Curious.... didn’t sound like the guy hit the cameracar.... was the driver just surprised? Seems like he could have at the least leaned on the dive bomber. And I have no idea of the track nor can see what is ahead.... it looked like a kink and not an actual turn.
Its very hard to tell from video, but it looks to me like it was pretty saveable. However, I’ll defer to the first post that says he was a victim of that bomber.
In reply to jfryjfry :
I had the same thought that he reacted more significantly than necessary to avoid the guy. Hard to tell if he could have also grabbed some brake to let the guy get past him without it getting so ugly.
Another point about bracing for impact.... pull your feet up too if you can. Saves broken ankles.
I did that recently when I hit the wall at Charlotte going 110mph. The gas pedal was under the brake pedal after the hit. My ankles were fine.
About the video... the driver of the camera car seemed to over react to the car being there as if it surprised him. Secondly, there was not enough countersteer to catch the inevitable slide.
Fortunately or unfortunately, you don't fully learn how quickly and how much you need to respond without having a couple of incidents...
In reply to jfryjfry :
By avoidance it seems the damage was limited to suspension,and the car was back out that day.
minivan_racer said:stuart in mn said:NOT A TA said:50 years ago I learned to keep my thumbs on the outside of the wheel when I was a kid in 1/4 Midgets so they wouldn't get broken.
Was watching Indy qualifying or something several years ago and saw Danica do the arm fold thing when crashing while sliding on grass before impact and thought "Thats a great idea!" . Thankfully I haven't needed to use it.
I recall she took some flack about doing that after she transitioned to NASCAR and crashed there.
Several NASCAR drivers have started doing that though.
I was going to say that too. I think most drivers do it now when they are just along for the ride and the wall is coming fast.
jfryjfry said:Curious.... didn’t sound like the guy hit the cameracar.... was the driver just surprised? Seems like he could have at the least leaned on the dive bomber. And I have no idea of the track nor can see what is ahead.... it looked like a kink and not an actual turn.
Its very hard to tell from video, but it looks to me like it was pretty saveable. However, I’ll defer to the first post that says he was a victim of that bomber.
With the camera mounted where it is it's impossible to see everything that was going on but my first impression was also that the wreck was avoidable. It looks like he moved left either to avoid contact or because he was startled and dropped the left side tires off the track and then got behind the car with his inputs. The fact that the car went off on the inside of the corner seems to indicate that if he'd gotten more counter steering in faster or had turned to the right slower that there was enough grip to make it around the corner. However, it's always easier to recover from an incident with a keyboard after the fact than it is with a steering wheel and pedals in real time.
APEowner said:jfryjfry said:Curious.... didn’t sound like the guy hit the cameracar.... was the driver just surprised? Seems like he could have at the least leaned on the dive bomber. And I have no idea of the track nor can see what is ahead.... it looked like a kink and not an actual turn.
Its very hard to tell from video, but it looks to me like it was pretty saveable. However, I’ll defer to the first post that says he was a victim of that bomber.
With the camera mounted where it is it's impossible to see everything that was going on but my first impression was also that the wreck was avoidable. It looks like he moved left either to avoid contact or because he was startled and dropped the left side tires off the track and then got behind the car with his inputs. The fact that the car went off on the inside of the corner seems to indicate that if he'd gotten more counter steering in faster or had turned to the right slower that there was enough grip to make it around the corner. However, it's always easier to recover from an incident with a keyboard after the fact than it is with a steering wheel and pedals in real time.
He said that he saw the other guy coming and knew that contact was inevitable. He chose to try and avoid at the last second. By doing so he saved himself and the car.
Well letting go for impact is certainly better than doing what this guy did...
Edit: warning, painful to watch.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pX8r5ZyHvGw
Holy crap! What a hard hit.
It looked every single car either didn't see the yellow, ignored it, or it wasn't waving. They all still seemed to be moving at race pace.
In reply to z31maniac :
Yeah it seems like a few yellows were probably missed. And it also seems like that guy had more than enough room to go right once he saw the car, but most likely just fixated on the target. All in all just poor awareness all around.
But just wanted to show how it's instinctual to want to grab something and brace oneself when there's an imminent crash, but that's probably the wrong thing to do at that moment...
bcp2011 said:Well bracing for impact is certainly better than doing what this guy did...
Edit: warning, painful to watch.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pX8r5ZyHvGw
Jesus.
dean1484 said:Thing I was taught early on and yes I used it. You hear the old “two feet in when you spin”. It should be “all four in when you spin”.
Where do the other 2 go?
When I started track days it meant pushing in the clutch and brake pedals and try to keep the steering straight.
On behalf of the whole VI racing team #9 I am formally apologizing for that incident. Obviously we did not intend for the accident that occured. We try to pride ourselves on clean driving and it is agreed that was much to aggressive on our part. There will be a private email apology being sent to the driver/ gray cloud.
The driver that was involved will be chatted with about appropriate overtaking and we will be reviewing footage to make sure all our drivers learn from this incident.
In reply to bcp2011 :
Oww! That was painful to watch, indeed.
j_tso said:Where do the other 2 go?
When I started track days it meant pushing in the clutch and brake pedals and try to keep the steering straight.
My understanding is that it's more to ensure the car is still running, but more importantly, stopped, in a spin situation. The steering point is mostly moot because if you're spinning (vs. potentially catching an oversteer situation) you're unlikely to get out of it knowing where you're going, but stopping as quickly as possible is very important. I've seen videos where the car rolls forward or backward and catching incoming cars, a situation that could've been entirely avoided.
I thought about crossing my arms over my chest as I was braking to avoid the CR-V that pulled out close in front of my Samurai, but I decided I would try to brake and avoid for as long as I could. That might've reduced damage to the Sammy, but on the other hand maybe I could've avoided all that physiotherapy to my shoulders too...
Related to the spun 911 video above - that's a nightmare situation. Dead car on high speed, blind corner. I always bypass the neutral safety switch on my track cars. Yea, riding the starter in first ain't fast, but it's got to be better than waiting to get nailed.
In reply to Brotus7 :
Unclear from the video but not sure how the car died if he had two feet in. I’ve not had that many spins on track but thankfully the both feet in thing has been drilled so many times in my head that it’s instinctual.
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