Guys, as many know I have owned and run my 2011 Mustang GT/Baus 302 know as "the 21 Car" since September 2010. It has always been a faithful and reliable car with over 14000 miles on track. Last week I worked hard on the latest upgrade (of many) and got the G Stream wing mounted, I had also through the winter performed maintenance on the entire rear suspension, new front hubs and torque checked all the suspension bolts. There was a persistent vibration on the right side of the car that I thought I had cured with the parts replacement and check out. One thing I did not check or replace was the inner tie rods, this leads into this story from Saturday...........
Accident happened at the top of the esses. Right front ball joint failed due to a vibration that I had felt all morning but could not track down. Stupidly I kept running the car. Anyway car went off on the left towards the villas and with the brakes locked down I got it slowed from 110 to 24 when I hit the tires. I tried steering away but the front didn't respond at all on the grass. The damage wasn't bad from the hit but the grass caught fire. Track crew responded as quickly as they could and put it out but much of the undercar plastic, wiring and fuel vapor lines are melted. So my story has a few lessons; 1) Pay attention when you feel something wrong with the car and track it down. We think it was an inner tie rod that was allowing the wheel motion/vibration and that beat up the ball joint which then sheared at the cross bolt. 2) Have a roll bar/6 point harnesses and HANS on track at all times. I didn't hit hard this time but I also did not move in my seat, was awake and got out of the car with no injuries. At the speeds we run at tracks like VIR, Watkins Glen, Road America and others the impact speeds can be devastating. OEM seat belts and Air Bags aren't going to be enough over 50 mph hit. 3) Keep an extinguisher or fire system in the car. I took my halon extinguisher out of the car last year with the passenger seat. Dumb, if I had it I may have been able to slow the fire until the track crew could get there. A $3000 problem became a $10000 problem because of it. 4) Wear a firesuit. I had actually forgotten mine in the rush to leave Friday morning, luckily I didn't need it but it was close.
The second half of the story is the sacrifice and heroics of some good friends at the track. Steve Kersh (2012-Boss) who is like my track wife, immediately shut down his track day and got over to where the tow truck dropped the car and started to formulate a plan. Bill Wilde(wwilde001) also came right over to help pack up tools from the garage. Tony Sorrentino, President and event organizer from SCMC/Track Club USA joined us in the attempt to get the car back on 4 wheels so we could load it up on the trailer with no further damage. We removed the damaged plastics, pulled off both damaged fenders, disassembled the damaged right front suspension and managed to get the remaining stub shaft of the Howe ball joint back into the spindle, tighten the pinch bolt and push the car up onto the trailer. Great thanks to those guys and many others at the track some who are members here at TMO who offered support and condolences to me and the 21.
I am still deciding what to do, the chassis is straight and body damage is limited to the nose, cracks in the Tiger hood, fenders, rocker sills and rear bumper cover. More substantial damaged occurred to the wiring harnesses, fuel lines, CF driveshaft (which melted), possibly steering rack, and the paint overall from fire damage. I have had some great offers of assistance from Don Rositch of Mustang Don's Garage and many others. Am considering many options including selling everything and starting fresh in a year or two. Will keep everyone posted.
https://youtu.be/xkFeO1snk2M
Steve
Accident happened at the top of the esses. Right front ball joint failed due to a vibration that I had felt all morning but could not track down. Stupidly I kept running the car. Anyway car went off on the left towards the villas and with the brakes locked down I got it slowed from 110 to 24 when I hit the tires. I tried steering away but the front didn't respond at all on the grass. The damage wasn't bad from the hit but the grass caught fire. Track crew responded as quickly as they could and put it out but much of the undercar plastic, wiring and fuel vapor lines are melted. So my story has a few lessons; 1) Pay attention when you feel something wrong with the car and track it down. We think it was an inner tie rod that was allowing the wheel motion/vibration and that beat up the ball joint which then sheared at the cross bolt. 2) Have a roll bar/6 point harnesses and HANS on track at all times. I didn't hit hard this time but I also did not move in my seat, was awake and got out of the car with no injuries. At the speeds we run at tracks like VIR, Watkins Glen, Road America and others the impact speeds can be devastating. OEM seat belts and Air Bags aren't going to be enough over 50 mph hit. 3) Keep an extinguisher or fire system in the car. I took my halon extinguisher out of the car last year with the passenger seat. Dumb, if I had it I may have been able to slow the fire until the track crew could get there. A $3000 problem became a $10000 problem because of it. 4) Wear a firesuit. I had actually forgotten mine in the rush to leave Friday morning, luckily I didn't need it but it was close.
The second half of the story is the sacrifice and heroics of some good friends at the track. Steve Kersh (2012-Boss) who is like my track wife, immediately shut down his track day and got over to where the tow truck dropped the car and started to formulate a plan. Bill Wilde(wwilde001) also came right over to help pack up tools from the garage. Tony Sorrentino, President and event organizer from SCMC/Track Club USA joined us in the attempt to get the car back on 4 wheels so we could load it up on the trailer with no further damage. We removed the damaged plastics, pulled off both damaged fenders, disassembled the damaged right front suspension and managed to get the remaining stub shaft of the Howe ball joint back into the spindle, tighten the pinch bolt and push the car up onto the trailer. Great thanks to those guys and many others at the track some who are members here at TMO who offered support and condolences to me and the 21.
I am still deciding what to do, the chassis is straight and body damage is limited to the nose, cracks in the Tiger hood, fenders, rocker sills and rear bumper cover. More substantial damaged occurred to the wiring harnesses, fuel lines, CF driveshaft (which melted), possibly steering rack, and the paint overall from fire damage. I have had some great offers of assistance from Don Rositch of Mustang Don's Garage and many others. Am considering many options including selling everything and starting fresh in a year or two. Will keep everyone posted.
https://youtu.be/xkFeO1snk2M
Steve
