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I have been informed that our CFRA donation drive has officially ended. Thank you for all your support over the last seven days. If you would like to make a donation to Richard’s family moving forward, please see the information below:
Edward Richard Reins III ( 1950-2018 )
Laguna Seca Raceway Fund, the 501c3 non-profit charitable organization for the raceway, has established a specific fund for those wishing to donate money to the family of Richard Riens, the beloved course marshal who lost his life on Sunday, October 14, 2018.
All funds received will go to Rich’s family or to support them with expenses.
Please send donations to;
Laguna Seca Raceway Fund
P.O. Box 2078, Monterey, CA 93942
Attn. Dick Reynard, Executive Director.
Yes, we did it at WGI but we did it at Palmer this fall as well. It was nice to do and doesn't cost much. Nice to show that when we drive on the track and have fun that it's because a lot of people behind the scenes do a lot for all of us. People never show enough appreciation these days.
This was a tragedy that hopefully won't happen again. It's made me think about a lot of things that could happen on the track and what to do, or don't do. The urge to help someone can have terrible consequences. This a bad situation for everyone involved.
We are glad to have someone who looks after our car and points out things to keep it safe before we get to the track. No way would I want to self-tech, and both regions we run with do a good job with the tech line each day. Things can still happen, but you need to prevent things from happening by being diligent.
I have been informed that our CFRA donation drive has officially ended. Thank you for all your support over the last seven days. If you would like to make a donation to Richard’s family moving forward, please see the information below:
Edward Richard Reins III ( 1950-2018 )
Laguna Seca Raceway Fund, the 501c3 non-profit charitable organization for the raceway, has established a specific fund for those wishing to donate money to the family of Richard Riens, the beloved course marshal who lost his life on Sunday, October 14, 2018.
All funds received will go to Rich’s family or to support them with expenses.
Please send donations to;
Laguna Seca Raceway Fund
P.O. Box 2078, Monterey, CA 93942
Attn. Dick Reynard, Executive Director.
I would like to personally thank each and everyone of you who made a contribution to Richard’s family. We are very blessed to be a part of this amazing community of volunteers, enthusiast, and racers that are able to band together when tragedystrikes.
"Thanks to nearly 150 CFRA members and nearly 100 additional members of the racing community (who heard about this collection via email, news articles, and places like Rennlist), this effort has resulted in $30,000 that will go to the family of Edward Richard Reins. The contributions were about 75% from CFRA members and 25% from others; and a contribution from CFRA's general fund of $1,500 plus a bit more to round the total up to $30,000."
I would like to personally thank each and everyone of you who made a contribution to Richard’s family. We are very blessed to be a part of this amazing community of volunteers, enthusiast, and racers that are able to band together when tragedystrikes.
"Thanks to nearly 150 CFRA members and nearly 100 additional members of the racing community (who heard about this collection via email, news articles, and places like Rennlist), this effort has resulted in $30,000 that will go to the family of Edward Richard Reins. The contributions were about 75% from CFRA members and 25% from others; and a contribution from CFRA's general fund of $1,500 plus a bit more to round the total up to $30,000."
Donation made. Godspeed to a guy who had the job that I tell my friends and family about all the time, "I want to retire and be a corner worker at Laguna Seca". Purely out of curiosity re: sequence of events - white RWB crashed first, then the red gt3 above? That red car is thrashed.
You guys need to closely read this post again before you blame the deceased for a poor decision. He was behind the wall. He was a veteran corner worker who understood the importance of safety. The flagger at the apex of T8 doesn't sit in a box nest. He leans over the wall to wave a flag. Look at the picture. The red stripe on the wall marks the wall that the corner worker stands behind. The only poor decision made was that someone with a known issue decided to proceed onto track despite concerns that were voiced to him.
A lot of discussion surrounded safety. It may be worthwhile to evaluate whether this corner station could be moved to a less exposed location.
A lot of discussion surrounded safety. It may be worthwhile to evaluate whether this corner station could be moved to a less exposed location.
I do not enjoy at all to answer to your question Ace37.
First, viewing at Google maps, here is what you get :
And now, if you look at these photos (not from that very dark day), but also from a ETD track day, in May (the 9th) ..this year :
It is not my role to do any comment, I can tell you that I'm still very sad, and would keep the vision of the shoe in the middle of T8, driving though this place, for very long time.
Still, it is may be the time to think to cut that small tree that most probably remove a very clear view ..from the "original" corner worker place !
Now, I would also add that it is very true that from the "usual" position of the corner worker, you REALLY can see the flag much more well, ..in this critical place, i.e.: entering into T8, that is blind. We are ***totally*** in the hands of the flagman, when we enter this curve.
I was at Laguna last weekend with AROSC, and they had a flagger at T7 all weekend. Hopefully they continue this so the one at T8 doesn’t have to lean out so much to try to cover 7. The track CEO gave us a brief talk about the incident and asked us to report any issues we saw with course workers.
