Carl Fausett

Rained all day Saturday and we switched to rains but couldn't really practice that way. 7 cars crashed out Saturday, I was trying hard not to be one of them.

Sunday was cold (50's) but at least drier. Track still had damp spots. I qualified 16th out of 59 cars for the feature race at 11:20. A 45-minute race.

I crashed out in the third lap... I had advanced two positions after the green flag and was running 14th out of 59 cars. On lap #3 I carried more speed out of turn 8 towards turn 9, and shifted up to 4th gear BEFORE the corner instead of AFTER the corner like I had been. Tried, but couldn't carry that much speed into 9.... Driver error. Here is the whole video (unedited!), from green flag to tire wall.

Turn your speakers up! The sound the blown 928 makes climbing out of 3rd through 4th and into 5th is so beautiful!

Our plan is to compete in this series again next year. I have enjoyed the NASA rules and how they do things. Cars are grouped according to their power-to-weight ratios and that makes for really great racing. Not PUBLISHED weight and HP numbers, mind-you. They require you give them a certified dyno chart of your car and they scale it. Then they do the math. Its a very smart system!
I also like racing against all makes and not just Porsches like at the PCA.

Anyway - Enjoy the video!

Tony

in...3..2....1.....

Carl Fausett

Just off-camera to my right is a red Dodge Viper with two silver stripes on the hood. He's race-prepared and very fast. You can see him flash across my rear-view mirror just before the crash. He dove into 9 under me, and that's what made me take the outer line through the marbles that I did.

There's no grip out there!

Its just racing, he didn't do anything wrong IMO.

James Bailey

Sorry to see that....I felt the pain as you dropped your head down and hit the kill switch.

Carl Fausett

Thanks, Jim. First thoughts were of letting down my crew and all those who have put up with so much BS to campaign the car this season.

I am pulling it out of the trailer this afternoon and we're going to try to take an inventory of "how bad it is"

The oil cooler was in that fender and we know its smashed. That's easy. I have another fiberglass front clip ready, so that's easy too. But the front tires aren't pointing the same way and the RF doesn't answer the helm at all. That will be steering rack or tie rod end I'm guessing.

As long as the frame isn't bent too bad, we'll be good. The car is equipped with an inertial kill switch on the fuel pump, and it worked well. Engine shut-off at impact was immediate. So I think motor will be fine.

Here's to hoping!

hacker-pschorr

Ugh...what a way to end the season but at least now it better than it happening at the first race.

Everyone needs to watch how the steering wheel snaps upon impact. That is why race car drivers are trained to take their hands away from the wheel when an impact is unavoidable. It's a good way to break your wrists.

Carl Fausett

Yep - Eric is right. I drove it right into the wall. Even had my thumbs inside the wheel in my death-grip attempt to "save it". Bad, bad, bad.

I know better - but knowing and doing in that moment are quite different things. We were talking on the way home about how to practice that? How can I simulate a crash so I train myself to let go the wheel and grab my straps?

There's a really good video of Dannika Patrick someplace that shows her doing just that before punching a wall in her Indy car. I was so impressed!

hacker-pschorr

The video that went viral was from Nascar and all the Danica detractors made fun of her for it since they were not used to seeing a driver grab their helmet like that (versus just letting go).

Many of the drivers came out defending her and made statements about following her lead.

How to train? Not sure, it's instinct to the pros:

GlenL

Sorry to see this, Carl.

Best wishes in getting back on-track next season. What is the Winter for?!

mark kibort

Carl,

First of all.. yes the car sounds fantastic and that power looks amazing BUT...

