REALGT3

Great save my friend. I had a similar slide at Butonwillow raceway in California in my Subaru STI but ended up on my lid after countless flips. Glad you and your car came out unscathed

Number54

Damn, all this carnage. I was also lucky, exactly one week ago when I lost it on track, both feet in waiting for the car to stop and suddenly the brakes feel extra weird.... I come to a stop with the tail maybe a few meters from the guardrail - the instructor had pulled the handbrake at the end. He claims he saved my bumper and wing. It was my bad driving of course, not coolant on track

HiWind

guys ... counting my lucky stars for sure!

... sadly I was the debris flag for the 5 cars just behind me ... flagmen saw the 'steaming' porsche and figured it was the radiator ie water!

nice to be appreciated .. glycol is def a 3.4 level ... maybe 3.6?!

those pics were literally going thru my mind Real! that wall is close and tires have a funny way of picking u up and rolling you over round there. Sorry you weren't as lucky this time!

.. I can now say (thanks Mike!) welcome to the club Feel like a tit for steering right into the glossy stuff with the laissez faire attitude of a tractor driver!

silver linings? Well, second race was fun starting from the back! Made up 23 sec of the 40s I lost waiting for the car to restart.

But definitely learnt you gotta keep eyes peeled for anything!

Mikelly

Yea, lets not allow any of our wives to see this post...More than a few might get grounded... This is EXACTLY why I want to be in a "Proper" caged car with proper fire system/safety equipment.

Mike

REALGT3

Exactly. Although I hade a bolt in full roll cage, i was also wearing a full face helmet and four point racing harness. All of these items saved my life and I walked away from a horrible crash although battered and sore. i will never go to a track day and drive without proper safety equipment again. Keep the rubber side down gents

aussie jimmy

lucky, matt!!!!!!

KOAN

996 GT3s ( and possibly other GT 1 engined vehicles, although this has not been my personal experience) should be required to have the water lines fixed before they are allowed on the track. I know this has been discussed before, but I have seen so many now that it seems like common sense. At the very least, antifreeze in them should be banned.

himself

I'm sure you were talking in general, but was it his car that caused the spin. I thought it was someone elses ride that dropped stuff on the track (but I admit I didn't pay attention to the thread).

-td

aussie jimmy

yes, it was somebody else's.
the point is that trackday operators and all porsche car clubs around the globe should now recognise the issue by now, or be made aware of it and make it part of scrutineering check.

SH || NC

It’s an interesting and touchy debate Chuck. I agree with you (personal responsibility), but how in the heck would the ‘no antifreeze in GT1 blocks’ policy be administered? Make it a part of the tech inspection? How else would you verify?

Would it make sense to have a blanket policy for no antifreeze allowed at <insert your event organizer name here> track events? If you are the organizer or club treasurer, you just lost a chunk of participants and money.

For lapping days, I tend to think, you pay your money and take your chances, but for DEs, the mission is pretty different; instruction, in street cars (usually), in a controlled environment.

However, ‘street’ cars these days are plenty powerful and some are under warranty, and the dealer would quickly void your warranty if you had them change the coolant mixture to straight water I’m sure.

Lots of variables….

911SLOW

Is that a Cusco roll bar or something else?

KOAN

SH ll NC,

It would be pretty easy to check at tech inspection.
I agree that the cost for a dealer performed flush is expensive...so is a wrecked car caused by someone else's unwillingness to make his/her car safe for others.
All of these events...DE and lapping days and racing...assume that all of the participants are being safe within reasonable parameters, for their own safety as well as for others. The fact that Porsche might void someone's warranty for not using antifreeze is similar to the fact that most insurance companies will not cover track events. Unfortunately, taking these high performance cars into this controlled high speed environment is viewed by lawyers and insurance companies as "different" from regular driving. Well, it is in many respects, and we as drivers and Instructors acknowledge this by our additional safety and performance equipment, as well as by our track specific driving etiquette.
I have heard of a few water lines popping on the street, but many at the track. If it were not for the cost and additional inconvenience for making this switch/changes, it would be a no brainer. So...to paraphrase Churchill, We've already established what you are, we are just negotiating the cost.

HiWind

- definately, and a bit foolhardy too unfortunately
- I shd have seen the beginnings in the first 2 corners and been less focused on the guys behind me!
- And also far less dependant on the flagmen to do the thinking for me!!

- more below

- What can I say ... at least you go the gist ...............................

- I don't need to rpeach to the choir - you know this issue is pretty well 'proven' by the Coolant thread on RL that sadly most of us have (now) had to contribute to. I have been talking about your experiences alot with my locals since I first found RL last year and all I've heard back is ...
"it's a problem with the US cars" & "they didnt get the RS etc.." ... baaaaloney. We have a few Ausie and UK experiences of this and those are RHD cars too (altho the Oz might be double inverted )

Any other non-NorthAm examples? Anyone know if a 4.0 has puked its glycol as of yet?

Thankfully to some degree people are listenting up now.
They are calling the other RS that dropped it Doctor Glycol him being an Ortho - guy feels bad enough.

I've printed out the entire 'coolant' thread and sent it round - my tech is going to be busy I expect (& he hopes ... that'll be 17 engine drops, 136 welds .. ka-ching).

Anyway thanks for listening - that's my news. Drive safe, watch for the surface change, don't wait for the flags to tell you to be careful!

FFaust

REALGT3

Yes the Cusco 6 point cage with the optional bolted diagonal brace (driver b pillar to passenger c pillar which broke) and welded in down bars with harness cross brace behind the seats. The cage held up extremely well. I was out of car before the ambulance got there