Well, it started out as a perfect October weekend. It was going to be my last event of the year and my brother and I both had permission slips from the wives to camp at Summit Point all weekend. Weather was sunny and in the 70's, a pair of FR500S's were out, and it had the makings of a great track weekend.

And then I spun coming out of the carousel, hit the wall, and rolled twice. I still can't believe that my instructor and I walked out of it with only the expected post-crash stiffness. Thank you Ford for giving us such a stout frame and crash structure.

Turn 9 is an off-camber turn that has honestly never been an issue for me at Summit (plenty of others have!). All I can figure is that everything just came together that lap and I exited turn 8 with more speed than I'd ever been able to muster. What started as a 4-wheel slide progressed to the rear end coming around.

The scary thing is that at no time did I have that "oh $hit" moment--it seemed like a controllable drift, then a controllable counter-steer until the rear end caught traction and I whipped around in the other direction. At that point it was both feet in, grip the wheel for dear life and brace for impact!

So, a month later and I've got another black 2006 GT in the driveway ready for some mods. Be careful out there.

Here's the video: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kJ5dy8G8gzo

 

OMG!!! That was scary even to watch!

Looks like a ton of fun without the crashes though.

 

Dude..................I feel bad for you, but I'm glad no one was hurt!!!

 

whoa... scary.... glad you are okay

 

Dude, not good. Glad all parties involved are okay as well.

 

Glad you're okay, I definitely wasn't expecting to see that.

I hate to ask, but do you have any external shots of the aftermath to share?

 

Ditto, that sucks you got in an accident but you are so fortunate not to have gotten injured.

 

Man! I am SOOO sorry to hear about that! Best wishes on the next build, and I am unbelievably relieved to hear that you and your instructor are okay! Any safety mods done that either helped or didn't?

 

Wow! Glad you guys are ok!

 

Here is a shot of the aftermath (and a shot of #2). Not an undented panel, but the structure held up surprisingly well. The frame wasn't bent, only the front left tie rod was bent, and the panhard par was bent almost in half. The car started right up and I could have driven it home other than for the bent parts. Not bad for a ~70 mph impact into the tire wall and two rolls.

Dave, other than my helmet it was only factory belts and seats. I always lock the mechanism and cinch myself into the seat tight (enough to give slight bruises after some track days...), which probably helped. I had a custom main hoop for a rollbar made for me in August and it was going to be my winter project. During the initial roll, my only thought was "$hit, I can't believe I didn't rush to get the rollbar installed..." Luckily the roof held.

The main thing was I was just **** lucky. I hit the wall backwards at enough of an angle to scrub the full force from the impact. The tire wall took a lot, then plowing through them and into the dirt berm (which flipped me) also helped. Believe it or not, the wreck with rolls can actually be the safest ones since they dissipate so much energy over a longer time period. I didn't have side airbags, but the fronts didn't go off.

Just as I was reaching the point of really watching the video and getting a chuckle out of it, I realized how I dodged the bullet. Unfortunately last weekend NASA Mid-A lost an instructor at Summit when his brakes failed on the front straight and he hit the concrete wall at ~100+ mph. He was my brother's instructor last event and a **** good guy (and spectacular driver). Unfortunately, everything that could go wrong for him, did. **** sobering.

 

Absolutely amazing. **** sorry to hear about the damage but I was amazed at that video. Were you able to keep the car and salvage anything to put on the new one?

 

Insurance didn't cover that did it? If not, Pull out the dents take out the bends and take it racing again. You might as well race it if not fix it. What happened to the dented car, Did you get rid of it?

 

If the frame wasn't tweaked, you probably could repair the original... That said, you may have a tough time passing the 50/50 rule without serious $$$ into the body... Keep it and slowly build it into an AI car?

Seriously, I'm glad that everybody was okay, and I have to admit, from looking at the vid, I could see neither what went wrong, or how you could have saved it. Call it "just one of those things," I guess. Hell, I've been in the same drift/spin situation, and wound up pointing backwards, right at the track-out point. Not a comfortable position to be in, watching an RX-8 coming into the apex hot.

I heard about Cale's crash, and I guess if nothing else, it'll show that we need to keep an eye on the rear brakes just as much as on the fronts.

Good luck with the new car, and I am sooo glad you're okay. I saw some sickening Mustang carnage at Road America in August. DE1 student, early turn-in to turn 14, and he tried to horse/drift the car around after the apex; when the rear grabbed, he shot across the track and face-planted the car into the concrete on the inside of the turn at around 70 or so, all but ripped the nose off the car, airbags, etc. He and the instructor just walked away from the crash and were in the download session almost on time... The S197 really is an amazingly safe chassis. That said, I think a seat, harness, 4-pt bar, and a HANS device are in my future for next year.

