TR6

If that yellow mazda is the one I'm thinking of, that car is the most annoyingly loud (in an unpleasant way) car I've heard at any track. Isn't the guy that drives it an instructor? Maybe I'm thinking of a different mazda...

deep_uv

You're thinking of the black one that starts up during the middle of the driver's meeting every time. That guy is an instructor. Sounds like a sewing machine on steroids.

Veloce Raptor

Yup, he is a PCA instructor/team leader. That car is the most heinous-sounding contraption I have ever heard. Its nickname is the Cockroach.

Bull

I must add that this WAS NOT a very impressive "off" from a HWFMR perspective! Where is the suspense and high drama???? No flying backwards at a bizzilion miles an hour with a dead bead on a Flag Station....no time airborne.....no multiple spins with a cloud of dust, no sitting in the middle of the track while others defy death by diving around you at high rates of speed, etc.! Come on Mikey, I'm sure you can do better!

TR6

You mean like this one from my outing this past Sunday?

TR6

Yeah, that's the one I'm thinking of... The cockroach.Definitely heinous sounding....

Bull

Can't seem to open that one on this computer. Will check when I get home.

TR6

Hmmm... Try this link instead.

Bull

That worked....and I must say THAT is more like it and much better than Globe's "I can't even see the apex from here, so I'll just drive off" effort.

You guys will never score very high on the Spin-O-Rama Scale as long as you have those wide open spaces in Texas. Just not as interesting as around here, where you immediately switch to auto-cross mode once off the track. We even had a guy high centered on a stump about 40 yards off track (wet grass). He was good to go after a "lift" off of the stump! BDF, who comes here very infrequently, has video of going off backwards at close to 100mph, looking in the mirror and cranking the wheel violently at the last minute as he goes by a Flag Station at VIR (Huts) inches away from a wide eyed Flagger. Those are high on the Spin-O-Rama Scale.

mglobe

Yes, I have to admit that Greg is much better (and more experienced) at going off the track backassward than I am.

deep_uv

It might look innocuous, but there are some really, really bad places to go off. You definitely don't want to go off sideways anywhere as ruts are everywhere. Not to mention all the concrete around the front straight.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RMGxr...eature=related

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tLA4MxS0AWI

Somewhere there's a video of a miata cartwheeling between turns 2 and 3 but can't seem to find it.

I wish I had video of my backwards excursion at T12 at 90 mph. That was epic. Watched in my mirror as the corner worker bailed out of his bunker as I was hurtling toward it. I stopped about 20 feet short. I'll never forget that sound of the car leaving the pavement.

Apex Rex

I guess I might fit in here after all then!

TR6

Actually, in my spin at ECR, I narrowly missed a barrier off to the right hand side of the track. I ended up coming to a rest within probably 10 feet past the end of it. In fact, when I was spinning and I was exactly backwards (parallel with the edge of the track) with the brakes locked, I remember thinking that if I continued that rotation, my *** end was going to hit that barrier. So I released the brakes for just a moment while I was sliding backwards and parallel to the barrier to try to clear it. Maybe that helped or maybe I really had no control and it was just dumb luck. Who knows. But its funny how clear your thought process is while all that is happening...

That 'off' also taught me never to replace tires on just the front while leaving old ones on the rear...

I also remember thinking that if my tires dug in while I was sideways, I was going over. An Austin Healy did that in the same turn in December at the CVAR race at ECR and it rolled.

There is plenty to hit at ECR compared to MSR and even TWS. It may not be as bad as some of the east coast tracks, but its enough to keep me on my toes. But its an awesome track and worth it!

Bull

Didn't mean to down play the seriousness of sliding sideways off of any track (beleive me!), and I realize there are barriers at every track. It is just that I'm used to running Watkins Glen 5+ times a year, so your tracks look like heaven! I likely can't post video of The Glen, but maybe some else does have some?

Bull

Having been a witness to Apex's airborne attempt to eliminate T-2 on the North Infield at Pocono (in his Father's car, no less), I have no doubt that he would fit in here. As with many a mortal man, the flight was fine.....the landing?...not so good!