The best part about racing is all the different lines you take, and situations you encounter. being able to have control of the car in all situations is key. what im about to tell you is important, not only for you but for folks around you. you cannot be effective in controlling the car, with your hands all over the wheel like that. exactly what i said could happen, did . if you freeze frame the video at 4:16 and play it , you will see your hands have "shuffeled" to a off center position. your instincts to straighten the wheel when braking hard, is lost because you hands are centered (9-3) but your wheel is turned. what happens when you brake with the wheel turned that much? you got it... not much. There is PLENTY OF GRIP THERE!. Hear the tires?? it's normal to deny it because of what if felt like. BUT, you fight this because you haven't learned it, but i would recommend practicing it a soon as you can. It doesn't matter who is in the inside, or if you are off line. you made a mistake of shifting up a gear, but then, missed the braking point and was off line again. there is a lot of grip , as shown by your first lap, but with your hands neutral, but the wheel turning (and you have no idea how much at this point because you have shuffted by feel at turn entry 200ft prior)
you end up losing all your instinctive power to control the car. the key problem with the "shufflesteering" is that it forces you to over and under input every time you give a steering input. good for drifting , bad for road racing, and IMPOSIBLE for straightline braking, in situations like you were in.

trust me on this. ive worked with a lot of drivers that have change and really appreciated the help on this. I truly think if you incorporate the technique of NOT moving your hands ONE inch on that steering wheel, you will safer and a HECK of a lot faster because you can feel the car better... right now, you are waiting way too long on turn entry and exit to apply power and the GTS3 cars just run away from you in the turns. you should be faster than them into , through and out of the turns . ive race with the BMWS, with some of their top drivers in the BMWs and helped build the cars. They have been my major competition for many years so its a good yard stick for me to see where they
are around you.

dont take this the wrong way... as a racer you should want to be the best you can... this is an obvious step that can help .... if it doesn't help, I will be very very surprised. it has to.. for all the obvious reasons.
Look at it this way.. you build this monster car that is amazingly fast by your design... i can build a car with 1/3 the HP and same everything esle and be faster because one neglected part is not optimized. that part is the driver. With what i am telling you , you can shave close to 5 seconds a lap with no problem. All you have to is change a few things and you will have a car that is faster that what all the HP you gave it provided.

thanks for posting and i hope this helps not only you but others at the track, in traffic situations where braking straight during off line events can save damage or even worse. being able to brake straight in a panic situation or reactive situation, demands that you dont have to think (by definition) this means if you have the wheel in a turning situation, and you go to "reactive slow down" if the wheel is not grasp at 2-10 and is pre-turned out of place, , your braking will be with a lot of turning input and all you will do is slide. (it will feel like you are in the rain as you saw).

Just trying to help and i hope it does.

Try it , you will like it!

Now as far as NASA goes, yes, i was in when the BMW and porsche first started racing together. it wasnt classed that well now, but is much better with the GTS-x system of HP to weight. I ran with those guys for over 5 years as it bled back into porsche only.... now, im glad its made a comeback and will do a few races next season

As far as the crash... again, really sorry about that. no one likes to see their cars get hurt and many of know the hassle of putting it all back together.. i sure do. you will be back better next time!

Mk

PS.. if you ever want me to come out and help, i will fly out on my dime to do it. Im that excited about what you have on the car, but it could use some baseline starting points and some mods to your driving style and it could be really really fast, while still being really safe.

mark kibort

you certainly dont want a death grip going into a wall.. but i would say, if it is a very fast impact, you need to let go. tire wall impacts like what we see in road racing, i dont think it matters too much. my impact at 100mph when i got taken out at sears, was scary fast... i only remember loosening my hands on impact and bearing down with head and neck muscles.. (no Hans at the time)

Carrera51

Carl:
Sorry about you off. Hopefully you can get the car fixed up over the winter. I noticed on your video that based on you putting what gear you are in, it looks like you have a standard h-pattern gearbox.

mark kibort

Its a 6 speed vet transmission that was adapted to the 928.. cool kit they sell and help install into 928s. supposed to be a lot stronger to handle his 900hp

Carl Fausett

Well, we just came in from the trailer and I think we're going to be OK.

Frame from the suspension-mounts back is not seriously bent. Frame in front of the mounts can be cut off and discarded.

We've talked about cutting off the heavy front end just in front of the lower link mounts, and now we have cause to do it. We'll make a sacrificial sub-assembly out of aluminum and chrome moly to bolt up to the front, and we can just swap them out when needed.

It'll get some weight off the nose, and we can finally put the radiator and intercooler in a better place for us.

It's all good!

Carrera51

Mark: Thanks for the info.

Carl: Glad to hear you can fix it. Hopefully I will get to see it in action next year. Very cool car.