Exocet meets wall at Atlanta Motorsports Park (AMP)

https://youtu.be/ZMDZIs9-nrM

https://photos.app.goo.gl/kMa4HdRZdAB9hjQi2

Doesn't look too bad, though it was a slow hit! Oddly looks just like my exocet (I know, not a lot to change), but he's running the same seat as me as well. 

What's the old saying about 2 feet in? 

As the former owner of a lightly crashed Caterham chassis, I'd get that on a chassis machine to check straightness.  My chassis was bent in some unexpected places.

Other than that, seat mount looked solid.  Did the driver have some sort of HNR setup on?

Whats with the wire bundle running over the shifter?

Kudos to anyone that posts their crash videos.  

No comments on the Honda Fit that was walking away from him out of every corner? 

I'm not saying it wasn't a bit of a code brown or anything, but that was more meeting a tire barrier than a wall wall.

Sucks.  I was going to say something about his hand positioning etc and there was a comment about it after the vid.  

I do wonder about the Fit that seemed more composed.

I crashed my S2000 into a tire wall at low speed so I feels the pain.  2 off, dewy grass early in the day.  

The Fit isn't walking away from him; the Fit is holding him up in the corners.  I'm willing to bet the Fit had been holding him up for a while and he was trying to get close enough to make it clear it was time for a point by.  Mr. Exocet is driving a bit roughly but it's because he's not looking through the Honda, he's chasing it.

Going through a fairly fast downhill section with his foot on the brake would've been okay, but only in a straight line.  With the nose all loaded up he turns right just as he releases the brake.  I don't think he got back on the gas hard, but the rear end was floating from the downhill braking, and it goes into oversteer almost immediately after he starts his steering input.

I actually thought he might catch it, but his countersteer was a beat late and so was the correction.  A lot of guys would've stopped driving the car and gone into that wall fast and backwards.  I give him a ton of credit for staying in the game because he got his car slowed down enough to make it a trivial hit.

Damn those still photos of the slide in are awesome.  Almost worth having to rehang the radiator just go get those for the family album. 

JBasham said:

I actually thought he might catch it, but his countersteer was a beat late and so was the correction.  A lot of guys would've stopped driving the car and gone into that wall fast and backwards.  I give him a ton of credit for staying in the game because he got his car slowed down enough to make it a trivial hit.

Damn those still photos of the slide in are awesome.  Almost worth having to rehang the radiator just go get those for the family album. 

Looks to me like the timing of his countersteer was consistently good, but the amount was consistently too great.

Yah, dead on.  It's hard to notice you're in oversteer going downhill because the gravity/booty plane is already tilted.  Once he detects it, the counter is a beat late, then the correction is a beat late, and he's chasing behind in a tankslapper.  It's usually pretty easy to get out of a tankslapper by just looking up the track, but it's hard to learn to do that without an instructor in the right seat screaming "JUST LOOK UP THE TRACK!"

Also, he looks like the kind of young man that, given a couple more years, will be able to drift his Exocet through a corner like that at will.

GameboyRMH said:

JBasham said:

I actually thought he might catch it, but his countersteer was a beat late and so was the correction.  A lot of guys would've stopped driving the car and gone into that wall fast and backwards.  I give him a ton of credit for staying in the game because he got his car slowed down enough to make it a trivial hit.

Damn those still photos of the slide in are awesome.  Almost worth having to rehang the radiator just go get those for the family album. 

Looks to me like the timing of his countersteer was consistently good, but the amount was consistently too great.

Exactly.  That amount of steering wheel input might be more appropriate for, say, a 1953 Plymouth.  

wae said:

I'm not saying it wasn't a bit of a code brown or anything, but that was more meeting a tire barrier than a wall wall.

Otherwise known as a tire wall ;) 

I think he was shaking down the car and himself - I'm going to my first time at AMP next week, but in the MS3. AMPs a tougher track than it looks like from what most people say. That said - my first time at Sonoma there was a guy in a Fit with tires and stock everything else and he was cruising through traffic like he had triple the horsepower - tight tracks reward a great driver.

MattGent said:

Whats with the wire bundle running over the shifter?

