At great risk....I ask.

[ram95]

How about, instead of having 'the clock' sweep second hand going to "0" at the top, ie 12 o'clock position.., we have the zero at the bottom, or six-o'clock position?

Why...??? Because the second hand will probably NOT hang up going downhill. And, as a result, we might be able to eliminate a common complaint, ie "the clock is hanging up" etc.

Yeah yeah.... I hear ya out there jumping and shouting to 'hang up' the mad russian in stead... bbbbbbuttttt.... being relatively thick-skinned and having been chastised by professionals before... I ask the foregoing.

Thank you for your kind remarks (I will ignore the references to female dogs).

Alex

[Racerkyle20]

OR get a digital clock and eliminate the sweep hand altogether....just a thought

[pops67g]

Too old a dog for new tricks!!

If the hand on the clock is properly balanced it will turn smoothly whether going up or down. The old "hang up" excuse usually only comes up when guys know they came up too early anyway. If they don't get DQed then the clock is working just fine.

[sam]

Or how about a lighted display analog clock instead of hands ... the best of both worlds

Could even be double sided or have extra features like a strobe that flashed for the first 5 seconds, then once for 30, 20, 10 & zero

[blueskyracer]

If the hand on the clock is properly balanced it will turn smoothly whether going up or down. The old "hang up" excuse usually only comes up when guys know they came up too early anyway. If they don't get DQed then the clock is working just fine.

So true. I will take any pie clock over a digital that can not be read in bright sun. I do like the CORA led digital though.

[YankeeRacing]

Way back in the day, Joe Schultz of Iowa as Referee, and it might have been at the Mod nationals in North Liberty, IA. 1980 or 1981. Clock broke down. Brian Payn was paid $2 to stand there with a stop watch as a timer and a pair of vice grips. All the soda and food he wanted. He was about 8 years old. With a pair of vice grips and the stop watch, he stood behind the clock and, with the vice grips on the shaft, moved the second hand around the clock in sync with the stop watch.
Not one complaint all week end. He was small enough that standing behind the clock no one knew. And as a Mom on the judges stand, I knew exactly where Brian was all week end. (It used to take the whole beach to keep up with his shenanigans until he was old enough to race).
True stories are the best.
Connie Payn
Pro Payn Racing, X21

[jeff55v]

Clock design

Alex, I can't see anything in the rulebook that outlines what a starting clock should look like. There's much to do about the camera or video equipment attached to it, but little about the starting clock itself. So this leads me to believe each conducting club may design their starting clock to suit them.
One advantage of a sweep hand reaching zero at the twelve-o-clock position, is that it's at it's most visible point on the clock. I think the six-o-clock position would be harder to see from a distance.
Personally, I prefer NO starting clock! Modified LeMans starts are a blast!

[steve jones]

Yea!!! Beach Starts, NO CLOCK, 5 or 6 LAPS,

[B Walker]

delete please

BW

[blueskyracer]

Clocks are sooooo 2008......

Been to your local dirt/go-kart/NASCAR/RC model race lately?

Everyone but Outboard racing is using automatic electronic scoring systems of one type or another.

The simplest of these systems is a RF ID tag and a simple wire pickup at the start/finish line.

They are relatively inexpensive and most systems can provide real-time results to a website.

http://www.amb-it.com/index.php?osCs...cc675e06cece76

http://www.saddlebackeast.org/Scoring/Scoring.html

http://www.circletrack.com/techartic...tem/index.html

http://www.nascar.com/2008/news/feat...ure/index.html

Clocks? We dont need no stinkin clocks!

BW

What does this have to do with a start clock. From what I read this is only for scoring and not starting a race.??

[B Walker]

OK, I have had a cup of coffee now and your right, electronic scoring has nothing to do with clocks.

I will delete my rant

BW