TRACK: Oh The Horror !!!!!!

[WeeAsp]

Originally Posted by Goat Roper

I would have loved to have heard those last few seconds of conversation before the Celica got hit.

Lsat words heard...

"So I says to Myrtle, no, no use the other one. You know that vegetable oil and twister don't.... OMYGAWD!!!!!"

Not being there, there's awhole lot that looks like it could have been done differently. Logical culprit is course design.

I am really hoping that someone on this forum was there and tell the full story.

[Goat Roper]

The track steward posted on page 3 or 4 -ish

[rockthezx3]

That's a depressing site. Sucks to be them.

[Peregrine]

Damn. That Audi got devirginized....

[killer ZETEC]

wow. and i though old people's driving in everyday traffic was scary. what was he doing in a 300+ horse vette to start with. my guess is he was on the phone lol

[viney266]

Having been on the receiving end of this type of thing. I know how bad it sucks, but what are you gonna do? Well, thats when you walk up to the guy, and ask him for his insurance info...now please. LOL

BTW..My focus was punched by a kid doing a burnout in daddy's turbo PT cruiser at a car show. Luckily, as sad as it is. It hit my focus ( the wife drove it ), and not the Acura NSX I had driven there from a friends shop.

[FocusInAlaska]

As I understand it, Corvettes and Porches handle very differently at 10/10ths. He's just lucky that he didn't hurt someone.

In their thread, many people questioned their continued participation in autocross due to safety concerns. When the focus is on the few dramatic accidents that occur in the thousand of autocross events, and probably tens of thousands of individual runs each year, what missed is how many accidents are avoided due to driver skills learned there.

A couple of nights ago I was almost in a head-on accident. I was about a 1/10th of a mile from my driveway, on a tight 30mph corner. An oncoming driver was running it about 50mph and was half-way in my lane. Due to the beautiful driving dynamics of my car, and skill certainly honed autocrossing, I was able to make a Very Abrupt course change, miss the idiot, and collect my car back up and stay on the road. If you’ve been thinking about trying autrocross don’t let this scare you away. There is inherent danger, but it is fairly small.

[WeeAsp]

Originally Posted by FocusInAlaska

As I understand it, Corvettes and Porches handle very differently at 10/10ths. He's just lucky that he didn't hurt someone.

In their thread, many people questioned their continued participation in autocross due to safety concerns. When the focus is on the few dramatic accidents that occur in the thousand of autocross events, and probably tens of thousands of individual runs each year, what missed is how many accidents are avoided due to driver skills learned there.

A couple of nights ago I was almost in a head-on accident. I was about a 1/10th of a mile from my driveway, on a tight 30mph corner. An oncoming driver was running it about 50mph and was half-way in my lane. Due to the beautiful driving dynamics of my car, and skill certainly honed autocrossing, I was able to make a Very Abrupt course change, miss the idiot, and collect my car back up and stay on the road. If you’ve been thinking about trying autrocross don’t let this scare you away. There is inherent danger, but it is fairly small.

Well said.

It is a shame, but at the same time when an incident like this takes place, the ill thought out knee jerk reaction is to blame the event.

After reading through the thread, its understandable why the safety steward is on the defensive. Still, "arm chair quarterbacking" here says that maybe they should/could have done more in the way of safety.

Bottom line is like V said. Pony up your insurance card and move on. AX benefits far outweigh the RARE and unfortunate nature of this incident.

[eventerke]

Having had the opportunity to help design a course for an AX (I was there really early and it was a low-key event), I got to hear alot about the designer's thoughts on where to place elements to prevent a high-speed section from pointing towards any off-track hazards.

It sounds like this whole incident was outside the envelope - a driver doing 10/10ths in a *very* fast car that he didn't know. That's the one thing that never should have happened. They mentioned not letting drivers drive other cars at an event - I don't know that that would be required, maybe just not allow car/driver swaps for the SS and other top car classes?
No Novices in SS without a training class or experienced co-driver?

[thenorm]

I have witnessed a different GT3 wreck itself at an auto-x event a year or 2 ago. Even though you put as much thought as u can into course design, the fact is a GT3 at 10/10ths will have so much momentum, that they will go a Loooooooooonnnnnngg way before they stop if they are out of control.