tgavem

I am posting this with hesitation and I'm expecting positive and negative comments. I request that this is video is not posted on Jalopnik and other websites.
There have been a couple of fatalities this year in DE's and at COTA at this event - 3 cars were totaled; corvette in turn 19, Ferrari in turn 1 (reason for this red flag), and GTR in turn 20.
So the purpose of me posting is to share my experience, lesson learned and hope it saves somebody's car and prevents injuries.

Observation of events;
1. No flag in 12
2. No flag in 14
3. I'm passing BMW from 15 to 16, possible a little late
4. yellow Porsche is passing Ferrari in 17-18 (out of picture), McLaren passing Ferrari in 18.
5. Incorrect angle at 16-17 due to passing
6. as a result, wider in 18 than I should be, pinching it and you can observe small slide
7. observing slow vehicles ahead, lifting, sliding
8. Correcting, aiming for mid track but correction have me headed for rear of Ferrari
9. correcting, some brake, sliding and almost hitting Ferrari (thankfully he was rolling and not stopped), - see front wheel position headed down track
10. Car comes around and does a 360 - wheel position mid slide, opposite lock
11. after 360, continued down track, slowly, then realize I'm not in a good spot and move over to pit lane to observe flag in 20.

Lesson Learned:
it is DE, avoid late pass and especially ahead of blind corner as it leaves me with no spare capacity to make evasive maneuvers
Red Flag means - slow car to prepare to stop, be aware of what is ahead and behind you, stop at a safe location off track and with visibility to a corner station.
Never stop on racing line (Ferrari)

tgavem

Thank you to the anonymous BMW driver for sharing video

TXE36

Jeeezzzus! You are really lucky not to have tagged the red Ferrari. Monday morning quarterbacking I know, but pinching 18 is a tricky move, better to have gone off to the Ferrari's left, straighten the wheel, and lock it down. Most of COTA's runoff space is asphalt.

Boneheaded move on the Ferrari's part to stop right there knowing the entry to 18 is blind, and that it is a high speed sweeper. A *very* common accident here is a lift in T18, spin, and hitting the right side ARMCO near the flag station at the entry of T19. Better to slow down a bit, creep around T19 and park it on the pit in.

I may know the guy in the orange McLaren. I'm sure I'll hear about it if it is who I think it is.

-Mike

Veloce Raptor

Wow.

That sure could have ended badly.

Remember how much run off there is on track left. Next time just let the car go off track left, IMO, and stop.

tgavem

Mike and Dave:
I agree with run off to left, but notice very small slide at 39 seconds into video, this is just before I notice slow traffic. So I'm out of spare capacity at that time for my skill.....

LexVan

I don't know the track or the group running the event, but, it's a DE and passing is allowed in that corner??

Glad it ended the way it did. Thanks for sharing video.

tgavem

No.
I was passing in straight from 15 to 16, but finished late into 16.
McLaren passed early from 18 to 19.
No passing in the sweeper (16 through 18) but allowed before and after.

TXE36

Going to go out on a limb here, do you remember how far up your vision was at this point? I'm only saying it because it looks like you may have seen the Ferrari late. I'm wondering if the small slide at 0:39 was from a lift when the Ferrari surprised you. I go around that turn complex straining to see over the hill.

There is no arguing good luck was a factor here, but it wasn't the only thing going. Saving an out of shape car at the exit of T18 with a bunch of obstacles is no small feat. You could have wound up *really* close to that guy waving the red flag.

-Mike

CosmosMpower

holy F that was a code brown moment glad you lived to tell the tale. Does TDE not follow COTA specific red flag rules? Reduced speed, proceed to pit lane.

Veloce Raptor

No, they and PCA do it their own way, not the COTA / FIA way

tgavem

I have been trying to recall and watch video. I know I was sliding before lift and if you get high resolution video to show, you can see I am sliding with throttle from 39 to about 40.5 sec but then can see the weight moved around 41 seconds so I assume I lifted somewhere around 40.5 sec

tgavem

Yes. I'm still shooting foam out my ***.....

surlynkid

Which causes a $hit ton of issues for corner workers and drivers.

surlynkid

Everybody else is off line way over by 19 corner worker where they belong. Ferrari is stopped in no mans land just waiting to get hit. Duh. You know you were way out of position on that pass. I was like, wtf are you doing way over there. Caught me by surprise to see you fly by. Glad it turned out okay. Clean that seat.

CosmosMpower

5 totalled cars this weekend, I won't run with TDE.