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Thread: Stalwart SpecE30 #6 is no more.

  1. #1
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    Stalwart SpecE30 #6 is no more.

    Yesterday I went into a wall at RA's S curves. Was head on. Was probably doing 80-85 when I hit. Spec3 in front of me blew a radiator hose. He went outside and I eased off a little throttle and gingerly went inside in order to avoid the line that the smoking car was taking. I thought I had stayed clear of his line but then my rear end snapped around on me. I turned into it when I first sensed the oversteer, and then went to brakes when the attempt to catch the oversteer failed. I wanted to get on the brakes early so the car wouldn't hook into a wall. Which is when it hooked into a wall.

    My last thought was "I wonder how much that grass is going to slow me down"?

    The impact knocked the wind out of me so I mostly just sat there and tried to get some air with shallow breaths while I pondered just how messed up I might be. By the time I could breath they stopped the race and pulled everyone off of the track.

    I figured at that point it would probably be good to get out of the car in case something got suddenly worse. I figured that would also give me a chance to take a good inventory of body parts so I'd have answers for the ambulance when it showed up. So I crawled out of the car and on to the grass. I waited for the ambulance in a good prone position. It was quite comfortable.

    I'm ok. I hit my harness straps so hard that bones moved in all sorts of ways that they're unaccustomed to, but it's nothing that motrin won't take care of.

    The car's not ok tho. It's a write off. If the engine had been pushed back any further it would have ended up in my lap. I claim the most severe SpecE30 crash the NASA-SE has ever seen.

    It's going to take much of next year, I suppose, to build a new car. Is irksome. Ideally I'll find an '87 or '88 that someone started preparing, got a cage in, and then ran out of motivation. That person is now desparate because their wife found out about the mistress and will sell their car for beer money and a winning smile.
    Last edited by Ranger1; 12-09-2011 at 10:48 AM.

  2. #2
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    Ouch. Sorry to hear that

    Hope you get through the pain and get back out.

  3. #3
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    Wow, really glad you are basically ok! You'll be back in a better faster car in no time.

    That's why I don't much care for Road A. Years back, my first time there I rolled into the paddock on a race and DE weekend and the first thing I saw, even before seeing any of the track was an E36 that had hit the wall. The driver was fine. It was during the race so full cage with foot protection and all but the engine was just starting to encroach into the the drivers footwell.

    I took it easy that weekend, and haven't spent much time there since.
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  4. #4
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    be thankful it wasn't worse... that sounds like a violent accident.

  5. #5
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    Glad to hear you are OK for the most part. Sorry about the car but it can be replaced with time.

  6. #6
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    [ame]http://vimeo.com/33128427[/ame]
    In reviewing the video, I'd say that the Spec3 didn't go off line as much as I thought, and I didn't back off the gas much. I thought I could stay off whatever he was pouring on the track, but I was wrong. I clearly drove right on to the coolant, but the only other alternative would have been to go into the grass and at that speed I'd probably would have lost control in the grass

  7. #7
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    Damn dude. Glad to hear you are in one piece.

  8. #8
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    Quote Originally Posted by Ranger1 View Post

    In reviewing the video, I'd say that the Spec3 didn't go off line as much as I thought, and I didn't back off the gas much. I thought I could stay off whatever he was pouring on the track, but I was wrong. I clearly drove right on to the coolant, but the only other alternative would have been to go into the grass and at that speed I'd probably would have lost control in the grass
    I wouldn't beat yourself up about it, when your watching it afterwards it's always easy to point out woulda/coulda stuff, inportant thing is your okay, I couldn't say there was a better way to handle that.
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  9. #9
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    Bugger, that was a hard hit. Are your hands/wrists sore? I was at the track yesterday and was amazed that each race had a red flag! Glad you're ok!
    Dan Parker

  10. #10
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    Wow. That looked like a really hard hit. Glad you're ok. That's really crummy that you have to write off the car. Hope you can get back on track sooner than later.

  11. #11
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    I'm glad to hear you walked out under your own power and wirh all your bits where they belong.

    The passenger side of the cage looks like it dropped a few inches off the roofline. Did it crush, break loose, etc?

    Pics from a friend who was at the event:


    photo 1 by 20xclean, on Flickr


    photo 2 by 20xclean, on Flickr


    photo 3 by 20xclean, on Flickr


    photo 4 by 20xclean, on Flickr


    photo 5 by 20xclean, on Flickr

  12. #12
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    Glad you survived.

    A friend of mine was killed during a track day when another car crossed the track on wet grass and t-boned him in his 93 Rx7. I'm not a believer in grass anywhere near a racing surface. I'm glad you're OK. Coolant is very slippery stuff. That was a big hit you and your car took.

  13. #13
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    Wow that sucks. Glad you are ok.

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  14. #14
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    Thanks for posting the pics. Re. cage being a little short of the roofline. Both cage and roof bent a bit. So roof separation was some combo of that I suppose. Knee bar was bent a little by design, but it bent more in the hit and I smacked my shin on it pretty good.

  15. #15
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    Wow, that was a hit.... glad to hear you are physically alright Scott.
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    That was hard. im glad you came out of it alright.

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    Not sure there was anything you could have done. The only I out I could even possibly have seen was going on the grass to the left of the curbing at the bottom of the hill....but that was looking at the video a number of times. The decision would have had to be made much earlier than you would reasonably expect. Seems a lot more slippery than one would expect from just water. Water wetter is still a very slippery substance even in the concentration we use it in. Still can't figure out how water watter differes chemically from coolant b/c it feels exactly the same.
    It's not speed that kills, it's the speed difference that does. Obviously you aren't going fast enough.

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  18. #18
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    Glad you came out of it with only soreness. That was a really hard hit. Hope you find car more quickly and can return next year.
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    Quote Originally Posted by MauiM3Mania View Post
    Wow, that was a hit.... glad to hear you are physically alright Scott.
    spoken like someone who knew scott well

  20. #20
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    Very glad to hear you're OK. That is a bummer after all the time and money you put in that engine to get it right.
    I have a question because I'm not a race car driver. I was under the impression that most if not all race series do not allow ethylene glycol in cooling systems to prevent exactly what happened to you. Yes? No?
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    Glad to hear you're okay. That was quite a hit. RIP e30.
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  22. #22
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    Quote Originally Posted by Ranger1 View Post
    Thanks for posting the pics. Re. cage being a little short of the roofline. Both cage and roof bent a bit. So roof separation was some combo of that I suppose. Knee bar was bent a little by design, but it bent more in the hit and I smacked my shin on it pretty good.

    Hit the knee bar. Ohhhh man, I can't imagine, even with padding, how mad your shin(s) feel.

  23. #23
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    Quote Originally Posted by jtower View Post
    spoken like someone who knew scott well
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  24. #24
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    Quote Originally Posted by peete View Post
    Very glad to hear you're OK. That is a bummer after all the time and money you put in that engine to get it right.
    I have a question because I'm not a race car driver. I was under the impression that most if not all race series do not allow ethylene glycol in cooling systems to prevent exactly what happened to you. Yes? No?
    There's no indication that there was antifreeze in the coolant, even if it seemed godawful slippery to me. The track workers didn't not find any evidence of anything. They told me that only water evaporates that fast. If there'd been antifreeze, they say they would have seen it.

    All I know for sure is that it was really really slippery. That's twice I've crashed at RA this year because of fluids on the track. Next time I'm going brake hard, downshift to 1 and creep thru the grass.

  25. #25
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    Wow Scott - very sorry to hear this! Knowing you a new car will be ready for CMP!

    Glad to hear you're ok!!

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