The most important thing is to 1: know your limits as a driver and 2: know the limits of your car. Well, both go hand in hand, but know before you go.
The most important thing is to 1: know your limits as a driver and 2: know the limits of your car. Well, both go hand in hand, but know before you go.
ransom wrote: Berkeley you, Paul McCartney. And you, too, Axl, for not fixing it when you had the chance. He was busy eating.
914Driver wrote: At seconds 39 & 40, what should the driver have done? Taking your foot out of it may make it worse. Dan
Re-live second 38 where he pushed the loud pedal harder?
In reply to Giant Purple Snorklewacker:
I thought that was dude from Blues Traveler for a sec...
Re-live second 38 where he pushed the loud pedal harder?
Yeah, or buy a manual that wouldnt kickdown into wheelspin gear when you accidentally tap that pedal.
Or put the shifter in the position that locks out first like i did in my first few autox runs in a vette.
tHIS would never happen to me. I'd have already spun 3 times. True story.
There is also the matter of deciding that a course is sufficiently bad that you chose not to run it. Just because someone says you can race here doesn't mean you actually have to do it.
Personally, I'd be less than inclined to autocross a track that ran close up against a curb like that. Just for the reasons the video demonstrates.
miataman86 wrote: The most important thing is to 1: know your limits as a driver and 2: know the limits of your car. Well, both go hand in hand, but know before you go.
I see what you're saying but will play a bit of Deville's Advocate here and hypothisize that if it weren't for autocross, I'd probably have parked a lot more cars in the ditch as a kid. That is to say: I learned the limits (mine and the car's) at the autocross course...and yes, I kept my foot buried (on course) a time or two as a result of a misguided ego. (fortuntately, it was never close to a crash.)
[Realistically, though...I'm sure I kept my foot in it on the street a time or two as well ;).]
Clem
spitfirebill wrote: Clemson University suspended their on campus autocrosses several years ago when a new parking services director basically became a one-man hit squad. Apparently he left and the autocrosses were finally allowed back on campus. New director goes to a recent autocross, I guess never having seen one, and has basically banned them again by putting severe constraints on the club. I hope it gets worked out because the club was started back in the late 60s-early 70s. I am unaware of anybody ever being injured at one of tehse events in all the years they ran. The school is big into FSAE and they seem to get a pass. And Clemson has (or had) a motorsports and NASCAR program. Go figure.
before the first banning I almost ruined their perfect record ... FYI ... the course wound it's way in and around many curbs and trees .... always a fun place to run.... that said , early in my "career" I was there for a cold, VERY wet, March a-x ... ankle deep water in a few spots .... a deep water 180° around a tree... I made that ok but as I hit the gas on exit it started understeering... (fwd) so dummy completely lifted ... here comes the rear end ...now I sliding broadside towards another tree/curb... thank goodness I was slow enough at that point that I stopped before the 'tegy got wiped out 
ClemSparks wrote:miataman86 wrote: The most important thing is to 1: know your limits as a driver and 2: know the limits of your car. Well, both go hand in hand, but know before you go.I see what you're saying but will play a bit of Deville's Advocate here and hypothisize that if it weren't for autocross, I'd probably have parked a lot more cars in the ditch as a kid. That is to say: I learned the limits (mine and the car's) at the autocross course...and yes, I kept my foot buried (on course) a time or two as a result of a misguided ego. (fortuntately, it was never close to a crash.) [Realistically, though...I'm sure I kept my foot in it on the street a time or two as well ;).] Clem
Yeah, autocross can help with improving skills and it can teach skills than can be used in the streets.....like a Chrysler 300C that pulls out in front of me in Downtown Disney....thankfully the right lane was open
Are Vettes the most common car to crash at an auto-x event or what?!?
In reply to westsidetalon:
Ooh, my vote is for WRX's. It's the typical driver, not the car I think.
OTOH there's quite a storm brewing in the background. 
westsidetalon wrote: Are Vettes the most common car to crash at an auto-x event or what?!?
Isn't miata always the answer.
I heard about a vette wrecking at one lot our club uses, a civic on another, and watched a kid drive a miata right over a curb on a huge open course. His mom's car, and just had new tires installed the day before. Tore up the passenger side front suspension bad, blew out the tire.
