HEROS of PizzaFest, Part III

[Duane <drcollie@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>]

Summit Point Raceway: HEROS: Kathy Lyle and Brett Andersen

Summit had a light misty rain on Monday which dampened the track and
spooked a few of the novices.  It was a fun day, but also a car-crunch day.
Three of our group had crashes, two due to driver error and one a
mechanical failure. I was on the scene at two of three incidents and can
recount them as follows:

We had just started our Instructor Session at 9:40 a.m. and I had just
completed my first warm-up lap and was coming down the straight at about
115 mph +/-.  Kathy Lyle (8 years racing SCCA and owner of a pair of M3s)
had just pulled out of pit - saw me coming - gave me a pass wave and I went
by her with about a 30 mph + closure speed.  

I'm going into turn # 1 - pretty hot - doing the swing left thang to get
the wide entry into the corner when I see Kathy shooting by me on the
INSIDE in the dirt .... REALLY - REALLY Fast.  Bet she was at 70 mph or
so...maybe more.  My first micro-nanosecond thought was "GAWD! WHAT A
DRIVER!! TAKING ME ON THE INSIDE AT 70 + MPH!!"  Then, in the next
nano-second, I realized she was not turning and was in trouble.  Kathy went
straight into the gravel pit (which took off a lot of her speed from what I
observed) and came out of it into the tree line at Jefferson. She impacted
into the trees at a fairly low speed of 15 to 20 mph.  Airbags did not
blow, but her right front suspension was collapsed...front bumper area was
ruined.

I pulled my car into the grass and drove up as quickly as I could before
they had exited the car.  Kathy said "I had no brakes"....'No brakes".
Nobody hurt, but the car was screwed.  

Apparently what happened was that her husband had changed the pads in the
paddock to Hawk Blues and both he and Kathy forgot (or thought the other
had) pumped the pedal up. Easy mistake to make (I've done it three or four
times in the garage) but costly for Kathy in this instance. 

Kathy:  YOU ARE MY HERO for not taking me out in Turn # 1.  I know you had
to work hard to not hit my car when you had no brakes. There was no where
for you to go.  You are one cool driver under pressure. KUDOS for having
the skill to go inside in the mud at speed and keeping the car straight.  

Brett: You are Kathy's and EVERYONE's Hero for working all afternoon on her
car to get it roadworthy so she and her husband would not have to tow it
back to Ohio. What a great mechanic!

* Crash # 2:  An E36 318i driven by Joe Peng apparently early apexed # 10 -
tried to come back on track - spun into the tire wall and messed up the
rear end.  

* Crash # 3: I was instructing Jim Hudson from New Mexico in his E30 325.
He was cutting a good, quick path around the course, but was frustrated by
an E36 325i that would give him a pass wave and then speed up on the
straight and hold him to the outside.  He simply didn't have enough power
to get around.  On the third time that happened (coming into # 3) he held
the inside line and was determined to get by.  I saw it coming and started
yelling "YOU WON'T MAKE THE CORNER - BRAKE! BRAKE! BRAKE!". 

We went into Turn # 3 with a shitty inside line and way too much speed.  We
spit off into the gravel trap (naturally) and I'm yelling "BRAKE! - BRAKE!
- - BRAKE!" in the gravel trap knowing that if he does we'll spin and be in
pretty good shape.  

Jim opts to try to gather it up and get back on the track. BIG MISTAKE.
!!Oh Shit!! - here we go.  Car hooks up on the pavement...shoots across
instantly to the other side - and now we're sliding in the mud sideways at
about 60 mph into the tree line.  Car is in a perfect slide - not changing
attitude and my door is gonna take the tree hit. CRAP. I actually was
wishing there was an "EJECT" button a la '007' so I could get the hell
outta the car. Nothing to do but lean into the door to minimize the impact
whiplash and we became one with the tree line on my side of the car at
about 40 mph.  Car stopped REAL fast - my helmet broke out the window.
Thank God I had a neck collar on. My ribs hurt like the devil. 

Car is pretty near totalled, I think. All the sheet metal was bent badly
except for the driver's door and the roof. Pretty ugly hit.  Car was
wrapped so tight in the trees they couldn't recover it with the track
wrecker.  Jim is O.K. and got a rental car to get back home with his wife.
Methinks his 325 will never leave West Virginia.

Outside of those incidents I think everyone had a pretty good time. It
dried off in the afternoon session and I saw a LOT of the guys refine their
skills and get fast.  I was surprised at how poor Mustang Cobra brakes
are....and how wonderful M3 brakes are with a set of Performance Friction
pads on.  Good brakes make all the difference in the world. I'd been
running Cool Willies all last season - and they stop the car wayyyyyy
better than stock pads- but the switch to the PF's amazed even jaded ole me.

We have GOT to address track safety more often here on the Digest. This
thread would be too long for this post, but I intend to come back to this
topic again later in the week.

At the end of the day, we 'survivors' made it to the Outback Steakhouse for
one final dinner as a group.  We went home tires, sore, and I think we got
enough 'car stuff' activities for one weekend. Was kinda like an O'Fest on
Steroids.........

Duane Collie
Almost recovered

------------------------------