hughp3

stownsen914

I wondered the same. It may be tough to piece together what failed before what sounds like a major hit and surely damaged many components ...

I had a brake failure once at Lime Rock. The car had all new brake lines (flex and the solid lines), and calipers were used but rebuilt. So what failed? The bridge line that connects the two halves of the caliper. Before that happened I'd never thought to replace that part. Fixed it, went on with my track event. The same part on the other front caliper failed 10 laps later. Guess what I replace with every caliper rebuild now ...

I have a dual master cylinder setup on my car, as I'm sure the F5000 in question did. When mine failed, it of course happened suddenly. The pedal felt soft and the car was *sort of* stopping, since I basically only had rear brakes. In my case I was behind another car and needed to slow down to avoid hitting him. When I stepped hard on the brakes (not yet realizing why it wasn't slowing down), I predictably locked the rears and spun.

We're speculating of course, but IF there was a brake failure on a very fast car like a F5000 at a fast spot on the track, it's not hard to imagine it ending badly, unfortunately.

gbuff

FWIW I did a lapping day at the track on Tuesday, and from what I was hearing from people close to the track (like the marshals) at that time the jury was still out on if it was indeed brake failure, a medical event, or something else entirely. Unaware of any updates since then. There is a thread on this over on RL Canada FYI.

Reasons aside, a terrible tragedy and my heart goes out to family and friends.

Gary

ProCoach

Hugh, I don't think it's responsible to ascribe to an accident a cause that is unproven, and/or unconfirmed... It's really just repeating rumors.

That would not be the cause of death, anyway. The question would be; "why did he leave the track?" MANY possibilities.

These cars are incredibly quick, with a BIG center of mass right behind your shoulders, and you're laying in a skin of aluminum sheet that's covering bladders full of thirty-five gallons of gasoline.

There are many reasons why people drive and race old cars, especially those as powerful, fast and exciting as Formula 5000 cars. I'm sad for the sport, Jeff and Jeff's crew and family.

sbelles

While there's no reason to speculate on the cause of this particular crash, brake failure is one possibility. It's certainly not irresponsible to discuss possible causes of brake failure and mitigation strategies. I have no experience with these particular cars but I've seen complete (or apparently complete) brake failure in a pretty large variety of car types.

LuigiVampa

This is a really sad story. Sometimes when I drive my 1987 944 turbo on track I consider that it only has a half cage and not as many safety items as my Cayman race car. Are older cars less safe? I think generally the answer has to be yes if we are being honest.

The only time I have experience brake failure was coming off the highway in my SUV. Dealership never tightened the bolts on my rear clalipers, caliper fell off (held on only by the brake line) and my pedal went straight to the floor.

Fortunately, with fresh brakes pad, when I pumped the brakes the pads on the caliper which fell off closed and the braking returned. I was heading toward an intersection at about 60 mph so luckily it was a long exit ramp.

Things happen fast on the track and off. Sometimes you get a chance to react and sometimes you don't.

Thundermoose

Op - how about opening a new thread on brake failure and prevention. I have a question that i want to pose to the forum on that topic. That separates the issue you want to discuss from the possible speculation on what may have happened at Mosport.

991carreradriver

Heartbreaking for the family and friends. I hope they can find consolation that he lost his life doing what he loved to do. Not many of us will be as fortunate.

mark kibort

Ive had it , but at laguna, turn 2, it's very scary, and you have to have good habits on quick blip downshift and putting the car in a attitude that it slows down a bit to lower chances of a big problem. I was very lucky, and the turn has a lot of pavement and runoff for even the worst cases. Sometimes you are not that lucky and its into a wall or tire barrier at break-neck speeds . It was my own fault. i must have thought , stock rubber lines would last for ever. easy change to aftermarket, braided lines. they blew and i had nothing but the pedal to the floor. so, check your brake lines.. change if there are any doubts of their condition.

hughp3