China Beach Oil, Spec Iron disaster! PSA for safety equipment!

[Speedycrw]

This past weekend (May 31,2020) NASA Great Lakes ran at MidOhio. In the Sunday Thunder group in Sunday's first race, an American Iron car dropped oil in the brake zone of China Beach....one of the worst places on the track to do so! The following video shows two Spec Iron cars (2005-2010 3vs) entering the zone immediately after the oil was laid down. Jay North, the silver SI car slides left and hits the wall at a high rate of speed...that car took some serious damage, may still be fixable or he may move parts to a roller (hopefully Jay is back in action for August MidOhio). Jay walked away without even getting sore. The camera car is me, Spec Iron #55...just shows that sometimes.....#$%3 just happens.....make sure you do not CHEAP OUT on the safety equipment folks!

 

[ArizonaBOSS]

YIKES. +1 for proper safety gear!
One of the worst things about scenarios like that (or rain) is in those situations, even if you come to a stop without damage, you are vulnerable to being hit by another car coming off-track out-of-control from that same slick. No fun. Glad you are OK.

 

[Speedycrw]

YIKES. +1 for proper safety gear!
One of the worst things about scenarios like that (or rain) is in those situations, even if you come to a stop without damage, you are vulnerable to being hit by another car coming off-track out-of-control from that same slick. No fun. Glad you are OK.

That is exactly why I was working so hard to get out of the beach! Was thinking about someone flying into me like a sitting duck!

 

[blacksheep-1]

you'll smell the oil before you hit it in most cases, no debris flag?

 

[Speedycrw]

you'll smell the oil before you hit it in most cases, no debris flag?

We were literally through the brake zone(first cars) no more than 5-10 seconds after the dump, so no debris flag, sounds like an oil line let go, it wasn't dropping or burning oil until BAM.....loads of oil.....makes for scary interesting times!

 

[Ludachris]

That's such a helpless feeling when you're sitting there in the gravel hoping another car doesn't come barreling into you. Glad you were able to make your way out and avoid more chaos.

 

[Bill Pemberton]

Super scary situation, and for those that have run at Mid Ohio, there is no other place , including Thunder Alley , where and oil down would put drivers in a precarious position. I was cheering Speedycrw for getting the car moving and out of there, as my first thought was the same as his...............get my butt outa here before someone hits me.

Sand can only slow cars going 130-140+ down so much. Great post for awareness!!

 

[Corral Man]

This past weekend (May 31,2020) NASA Great Lakes ran at MidOhio. In the Sunday Thunder group in Sunday's first race, an American Iron car dropped oil in the brake zone of China Beach....one of the worst places on the track to do so! The following video shows two Spec Iron cars (2005-2010 3vs) entering the zone immediately after the oil was laid down. Jay North, the silver SI car slides left and hits the wall at a high rate of speed...that car took some serious damage, may still be fixable or he may move parts to a roller (hopefully Jay is back in action for August MidOhio). Jay walked away without even getting sore. The camera car is me, Spec Iron #55...just shows that sometimes.....#$%3 just happens.....make sure you do not CHEAP OUT on the safety equipment folks!

Do you know if Jay North is running with ABS on or off? It looks like the back brakes lock up first and that's what rotates him into the wall. I ask about the ABS because I had a similar situation at Summit Point where a friend's motor decided to eject a rod through the bottom of the Canton oil pan and lay down 8 quarts of oil in the braking zone of turn 1. I had ABS on and when we hit the oil I could feel the right side of the car gripping, but left side of the car's ABS was in high gear. I actually managed to get the car around turn 1, but never would have been able to do it without that 4-channel ABS.

That incident changed my opinion of ABS for track use.

 

[JAJ]

I hit a patch of oil in a braking zone once in a car with a spool rear axle. Loss of traction on one side means both rear wheels stop turning - the car swapped ends quite cleanly and stayed on the track.