End of an era

[ls110]

Steve- So sorry to see that. Watching the video is painful as it happens so fast with nothing you could do. Scary how everything is wonderful one minute and 5 seconds latter the car is toast, literally.

 

[j3st3r]

So glad you are ok Steve, very tough to watch, but as many have said if there is anything you need please let us know.

 

[cobrarob]

Sorry to hear and see your incident Steve. Very happy your OK! She can be rebuilt

 

[VoodooBoss]

Steve this is terrible news and you can't seem to get a break lately. Glad to see you're ok as that's the most important thing. Your enthusiasm for tracking your Mustang is contagious and I know I speak for all your TMO family when I say we hope to see you back on track in the near future. Please let us know if we can help in any way.

 

[dabossinnne]

Terrible news, though glad to hear you walked away from it in one piece. That's what matters most. Will follow with interest the rebuild or whatever comes next.

 

[treynor]

Boo!! Sorry to hear (and see) and glad you are OK.

 

[dmichaels]

Very sorry to hear also Steve! It's been quite the tough year… I hope that you choose to repair the mustang! It is an icon!

 

[stangfever]

Glad your ok!

I'm sure you'll be back in due time.

 

[302 Hi Pro]

Steve:

I too am very sorry to see that happen to you. Although there wasn't much you could do, (other than brake), at the point of failure, I thought you handled that extremely well. For a less experienced driver, or like me, a vary less experienced race track driver, that could have been disastrous.

Very happy you were not injured, and now that it's been a few days I hope you are feeling well.

Thank you so much for posting about your experience and providing all of us here at TMO a reminder to keep viligent in our vehicle prep and maintenance. It helps to keep all of us a bit safer in our persute of the sport we love.

As Always,
Dave
2HP

 

[cholmes1]

Steve,

Thank you for sharing as much as you have about this intense experience. Great learning opportunity for us novice racers. Very happy you were unhurt given all the 'in a rush' things that led up to the accident.

Very confident you will bounce back as an even stronger racer and advocate for TMO.

Best,
Charles

 

[kcbrown]

Yikes! That's horrible! You came out of it unscathed and that's excellent considering the circumstances. I really hope you decide to rebuild the car better ... stronger ... faster ...

I'm really interested in knowing how many track days you had on the inner tie rods. My car is almost completely stock and I drive on street tires, but even so, based on this thread and others, I'm beginning to think that I should treat the inner tie rods (and perhaps other similar bits and pieces of the suspension) as standard preventative maintenance items and replace them on a schedule. My car has about 20k miles and about 20 track days on it since new, and I'm now considering replacing the inner tie rods as a preventive measure.

Glad you're okay, even if the car isn't!

 

[steveespo]

Yikes! That's horrible! You came out of it unscathed and that's excellent considering the circumstances. I really hope you decide to rebuild the car better ... stronger ... faster ...

I'm really interested in knowing how many track days you had on the inner tie rods. My car is almost completely stock and I drive on street tires, but even so, based on this thread and others, I'm beginning to think that I should treat the inner tie rods (and perhaps other similar bits and pieces of the suspension) as standard preventative maintenance items and replace them on a schedule. My car has about 20k miles and about 20 track days on it since new, and I'm now considering replacing the inner tie rods as a preventive measure.

Glad you're okay, even if the car isn't!

Inner tie rods had well over 100 days on track, don't know the exact number but were installed as part of the 302S rack install back in 2012.
Steve

 

[VoodooBoss]

Inner tie rods had well over 100 days on track, don't know the exact number but were installed as part of the 302S rack install back in 2012.
Steve

Steve, how many of those days were on slicks or Hoosiers? I would think sticky tires have a big impact on the tie rod end wear.

 

[steveespo]

Rick 99%. I had to change to the Ford Racing 302S rack because I was getting the EPAS shudder using slicks with my stock 2011 rack.
Steve

 

[VoodooBoss]

What I was getting at is slicks and sticky tires put a lot of stress and wear on the ball joints compared to street tires. If you're running street tires this becomes a less frequent maintenance item.

 

[steveespo]

What I was getting at is slicks and sticky tires put a lot of stress and wear on the ball joints compared to street tires. If you're running street tires this becomes a less frequent maintenance item.

Absolutely, the car on Hoosiers or Pirelli DH tires pulls regular 1.35-1.55 lateral and -1.15-1.30 g's under braking. Aggressive curb hopping also doesn't help.

 

[302BOB]

Steve, I've been following your story since the day you posted putting the Boss stripes on your car....many moons ago! I know you're up in my neck of the woods..........I wish you well & know you will rebound with a fury!!!!!!!!!!!!!!.............courage knows no limits....

 

[drano38]

Steve,
Sad news about the 21 car. I know you've done a ton of work to her.
But the important thing is you're ok.