Track Safety

["Duane Collie" <drcollie@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>]

Hey gang,

I'm getting tired of seeing guys crack up their cars at EVERY driving school
I go to.  WE can stop this with a little common sense.  Let's go through
some basics....you can disagree and argue as many points as you want - but
most of my opinions are rooted in fact .... not conjecture.   Lets make two
major assumptions and assume you don't want to:   A) Die.  B) Crash your
car.  Then lets proceed from there.

1) To prevent dying: A).  Leave your convertible at home or buy a cage for
it.  Those silly little pop-up gizmos won't do diddly squat if you roll the
car at speed. B).  Get a current SA-Rated Motorsports helmet and a neck
collar regardless of what you are driving. SA rated helmets are designed for
multiple impacts and have a fire retardant liner in them....motorcyle
(M-rated) helmets don't and are designed for one Big Impact.  Neck collars
prevent neck injuries from the helmet whipping when you crash.  I had one on
three days ago when we went sideways in to the trees....my helmet was
scarred - my ribs are tender - but my neck is fine even though my helmet
whipped into the C-pillar from the impact.

2) BUY SOME DECENT BRAKE PADS.  At the very least, buy a set of front pads
that are designed for high heat. Hawks, PF's, Cool Willies,
Pagids.....anything that is designed as a track pad.  If you can't afford a
set of front track pads @ $ 150.00 then why are you taking your several
thousand dollar car to the track?  Let me state one more time that Metal
Masters are not a track pad...they are a street pad.  BRING SPARES, and the
tools to install them. Learn to install them...its easy.  Spares can be a
street pad to get you home.  Also change your brake fluid with a high temp
brake fluid on a regular basis.

You can do without stickey tires......stout
suspensions.....chips.......harnesses....etc.....but if you lose your brakes
at the track, you've got a world of hurt coming on.  Brakes should be your
FIRST upgrade for the track after you've bought your helmet.

3) Learn how to go off the track.  By far - the vast majority of
catastrophic crashes occur when the driver does NOT know what to do when
he/she is off the track.  You MUST go counter to your instincts and NOT try
to drive back onto the track.  Read that line again......do NOT drive back
on the track.  This is not like one of those times when you're going down
the highway and accidently drop two wheels off the shoulder into the gravel
at 50 mph - then steer back onto the highway.  When you try to do this (and
your instincts tell you to do exactly that) at speed....here's what happens;

You're in the dirt and or gravel at speed and your car is going to be
unsettled.  When you steer the car back to the pavement it WILL hook up in a
big way once the tires grab the asphalt.  When the tires bite, the car is
going to launch in the direction the tires are pointed....and rarely will
you come back onto the track in a straight line. Where do you wind up?
Usually that will be the other side of the track. So now you've traded an
out-of-control situation on the run-out side of the corner to an
out-of-control situation on the inside of the turn....which is usually not
as accomodating in design for runaway cars. End result is you are launched
into the hill, tree, barrier of your choice and invariably will crash.

What you SHOULD have done is realize the car cannot be saved and then simply
"put both feet in". That means slam the brakes and slam the clutch in
together.  This is your best chance to contain the off-road excursion and
minimize the chance of catastophe.  When you try to save the car - and 9
times out of 10 you can't - you compound your problems and usually come out
the worst for it.  Yah.....I know....You're the guy that was highly skilled
at snowy donuts in Dad's Caprice in the high school parking lot and YOU can
save the car.  Right.

Why this is not drilled upon in the Driver's Meetings is beyond me.  The
typical pre-session Driver meeting is far more concerned with pass waves
(don't even get me started on those) than how to handle an off-track event.
If you don't know what to do when you go off the track (and you WILL go off
the track if you do these days enough) then ask someone how to do it.
Better learn it the right way and how to recognize when you're cooked.

4.) You best thing real hard about your safety equipment on board.  Do you
have a fire extinguisher or are you going to rely on the 1 to 2 minutes it
takes the track fire truck to get to you to save you if you crash?  Do you
have a rollbar or cage in the car - with harnesses?  If not - get some.
Stock belts don't cut it.  And harnesses don't work good without a bar /
cage.

Finally - an open question....we have a whole bunch of Bimwads here on the
Digest in the computer and software industry.  Why can't someone develop a
SIMULATOR program that can be used on a PC to simulate various senarios  and
consequences to an off-track experience?  How hard can this be?  Pilots use
them to practice emergency situations in aircraft.  Why not a modifed NASCAR
Racing II type game that can show what happens when you make the wrong move
in attempting to recover?  This would be so much easier than tearing up
several thousand dollars worth of cars learning the hard way.

Duane Collie
Would like to go to ONE school without a wreck
National Capital Chapter

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