Shelby Bash March 21 - Open Track at Spring Mountain

[cloud9]

The whine is intoxicating!!

Reminds me of the good 'ol days in the GT500 ;D That sounded more like the stock blower? My TVS brought the pitch down quite a bit....more of an alto than a soprano

 

[2012YellowBoss]

Andy as an old time F1 racer told me "welcome to the club" you know about this but I never posted it in public before. Your honesty about it has brought me out into the open also. For those that don't know, last year at Sebring I lost the brakes, speed bleeders were leaking, and I handled it about as bad as I could have

Glad you were smart enough to get the insurance, I was not.

 

[Fat Boss]

Andy as an old time F1 racer told me "welcome to the club" you know about this but I never posted it in public before. Your honesty about it has brought me out into the open also. For those that don't know, last year at Sebring I lost the brakes, speed bleeders were leaking, and I handled it about as bad as I could have

Glad you were smart enough to get the insurance, I was not.

Scott I'm looking at it as an expensive lesson in the capability of the car and driver. I'm capable of pushing the car past it's limit. Going forward, the lesson I learned last weekend will make me a better and safer driver out on the track as well as on the street.

 

[GOT SVT]

andy

nice to meet you on saturday

wow and bummer on your car, that must have happened right after we left about 3 pm cuz you were just getting ready to go back out

glad you are ok

 

[Roadhouse]

Reminds me of the good 'ol days in the GT500 ;D That sounded more like the stock blower? My TVS brought the pitch down quite a bit....more of an alto than a soprano

Some day I'll have either a GT500 or 03/04 Cobra in the stable. There is just something special about the blower whine. What I would really like an 03/04 Cobra with a 2.2 KB, those suckers scream!! ;D

 

[fuhrius]

I'm capable of pushing the car past it's limit. Going forward, the lesson I learned last weekend will make me a better and safer driver out on the track as well as on the street.

we're also, all of us, capable of pushing past our own limits. most of us are competitive by nature...and that can get us in trouble on the track. but whether it's driver over-driving the car, over-driving themselves, or situations completely out of our control...the lesson I learned when I wrecked my street car at the track is that the shiznit can go down really quckly...and you better be making arrangements to be protected when it does. The fact that you went in backwards might have saved your neck / spine (I'm assuming you weren't using a HANS?)...imagine same speed nose-in...or higher speed...or flipping.

I can tell you that going nose-in at ~80+mph, as I did, is NOT a feeling I ever want to replicate. I walked away with nary a scratch...but I'm pretty darn sure that the HANS device, excellent fixed-back racing seat, and proper harness / sub-belt setup went a looong way to keeping me safe. I don't sell that stuff...I just highly encourage any / all of you tracking your cars to figure that stuff out before spending any more time and / or money on suspension tuning / wheel offsets / etc / etc...you know...all the fun stuff.

ok, hopping off the soap box now...we all have experiences in life that might help someone else...which is the only reason I'm writing this...once you hit one of those SOB walls you're 'in the club' as Scott says...and once in, my message is moot for you...but for those not 'in the club' (yet)...invest in safety BEFORE gaining membership.

and we're all really glad you're ok Andy.

 

[Fat Boss]

Thanks John! You make a lot of good points there. I am very lucky I went in backwards and also glad they put in the tire wall. A course worker said the owner didn't want one there but was convinced to.

 

[2012YellowBoss]

Andy, watching the video from the event you were looking good, nice smooth lines. You have a good attitude about what happened so don't blame or beat yourself up like I did. If you are not out there on the edge there is no reason going in the first place. As you said it is a lesson, I learned mine and was told by many people the first time it happens you freeze up and don't handle things well. People said I would be ready for the next time something went wrong, I was afraid that would not be true. Sure enough I lost the brakes in the same exact turn, this time with cars all around me and I was able to get it under control.

I really would like to do a full cage soon, I had the roll bar and harnesses at the time but no HANS, it was on order. The harnesses were sure nice to have and keep me glued to the seat, still I was very sore a few days later. Like you I am glad it was a tire wall and not a concrete barrier.

The best part of of the "in the club" comment I got was the big smile he had on his face as I drove up with a wrecked Boss on the trailer ;D

 

[cloud9]

Scott just curious what you were able to do the second time to get it back under control? Downshifting and e-brake?

 

[2012YellowBoss]

Scott just curious what you were able to do the second time to get it back under control? Downshifting and e-brake?

Basically it was to stay calm, the first time I keep my foot planted in the brake pedal and just tried turning the car. The second time I was lucky in some ways as I had just done a point-by in the corner and had lifted before going on the brakes. I had to turn to avoid the car on my left and had just enough traction to do so, then I started pumping the brakes and was able to slow, I did down shift but after pumping on the pedal and toward the end of the brake zone, no e-brake.

The vid is posted in the racing section under Winterfest PBOC, last one in the first post. It does not look bad at all but I was scared and my heart was in my throat I guess the natural reaction is to floor the brake pedal, you see that all the time on utube street accidents. That is what I did before and the wall was in front of me before I even knew what was going on. By staying calm and applying what I had learned from many good people that reviewed the tape, it looked like no big deal, seemed almost like it happened in slow motion.

