My Adventure at VIR

[F.D. Sako]

I was at VIR this past weekend with fellow TMO-ers and track buddies.

Long story short, I didn't like how the driver side looked, so I bent it to shape ;D ??? :-\ :'(
I got intimate with a tire wall at the exit of T5 at VIR-full. Only body damage - chassis and alignment seemed to be straight. I was able to continue driving and get back home safely... while towing my tire trailer!

After impact, the door wouldn't open. So, I had to bang the fender out a bit. Also had to tape up the front bumper to the fender, the rear side marker, and ziptie the front splitter/brake cooling shroud.





Hindsight's 20/20, but any advice and criticism is welcome.
I realize now, I probably should've straightened up the wheel, which could've given the front wheels some traction, allowing me to steer away from the wall. Lesson learned, NT01's on grass are like ice-skating!
https://youtu.be/wgTiS2nJW78

Otherwise, I was having a blast!
The car was handling great and rotating beautifully.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=I0k1OqaIK38

On a positive note, I got to practice getting in and out of the car through the window... and I had purchased track insurance, because I knew I was going to push it a little this season. This has been one expensive start to the season, considering the addition of the rollbar, seats, and harnesses :-\

 

[VoodooBoss]

Wow that's a bummer. Good news is you weren't hurt and your car is repairable. Not sure what you could have done there.

 

[TMSBOSS]

Bummer!!

Glad you are OK and the car Was only slightly modified. Good news on the track insurance.

Sure looks like superficial damage which can be fixed by a competent body shop in a few weeks.

 

[the5]

Damage doesnt look bad at all, Honestly get a new door, fender and Buff out the rear and You should be fine. If you are going to be tracking it religiously these things do happen. Thats why I started with a Cheap 05 Body and with dents and Dings already.

 

[GOT SVT]

that is definitely a bummer.

can you elaborate more on the track insurance you got, what it cost and from who? what do they cover or not cover?? deductible??

 

[F.D. Sako]

I went with Lockton Motorsports Insurance. Since they cover almost all of clubs I attend events with. You can select a value for your car, which has to be within 10% of the KBB value, and include any modifications you want covered as well. I chose $38k and bought a 6-event coverage package. The price depends on your experience and value of the car. They also provide discounts for a few clubs.

They give you the option of picking a 10% or 15% deductible, based on the agreed vehicle value... so deductible is not cheap!

My understanding is, they don't cover timed events - only HPDEs. And you're allowed 2 claims within a 3yr period, or they'll drop you, or not sell/renew your insurance. An appraiser just looked at the car, so tonight I'll find out how much I damaged the car... until the body shop takes a closer look. With the deductible and the cost of the 6-event coverage, I'm in at ~$5500... so if the damage is less than that, I may drop the claim (if I'm allowed to).

I thought about leaving the car as is until the end of the season. But since I had the insurance, I really can't delay the claim process, or they won't cover it.

 

[302 Hi Pro]

F.D. Sako:

So sorry to read about the off track event. I thought you had a nice run going before running the left side on the grass, and I liked your 5 -3 downshift running up to T5.

It did look like the left side rear corner of the Boss took the brunt of the hit and I would be looking closely at the rear frame rail and trunk floor for bent metal. I also agree with you on having the repair done as soon as possible. Once the bumper covers come off, you'll have a much better idea of the extent of the damage.

I wouldn't be surprised if the estimate came in at $5-6k, so it was a good decision to have purchased the Track Day Insurance. It was also nice to see the Boss drove well post accident too.

Good luck with your repairs.

302 Hi Pro

 

[cloud9]

Bummer. It's a numbers game and if you're on track often enough and pushing hard it's likely to happen to almost everyone eventually. The insurance will make it a lot easier financially. It will probably be well over $5k to fix it like new so you might as well get it fully repaired.

 

[ArizonaBOSS]

OUCH!

Having been in this situation myself, it looks like your door and front fender got the worst of it, and those are very easy to replace. The bumper is held on near the fender by some $4 plastic brackets, once you get those the bumper will be held on just fine. Probably gonna be a whole side repaint...at least it's an "easy" color.

It can always be worse Good luck with the rebuild.

Inspect the wheels on that side when you get a chance.

 

[F.D. Sako]

Thanks for the tips guys.

I just got the initial estimate from the appraiser. He estimated around $6500... using certified aftermarket parts! I'll talk to the dealer body shop to make sure they use ford parts, worst case I'll buy them from tasca and have it shipped.

We did inspect the wheels. One of the spokes on the front wheel has the paint smudged off. The rear wheel didn't seem to have made contact with the tire wall, it just had mid on it. Either way, I think it's time I retire these wheels after 3 years of tracking and a few offs here and there.

The estimate also uses a labor hourly rate of $44. That seems kind of low to me... are McDonald's employees going to fix my car?!

