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Spotters Provide An Extra Set Of Eyes For Elite Motorsports Teams

By Kaitlyn Tillman

Republish: EasyPublish™ Published: 24Oct2011 Word count: 619 Viewed: 98 time(s) Get Free Content For Your Site

When sports car racers sail into the boards or another car, spin out and skid to a stop with only pieces of their cars in tact, spectators, engineers, managers and drivers alike start to whisper, what happened? Amazingly, most of the time it's not because a driver forgot to check his blind spot; many people can't avoid accidents traveling 70 mph on the freeway, so it's remarkable that racing drivers can maintain speeds upwards of 150 mph on a closed circuit and avoid sideswiping one another.

For example, Level 5 Motorsports, a team owned by driver Scott Tucker that has competed in the American Le Mans Series, the Intercontinental Le Mans Cup series, the Ferrari Challenge series, the Rolex Grand-Am series and the IMSA GT3 Cup Challenge series, has had its fair share of crashes. One of the most disappointing in the 2011 season was at the ILMC competition of the 1,000km of Spa-Francorchamps. A suspension failure sent Tucker's co-driver Christophe Bouchut spinning out into the boards, and the contest was over for the Madison, Wisc.-based team. Tucker's team is unique in its five-series schedule; for many professional sports car drivers, a race represents a one-time opportunity to increase their star power and reputation in the industry. Save for mechanical failures and flukes in the cars, drivers will do anything to ensure they have all their bases covered in order to be able to race at maximum speed with the smallest chance for error.

One way professional motorsports teams accomplish the feat is with the use of spotters, who stand at the top of the grandstands with the sole purpose of watching and alerting the team of any potential problems or opportunities.

"We look to see opportunities for racers to get by, and we check out the race strategy and the track to help out the drivers and the engineers," said Ian, one of Tucker's Level 5 team spotters. Spotters, from their perch atop the entire race venue, can see a lot: They can help drivers recognize a chance to pass competitors; they can alert team engineers that a driver is pulling off for a pit stop; they can alert drivers and mechanics about debris on the track that could cause problems; and they can even help drivers with crash strategy in the event that the car is headed directly toward a crash, in order to minimize the damage that the car will undergo.

A history between driver and spotter is fundamental to being successful together. During intense, fast-paced action races, spotters and drivers must communicate seamlessly and efficiently together, and so they must fully understand the meaning of what the other says.

Tucker's own spotters must have been doing a good job this year, because he and his Level 5 team have enjoyed several successful races with hardly a scratch or a smudge on their cars—and that's important. Level 5 making podium at four races within the first five months of the year, winning at the 12 Hours of Sebring, winning at the American Le Mans Series Monterey, and leaving the podium with clean cars to boot proves that a dynamic, cohesive team is paramount to success. Spotters and drivers represent one important relationship; certainly, engineers, mechanics, team managers and other positions must streamline their operations to make for the greatest chance of success. As Tucker and Level 5 Motorsports forge ahead for the Oct. 1 Petit Le Mans at Road Atlanta, the entire team will work to make the ALMS season's closing race a victory. Said Ian, the Level 5 spotter: "We aren't the most crucial element to the race; we're just another member of the team."

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