Track Fire @ track day in New Zealand.

Hopefully this link works...

https://www.msn.com/en-us/travel/article/scary-car-fire-on-racetrack/vi-AA11PItg?ocid=msedgntp

You may need to copy/paste because of my ineptness...

https://www.msn.com/en-us/travel/article/scary-car-fire-on-racetrack/vi-AA11PItg?ocid=msedgntp

:)

And yikes. That was some sort of uncontrolled "parade lap" with kids on board and no sign of any safety gear at all. Blown up engine based on the smoke, followed by a fuel fire? I'm guessing the fuel pump kept going.

First thoughts:

Parking that close to a burning car is immediately questionable, the driver in the camera car must've felt the heat...

Why are there kids in the car?

Did they notice a kid was on fire?

Is nobody wearing helmets?

They're all going really slowly -- I agree with Keith, those were parade laps.  Parade laps are driven at no more than highway speeds, therefore highway safety gear is adequate.

Looked like a major fuel leak to me.  I think the kid in the pink jacket stepped on some burning gasoline and it stuck to her shoe -- luckily it went out after a few steps.

Parade laps where everyone is supposed to keep it below 50 but it's an open secret that everyone floors it on the straight.

Maybe it was put together like this one I saw at a local meet. The fuel filter is resting on the engine and the battery is unsecured. I couldn't find the owner.

That guy is now out of a car AND in trouble with his wife.  Rough day.

Oof. Good reminder of how much fire you can get and how quickly. Scary.

My guess would also be ventilated block that sheared a fuel line and the pump kept going.

I actually think the guy did a good job of getting the kids out quickly as it appears the car did a couple of  360s before it came to a stop.

Regardless it does show how quickly things can go wrong.

He definitely gets points for rapid kid extraction out of that car. Quick enough that I wonder if they were actually strapped in. Adrenaline is a hell of a drug.

I've had a fuel line blow apart on track. Stuff can happen fast.

This kind of reminds me of that youtube rod builder whose throttle stuck open in traffic. If your car cannot handle a stinking parade lap, you really need to question your build/prep abilities.

codrus (Forum Supporter) said:

They're all going really slowly -- I agree with Keith, those were parade laps.  Parade laps are driven at no more than highway speeds, therefore highway safety gear is adequate.

Looked like a major fuel leak to me.  I think the kid in the pink jacket stepped on some burning gasoline and it stuck to her shoe -- luckily it went out after a few steps.

Highway speeds on a parade lap? The last time I was at Hallett, they've always done parade laps at lunch. But the pace car is on track keeping everyone at 20-25 or below. 

And if you build a gap in front of you so you can floor it, you are summarily asked to leave the premises. 

Parade laps are a hassle for event organizers. They're justafiably popular, but there are always those "hey, it's only highway speeds" people who hang back for a run at the corners. At the Miata events at Laguna Seca, we had people spinning in the Corkscrew.  That's why you have to put out a pace car - or several pace cars. It's not popular but it's never good when someone totals a car.

This appeared to be uncontrolled and there was passing, which makes it an usual thing for parade laps.

j_tso said:

Parade laps where everyone is supposed to keep it below 50 but it's an open secret that everyone floors it on the straight.

Maybe it was put together like this one I saw at a local meet. The fuel filter is resting on the engine and the battery is unsecured. I couldn't find the owner.

People tend to get pretty agressive if you point something out like that no matter how polite you are.

I've seen videos of track events for street cars in Australia, and there's a lot of dropping back then getting on the gas hard, in some cars with serious horsepower.  It seems to be standard procedure there, apparently New Zealand is similar.

In reply to stuart in mn :

That's also the stuff that gets put on YouTube in any country :)