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That said, there have been fatalities at some of the tracks referenced. In DE’s. Also, in club-level competition.
I don’t have anything but anecdotal data, but having attended twelve to thirty DE’s a year for the last couple decades, the incident rate at most tracks appears up, substantially in the last two years. Does not seem to be track specific.
People trying to go too quick, too soon. Driving the car by the scruff of the neck and surprised when it bites them. The number of incidents truly due to mechanical failure/surface conditions is a fraction of those I have seen reports for.
Do I weigh and consider my acceptable risk/benefit ratio at specific tracks more than others? Yes. Do I think incidents are inevitable? No.
I think some of the observations about the West Coast tracks are true, but I’ve seen some big ones at Laguna Seca and Big Willow, too.
I love Summit Point Main. I love Watkins Glen. I really love Lime Rock. I work at VIR. Go easy and incrementally bump it up. And don’t stare at what you DON’T want to hit!
Start slowly and add speed gently, because it’s VERY hard to take it off…
I think the newer cars which "drive themselves" are to blame. The cars are so smart they allow newer drivers to get in over their heads.
I think the newer cars which "drive themselves" are to blame. The cars are so smart they allow newer drivers to get in over their heads.
No one starts with a 944 or Boxster anymore.
Sorry but my best student started in a 944S an currently drives a 986S quite well. He started in 2018 at his first DE event and I’m proud to admit he's my Dad.
From: Durham, NC and Virginia International Raceway
Originally Posted by Code Monkey
Per Chin Track Days, they see more wrecks at Road Atlanta than at any other tracks they run combined.
With 8-12 feet tall concrete walls, 80-85% around the circuit, usually less than fifty feet off the racing surface, I can see that…
It’s to keep the pro cars out of the spectator areas. Not beginner friendly.
That said, I’ve been driving there since 1985 and had my biggest accident there before the walls were up and before the Dip went away.
Love that place, too. Just treat it with EVEN more respect than some of the others…
__________________ -Peter Krause www.peterkrause.net www.gofasternow.com
"Combining the Art and Science of Driving Fast!"
Specializing in Professional, Private Driver Performance Evaluation and Optimization
Consultation Available Remotely and at VIRginia International Raceway
Sorry but my best student started in a 944S an currently drives a 986S quite well. He started in 2018 at his first DE event and I’m proud to admit he's my Dad.
So he's the other guy besides me who started in a 944 in the last ten years. Here I thought I was the only one.
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From: Manchester, NH
Originally Posted by LuigiVampa
I think the newer cars which "drive themselves" are to blame. The cars are so smart they allow newer drivers to get in over their heads.
No one starts with a 944 or Boxster anymore.
I started out with 2/3 the hp of a 944 and moved to half. You guys in 944s started out with too much power. Remember, there is a group of people that says Porsche stopped making cars in 1965. Times changed. The cars don't wreck themselves, the drivers do.
When I think of tracks, I think of what happened to Mark Petronis. That is what makes a track unsafe.
I’m tracking at Roebling this weekend. I always tell potential newbies to the hobby that this is a great beginner track. I’ve been doing this hobby for 20 years and haven’t been to a lot of different tracks. However I still love this place. Just have to be careful around turn 9, but like turn 1 or 16 at Sebring, I would go off in the grass in the event I turn in too early and don’t feel I can safely keep it on the track.
From: Durham, NC and Virginia International Raceway
Originally Posted by Mark Dreyer
I’m tracking at Roebling this weekend. I always tell potential newbies to the hobby that this is a great beginner track. I’ve been doing this hobby for 20 years and haven’t been to a lot of different tracks. However I still love this place. Just have to be careful around turn 9, but like turn 1 or 16 at Sebring, I would go off in the grass in the event I turn in too early and don’t feel I can safely keep it on the track.
Have fun! I am eternally grateful that that was the first track I ever drove. Not because I went off, but because I was driving other peoples Ferraris for days at a time.
One of my mentors said to me that weekend; “treat this car like a gun, because if it goes off, you’ll WISH you were dead…”
To a twenty-four year old Italian car mechanic, probably pretty good advice!
I hadn’t heard of Mark’s accident til Matt posted about it, but I found an interview with him and it sounds pretty bad. He must’ve hit the grove of trees at pit in? If so, that’s (obviously) a serious issue as the potential for confusion and contact at that point of the track is high…and so is the speed
I will echo Peter's comment that any track can be either viewed as safe or unsafe, depending on the circumstances, context, and the organization of the event. Even my home track, circuit of the Americas, which has huge amounts of runoff, has claimed a lot of cars in a big way. The runoff is predominately on the outside of turns and at track out, and most of the damage comes on the inside of turns where there is very little runoff room. So it is all contextual. In addition, the ability to write a check and drive out of a dealer with a 700 to 800 HP car had never been easier. And people are buying them in droves and bringing them to the track. They have all sorts of supposed safety systems that give newer and not so new drivers and unwarranted sense of overconfidence, but none of us can overcome the laws of physics.
I would add INDY to the pretty safe tracks listed.... huge line of site, largely flat,.. large runoff virtually everywhere....and very flat curbing..... the SCTF event this year had many spins. virtually no contact or damage ..
12-03-2021 | 11:33 PM
