Spotter and Driver skills in Competitions

[Andy]

My POS had a hard time because of the wheel base and height, so when we had to do these things (vert) it required alot from the spotter. And the spotter needs to be the eyes on the blind cones. There is such a thing as having an off day too. I think if I was a better driver, I could tell you what it is that makes a successful team but I'm still working on it. Don't forget, a consistent rig has alot to do with it.

 

[BlackSheep]

I have add another item to my list of spotter skills...

the freakin guy better have a freakin clue about what he's doing!!!!!!!

Sitting atop obs #8, you wouldn't believe some of the no-skill spotters I saw out there. One guy just stood there while his driver just beat up his vehicle. He said nothing to the driver, made no attempt to assist the driver through the use of the strap, and didn't even try to stack rocks. They timed out without making it past the first ledge.

Another guy was asked (by his driver) "Where is the cone" His answer....."Right There".

If you ask me, the correct answer should have been distance and direction from the cone to the tire (or tire to the cone). It was obvious to me that these two people had spent very little time working together. The driver was pissed and they spent about 20 seconds arguing. On Obs # 8, if you got to the top of the first ledge/boulder (which these guys did), most guys had less than two minutes remaining with a serious descent followed by a serious ascent to the exit. There was no time to be arguing. They might have had a chance of making it if they hadn't wasted that time. They timed out as well.

 

[RockMonkey]

COMMUNICATION!!!
You gotta be able to understand what your other team member needs. The spotter has got to be able to know the limits of the rig, and the driver. The spotter has to know where all the cones are, and has to know how to communicate that to the driver. The driver has to realize what the spotter can't see (yup, believe it or not). A lot of times I will have a cone on my back passenger side, and my spotter will be watching the front tires and not see it. I can usually remember it's there, and will ask him how close we are. If he says we're okay, we're okay. It's also VERY important to come up with a game plan on every obstacle, and both team members must know the plan. It may seem like there's only one way to go through a course, and stay between the cones, but you really have to plan a course, and know which rocks you want to stay high, or low on, wich cones you want to hug, where you need rocks stacked, and other stuff like that. There's soooooo much more...

 

[spencurai]

a good spotter should have a gigantic ass for counterweight whilst pulling on the strap....

 

[mbryson]

From my limited experience, I think Braden hit on 'most' of the tangible spotter requirements. BlackSheep has a good point (and a good viewpoint last weekend) on a tough unlimited obstacle where you saw good teams and teams that could use some work in the communication area.

I spotted for Creighton this weekend, and on obstacles that we could make a 'plan' for (obstacle '7', and '8' are a great example) each spot we needed to be, it helped me A LOT in getting him to the point where his rig could climb how he expected it too. '7' we we timed out, but we had two gameplans on the entry. Neither worked and I don't know his rig well enough to make adjustments that significant. '8' went WELL, and we did exactly what we thought it would. We just hit a cone at the top while he was climbing with a lot of throttle.

 

[RockMonkey]

On 7 we were pretty sure we could pop right up the unlimited climb, and were gonna try that first. In the spot you guys got stuck we were gonna put both passenger side tires on the rock and ride the ridge up. Had you guys thought of trying that? Wish I could have seen more of you guys.

 

[mbryson]

Originally posted by RockMonkey
On 7 we were pretty sure we could pop right up the unlimited climb, and were gonna try that first. In the spot you guys got stuck we were gonna put both passenger side tires on the rock and ride the ridge up. Had you guys thought of trying that? Wish I could have seen more of you guys.

That's what we tried first, but we couldn't hold the line and the Jeep was sliding down the big slab. The secondary plan was to 'wedge' the front tires down in the crack and try to get up on the slab in order to avoid the drivers side cone. That SUCKED!!! He was so stuck in there, but could still continue forward a few inches at time. I was pulling with about everything, I had and we kept making small progress, but timed out. The exit was fairly easy but there was a potential cone problem.

I was a little concerned about the front overhang on the UL line for Creighton on #7. That was a really steep entry that I thought his front bumper would be an issue and that was a definite momentum hill. I was just going to ask how you did on one, but you were doing other things at that time, not running #1.

We did great on #8 and #10 with just over 10 points on each one (10 we were eating a cone at the top for sure, and 8 he barely nicked one at high throttle as he was turning away from it after my yelling). 9 was pretty tough on almost everybody in Legends. We took a cone I don't remember (kind of scary---I'm the guy that should) one at the front of a crack that was way hard to get out of, except where they put a cone. I stacked 5-6 rocks to 'help' him get out, but they didn't help much. My favorite were #3 and #4.........

 

[RockMonkey]

Looked like you never tried to go high enough on the rock. You're quite a bit narrower than us, so you probably would have ended up rolling if you had taken that line. I can only really comment on 2-6, cuz those are the only ones we did. #2 was fun, #6 was prolly the easiest obstacle for Legends, 4 and 5 were fun.

 

[mbryson]

Originally posted by RockMonkey
Looked like you never tried to go high enough on the rock. You're quite a bit narrower than us, so you probably would have ended up rolling if you had taken that line. I can only really comment on 2-6, cuz those are the only ones we did. #2 was fun, #6 was prolly the easiest obstacle for Legends, 4 and 5 were fun.

I thought we'd go over to the driver's side and I'd seen a few other rigs do just that--the M.O.R.E. TJ being one. We hit that right at first and his passenger front just slid down the big slab until it bottomed on the axle and about took a cone that I don't think we had any business being near. I had him back off, but an afterthought would be to have him balance the tread on the 'peak' of the rock and see where that would go. We'd have to do that with very little throttle and lots of spotter input, though.