BTW, Weathertech has made some nice safety upgrades. They added extra runoff exiting T6 and T9, paved the inside of 8a and 8b, and I think paved/smoothed out where the AstroTurf was exiting T11 (I didn’t have occasion to need to use it). All the new stuff is painted green. They also repainted the curbs, and I saw fewer deep eroded gullies. Of course, rainy season has started yet. They redid the sign on the bridge at T1, so the old orange dots you used to line up for T1 are gone. It seems the last “A” in “LAGUNA” is about the right spot.
In my opinion, a great safety improvement would be to increase the runoff place (I know, ..there is an oak there !!) that is in line of the braking before entering t8.
Remember the Lambo, dead brakes if I understood well, or maybe another case to conclude that the ONLY material for a brake pedal is STEEL), that hit the tire wall very hardly there, earlier this season !! (A lot of Thanks, Hans !)
Sure, there is “a way” to (try) escape and have a much better runoff, this, if you can manage at the last microsecond to try to aim on the right, as the runoff on the right is **much** longer, ..but, frankly, this is very severely counter intuitive !!
I think that this oak should be removed, to have a longer runoff here.
That also have added some on the inside of T7 (see screen grab below), but that’s before the braking zone. I’ve never really felt pinched where they put it.
Agree that an escape route into 8 would be great. But the way the hill falls away, they’d have to move massive amounts of earth to do it. But maybe something better than tires and a wall?? Losing brakes into 8, or 11, are the nightmare scenarios at LSR.
I would suggest that the debate/discussion on track day organizers and the problems/challenges of providing a safe experience, speed of modern DE cars etc would be best discussed on a dedicated thread. I think there is a worthwhile discussion to be had on this topic.
I would suggest that the debate/discussion on track day organizers and the problems/challenges of providing a safe experience, speed of modern DE cars etc would be best discussed on a dedicated thread. I think there is a worthwhile discussion to be had on this topic.
What’s wrong with letting that discussion develop naturally in this thread, which people interested in safety are already participating in and reading? All the different aspects of safety are connected, and interest in discussing them is usually increased in the aftermath of incidents like this.
Sorry, VERY SORRY, ..but I FULLY disagree with you.
For my eyes, PCA is the worse organization for track days in the Bay area.
Simple solution. Stay away. Do not attend PCA events.
Why I do NOT like the PCA track days :
. it sucks: too many people, a lot of green horns, ..to end up with 4 or 5 groups per day.
If all goes well, you are on track for 4 sessions per day !
Too many people and not enough track time? Simple solution. Keep your money and stay away.
Everyone was a greenhorn at one time. If you want to improve the system, then become an instructor.
The best way to improve the PCA HPDE track days is to become involved. Help teach the new people the right way to drive on track.
Tell me why PCA track days are overcrowded, ..but when PCA organize "fun run", than max of cars is set ?
(Only one explanation ,: more car on track = more profit)
If you knew the costs involved, you would see that they need large numbers to cover the track rental and insurance first. Laguna Seca cost well over $20000.00 for a day.
COTA costs over $80000.00 for a day. Conversely, smaller "local" tracks cost $6000.00 to $8000.00 per day.
Just to break even requires over a 100 cars at Laguna.
. not counting that these "too many people" spend the (track) day walking around the cars with the nose very up, in brand new unused nomex and brand new shoes with the word Porsche stitched on all possible visible place. (Looks more like a fashion day than a sport track day.)
So what? They enjoy their cars their way and you enjoy your car your way.
. and more specifically, for me, as I removed my top (boxster) to have a 6 point roll bar, I have been asked (by pca rules) to have arm restraints, which, I do not want too. (Note that I use Hans since some years, so, safety I care..), but, writing rules where open roof requires arm restraints when a super thin skin hardtop or a convertible roof is fine, ..is pure B.S. for me.
Your are showing your ignorance here. EVERY race organization REQUIRES arm restraints in EVERY open vehicle. A soft top, though it offers no structural safety, at least keeps your arms INSIDE and away from the ground in a roll over. Arm restraints prevent your hands from being crushed or torn off in a roll over crash. I race open wheel formula cars, we use arm restraints and we have no problem signaling pit exits or signaling faster cars around during practice. If you can't, then you bought too short of restraints or adjusted them too short.
These above points makes me completely avoiding pca track days, and makes me thinking that I should seriously consider to quit this club of "tourist".
HPDE days have always been for those types of "tourists". People that want to experience the thrill of legally driving over 100 mph and learning to corner at high speeds.
HPDE are not races, not serious competitions, or even casual competitions. They are social events designed for car enthusiasts.
I know that many of you here have strong connections with this club, (i.e. "instructors", and other doing business with this club,
I am an instructor, not for business reasons, but because we all need to give back to the racing community if we want to see track days and race events succeed.
By instructing, I can help the greenhorns avoid common mistakes and ultimately raise the level of quality driving and perfomance for the entire group of drivers.
but still consider that I have free speech rights to express my opinion here.
As the saying goes, "Do let the door hit you in the *** on your way out" (Exercising my right to free speech and opinions)
Anyone that doesn't want to deal with greenhorns and posers can whip out their checkbook and rent the track themselves for a private track day.
10-22-2018, 05:26 PM
