National Corvette Museum Motorsports Park - Wreck

[SC BOSS]

As a few of you know on here.. i had a misfortunate incident at NCM MSP in Bowling Green, KY back on 3/28/15. To make a long story short, overnight temps were in the mid to upper 20's, and the morning session temps were right around 40 degrees. After making a few laps around the track at about 70%, i felt like the tires had warmed up and were beginning to grip a little better.. So, i started pushing a little harder, and ended up fhish tailing slightly as i short shifted on turn 13 prior to a long straight away.. As i got back on the throttle the ass end came around to the right, i corrected, and the left end came around even more, corrected again, and around we went.. I immediately pushed in the clutch and got on the brake hard trying to come to stop as the grass was approaching fast.. I knew if i got in the grass i was going straight to the guard rail (as the coefficient of friction on grass is MUCH lower than asphault..lol). Sure enough, BOOM, right front hits and immediately whips car to the right rear and bounces off..

Damage can been seen in the series of pictures below.

Short list of damages:
Front Splitter, bumper cover, right front fender, Boss 302S grill, Brake ducts, warped rotors, Boss 302R steering rack bent, gt500 exhaust toast, intermediate exhaust pipe bent, front chin splitter and lower valence, FRPP front and rear tow bars, hood, splitter supports, lower grill, rear quarter panel, enkei front wheel, trunk lid, and a few others i'm sure i'm forgetting..

 

[SC BOSS]

after 2.5 weeks, i finally got it to the body shop yesterday, and stopped by today at lunch.. they have started the tear down..










I had to replace the boss 302R steering rack prior to taking it to them (so it would steer). I did this for multiple reasons: 1. i don't trust anybody working on mechanical components on my race car other than myself
2. they are super slow trying to coordinate work with the ford mechanics shop at the dealer with the body shop and said it'd be an additional 2-3 weeks delay if they had to 'work my car into the schedule' to replace steering rack.

Living in a small town in SC, it's tough finding a quality body shop. The one it's at does great BODY and Paint work, however they are a little slow on the parts search and getting stuff ordered. It's a full time job (second job) making sure they order the correct BOSS specific parts, correct STRIPES, etc. I am having them put back to stock any parts damaged, then i will replace race parts at the house once it's finished!

Trying to decide if i want to upgrade the exhaust while i'm at it.. Currently they are putting the stock muffler on for fitup/repair. I'm thinkinga bout the Corsa Sport Gt500 (13-14) dual exhaust or the 13-14 FRPP gt500 exhaust.

I'll keep updating! So keep checking back..

Luke

 

[302 Hi Pro]

Luke:

So sorry to learn about your mishap at NCM, but fortunately you are ok. You are so right about cold tires and they don't give you any warning before they go, at least in my experience. That guardrail did some hurt!

But it looks like your Boss is on the mend and hopefully will be back in action soon.

Good Luck with your repairs
Dave
2HP

 

[SC BOSS]

Thanks Dave. It definitely could've been a lot worse. Still shocked the door didn't get touched!

Expensive repair for such a stupid mistake! Hopefully it'll be perfect again once the body shop gets finished with it! I'll definitely be back to NCM.. It's a great track!

Luke

 

[Flyboygsxr]

I was right behind Luke when this happened. It was right after 13 which a blind off camber left turn over a crest. After watching Luke go off there I am still timid about that corner. I have 4 days at NCM so far and I'll be back there the 25th and 26th of this month. Luke is right, it is a great track and being so close to home I love it. It is not forgiving though as they have crammed 3.2 miles into a very small space leaving little room for error.

Luke, I hope your car is back up and running soon. Besides the steering rack it was luckily only cosmetic. I have a little bit of understeer dialed into my car because I would rather have that than oversteer. My car will still oversteer but I still prefer a little bit of push.

Keep us posted on the repairs…

Adam

 

[SC BOSS]

I was hoping you'd chime in Adam! I kept checking mirrors as I was headed across track towards the guardrail hoping I didn't collect u in it as well.

Barber has a similar blind kink over a much larger elevation change (turn 4 I believe) and I short shift it all the time to have car weight distribution settled out before the crest and able to lay on the throttle sooner. I still think it's the right thing to do on 13 at NCM when the track and ambient temps are higher.

Either way, she will be repaired shortly and we will be back to NCM to eventually master it !

Headed to Barber Motorsports Park this weekend to drive dad's FR500s (in the rain according to forecast)!

 

[Flyboygsxr]

I short shift that corner still to 4th so that I can be almost full throttle through it. I know I can go full throttle I just haven't got the balls to do it yet

I know the corner you are referring to at barber…that one is even worse I think with how light the car gets.

Glad to hear you'll be back on track soon. Maybe the weather will hold out. I'm hoping it will hold out for my event at NCM on the 25th and 26th this month…fingers crossed

 

[VoodooBoss]

Bummer but good luck on a speedy repair. If you haven't already post some photos of your dad's FR500S! I bet that's a blast to drive.

 

[SC BOSS]

Bummer but good luck on a speedy repair. If you haven't already post some photos of your dad's FR500S! I bet that's a blast to drive.

I'll post up a couple tomorrow.

 

[Black Boss]

Luke,

Good to meet you. Glad to hear the car is in the process of getting fixed.

Leaving in the morning for a return trip to NCM....

 

[SC BOSS]

Nick,
Great meeting you and talking with you as well! I'm glad you're heading back down to NCM today, enjoy it!
I may get up with you sometime in the next couple of weeks (after i buy/replace the damaged race parts on my car) to discuss the ATC trailers. I'm hoping to order one in the next month or two!

Luke

 

[SC BOSS]

Bummer but good luck on a speedy repair. If you haven't already post some photos of your dad's FR500S! I bet that's a blast to drive.

 

[Roadhouse]

Sorry to hear about your wreck Luckily you weren't injured, and it's looks like you're well on the way to fixing up the car. Stuff happens...

 

[VoodooBoss]

Nice does he race it?

 

[SC BOSS]

He got his NASA race license with Miller back in 2013.. Has been wanting to enter in a few of the endurance races with myself and brother (z20what), but neither of us have had the time. Dad, being semi-retired, has more free time than us. However, he wants to start racing it in the SE (VIR, Road Atlanta, Barber, and now NCM) after this year (last year of 'practice' he says).

 

[ilesjohn]

He got his NASA race license with Miller back in 2013.. Has been wanting to enter in a few of the endurance races with myself and brother (z20what), but neither of us have had the time. Dad, being semi-retired, has more free time than us. However, he wants to start racing it in the SE (VIR, Road Atlanta, Barber, and now NCM) after this year (last year of 'practice' he says).

You and your brother should make time to race with your dad, just sayin!

 

[SC BOSS]

Here's a few Updated Pics from today's trip to the bodyshop at lunch... (warning... Boss owners may not like what they see!) lol

I was curious why they had to remove my rollbar













She's on the road to recovery, although it may not look like it to some!! I'm glad they are doing it RIGHT!!

Luke

 

[ArizonaBOSS]

Been there...good luck with the rebuild.

 

[VoodooBoss]

 

[302 Hi Pro]

Glad to see you have a quality body shop, and the rear quarter panel show up in great shape with no shipping damage. That's a good thing.

Good luck with the repairs,
Dave
302 HP