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The Roll at Bridgehampton

Hi Everyone-

The following is a message from Steve Musolino, the president of the
NY chapter.  After reading all of the posts regarding the roll at
last weekend's Bridgehampton event he felt he had to clear up some
of the misinformation floating around.  I am posting this message for
him since he does not have access to the digest.  You can reach Steve
at musolino@domain.elided:


 I understand that the NY Chapter has taken some flack about the 
 rollover incident at Bridgehampton. Let me state clearly the Event 
 Organizers are well aware of the causes and circumstances of the 
 incident and a full investigation of the matter was completed before 
 we left the track. In contrast to many Chapters Clubwide the NY Chapter 
 provides very detailed incident reports as required by the National 
 Standards. I have over 18 years as a nuclear industry professional
 enguaged in nuclear and non-nuclear safety analysis and research.
 In addtion, Dave Bryan, Chief Instructor for National Capital Chapter
 who has been a regular for many years at the Bridge was kind enough to 
 share his extensive experience with the school by conducting the portion 
 of the track walk to include that corner. Dave also provide a very detailed 
 technical analysis of the sequence of events in writing to me that 
 are part of the report.

 Now that some have had their fun arm chair quarter backing this the 
 day after, I should inform you that I analyzed the 3 years of crash 
 data that CCA National has collected since they required reporting.
 So not only do I have a precise understanding of the crash rates in 
 NY and why they occur, I am fully cognizant of the reasons why cars 
 crash in the first place and have written two papers for the Club 
 leadership on the subject.
 
 First, cars tend to roll at Bridghampton because the track is built on 
 soft sand. I have seen rollovers occur at 20 mpg, yes 20 mph. Like 
 wise a minor incident at Lime Rock or the Glen appears more 
 spectacular at the Bridge. So be very careful about appearances. Second, 
 and most important, the modern cars permit a rank novice to achieve 
 cornening speeds that advanced drivers could not in modified cars 10 
 years ago. This with essentially no skills whatsoever. They show up 
 in M3s, turbo Porshes, etc with track rubber and chips, and they have 
 NEVER been on a track or a skid pad yet. I and others who have been in 
 this 5+ years learned on "low tech" unmodified cars with street 
 rubber. We leaned to drive them fast then move on to bigger things. 
 My passenger timed me at a 2:07 last weekend and I did it with a 150 
 hp car with a slightly better than average suspension and track 
 tires. We see novices do comparable time to that in M cars. The cars 
 do the driving now and there is no incentive to actually develop 
 skill. 
 
 Another factor is these unskilled drivers get the car loose for the 
 first time at very high speed and usually get into big trouble. Those 
 of us who started out in "low tech" cars had our first few loss of 
 control incidents at relatively slow speed and or in Dave Bryan's 
 case with some time on the skid pad first.
 
 I have slashed the incidents per track day rate way down compared to 
 that past, but the number will NEVER be zero. So those of you who 
 drive on the track, or plan to, better factor that into your thinking. 

 I advise everyone at every the Saturday Driver meeting to consider 
 5-point restraints and rollover protection. Very few take me 
 seriously.
 
 Last, I will say that even though we must live with risk that can 
 never be reduced to zero, NY has I say THE BEST INSTRUCTOR CORPS in 
 the northeast and maybe the Club. Every single person is a multitrack 
 driver. There are no more Bridgehampton "specialists" (people who 
 never drove anywhere else). Our instructors hold Instructor status 
 at 2,3 or more other BMW Club Chapters. NOBODY gets made an 
 instructor in NY any more without a high level of proficientcy and they 
 get a perfomance based test to qualify. We are also not an entry 
 level Chapter to become an Instructor.
 
 So if anybody out there thinks they can do better, please take over 
 running the school for me and second guessing why cars crash in my 
 schools.
 
 
 Steve Musolino
 Driver School Coordinator
 Chapter President 
 musolino@domain.elided 

- -- 
Jeff Tarr
jeff@domain.elided

http://www.tarr.com/jeff