In reply to akylekoz: And Grattan is a TOUGH track. I took my first hard off course there when I didn't let up enough to account for rain. Pretty much every incident I've ever seen has either been caused or made worse by ignoring the basic rule "If it starts to spin, put both feet in".
2005 Road America. Didn't see it in person though, just pictures online and a first-hand story in person.
mtn wrote: 2005 Road America. Didn't see it in person though, just pictures online and a first-hand story in person.
This one?
https://www.youtube.com/embed/nzf9pM5S-vU
That looks like an actual race vs. a track day.
GameboyRMH wrote:mtn wrote: 2005 Road America. Didn't see it in person though, just pictures online and a first-hand story in person.This one? https://www.youtube.com/embed/nzf9pM5S-vU That looks like an actual race vs. a track day.
I have been going to that race for the last 20 or so years. I missed 2005 for some reason, I'm glad I did that makes me sick to my stomach.
kazoospec wrote: In reply to akylekoz: And Grattan is a TOUGH track. I took my first hard off course there when I didn't let up enough to account for rain. Pretty much every incident I've ever seen has either been caused or made worse by ignoring the basic rule "If it starts to spin, put both feet in".
Yes, tough but fun, like you my two local tracks are Grattan and Gingerman. I will never hit a perfect lap at Grattan but it is so fun trying. Grattan is like a mix of roller coaster and racetrack.
A common place to lose it is down the front straight, caused by taking 12 a little too tight. You see there is a dip right there that unsettles the suspension sending you into a drift that shoots you right up the bank in front of the grand stands. I have witnessed it a few times, been close myself only once with an 80 mph slide onto the front straight.
An M235i just passed me but was no longer in front of me on the straight, where did he go, then I saw him sliding up the wall to the left of me resting just before the armco.
I race Lemons at Gingerman and run HPDE there, at the spring Cure a fella lost it in turn 4, hit the grass and slid right into the corner workers booth armco, then proceeded to roll the car. In Lemons rolling a car is an automatic one year suspension of racing license. Rather than further delay the race they just removed the workers from that corner.
I've seen some pretty ridiculous stuff in chumpcar. That's racing though. As far as track days goes, nothing crazy. Just the morons that get the red mist and try to race you into every turn even though it's not a passing zone and getting dangerously close to your car because they are too impatient to wait for a point by in the next passing zone.
The best one was at the Daytona school course PDX a few years back. A guy in a hopped up 135i with more power than his skills could facilitate. The car could reel people in on the straits but he was god awful on the turns. You could tell his frustration was starting to boil over that he couldn't get around a BRZ in any of the passing zones because of how awful he was at taking turns. He decides he's going to drag race and try to out brake the BRZ going into the Int'l horseshoe and destroys the left side of his car in the tire wall.
First open practice for bikes at Henderson, TX many years ago. Track was very crowded and just before the braking zone at the end of the front straight, The guys in front of me swerve right and left and there's some goober riding 20 mph. About 80 mph closing speed and I just made it onto the dirt before a collision that would have probably killed both of us. This made a big impression on me. If you need to slow way down or stop, get OFF the racetrack.
2015 at Road America-- HPDE weekend
Two instances of high powered vehicles not successfully completing turn 1 immediately after leaving the grid from the pit area.
And I agree-- Grattan is too much fun!
DirtyBird222 wrote: Just the morons that get the red mist and try to race you into every turn even though it's not a passing zone and getting dangerously close to your car because they are too impatient to wait for a point by in the next passing zone.
Reminds me of my last track day this spring. Dude in a Black M3 was on my back bumper so hard, he could've been clear anodizing. But I'm just in a line of cars, waiting for all of us to get the point by (maybe that's part of the reason he's back there?). The car in front of me was a C7 Z06, so when we got the point by entering the uphill straight on Summit Point Shenandoah, I gave the M3 driver a little wave buh-bye, and disappeared with the 'Vette. Of course, I wasn't trying to drive that hard, so, when he caught up a couple of corners later, I pointed him right by.
My first track day Willow Springs raceway the big track with a group of people driving focus's It was HOT I believe track temperature in the afternoon was 126 degrees and I went from being able to pull 130mph on the front straight to barely 110 with my focus SVT.
Anyway it was later in the day and we had a rather heavyset pair of brothers with a modified base focus. This guy had been sitting in the shade sweating like a pig for hours but had to go out to get "one more run" of video before he "wasted" his time at the track
He managed to overcook turn 6, likely lift throttle oversteer which caused the car to turn 90 degrees right and head straight off the track, However he did not both feet in and brake at that point and managed to fly straight into the ditch/berms they use to keep cars going all the way across the track. Car disappeared into the ditch then flew a good 15-20 feet into the air out the otherside airbags blown etc.
