My drivers' ed instructor actually showed the class what to do. He had us all gather around the car (which was just idling) and showed us how to slam the shifter from "D" into "N."
My drivers' ed instructor actually showed the class what to do. He had us all gather around the car (which was just idling) and showed us how to slam the shifter from "D" into "N."
David S. Wallens wrote: I don't want to see this turn into an armchair quarterback session since it sounds like none of us were there, so let's turn this into a positive: How safe are your events? Is the finish area clear and safe? Are there a few quick and easy things that could be done to make them safer? What about the rest of the site? Any ideas on how to make the sport safer and better? Thanks.
Taking this into a different direction- when I designed the course, I always tried to finish the envent just at a slow feature- some kind of set of tight corners, which lead to a gentle slow down area after the stop lights.
But so many people complained that they just had to be going WOT through the finish line made it tough to explain what I was trying to do. They ignored the flowing high speed corners out on the rest of the course....
One of the things that really kept me from missing autocrossing since I've stopped.
It's one thing to lay out a safe course, where specific areas are fast, but others are not- it's another that so many drivers give you flak about that.
(I have no idea how this event finished, or how it was laied out, but just expressing my experience with trying to make it safe- not easy, and frustrating to deal with some people)
David S. Wallens wrote: Crazy thought: How many of us here have experienced a stuck throttle? And did you instinctively know what to do? I had it happen once.
Several times (I need to stop driving such sketchy garbage) but one was especially good.
Formula SAE car. First test, so almost nothing is properly set up or adjusted and the thing has been put together on no sleep. Get it into second gear, go WOT and it sticks- at this point I'm already aimed towards the gravel at the end of the lot. Try to pull the clutch, but it won't disengage. I hit the killswitch (machine e-stop style switch) and it literally falls apart. Stomp the brakes, but they only work on the front wheels, which is not enough to stop the car. I end up way out in the gravel, wheels still spinning, and wait for a team member to run out and hit the external killswitch. That was nearly a code brown moment!
The core karting guys in our club have already been talking about many of these issues. From proper maintenance, site safety, and keeping the kids from overheating.
Crazy thought: How many of us here have experienced a stuck throttle? And did you instinctively know what to do?
Ahh, shades of the old Toyota unintended acceleration threads..
Where i said normal people having 300hp cars will get them killed with the throttle sticks open (for whatever reason).
And i also said that brakes are a total non issue for 99.5% of cars and the real issue is people using them wrong. Hit them hard, once, stay on them, come to a stop, problem solved. Only the very MOST powerful cars will have issues with this approach. Usually a training problem.
I used to have an 18 second car that the throttle stuck on frequently. Not a problem. Same car with 300hp? That's a steep learning curve, and that's still not as fast as a lot of karts. Expose your entire upper torso to the outside world, and you have an even deadlier learning curve. But hey, some of the world's most prestigious and accomplished racing drivers have died due to exposed upper torsos, so at some point it's not so much about the learning curve as about how some things are inherently unsafe and you either take the chance (with your teenage daughter?) or get out of the kitchen, or go down like Senna.
As blunt as i tend to be about how unsafe and even unwise our enthusiast antics are, i still support them. I totally support the right of everyone to strap themselves into a suicide sled and go have fun on a racetrack.
David S. Wallens wrote: Crazy thought: How many of us here have experienced a stuck throttle? And did you instinctively know what to do?
Instinctively? No, I trained and practiced. Still do, for all kinds of scenarios.
You'll need to log in to post.
