount of oil that had to be cleared and this would have given as much of a problem on Fosters.

[insight]

Can anyone say what the optimum distance that can be travelled before the driver has knowledge that he has an oil leak especially a big leak

[kickstart]

As a competitor what I consider totally unacceptable is for some series to have 2 races on a day before another series has even had its only race of the day. This risk of curtailing should in my view always fall on those who have already had a race.

[COLIN STUBBS]

after all i said last week a similar thing happened to my race on saturday at snetterton,although the circumstances were altogether different,but a few people were left unhappy.we were due to be last race of the day and torrental rain caused the second race to be delayed. we were informed at about half 3 that we would now be the third race and a decision to run would be made by 4.i dont mind the wet but a few drivers werent happy about racing in the conditions and it smacked a bit of "give em a few laps and we wont have to refund em".when we were redflagged after 5 laps out of 12 and waved back to the paddock.i was happy to get a run,but on reflection my run cost me FIFTEEN QUID a lap!!! still awaiting a reply from the club................
this isnt in any way a gripe at the organisers on the day as everyone tried their best in horrible conditions!!!!!

[Dave Brand]

Originally Posted by insight

Can anyone say what the optimum distance that can be travelled before the driver has knowledge that he has an oil leak especially a big leak

That's an easy one - the optimum distance is zero!

However, in the real world.......

In many cases, particularly if the engine is behind the driver, (s)he may not be aware of an oil leak. Getting a driver off the track in such circumstances can take several laps, as the leak has to be spotted & reported by observers around the circuit. Race control than has to alert the scrutineers, who will decide if it warrants pulling the car in; they then inform race control, who will authorise the meatball flag for the offending car. All this is unlikely to happen in less than two laps.

[insight]

The size of the oil slick at the Oulton Park meeting the drivers oil pressure light should have come on very quickly or did he just want to get back to the pits for a brew.

[EvilPumpkin]

[Bob Pearson]

Ref Insights comment, if the leak is on the scavenge side of the system the oil tank will be emptied before the oil pressure falls. The only indication to the driver will be smoke if the oil is burning on the exhaust. If it is venting straight onto the track, it is highly unlikely that he will get any indication until he has dumped the whole tank full.