SpecRacer.com

Sad video first:
https://youtu.be/9waitzMpJAI
Then the Glad one (from Bob Breton):
https://vimeo.com/188728558

dave wrote:Sad video first:
https://youtu.be/9waitzMpJAI

Are you required to have removable roll bar pads at Thunderhill?

It was strange to see them cut the pads off to put the hoist straps on. Seems like it would have been easier to just grab it around the tallman hoop and loop another strap around a wheel to keep the car from spinning.

Roll hoop is too far behind the center of gravity. They have enough experience to know where to put the straps at the CoG and get the car elevated and off the track quickly without inflicting more damage. Tethering to a wheel would not help to level the car and would likely inflict more damage if used as a lift point. They can wrap over the padding, but most times if the padding can be easily removed they'll do so to avoid damaging the pads from compression of the padding. They do a great job of getting things cleaned up as efficiently and safely as possible.

Wish that efficiency was the case at the Runoffs where we ran multiple laps past trucks parked on top of the hill after the lap one incident with only a yellow flag, and then had to wait multple laps to clear the second incident in Thunder Valley involving three cars that seemed to take forever.

bimmer635csi wrote:

dave wrote:Sad video first:
https://youtu.be/9waitzMpJAI

Are you required to have removable roll bar pads at Thunderhill?

It was strange to see them cut the pads off to put the hoist straps on. Seems like it would have been easier to just grab it around the tallman hoop and loop another strap around a wheel to keep the car from spinning.

They are my friends, they are trying to keep from trashing the expensive dual-density padding.

dave wrote:

bimmer635csi wrote:

dave wrote:Sad video first:
https://youtu.be/9waitzMpJAI

Are you required to have removable roll bar pads at Thunderhill?

It was strange to see them cut the pads off to put the hoist straps on. Seems like it would have been easier to just grab it around the tallman hoop and loop another strap around a wheel to keep the car from spinning.

They are my friends, they are trying to keep from trashing the expensive dual-density padding.

Dave, my son JD was involved with a 1st lap crash, on Friday,at the corkscrew and lost his nose. SFR Ecrew brought it back to impound and he was able to return to the track after FlatOut re-attach the nose for us.
That doesn't happen at PIR

Interesting stuff about the roll bar padding. But didn't anyone else notice the guy spun and then proceeded to drive right into the path of an oncoming car!? I would have been furious. You spin, you wait until it is clear to move. I don't care how many spots you are losing. It is hard enough to miss a large stationary object on the track at speed. Let alone a moving one.

OK, back to the padding.

Jim

Hi there, I'm "the guy". Allow me to share the other perspective:

https://youtu.be/Qt1KnP4xv1o

First off, there was no corner worked at turn 14 that day (but there was one the previous day). Even if there had been, I wouldn't have been able to see them because of the angle I was at (although the other drivers certainly would have had better notice that there was a car in the turn). After I spun, I waited several seconds; based on how the other two cars travelled around the outside of me, I planned my path to the inside, and began my turn during a gap after the second car passed behind me. Unfortunately, the gap wasn't big enough, and the other driver didn't see me in time to change his course.

I thought long and hard about what to do in that situation. At that point in the race, cars were spread out pretty evenly, and there weren't any significant gaps between cars. Without a turn worker, I had no way of knowing when a safe time to move was. As the SOM stated it after looking at both of our footage: "You could stay where you were, and get creamed. You could move backwards where you can't see, and get creamed. You can go forward, and get creamed. It was just a bad space to be on the track."

Trust me, I feel bad about what happened. Two racers got a ride off the track in an aid car. Both our cars came in on the hook. The race was delayed while they cleaned up the mess. I got a pretty bad concussion, but fortunately the CT scan came back clean, and the cars can be fixed. I never really got a chance to talk to Joe Briggs after the stewards let us go, but I do owe him an apology.

-Jon

First of all, let he without sin cast the first stone. Any reasonable driver has made decisions they wouldn't if given another chance.
My suggestion would be to have turned right to make a multi-point turn, as opposed to turning left and having to stop perpendicular to the line at the apex. My assumption was you hadn't driven enough at Thill to realize you couldn't make the turn.
The first red car to drive around you probably did the right thing, they were pretty close and the easiest evasive action is to keep going straight.
The black car had plenty of time to make the turn, but is new to Thunderhill and maybe fairly new to driving?
There were a bunch of not very experienced drivers in that video and it actually bothers me more the way the next three cars came bombing through right after what was obviously a massive crash.

Dave

Jon,

I am glad to hear you are OK. That was a big hit. I have no ax to grind with you. I do stand by what I wrote though. Given your explanation I am compelled to point a couple things out.

If you watch the original video and watch cars as they go by after the crash I would say there were some significantly larger gaps in traffic coming had you waited. As for what the SOM said…I’d say he is off base. If you sit there you are half the target than you would be when you are broad side to the track, not to mention not moving. The old adage “It’s hard to hit a moving target” is true in reverse if the goal is to “miss” it.

Everyone makes mistakes. Hopefully we all learn from them. Good luck getting the car back together. Maybe we’ll meet at the track someday and I can give you even more grief over a beer!

Jim

Don't get me wrong, the SOM did advise me to look farther out and be more cautious when getting back onto the track. I overestimated the gap after the blue car, and underestimated the time it would take to get turned around again. Two mistakes I'm not eager to make again.

And as long as there's beer involved, you can say whatever you like to me.

-Jon