We welcome you to Sebring and hope you will have a wonderful experience during the weekend. The following will help you understand how we run the grid.

During your time on the grid we do a safety check on your car looking for missing hood latch pins, window safety nets, fluids on the ground, and tires going flat. We’re here to help you enjoy a fun, safe event. If you need us while waiting on the grid please wave us down. We will come to you.

You must have a dot, windshield number, and correct color wristband to enter the grid. It is your responsibility to have the correct material and ours to check up on you. We want you to be in the correct run group.

The grid is located inside of where the back straight ends and just before turn 17. To enter the grid, approach from the East through the paddock, and head west parallel to the back straight toward turn 17. There will be two lanes open for entry onto the grid. Stop at the barrels for grid position.

Our goal is to make your experience at the 48 Hours at Sebring the greatest racing experience possible.

Friday, starting with the first run group, we will start to grid in our normal way in the numbered slots. You may grid wherever you wish until the timed qualifying runs. The cone with the grid position number will be on the driver’s side. Advanced Solo (DE) will grid with the fastest cars on the low grid numbers (1-50) on the right and the rest of the cars will grid on the left side (51-99). There will be no nose to tail parking on the grid during Advanced Solo. If there is a car in the position you would like, you must find a vacant position.

We close the grid at the 5-minute mark. Do not be on time….be early! The instructions to close the grid are given from the tower and the Chief Steward. We are required to close the grid even if we see you on the way. If you are late, you must go to the West end of the pits, near pit-in, and enter thru the hot pits following the instructions of the pit-in safety worker. Pit-out will wave you onto the track…..last. On the way to the grid, there are large signs that read “GRID CLOSED WHEN FLASHING”. If you see them flashing, proceed to the hot pits.

At the 3-minute mark, we clear the crew-members from the grid. Your crew must leave your car and step to the perimeter at that time. Should a problem occur with your car that will not allow you to leave the grid with your run group, your crew may return to help you only after the cars clear the grid and are on the track. Under no circumstances will you be allowed to enter the circuit directly from the grid onto turn 17 after the run group has departed.

After qualifying runs, go to the information desk and get your time and grid position for the next run or race. If there is no information for you on the time sheet, then you can assume that your transponder was not working and you will be placed at the back of the grid. We use the grid sheets handed to us by the tower to determine your position. The greatest way you can help everything run smoothly is to enter the grid knowing your grid position in advance. We will still check and confirm your position from our sheet as well as your wristband color to confirm you are in the proper run group.

If you know that you had a transponder problem or you did not run in the last qualifying session, please show up early. The sooner you arrive, the farther up the grid you will be among those with the same problem.

If there is a grid position problem that cannot be immediately sorted out in the entry lanes, we will ask you to pull over to the right, inside the grid area. From there, we can help solve the issue, and move you to the proper grid position. Moving to the right allows the others to continue filing onto the grid smoothly, without the possibility of having to turn anyone away at the 5 min mark. You will also be inside the grid ahead of the 5-minute mark.

For the Races and Practice Starts (Fun Races), we will be using a Splitter to divide the group into two columns of cars. The splitter will be a volunteer placed right outside of grid-out as you enter the track. The pole-position driver gets to chose which side (left or right) he/she would like to drive then each car will alternate behind him. During these sessions, please use extreme care and slower speeds on the grid.

Please remember that we are all volunteers, and most of us work all day and into the evening on the grid while you are on the track. Our wonderful PCA region volunteers pay their own way and work for a t-shirt and lunch. Please be nice and courteous. We consider you to be our guest, and will be doing everything we can to make your race weekend in sunny Sebring, Florida the best it can possibly be.

See ya on the grid early!

Christian Rava, Grid Marshall
Suncoast Region

Mike Koller, Grid Marshall
Gold Coast Region