 

[cobrarob]

Glad your ok and sorry about your car!Also purchased the multi event from Lockton,glad you had the cov. to help out on the repairs.
Good luck on the repairs

 

[TMSBOSS]

Thanks for the tips guys.

I just got the initial estimate from the appraiser. He estimated around $6500... using certified aftermarket parts! I'll talk to the dealer body shop to make sure they use ford parts, worst case I'll buy them from tasca and have it shipped.

The estimate also uses a labor hourly rate of $44. That seems kind of low to me... are McDonald's employees going to fix my car?!

Body shop hourly fates are always much lower than mechanics hourly rate. Did they work at McDonalds?? Hard to say. Keep in mind there are few specialized tools or continued technical training for body workers compared to the mechanical and electrical side of auto repair. Don't get me wrong, many body men are artists. The operating costs are just not as high in a body shop.

I would push for the OEM parts.

Good luck with the rebuild.

PS as someone who has tried to stear in grass while on NT-01s. It ain't happening.

Glad you walked away with only a sore wallet!!

 

[Black Boss]

Sakis, Great to see you at VIR. Sorry about the incident, but at least there was no structural damage and most important, you are OK. We all wander off now and again, you were just unlucky there wasn't another 10-20 feet of grass. Good luck with the repairs.

 

[cloud9]

Sakis, Great to see you at VIR. Sorry about the incident, but at least there was no structural damage and most important, you are OK. We all wander off now and again, you were just unlucky there wasn't another 10-20 feet of grass. Good luck with the repairs.

Ain't that the truth :

 

[ArizonaBOSS]

OK so reference points to your costs and another nod to "we all wander off"...

When I crashed my 2006 Mustang GT in a VERY similar way with respect to damage (wiped out the passenger side instead of driver), the cost to repair/replace/paint (Tungsten Gray Metallic) was $3500 cash.
When I crashed the B302 and crunched up the passenger rear quarter and had to cut in a whole section from a donor car, the repair/replace/paint (Race Red) cost was $3000 cash.

Two different shops.

I'd start getting second opinions if you have to pay for this out of pocket.

 

[captdistraction]

Bummer, I've yet to have the track bite back, but if we all do this long enough it will happen to us.

Looks like a relatively easy fix, just evaporate some money. Glad you're ok

 

[blacksheep-1]

Well, you almost pulled it off... but it looks reasonably easy to fix. Try calling Joe Aquilante and see if they have any spares left around, also, maybe we should have a stickey about race car insurance, I know nothing about it, but I know all of our cars are insured for track damage...maybe I'll look into that.

 

[2012-Boss]

Thanks for the tips guys.

I just got the initial estimate from the appraiser. He estimated around $6500... using certified aftermarket parts! I'll talk to the dealer body shop to make sure they use ford parts, worst case I'll buy them from tasca and have it shipped.

We did inspect the wheels. One of the spokes on the front wheel has the paint smudged off. The rear wheel didn't seem to have made contact with the tire wall, it just had mid on it. Either way, I think it's time I retire these wheels after 3 years of tracking and a few offs here and there.

The estimate also uses a labor hourly rate of $44. That seems kind of low to me... are McDonald's employees going to fix my car?!

Sarkis, when I looked at your car the only panels I saw that really needed replacement were the front fender and the door. Having gone through the same thing with my car last year, the cost difference between an OEM Ford front fender and the after market is negligible even at full retail.

With shipping, ordering the fender from Tasca is more expensive than ordering the fender through the body shop at full retail. The fender retails for $240. Tasca's price is $165.72, but shipping to Baltimore is $127.52.

For the door, retail is currently $914 and Tasca sells it for $631. Ask you shop to look into the price of a good used take off door. For me, a used door was the less expensive option, but I did a lot more damage and needed to replace the handle, mirror, and few of the internal components.

The OEM stripes for the car are outrageously expensive, at least for the 2012 models. The 2012 hood stripe and driver's side stripes were over a $1,000. By comparison, a full set of 302S stripes from Competition Graphics are around $400 last time I checked.

You might call Tasca, Levittown, and Auto Nation White Bear Lake to see if they can cut you a deal on shipping. Mike at Levittown has waved shipping on orders greater than $300 for me in the past.

 

[Mad Hatter]

Sorry to see that! That happend to me about two years ago. Only got it fixed a few months ago....Needed a fender and doorskin plus some work to the rear. With paint and parts it came to about 3500, but a lot of it was customs and shipping etc. Bob White has stickers that are almost identical to the OEM. Much cheaper!

http://www.bobwhitedecals.com/2010Step2.html

 

[Berol]

Additionally, Tasca is running 20% off shipping this weekend if you use promo code: SAVE20.

It's only the shipping portion, but if you're buying anything from them you may as well save what you can. Especially on the big boxes.