Re: Track Safety Proposal

[Keith Wollenberg <MFreude@xxxxxxx>]

Scott Miller suggests:

<SNIP>  2.  We
>should take action to reduce the number of off track excursions.

<SNIP>

> At the drivers'
>schools, we're alwayt (Sic) TOLD what to do if we go off the track, but we
>never get a chance to PRACTICE going off.  Hearing it is good, but actual
>experience would be better.  Taking evasive action must be instinctual,
>not something you have to think back to and say to yourself, now what
>was I supposed to do again?  
<SNIP>

>So how do we get this practice?  If money were no object, this would be
>my proposal:  Your friendly local BMW CCA Chapter would buy a beater
>car that runs good, and install a roll bar and harnesses.  Drivers would
>take turns, with instructors in car, driving the car off the track into
the dirt
>and practicing doing all the right things.  This practice would have to
>include going partly off and also going completely off, taking different
>angles into the dirt.  Only this way could we all get the experience, and
>get to feel what it is really like in that situation.
>
>Of course, it all comes down to money.  Do the chapters have enough? 
>Should they raise prices so they could afford the cars?   Who would
>transport it, maintain it, etc.  I won't attempt to answer these questions
>here, we should all take it up with our chapter Boards.
>
<SNIP>

>OK, enough from me, any CCA Chapter Board officers out there care to
>comment?

Scott (and other club folks):

I am happy to give my PERSONAL opinion on this issue.  I do not feel
Scott's proposal is a practical one, for the following reasons:
1) Cost *is* an object, and there is no budget currently available for the
purchase (and frequent repair) of such vehicles,
2)  Liability is very much an issue here, and if we were deliberately
putting students in a position where they could (and probably would ) roll
a car, our exposure would rise significantly, (consider a student who goes
off in the club car and then sues -- our liability is quite different in a
club provided and maintained car than in the student's own) and
3)  Where would you expect to get instructors to sign up for this E-ticket
ride, knowing there was a good probability of hitting walls and/or rolling
the car, cage or not?

However,  the issue of being familiar with the effects of loss of adhesion
and control are an extremely important issue, IMHO.  Our cars have gotten
so good that the speeds many of us see on the track are higher than some of
the slower production race cars, which are equipped with roll cages and
five point belts for their occupant's protection.

It is getting harder and harder to teach car control to our students.  At
the speeds that an E36 M3 reaches before you lose control, there is little
room to teach what happens in a spin.  What is needed is a skid car, where
the instructor can selectively reduce the amount of traction to induce a
skid at a safe speed, and students can practice these skill so that do
become instinctive.

When I first taught at club schools, everyone was on 165/13 XAS tires in
their 2002s.  Spins and off-track excursions happened, but were seldom too
serious.  Those days have gone, and another answer is needed.  That is why
the BMW CCA has been talking to BMW NA about the possibility of getting
skid cars for club instruction.  

It is my hope that this can be accomplished in the next year or so, if the
National Board makes it a priority.  I think it should be made one, in
order to preserve our ability to continue having club schools.  The best
drivers I have known/ridden with have been those who were either rallyists
or ice racers.  Why?  Because they really learned the car control skills at
a deeply ingrained level.  This is what we are currently not able to teach
our students, and why we need skid cars.

Regards,


Keith Wollenberg
__________________________________________________________________
BMWCCA, V.P. Golden Gate  ( # 73293)  *As should be obvious,*
BMWACA Seattle  (Since 1972)                 *all opinions expressed*
                                                                    *are
solely my own.*
'88 ///M5 (MFREUDE)       '72 tii Touring (TOURING)    
'95 M3 (M-Tschuss) [But Kelly always drives it <g>]
____________________________________________________________________

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