drcollie

A relatively common occurrence at Summit Point Raceway because of the thick woods that surround the track and all the apple trees on the property. Just one more reason I don't like that track - even though its closest to where I live. And also why its important to be sure your insurance company will cover your car while on a track facility (Many policies exclude incidents that happen at the track). Lots of damage when you hit a deer at 120 mph on the main straight like this hapless 997 owner did. The actual hit is at :34 in the video and it looks like that deer (what was left of it) went about 12 feet in the air.

https://docs.google.com/file/d/0B2fy...LWc/edit?pli=1

Porsche_nuts

Yikes!! Glad the driver was ok. Can hear the animal activists screaming that tracking is not safe for animals.

DallasDave

He is very lucky! The speed probably helped in this situation, causing the deer to flip over the vehicle. I've seen the result of low(er) speed impacts that have changed lives in an instant.

Damn lucky.

Dave in Dallas

stealthboy

Scary stuff! Seems like the deer came from the inside of the track (right side) but it's hard to see. Glad the driver didn't try to swerve but sounds like he didn't really even time to react!

I was scheduled to be tracking there that weekend (that's PCA Potomac region), but alas a front brake caliper decided to scuttle my plans.

Dalema

Yikes!

dr.alexs

Wow! Glad the driver was ok. Those deer can do some damage!
I have some back roads near me where I like to "enjoy" the twisties...I always worry about this because there are deer all over the place that hip out in front of cars. You hear of at least 2-3/people/year hitting a deer around where I live.

Vic and Ray

Wow. Love at the end when he says... "glad you're alright, Fu**ing deer...."

Same situation with me....

I've got a deer infestation where I live. Often come home to see a half dozen plus deer lounging on my front yard. A quick blast of PSE usually takes care of that but it does make me think twice when trying to drive the twisties around here....

MarcusG

Just awful.

This happens every day in Colorado where my parents live. It's either the deer or the human and I root for the human. What a disaster. His insurance agent must have been scratching his head. I think I heard him say he just replaced his other car that had been totaled. Stroke of really bad luck.

Don't know for sure how to tell at all if the video makers cam was a GoPro but documentation per video evidence.. That kid changed the world. I believe they went public a couple weeks back. Worlds first genuine billionaire surfer. God I love America and capitalism.

Too bad for the deer! They should open a cafe at that track and serve fresh venison!

apias

They definitely need to get rid of the apple trees, those are basically just deer bait.

The one time I hit a deer, it was, fortunately for me, already airborne, and some part of it (dark, rainy night on an Interstate highway, never actually saw it, just a shape, but it left some hair behind) hit the passenger side windshield (fortunately no one sitting there) and bounced off. I was in utter shock for a minute or two, and just trying to keep the car going straight, and not get rear-ended, and by the time I looked behind me a mile or 2 down the road, there was no one there, so it must have stopped traffic.

I worried about this at the time, but couldn't really go back with my windshield bashed in (lucky just to get home ok) but there was no news of a serious accident the next day, and I guess everyone else, behind me, was ok. I hope so. At the time I wasn't sure if it was a deer or a tree branch or what. Not till I found the hair the next morning did I know for sure.

Just a windshield replacement, though, which is incredible luck when you think about it.

MarcusG

Yea Apias.

If you haven't had it happen to you, you can't describe it to someone else. The funny thing is always finding more deer hair weeks or months later. That's what got me. I was pulling deer hair out of my moms front bumper a year later after she hit one. It's amazing how much damage a deer can do. That guys 997 is done. Put a fork in it.

kiya

I hit a deer once going about 90mph, it was terrifying and i still have flashbacks of when it happened.

Noah Fect

A deer once ran out of the woods directly into my passenger-side door, caving it in several inches. I was doing about 40 down an urban surface street at the time, in an 80s-era Firebird. In my rearview mirror I could see the deer pick itself up off the road, Terminator 2-style, and bound off into the woods in the direction it was originally headed, as if nothing had happened. I didn't bother stopping, there would have been no point. Just pulled into the body shop conveniently located a half-mile farther down the same road, handed them the keys, and called a cab.

I hate deer. If somebody ever posts a Kickstarter to develop a genetically-engineered virus to wipe them out, wipe them all out, I hope I get in before all the top rewards are spoken for.

drcollie

I've had three deer strikes.

* 1995 M3 that was brand new, just 640 miles on it. The deer ran out from a McDonald's on US Hwy 1 in Alexandria VA and I was doing around 45 mph. $ 12,300 worth of damage and included a new roof. Didn't see it was a nanosecond from impact.

* 2000 Freightliner FL50 on I-95 south of Newark DE about 1 a.m. I was doing 70 mph in the diesel truck. This one I saw about 1 second before impact coming across three lanes of I-95 but attempting to swerve big truck is not an option. It vaporized into mist and broke all the hinges/cracked the fiberglass hood on the truck, but I didn't even stop. $ 2,200.

* 2006 BMW 330i. A November evening on Hwy 123 in Fairfax VA coming home from work. Same hit as the M3 but no roof damage. Again, didn't see it until a heartbeat away from the collision. $ 6.600 Repair.

Two more, and I'm an ace.

chuckbdc

Maryland and No VA are overrun with them. Its far more dangerous getting to Summit Point and back early and late in the day than on the track.

One interesting statistic according to the Accident Avoidance guys at Summit (not relevant to the video): apparently more dear are hit on the opposite side of the road from the driver than frontally. People see them, look at them and drive right into them. They use that (true or not) to get students thinking about the the need for looking at where they want to be and not at the obstacles.

CPTAmericaMV

That blood shower was awesome!