I wanted to pass on my experience with the CSS in the last couple of days. Let me explain. I got a call from a friend of mine on 14 Oct 2020 just after 8 am. She asked me if I wanted to ride at Laguna Seca. Of course I said yes. When? I say. She says right now. They are short people to man the turn worker stations and if I come out, I'll get to ride. OK, I say. I spend a lot of time riding race tracks in norther California and an opportunity to go play at Laguna Seca is not easily passed up. So I drop everything I had planned for the day and the next and get my bike in the truck, pack all my gear and get my toy hauler and head out to the track as fast as I can. These guys need my help and I'm happy to give it. I was told that when I get there I should go straight to turn 5 where a guy will be with all the paperwork for me to sign etc. I was there by 11 am. Pretty good I thought as the drive takes an hour and a half. So as a turn worker your responsibilities besides waving flags is providing feedback to "Control" on how the students are doing. For example. If a student misses the apex or misses a turn in point or anything, you call in the bike number and the infraction so that they can point it out to their coaches and help the student. Not a bad way to go in my opinion. Immediate feedback. This does rely on the turn workers ability to provide reliable feedback though. They also have a few extra people that change corners every riding session so that the corner worker can go out for a ride. The rules as explained to me were to get on the track and ride a session. When the checkered flag comes out you go in the Hot Pits and to the grid where a Trevor sends you back out to your corner when the track is clear. I got a chance to ride one session before lunch. At the end I pull into the Hot Pits and Trevor stops me and starts telling me that I'm doing it wrong. That I am supposed to get on the track from the corner where I'm working and pull in the pits on the very first lap where he will send me out for the riding session. I start telling him that "Oh, OK, happy to do that. He says, and this is a direct quote. "You interrupt me again and I will kick you out of here and you will never ride with us again." I'm a bit taken aback by this as I didn't call him to come help, they called me. I dropped everything to get there as fast as I could and this is the thanks I get? Thee guy Bill who was in turn 5 when I arrived was right behind me and tells Trevor that he didn't tell me about that part. Trevor doesn't apologize or anything just sends me back to turn 5. I'm feeling a little unappreciated here. I'm giving up 2 days to help and this is how they show their appreciation. I mean this guy ripped into me.
They also don't provide anything to the turn workers. No food at lunch, not even water. Your only thanks is that you get to ride the track. I didnt even get a Thank you at the end of the day.
The next day was going reasonably well but towards the end I get flagged down by one of their on track coaches who motions for me to pull in the pits. I pull in the pits and now Trevor tells me that I made a bad pass on one of their students and took his line away going into turn 2. I know exactly what he is talking about because when I made the pass, I made sure to do it early and leave the student plenty of room to make an adjustment. I was more than I don't know, 6, 8 maybe even ten feet to the inside of the guy. This is an absolutely normal overpass at any corner. I did nothing wrong. On top of that I have been sitting in that turn 5 tower watching their coaches do that exact same move to the students all day long. So what gives.
Also, when I was on the track I noticed that their coaches block us from trying to pass the students. I f a student goes to the inside of the turn the coach blocks you from passing buy going to the outside. If the student goes wide on the entrance, the coaches block you from going under them. Pretty chicken shit in my opinion. I don't think I'll be in a hurry to go help these people again.
They also don't provide anything to the turn workers. No food at lunch, not even water. Your only thanks is that you get to ride the track. I didnt even get a Thank you at the end of the day.
The next day was going reasonably well but towards the end I get flagged down by one of their on track coaches who motions for me to pull in the pits. I pull in the pits and now Trevor tells me that I made a bad pass on one of their students and took his line away going into turn 2. I know exactly what he is talking about because when I made the pass, I made sure to do it early and leave the student plenty of room to make an adjustment. I was more than I don't know, 6, 8 maybe even ten feet to the inside of the guy. This is an absolutely normal overpass at any corner. I did nothing wrong. On top of that I have been sitting in that turn 5 tower watching their coaches do that exact same move to the students all day long. So what gives.
Also, when I was on the track I noticed that their coaches block us from trying to pass the students. I f a student goes to the inside of the turn the coach blocks you from passing buy going to the outside. If the student goes wide on the entrance, the coaches block you from going under them. Pretty chicken shit in my opinion. I don't think I'll be in a hurry to go help these people again.