What happens when a cone from a previous run hits another cone in Autocross?
In this post we analyze what happens if you knock a cone over without hitting it with your vehicle!
So check out this video from an autocross run in Kansas City Missouri back in August 2008. In the run, Natalie goes out on course for her third run, I notice while she’s out there that there is a cone under the car from a previous run.
Towards the end of the run the cone finally dislodges out from under the car, and of course it then hits a cone that is standing on the course, moving it well outside of the box where it was placed.
So what is the penalty in this case?
She didn’t actually hit the cone right? While that is correct, she didn’t touch the cone with the car, she’s still resposible for it being knocked out of place, and thus a two second penalty should be assessed.
Now, if the course workers really weren’t paying close attention, they may end up calling in TWO penalties, one for each cone. That would be an incorrect call however, especially at a National Tour where every cone is marked and numbered on the course map. Any penalties should have the cone number of the penalty, and in this case, they would only have a number for the one that was relocated, not the offending cone.
What if the cone from under the car took the place of the dislodged cone?
Now for a real conundrum. What if the cone that was under the car, bumped the course cone out of place, but when managed to remain upright and inside or touching the box for the cone that was moved? I would argue that no penalty should be assessed at this point, but that might end up being a job for the Protest committee to decide on.
What’s your most questionable cone call?
Drop us a line on the contact page with your thoughts on this topic!