I've never pushed hard on an autocross course. I've never spun out.
years ago at an autocross up near philly a guy came too hot into the finish area and had a brake failure or fade or somethign....continued through the finish area, into the grid area (while not hitting anything), and drilled directly into a porta-potty.
it was an epic fail.
irish44j wrote: years ago at an autocross up near philly a guy came too hot into the finish area and had a brake failure or fade or somethign....continued through the finish area, into the grid area (while not hitting anything), and drilled directly into a porta-potty. it was an epic fail.
See, I always hurry using the porta potty at autox's for this very reason.
irish44j wrote: years ago at an autocross up near philly a guy came too hot into the finish area and had a brake failure or fade or somethign....continued through the finish area, into the grid area (while not hitting anything), and drilled directly into a porta-potty. it was an epic fail.
Ah... so that's why the porta-johns are always so damn far away...
That picture of Axl is scary...
I think the worst accident I heard of was the guy who borrowed someone's Porsche and forgot how to stop at the end of the course and took out one other competitors car and a whole row of spectators cars. I think the guy normally drove a corvette too.
With all the reposting of this one, I'd have guessed that it was Ken Block driving that vette.
Maybe we should post the one where the wheels fall of the the RX-7.
Ian F wrote: That picture of Axl is scary...
HOLY E36 M3! That is Axl Rose? I thought it was some third tier Zydeco singer.
While I don't want to see anybody crash, I'd be lying if I said that guy in the Vette bothered me much. He's clearly got enough money that blowing up the car isn't a big deal. He's clearly dumb enough to think learning in a 190mph car is a good idea and he didn't hurt anybody or himself. I'd much rather unskilled guy wrecked his Kragened up Vette than see Georgia Tech crunch its E30. The stakes are just so much lower for the guy in the Vette.
If somebody has to crash, he's the kind of guy you want to crash doing it in the way you'd want him to crash.
nderwater wrote: I witnessed a C6 Z06 have almost the exact same accident at our Evo School this spring. The driver was just speechless, and everyone at the event was bummed.
That was Christian, in his first full autocross season. He was pretty bummed about it at work the following Monday, but when I introduced him to Car-Part.com and told him how he could have it back up and running for cheap, he spent a few hundred bucks, fixed it, and raced the rest of the season :) He ended up learning a ton about handling a car with that much power this past season!
BTW, who are you? I feel like we may have met before at an ARSCCA event.
irish44j wrote: years ago at an autocross up near philly a guy came too hot into the finish area and had a brake failure or fade or somethign....continued through the finish area, into the grid area (while not hitting anything), and drilled directly into a porta-potty. it was an epic fail.
Yea, I was there. It wasn't brake fade, it was an "more dollars than sense" Evo owner running R-comps in 25* weather in February, so there was half snow/half slush on course, got way to over-eager with the throttle, and then kept his right foot in it to try to save it. Up over the curb (cracking all four 19x9" SSR wheels, $400ish a pop, and his entire front fascia) and hit the john. There was a dude inside, too. He was bruised up, and went to the hospital, but was released after an hour. It was seriously weird to watch a person just flipping through the air like that.
And as a course worker watching this holding a red flag, you can be damn sure I flagged the next car I saw on course, and I was standing up, unlike the yokels in that video!
A long time ago when I was just starting road course racing an "old timer" told me that if you race you will eventually crash. Some people park it and never race again others learn from it and keep going.
This is racing. Crashes happen. What do you all expect? I really don't understand what all the debate is here.
I have crashed several times... . . I look at every one of them as my fault. I decided to get in the car and get on track. (even if it was due to an oil down from a car in front of me) I know the risks and make my choices and take my licks. Some of my crashes were quite spectacular. Others not so much. The simple rule is that if you can not afford to wrap it up in to a ball you probably should not be on track. I hope the driver gets it fixed and gets back out there as soon as possible!
sobe_death wrote: BTW, who are you? I feel like we may have met before at an ARSCCA event.
My name's Ian. I've got a turbocharged NB Miata and an E36 M3, but I don't autocross with the Atlanta Region very often - I typically attend events with the local BMW club.
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