This does not mean I am the world greatest driver, just better then I was before. Like Andy said you can't cry over spilled milk, you learn from any bad experience and hopefully avoid repeating the same thing twice.

 

[fuhrius]

I lost the brakes at Track Attack at the end of the front straight. I froze momentarily...then starting pumping them like mad and they came back a bit...but I did got off at the end of the straight...at that point, slowly enough to steer around the barrier. losing the brakes was creepiest feeling I've ever had driving...it certainly will make you pucker. hope I'm quicker to the 'pumping' next time.

 

[GTMikey]

I think my favorite part of all of this is that when Andy came in the driveway with the car on a trailer with some "dings" in it his roommate came outside and hugged him and said "I'm so proud of you dude!!"

Great weekend. Looking forward to it already.

 

[ls110]

Thanks Rick! It'll be interesting to see this play out. I purchased a policy from Lockton last week to cover me. I have an email in to them with pictures asking for what the next step is. I know I have a substantial deductible, but at least I'm not out the entire car's value, or if it can be repaired, the repair cost.

Andy - How has Lockton been in dealing with this? After seeing this post I have been in contact with Fred of Lockton and am considering insuring some events as well. So far Fred has been very responsive but am wondering how they react when a payout is involved. I have also contacted three other insurers, but so far Lockton has been the easiest to work with and about the same rates, or even slightly less.

 

[Fat Boss]

Andy - How has Lockton been in dealing with this? After seeing this post I have been in contact with Fred of Lockton and am considering insuring some events as well. So far Fred has been very responsive but am wondering how they react when a payout is involved. I have also contacted three other insurers, but so far Lockton has been the easiest to work with and about the same rates, or even slightly less.

Lockton has been very responsive. They were quick to send out an estimator and are asking me to bring it to a body shop of my choice. That said, my primary insurance is covering it so I'm going to call off the dogs with respect to Lockton. I know, I can't believe my insurance co is covering me since they know I was on a track and it specifically excludes track activity.

I will be buying policies from Lockton going forward as I feel they are a reputable insurance agent.

 

[ls110]

Lockton has been very responsive. They were quick to send out an estimator and are asking me to bring it to a body shop of my choice. That said, my primary insurance is covering it so I'm going to call off the dogs with respect to Lockton. I know, I can't believe my insurance co is covering me since they know I was on a track and it specifically excludes track activity.

I will be buying policies from Lockton going forward as I feel they are a reputable insurance agent.

I am surprised to hear your primary insurer is covering it. That is great to hear. What company is that and have they stated they will only cover this one time event and in the future you will not be covered?

Also glad to hear Lockton has also been responsive and that you will use them again. That makes my decision much easier, thank you!!

 

[Fat Boss]

I am surprised to hear your primary insurer is covering it. That is great to hear. What company is that and have they stated they will only cover this one time event and in the future you will not be covered?

Also glad to hear Lockton has also been responsive and that you will use them again. That makes my decision much easier, thank you!!

I'd rather not say just yet. Only because it sounded like they normally will not cover these types of incidents and I don't want anyone to think they will or are even likely to. PM me if you really want to know and I'll tell you. They have not yet told me they won't cover me like that in the future, but I do anticipate a statement like that or complete termination of coverage or rate raise.

 

[ls110]

Understood. I was just curious more than anything as I have already concluded I am not going to change my current carrier. I appreciate what you have shared already!!

 

[Gbiskup]

We all have done it so we're glad you're ok, the main thing is, what did you learn?

I was one of the few people standing on top of the start/finish bridge the lap before it happened. For what is worth here is what I saw.

1. You turned in on the last corner and took a too early apex.
2. This caused you to be way wide on the exit, you then pinched the car to try to get it back on the track.
3. Then you stayed in the gas and tried to save it.
4. The car wiped around and you were on a ride for your life.

So a few 20/20 notes:

1. If you turn in way late nothing happens.
2. Here is the key thing, never never never pinch the car to try to get it back on track, rather recognize that you are early and slowly let off the gas AND drive the car straight off the track then slowly "ride it out" and move back on the track. This is really hard to do at speed but supper important, you actually find youself turning the steering wheel left (in this case to straighten the wheel) when your head is telling you to turn right. At Spring Mountain that turn actually has a 10 foot patch of asphalt on the other side of the curb. So you have plenty of room.
3. This may cause some debate, but I always lift slowly to straighten out the car unless the car is a front wheel drive car then you can stay in the gas, in a Porsche lifting is bad unless you do it very slowly or "trailing throttle oversteer" will happen and the rear end will whip around.

Anyway I'm sure you when over it 100 times in your head, just trying to help.

George

 

[cloud9]

Good advice. I actually showed Ron that move at Chuckwalla in Turn 14 when I decided to go for a little drive in the desert

 

[Fat Boss]

Thanks George, that's as good a description of any as to what happened. It all happened so quickly and with how fast it was snapping back and forth all I really remember was a LOT of correcting back and forth and at one point having the wheel spit my hand off it when I was having the proverbial fist fight with it.

It was only as the ass end came all the way around that I finally admitted to myself that I wasn't going to reel this one back in.

I pulled all my goodies off this weekend. It really adds up when you try to pull everything off in two days. The CoolTech bar was out in 2 hours by myself. I bought a Craftsman cordless impact for the job, and it is a great tool!