Ever have one of those code brown moments?

The fine  folks at Skinny Kyote Racing let me come drive one of their Miatas this past weekend at NCM for the Lemons race there. Day 1, I spent most of the stint just figuring out the track and the limits of the car. Day 2 they put me in the car after a gentleman that was not only a mentor of mine in the military but also got me roped into this whole sport of crapcan racing. He's beaten me every time he's driven my own car and I finally got him by like .10 of a second on Day 2. 

I was starting to feel really comfortable in the car and coming into that double right hander before the downhill into sinkhole, this happens - code brown moment. At the end of the video you can hear even more tires squeal as people racing are trying to avoid the carnage blindly. Luckily the car wasn't damaged too bad, mainly just needs a new hub, rotor, and caliper. 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XQBkCUJIqDA

Zoinks!

Catastrophic failure, haha!  

It's important to try not to stop for wrecks or spins unnecessarily because that can make the situation way more dangerous - by about the 10sec mark you should've been checking your right mirror to continue ahead of the spun car.

BTW I remember weak hubs being a common problem on NA/NBs...

My biggest code-brown moment on an actual track was probably when I was in a race in a real racing kart and gave it too much brake near the end of the biggest braking zone, locking up the rear wheels causing the kart to snap to a stop sideways at the end of a long straight with zero runoff room (track was walled in with plastic K-barriers), so I was just a sitting duck in the middle of the track with the rest of the pack closing in...

He was the spinning car, not the camera car.  
 

I've also had a wheel fall off at NCM.  Fortunately it was at the chicane and on the unloaded side.   
 

The worse code brown I had was in the Civic, coming up to turn 4 at NJMP Thunderbolt at about 100, brake pedal went to the floor, I spun off into the thankfully ample runoff there.  Having the brakes go to the floor is a special feeling.  Turns out one brake pad escaped the caliper, who knew.  

I've never raced on a track; was a dumb azz hillbilly racing on the backroads 

Never owned anything, that handled particularly well; but absolutely LOVED hanging the back end out. Most folks back then were not as nuts as me - I realized I didn't have that same "panic" gene as most! Probably more like no self preservation gene to be honest!

Since the guy rear ended me on I-85 last year, totaling my camper and Toyota, I've had 2 wrecks my fault... didn't panic, but was sobbing as I got out to make sure I don't hurt anyone. And I didn't even cry when my dad, or any of my friends have passed. 
And I've also done damage to my own vehicles 4 times since then, when I panicked, and over corrected. 
Those have been code brown; and I'm not liking the way my brain has changed 

P. S. drove away from all 4 of those, and none of the 6, or the guy that hit me, has had anyone hurt. So it's all good. But still. 

GameboyRMH said:

It's important to try not to stop for wrecks or spins unnecessarily because that can make the situation way more dangerous - by about the 10sec mark you should've been checking your right mirror to continue ahead of the spun car.

BTW I remember weak hubs being a common problem on NA/NBs...

My biggest code-brown moment on an actual track was probably when I was in a race in a real racing kart and gave it too much brake near the end of the biggest braking zone, locking up the rear wheels causing the kart to snap to a stop sideways at the end of a long straight with zero runoff room (track was walled in with plastic K-barriers), so I was just a sitting duck in the middle of the track with the rest of the pack closing in...

I was in the spun car brotha. 

That was a ride. 

My worst CB was the kink at CMP when I got tagged in the right rear by someone who thought 2 wide through there at 100 mph was a good idea. 

IDK how many times it spun but it was a lot. 

That's a nice reminder for how thankful I am that the sheared hub at our last race ended much more benignly for me. The axle nut was still holding the wheel assembly on by a few threads, and the rotor running against the caliper kept it generally under control.

The dude in the camera car probably caused way more code browns than you did...

Biggest Code Brown I ever had was hooptiefest...2018? I think... A miata hit the turtle hump coming back onto the oval at NHMS and literally did the 2 wheel side steer thing for a solid 2-300' before rolling over.  I was in a pack of 6-8 cars that just scattered to avoid them.  I still don't know how, despite a tight pack and a pretty crazy on-track incident, that nobody contacted anyone else.  

Never lost a wheel on track, but have lost brakes.  Going into turn 1 at AMP.  Also had a throttle cable snap at WOT down the front stretch at NJMP Thunderbolt.  Fun times.

It's amazing how time stands still in those moments.  It gives one time to ponder ones choices in life... dating back to kindergarten.

I was on track with you during that session. Also saw a Miata like that outside of t4 at road America two weeks ago. Must be Miata things 😂. Camera car is a perfect example of the average lemons racer.