A little to the "overkill" end of the spectrum, but whatever works. Pardon the grainyness of the pictures - the camera was on some stupid setting.

Crud, I'm forgetting his rennlist name, but this is Tim from norcal (BTW, nice meeting you Tim - I can edit/host your in-car video for you if needed).
I have no association with the car/accident, other than talking with the drivers afterwards and being present at the track when it happened. I was actually waiting on the grid for my group to go when the accident occured - we had to sit there for a good 20min or so while they cleaned off the track.

Basically the engine blew coming out of turn 4 at Laguna Seca, Vette was following the 944, hit the oil slick and spun into the inside wall. No injuries - the airbags didn't even go off in the vette.

The 944:



The method of whoopage (note the area encircled):



The vette:






And yes, it does suck for the vette guy, but he was being a complete douche about it afterwards so whatever.

 

that vette was using normal road tyres, they are toyo T1S. why would you use them on a track? that is bad luck though, motorsport is dangerous.

 

That's sad. A Z06 is a fun car.

 

OUCH! Damage at the track is never kind. Can you tell what let go on the motor? Connecting rod maybe? That's too bad for the vette. I'd be a little testy afterwards too, especially since it looks like its totaled. Did you/he pull off the track right away after the engine blew? Friend of mine runs in SCCA and the class that always ran before us this year was famous for blown engines. Bad part is the ****** behind the wheel would try and make it half way around the track back to pits and no pull off. The last race of the season we sat on the grid for so long they let the drivers get out of the car to go get a snack or restroom break. Over the scanner they were down to doing rationed counts of how many bags of oil dry they could scrounge up from various facilities around the track. Crews came in twice to refill the trucks there was so much oil on the track.

 

Depending on what group you run with tires might be limited. In Audi Club we don't let Beginners and Novice drivers run R compound tires.

 

really, im a bit surprised by that. i guess it could be safer, because you can go faster on R specs. i find that beginners are limited by their fear of speed, rarely via the extra grip of the R spec tyres. in which case the R specs will help them brake better rather then take corners faster. just my thought
sean

 

Problem is... r-compound can get you into trouble alot quicker too. Street tires will give you much more chatter and warning before they are about to loose traction. Rs won't tell you the back ends about to let go until you're half way around. When beginners get a little taste of speed without knowing where the edge of traction is, they start to drive beyond their skills way too soon. Think of the street tires as training wheels. Once you've ridden enough that the arms on the training wheels are bent and never touch the ground anyway, they you're ready to step up.

 

The 'vette driver has every right to be upset -- especially since there's a good chance that he's going to be paying for the damages. In the last couple of months, many insurance companies re-wrote their policies to exclude DE events. I would be upset at Tim for creating the road hazard, too.

BTW, the organization running yesterday event normally has no restrictions on tires (unless yesterday was different for Laguna Seca).

 

Not many people DE on R comp's. Not sure why You expect that. I've been running RED group on street tirees. (passing people on R comps)

I don't blame the driver for being upset after the incident, after all would you if you just lost $40,000

 

If the 944 dumped it's contents as fast as mine did there is no way to get off the pavement fast enough. That's a big hole, smaller than mine but my oil emptied in a nanosecond and was on the ground before the rear tires passed it. I do feel sorry for the Vette driver, I'd be pissed also.

 

Actually I dont think his would have made a puddle. Its up high on the pan, yours is in the lowest part. Yours would have dumped it all in one shot, his would have been leaving a trail id think.

 

Insurance companies like to use pics from forums to demonstrate why the activity should not be covered by a policy.

 

Good point Mine was like beaching the Exxon Valdez.

 

bill- holy crap!!

btw- where's the video from the foothills run?

 

aw man! i feel really bad for that vette owner. glad to hear everyone's ok though