I think he lengthened and re-routed the rear harness rather than running it under the car? That's all I can think, though that is a really, really thick bundle for that bit of wiring (which would just be the fuel pump and rear lights). 

In reply to accordionfolder :

Looking at some of the pictures in the album, it looks like he has the battery in the passenger seat area, so that wiring harness would have to have battery cables as well. 

In reply to tomtomgt356 :

Duh, hahaha - not sure how that didn't occur to me; it's the same place i have mine - I just route it along the side instead of trans tunnel.

I watched it several times, it's a cool video because you can see his feet and hands and the turn all at the same time in one shot. 

It looks like the rear is loose as the turn begins, but he can't feel it, like you mentioned JBasham. 

His hands actually loose contact with the wheel when he throws the wheel to counter steer. Easy to say that's not good, but harder to manage in the moment when adrenaline is high. This also happens when he hits the curbing, which probably didn't help. 

That looks like a tricky turn. 

That looks like a tricky turn. 

Can confirm - I did my first track day out there a couple years back and that turn and the one right after it (blind crest into turn just over the hill you see at the end) were the ones that gave me trouble all day. Really satisfying though after some instruction when you can stick it!

CyberEric said:

That looks like a tricky turn. 

That's a turn that you have to commit to...pitch in and early on the gas through the dip.  AMP is a LOT of fun.

He's a fellow Wreck Racer, so I can share a bit.  Other than the radiator and radiator mounts, the car is fine.  Alignment didn't move from before/after the wall excursion.  He was wearing a HANS and had a good seat, so he's totally fine too.

This was in fact the shakedown of the car on track.  A radiator from a friend and some zip ties had him back on the track an hour later, with the rear anti roll bar disconnected.

In reply to Tyler H :

Agree.  Once you know the trick for that corner (plant hard, commit), it's one of the most fun on the circuit.

Hey all, that's me in the video. I'll try to answer some questions.

The bundle of wires is the connection to the rear wiring harness. I didn't want to run it under the car because of heat and debris concerns.

I was wearing a HANS which is why my neck is still in one piece.

This was actually the first time I ever drove the Exocet (except to the gas station across the street), as it is not road legal.

My hands lose contact with the wheel when it starts to spin because the depowered steering yanked the wheel out of my hands as the front wheels catch the slide. At least that's my excuse.

Yes, I know both feet in when you start to spin. There's a billion things I did wrong and a lot of people have told me.

The car was also set up wrong. I was running both stock sway bars (most Exocets and lots of Miatas disconnect the rear). I was running completely wrong wheels and tires, which were rubbing on all four corners (you can hear the left rear wheel rub on the frame in the video). I was running stock 2001 shocks and springs, which are greatly under damped for track use.

I've driven well over 500 laps at AMP, but this was the first shakedown run for the Exocet. I definitely shouldn't have been driving as hard as I was. This wasn't even the first spin out of the day.

I'm happy that there's no visible damage other than the radiator. All the control arm and frame reference points are the same as they were before and they appear straight. I'll have to get it on an alignment rack later to check for sure. I was able to finish out the day (two sessions after this) after I got a new radiator. 

Thanks for all your comments! They are definitely helpful and will hopefully prevent me or someone else from doing this again.

That is an awesome attitude to have in driving and life in general.  Thanks again for sharing!

sun573 said:

Yes, I know both feet in when you start to spin. There's a billion things I did wrong and a lot of people have told me.

Lol - the internet always knows the best things AND would've never hit the wall in the first place AND **if** they had lost it in that corner (WHICH WOULD NEVER HAPPEN) **they** would've just done a reverse entrance drift and flown over the wall AND!! ....(I keed, I keed)

You've got a fantastic attitude, I hope to see you out there. I've been driving with Just Track It while I'm getting used to these new east coast tracks - Mainly in my little yellow escort, if you see me drop by and say hi!

In reply to accordionfolder :

Awesome! I plan on doing a few Just Track It events this year, but I'll definitely be doing every JZilla event. When's your next event?

Also join the Exocet Owners Facebook page if you haven't already. There's lots of great info and nice people on there.