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Ok, so we're iced-in here in Austin and I'm bored. The whole freakin' town is shut down.  Buncha wimps. So here's a fun topic starter for those of you who have worked Tech at autocross events:

1) What is the most common tech failure you see? This will be a great list for those new to Tech to work from. 

Mine are: loose stuff in the trunk and missing lugs.

2) What's the weirdest thing you've failed a car for?  This is the fun one.  I'm sure some of you have some good stories on this. 

Who's next?

 
--Andy

Loose trash in the car is THE most common problem. Sometimes it gets by tech and the grid worker (who should be double checking seatbelts and helmet straps) has to call it out to the driver.

I'm talking about all that detritus that's in the open center console, door pockets or dash cubby.

It did not show up in tech, but we had to stop a guy for the day when his driver door came open twice on one run.  It was a late 50s british "sportscar" I can't remember for sure which one.  He had driven it about 30 miles to the event, and of course drove it home.

Jeff Christianson

+1 for loose battery

+1 for loose stuff - Someone at tech failed the Kuglers because they had their air tank, tire blankets, tire gauge, etc. in the car when it was brought through. 

However the funniest...  We were running a T&T in conjunction with a local SAE club.  It was open to anyone whose car would pass tech.  Needless to say some of the local college kids came.  One guy watched, someone gave him a ride, and then he wanted to use his car.  After he said he cleaned the car out, I went over to tech it.  Everything was fine and then I asked him to open the trunk - which he did.  Inside were scales, baggies, a large bag of herb, some smaller bags of herb, and the trunk lid came slamming down before I could see much more.  I just looked the kid straight in the eyes and offhand told him that he had to empty his trunk too and that he probabily didn't want to leave that just laying around.  The kids reaction was priceless - wide eyed, color drained from his face, and his mouth was wide open.  He threw all the stuff he took out of the passenger compartment into the back seat and drove away as fast as he could. 

I once failed a kid because his car was so rusted out, there were almost literally no frame rails left, especially on the drivers side (the side the salt trucks get good when you park on the street).  He took it well though.  I think he was almost expecting it.

 Andy, about 28 years ago I worked in Dallas briefly.  One November day there was a light dusting of snow.  I didn't think anything of it, coming from upstate NY.  But all over town there were fender benders and crashes.  It was like a demolition derby.  They just didn't know how to handle the stuff, stepping on the throttle harder when their forward motion was slowed by spinning tires.  Yee haw.

 Jim

The things most often brought to my attention is (drum roll) loose batteries.  Next would have to be missing lug BOLTS and/or lug nets.

James R.

Howdy,

At nationals tech, the biggest thing I think is numbers/class letters/stickers.

But I wasn't there last year, so maybe its better now?

Locally I'd say loose batteries, loose stuff in the car, and missing lugs.

Never had anything particularly funny...

Mark 

I actually was at a local NASA-X event that passed my car in tech with a missing lug nut.

 

The most common thing for us is definitely loose batteries.

The most interesting thing was we failed a guy with a Buick 231 V6 equipped Spitfire.  Everything looked ok from up top but he had changed the swingarm suspension for a Toyota Corolla live axle rear end.  The pahhard bar was a piece of 2x6 like you would use for the deck on your house. 

SpyderVenom   That's funny!

Crazist thing I saw was a ~'62 Caddy w/no seatblets - the guy really didn't understand why he couldn't run

Crap in cars and loose batteries is what I see most.

Bill

Mark this one under "the new guy who somehow escaped going thru tech, and the starter who was asleep."

 At one of our events a newbie showed up in his Miata, didn't tech, and went to the starting line. Someone noticed that his trunk wasn't shut, so like a friendly person they were, went to shut it for him.  It wouldn't shut.

Upon opening it to find the cause, they discovered his ice chest, a camp chair, jack, spare, etc, etc. :D

Needless to say, he wasn't allowed to run until his car was properly teched!