 

I am glad everyone is ok! Except the scary part of "zOMG CRASH, NO HURTS ANYONEZ!" it's kinda neat, esp. since nobody's hurt. Sorry that the Mustang was put to pasture to tape it, but it looks like you did all right in the end with the new pony.

Now, personal issue... Can I have the airbag covers? They seem really strong, what with holding back an exploding bag...

Amazing they didn't deploy... how's that work? You'd think that kinda wreck it'd be an automatic thing...

 

Glad you're okay. Bummer bout the car.

You should post this over in the road racing section of the Black Mustang Club forum too. http://www.bmcforums.com/index.php

 

I toyed with keeping it to build into a dedicated track car, but (1) I have no space for another car, tow vehicle, and trailer; and (2) insurance wanted ~$6k for it. If the offered it up for $2k I would have kept it.

They did and totalled it. Then dropped me. On my wife's policy now and I'll be getting track specific insurance next year.

That was my feeling and my instructor's feeling, even a month after it happened and many a frame by frame review. It was driving us nuts that we couldn't put a finger on a specific, glaring problem.

Now, there's a good analysis going on in the NASA Mid-A forum on it, and having guys who have been racing that track for over a decade comment has been very helpful. Where I screwed up was the slightly late turn-in coupled with going faster into the turn than I had before, trying to correct the late turn-in, then riding out the 4-wheel slide I thought I would ride out, but it instead turned into a clockwise rotation. I countered the initial rotation a split second too late and with too little input (there are times, I'm learning, you don't want smooth motions...). At that point it was a matter of which side of the track I was going to spin off.


I agree 1000% percent. I actually considered a C5 or C6 as a replacement, as there are some spectacular deals on low mileage ones right now. I realized that (1) I'm just not a Corvette guy; (2) I REALLY trust the S197 safety; and (3) it's quite possibly going to happen again and when it does, I just don't need to be going 30 mph faster into the wall.

It'll be a HANS, or the ISAAC I get. I've had a few discussions with the engineer at ISAAC and I'm leaning towards that one. Not only is it a better design than the HANS, it's a much better option for a car without nets or head restraints (i.e. a streetable track car), as it gives a tremendous amount of side impact protection.

All part of the luck of the impact. Hit the wall going backwards at enough of an angle to really keep the impact to a minimum. No need for the bags to deploy going backwards, particularly with a "soft" impact. If I had side bags, they probably would have deployed. I doubt they would have done anything, though.

 

First off, way to man up on that whole deal. Providing some analysis here may just help somebody else (like me) from winding up in that particular situation. In particular, it really points out that you need to be on top of your game when you're pushing the limits out there... I (very) recently got divorced, and ran three track sessions during the ordeal, and I was making STUPID mistakes left and right, my head was just not in the game... Forgetting to drop the passenger-side window, losing track of where I was on-course... In the end, I just pulled wayyyy back and kinda cruised through the sessions. Fun, but not what I would call educational. With all that said, this kind of info is why I love the NASA download sessions.




Exactly... you're either a Mustang guy, or you're getting out of our way...

I'll have to research ISAAC some more. I still don't like the "multiple points of release" thing there... At least with the HANS, once you pop the harness latch, you are completely free of the vehicle. With the ISAAC rig, it's harness latch, right-side damper, then left-side damper. I'll keep looking at it, though, to see if there's something that I missed.

 

I figured it was the best way to really learn from it. It was frustrating not knowing exactly what caused it, but the running analysis is very helpful. Some of these guys have been running that track for 20+ years and their insight into it is priceless. I've also gotten some great PM's from people who have all been bitten by that turn!

Sorry to hear about the divorce--it's amazing how much work stress, personal stress, etc... can bleed into an activity that is designed to take our minds off that stuff. Hopefully next season your mind will be clear (and you'll probably start crushing the track! ).

The "multiple points of release" issue bugged me initially as well, until I talked to people who have used both. The Hans can be a little awkward when you are wearing it, and can cause egress issues more frequently than the quick reach up to the helmet to pull to quick release pins on the ISAAC--once you do that, it's completely off. It's the side-impact protection that is really pushing me towards the ISAAC, though.

Edit--here are some interesting discussions on the ISAAC:

http://www.improvedtouring.com/forum...ighlight=isaac

http://www.improvedtouring.com/forum...ad.php?t=23130

 

Ok, rewatching the video... you're pretty lucky you didn't break your thumbs, you know... You're one tough person to hold on to the wheel the whole way through...

 

Thanks for the post. Very scary. Glad you are OK.

Can I ask what insurance dropped you, and which you picked up?

Can I also ask which track insurance you are going with? I got quoted recently through WSIB.

So in short the experts are saying after your initial correction to the left, you *might* have had a chance if you very quickly and extremely pitched back to the right? I just can't see how it whipped back so fast. Maybe a touch more throttle needed while in the slide?