Re: Track Safety

[Donn York <dyork@xxxxxxxxxx>]

Sorry for the long excerp, but the advice is so good, I think it's worth
repeating.

Duane wrote:

<snip>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.

My track experience has been with PCA - Chicago, but I also have seen bent
metal at every Road America or Blackhawk event I've been to.  The Skip
Barber guys have an expression they use at EVERY class they teach for
primarily us 911 drivers.  IN A SPIN, BOTH FEET IN.  Of course 911's don't
spin unless you let up on them just a tad in the carousel (DON'T ask me how
I know), but Skip B makes the same point that Duane does.  If you slam on
the brake in a spin, at least you will spin straight and someone behind you
has some idea where you will go next.  But on to my main story for the day...

A couple of years ago I was doing my normal Memorial Day Road America
weekend.  Since it's my big driver's ed weekend of the year, I'm always
real excited to get up there and enjoy it.  Well I had a tire blow out 20
miles from RA on the Friday night trip up.  I was REAL BUMMED.  I couldn't
wait to get up there, have a few beers with acquaintences, and get fired up
for the weekend.  Anyway, I ended up having to trudge down to Milwaukee on
Saturday to get a replacement tire and was really feeling sorry for myself
for blowing more than half the day on a spare tire.  Well, I got back to RA
and saw a brand new Twin-Turbo 911 that was totalled on one side and almost
perfect on the other.  I think the car had been out about two weeks.  It
turned out that the driver, who may have ended up with a punctured lung,
BTW, dropped two wheels off the track going into turn 5 while trying to let
a faster car (!) by.  Instead of staying off, he tried to get back on the
track and when his 4WD tires caught the pavement, it rocketed him across
the track into a wall.  Just like ole Duane suggested.  Anyway, his
$115,000 ride was done.  The passenger door was bent in almost to the
middle of the cabin and it was generally accepted that if an instructor had
been in the car, (s)he would have been killed.  I guess Duane is onto
something here.  I suggest everyone pay attention to him.  Sure he has some
weird fascination with Hooters (and probably hooters too), but he made some
great points in his letter.
Anyway, the sight of the Twin Turbo was quite sobering (PCA left it in full
view for the day, a great idea) and made me realize that getting a flat
tire at 40mph on a country road was NOT the end of the world and I was
actually quite lucky it didn't happen a day later.

As someone once told me, "make sure you keep it shiny side up".

Donn

Donn York
Treasurer, The Interlake Corporation
(630) 719-7247

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