Lesson learned, hydrate hydrate hydrate, and one more run is often not worth the risk if you are questioning it.
Had an enthusiastic San Diego autocrosser come to our track with his turbo Miata. He was ready to show us hicks how things were done. Coming off the last turn on his warm-up lap (which took about as long as a single autox run), he smelled hot brakes. He then proceeded to go straight off turn 1 at full velocity and went off into the boonies. Yup, showed us.
Turn 1 is now known as "The (name withheld) straight".
Not a track day but an autocross type course (staggered with multiple cars on course at a time) set up inside a fenced off parking lot in Dodger stadium, a woman walked past numerous barriers and jumped the locked fence and runs onto the hot course in front of a guy doing his run to ask for directions.
If you've ever tried to run autocross events, you'll learn that it is basically impossible to prevent bystanders from coming in. They'll get out their cars and move cones, jump fences, duck under tape. It's incredible.
Keith Tanner wrote: If you've ever tried to run autocross events, you'll learn that it is basically impossible to prevent bystanders from coming in. They'll get out their cars and move cones, jump fences, duck under tape. It's incredible.
Huh, that was actually never a problem for the 4-5 years I spent autoxing regularly. Of course, the site was way off in the boonies, out of sight from the road, so that probably helped.
From the PWC race at VIR this year. Note the Miata drivers arm out the window, middle finger extended and both drivers making eye contact.
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codrus wrote:Keith Tanner wrote: If you've ever tried to run autocross events, you'll learn that it is basically impossible to prevent bystanders from coming in. They'll get out their cars and move cones, jump fences, duck under tape. It's incredible.Huh, that was actually never a problem for the 4-5 years I spent autoxing regularly. Of course, the site was way off in the boonies, out of sight from the road, so that probably helped.
We used to run at a ski resort during the summer, and we had people drive on to the course on the ONE access road after moving cones. It was spectacular. Should have been the easiest course in the world to secure, but you just can't anticipate some moves.
In reply to Keith Tanner:
Course worker stationed at the access road next time?
Maybe with a flare gun to use as necessary on the people who won't be deterred and proudly exclaim, "been coming here for 40 years, i know what im doing!"
We've had one or two wandering pedestrians at local autox's, but usually enough people at each station to run them off and direct them to the paddock.
I've had a person drive through a solid line of cones, past a safety station waving their red flag, and nonchalantly pull into a parking space on a hot autocross course.
Flynlow wrote: In reply to Keith Tanner: Course worker stationed at the access road next time? Maybe with a flare gun to use as necessary on the people who won't be deterred and proudly exclaim, "been coming here for 40 years, i know what im doing!" We've had one or two wandering pedestrians at local autox's, but usually enough people at each station to run them off and direct them to the paddock.
Haven't used the venue in a decade, but I think I'm gonna put an electrified chain across the entrance if we ever use it again. At least it'll be entertaining.
I went and did a trackday in the sportx this weekend and was stunned at the lack of skill, judgment and control people had. If you're going to go on track, be prepared to write the car off due to someone else's stupidity. Scary. Fun but scary.
1st lap of the 1 session of the day at Sonoma (early morning, very cold track) - I'm in a miata, dude behind me is in a Nissan GT-R. He tries to pass in in turn 10 (a very, very bad place to pass) - understeers into the wall ~110+ cutting directly in front of me to do so (nearly collected me too). Hits on the drivers side so hard it lands on the passenger's side, dude's wife is in the car with him. Car is completely totaled. He could have passed me like I was standing still between 10-11 on the straight that follows 10.
It was a day of bad drivers - 3 total loses (new GT-R, new 911, nice e36)
Best worst autocross: Autocrossng on a local tech school's lot. I was the event chair. The only entrance to the lot had a line of cones across it. A motherberkeleying state trooper pulls into the middle of a hot course (with a car on it at speed) stops, and demands to know what's going on here! We were short handed for workers, so I was at the far end of the lot working the course. Which is a good thing, cuz I woulda gone to jail. My dad was a Statey, so I tend to be more matter-of-fact with them when they aren't being the brightest bulb in the pack. They tend to not like that. As it was, I was able to radio in and mention that we'd be more than willing to talk to him all he'd like, but his car needed to get off my course immediately. He actually moved his car. I was surprised.
In reply to snailmont5oh:
It would have been interesting if you had offered him a few free runs on the course for his trouble 
Since I am a month away from my first HPDE, this thread is great. Learning these things vicariously is the better way.
When I was a kid someone showed up at Freeport speedway (1/4 mile paved oval) to run the spectator drags in a new 911. He was the stereotypical Porsche driver people made fun of at the time, string back driving gloves, big sunglasses etc. he jumped out to a big lead off the starting line and promptly stuffed it into the turn one wall.
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