Wreck at Lemons, GRM Miata involved....

Tom Suddard wrote:

KyAllroad wrote:

Tom Suddard wrote: Apparently, the Nash was stalled on track in the dip, just over a blind hill. Before the corner workers noticed and threw a flag, our driver came over the crest at full speed three wide with two other cars, and complete mayhem ensued. The 944/Miata freight train flipped the Nash, and they red flagged the race while everything was untangled. It was a completely unavoidable accident.

It sounds like a E36 M3 design in the course layout. I've not raced there but if there is a blind spot being entered at speed it seems like there should be a flag tower overlooking it. It may have been "unavoidable" as you say, but track officials need to take a look at the safety management of the facility.

There were a few flag stations that could see the stalled Nash, and would have been seen by our driver before cresting the hill. None threw a flag.

there's your problem. inexperienced safety workers or what? that is what needs fixed.

Glad to hear everyone is okay. That's one hell of a mess. Can never spend too much $ or time on ensuring your safety equipment is in check for these crapcan races.

Three wide in crap can racing almost always results in an incident even without a stalled car on track. Had an incident in our chump car where it was 2 wide and a 3rd car tried splitting into bishop bend at sebring and caused carnage. Just a risk that's involved in crapcan racing with the joe's that can come off the street and race and usually have the "red mist" or nemisis mindset.

Wow, I'm glad no one got hurt!

Tom Suddard wrote: And here's where the 944 hit:

Glad to hear that everyone was alright. I still often find it amazing that that kind of hit can happen and the parties involved can walk away unscathed.

DirtyBird222 wrote: Glad to hear everyone is okay. That's one hell of a mess. Can never spend too much $ or time on ensuring your safety equipment is in check for these crapcan races. Three wide in crap can racing almost always results in an incident even without a stalled car on track. Had an incident in our chump car where it was 2 wide and a 3rd car tried splitting into bishop bend at sebring and caused carnage. Just a risk that's involved in crapcan racing with the joe's that can come off the street and race and usually have the "red mist" or nemisis mindset.

more than the red mist, is the idea that all you have to do is press the redo button ... way to many think it's like a video game

Glad everyone is ok

Proof that if wrapping your car up in to a ball is something you can not live with you should not take the car on track. Sad to see that car wrecked.

I liked the paint job on that car and was hoping it would become one of those GRM cars that hung around for a while.

captdownshift wrote: In reply to codrus: Sears point was avoidable by safe reentry onto the track. Flaggers should've done a better job of alerting cars on track and informing the car attempting to reenter in that instance. Flagger evaluation and bi yearly retraining needs to be considered. Endurance races are difficult for Flaggers as acute attention and quick reactions fade after 4 hours and you don't have the adrenaline flowing as those running a double stint in car would have to carry you through.

I think we must be talking about a different Sears Point crash. The one I'm talking about, a Miata was running slowly (on-track, running, but slow) and got rear-ended by the TDI 911 just over the rise going into the carousel.

Video from the 911. The synchronized Miata video is in the top-right inset.

That sucks, but as others have already said, I'm glad everyone came out of it ok.

wbjones wrote:

DirtyBird222 wrote:

more than the red mist, is the idea that all you have to do is press the redo button ... way to many think it's like a video game

Had a friend who was an Iracing King, bragged about how much quicker he was a Lime Rock on his sim. I told him wait until it's your a$$ behind the wheel. After his first real car session, we was a ton slower than his sim time, a lot paler, and little more humble. Glad to hear everybody was O.K. in this incident. Them Pinatas can take a heck of a beating.

Sad to see a Brilliant Yellow NA get wrecked. They aren't getting any more common.

This is a big part of why I will likely never do wheel-to-wheel racing. Just too many additional opportunities to get wrecked. At least if I wreck it on the street or at an autocross, I only have myself to blame.

Thanks for all your concern guys. We are home safe and contemplating what to do next. That was a genuine $500 Miata that we bought off our own message board and fortunately, I picked up another $500 Miata recently, so we have another tub and no serious financial loss. Our driver tried to pay me for the car and I refused, as I knew the risk, when I offered to let him participate.

We will talk and decide if we should build that, or another crazy idea we have been toying with.

I do want to clarify a couple of things, and I think I will expand upon this in my next column. Lemons is some of the best racing I have ever done. There always are a few exceptions, but most participants are kind and drive well.

The funny old cars are fun, but perhaps there should be a maximum size or weight limit.

In racing, you have to realize that mistakes will be made and your car can get balled up. I accepted this risk going in and was prepared to write the car off when we built it. That is the reality of this game.

That said, serious injury or death is something none of us is ever prepared to deal with, especially with my kid racing with me now. But, that is what we do and we all know the risks.

One thing we did not skimp on is safety equipment. If you are trying to decide how much to spend on that helmet, cage, belts etc., look at the pictures of our Miata again and buy the best.

The rear hit looked hard and so I have to ask - how did the gas tank hold up?
That's my biggest fear in racing, huge hit followed by a turn on my side or roof into a tire barrier... then the whole mess starts on fire with me in it.

I'm in for pics of the crushed gas tank if you have any.

At this point, the gas tank looks completely fine. We won't know until the car is torn down, but it is not leaking and it does not appear to be deformed.

We decided to stick with the stock tank because we felt that we wouldn't be able to mount a cell in as safe of a location. Looking at the wreckage, it's pretty clear that a typical trunk-mounted fuel cell would have been crushed.

The center of the car held up amazing well in what appears to be a very hard impact.

I'd also like to say that our SPA Technique fire system gave us a lot of piece of mind. How many nozzles did we install? 5, IIRC. Our driver didn't end up pressing that button, but we certainly felt better knowing it was there. A handheld fire extinguisher would have been useless for a fuel fire in the trunk.

car39 wrote:

wbjones wrote:

DirtyBird222 wrote:

more than the red mist, is the idea that all you have to do is press the redo button ... way to many think it's like a video game

Had a friend who was an Iracing King, bragged about how much quicker he was a Lime Rock on his sim. I told him wait until it's your a$$ behind the wheel. After his first real car session, we was a ton slower than his sim time, a lot paler, and little more humble. Glad to hear everybody was O.K. in this incident. Them Pinatas can take a heck of a beating.

thank goodness he was paler, and more humble ...

Has the Nash driver's comments shown up anywhere yet? I haven't had any luck finding them.

In reply to bluej:

She commented on our Facebook post.

Tom Suddard wrote: I'd also like to say that our SPA Technique fire system gave us a lot of piece of mind. How many nozzles did we install? 5, IIRC. Our driver didn't end up pressing that button, but we certainly felt better knowing it was there. A handheld fire extinguisher would have been useless for a fuel fire in the trunk.

Agreed. IMHO, Lemons really should require a proper fire system in all cars.

In reply to Tim Suddard:

There is a weight limit in Lemons. I would have to look at the rules to confirm, but it is 4200lbs if I remember correctly.