Hey guys,

I have gotten a few PM's and I appreciate the concern, it was not me however, but a good friend of mine..Our cars look very similar...He had two off braking into Ricochet and at "turn in" the car slid, hit the curbing and went into the air, the nose bit into the ground and that sent them end over end..He was shaken up pretty bad...I drove down to MSR and took him home..It was a regular member day and he had an instructor with him..It's hard for me to watch the video, but this is a major wake up call for me personally as to how dangerous this hobby can be..

-Dan

 

Here is the perspective of my friend, who was in the right seat:

"It was a street legal 911 GT3 Ruf that was driven to the track.

I rode in the car with the driver. The video is from a driver in another 911 on the track who was coming out of Big Bend.

The car has a roll bar, racing seats, 6 point harnesses, no window nets, and we both had racing suits on. We were using a Chatterbox mic system, going over his line during the first 2 run sessions of the day. I had just put down my face shield because a piece of dirt got in my eye.

The track was set up in the 3.1 configuration. We were coming up the hill from the new section of the track to the old section of the track, in the counterclockwise direction. Because the car is so strong, we were going at least 100mph up the hill. After we crested the hill, we started down towards the turn in point on the right side of the track. About 20-30 feet short of the turn in cone, we had two wheels go off on the right. The driver didn’t realize that we had two wheels off, and started turning the car left. We then shot left across the track, and we were facing the inside edge curbing, about 30 feet short of the apex cone. I thought to myself, “this is going to really mess up his front spoiler. I bet these are expensive…” The front left tire hit the curbing, then the middle of the car between the wheels, and then the right tire. The impact was so fast and hard that I remember everything going black, and hearing heavy, crunching sounds, and the sound of our weight skipping on rocky dirt with gaps in the noise. I had no sense of up or down, but remember getting thrown around violently. I do remember thinking to myself, “Well, at least I have my will in order and the medical directive is all set up if this doesn’t work out well…”

I don’t remember coming to a stop, but we ended rightside up, on the trackout side of the turn, towards the lake, facing the direction of the track if we had been on it. I remember being pulled out of the car, and later found out that the guy from the 911 behind us (you can see it in the video) was the first one to us, and he pulled me out. The driver unbuckled my harnesses, and I was able to get up and walk away, dizzy. I lost the sense of time, but the EMS crew was there very fast, as I was sitting down in the grass when I realized one of the EMS guys was talking to me. I started gaining my senses back at that point, but my memory was fuzzy.

The driver was able to get out also, and we were both checking on each other and the damage. The only physical mark on either one of us was a small cut above his nose. I had lost the eyeport shield from my helmet, and the Chatterbox system was broken and laid about a dozen feet away. The engine was on fire which they were putting out, and the front right tire was gone. The front end of the car was squished into the middle of trunk, and the left tire was jammed at about a 45 degree angle from vertical. The passenger seat was tilted towards the door, so I’m not sure if it shifted when the bottom of the car hit the curbing, or that it shifted during one of the rollovers. The rear spoiler and a bunch of other parts were scattered on the infield, across the track, and the trackout area of the grass. The roof was solidly intact, and just dented down about a few inches. The airbags had blown, and I didn’t ever see them coming or going, so I don’t know when they inflated. The windshield frame was intact, and I can’t remember what the actual windshield looked like.

The MSR crew and EMS team did a great job getting to us, and cleaning up the mess. I had driven my truck out there, and told the EMS that I would drive back to Dallas and go to the ER there. I was starting to get a big headache, and knew that my neck and muscles were going to be in a lot of pain. The driver called a friend who was coming out to pick him up.

We rode back in the MSR pickup to one of the garages, while pulling the car on a flat bed trailer. As you can expect, there was quite a crowd by that point. I don’t have any pictures of the car, but I don’t think it will be repaired. One of the drivers told us he had video of the accident, and showed us his hi def camcorder with the footage.

I left Cresson and started driving back to Dallas. Realizing that I would be in the ER waiting room for a few hours, I stopped at Burger King for some tasty chicken strips (as previously disseminated by my PR Firm of Rob/Ron/Curry Enterprises). This was the first time that I realized that I had some injury from the chin strap of the helmet. It cut up my throat and bruised by skin and esophagus, and I took a small chunk out of the side of my tongue when I bit it during a rollover. While quite the finger food, it was hard to swallow the delectable bird, but I soldiered on.

When I got to Dallas, (x) and I went to Baylor ER, and waited for about an hour for the triage station. The nurse’s eyes bugged out when I told her what happened, and she was wondering why and how I drove all the way back to Dallas. They then put me in a neck collar to hold my head still, in the event that I had brain bleeding. I felt ok, but the soreness was starting to really get cranked up.

They brought me into the ER bay, and threatened to cut off my favorite Spam t-shirt. I protested enough that they left it on me, untouched by the destructive blades of a pair of scissors, and hooked up the cardio equipment to my chest to get some readings. They then took me to the CAT scan, which strangely enough has a small enough hole for a cat, and they jammed me in there for a few minutes. I felt like I was back in the womb, except it smelled like Pine-Sol.

Next, they did some Xrays, asked me a bunch of questions, and asked about the accident some more. The driver called me while I was there to check in, and said he was going to go to the doctor’s office the next day. My attending doctor said he needs to go right away to the ER because if his brain is bleeding, he won’t see it coming and it will kill him quickly. So the driver and his wife went to the ER for their checkup (he’s ok also).

I got to see the video last night on Youtube, and was shocked at the violence of the crash. I got a much better video today with higher resolution, and it was even more surprising to see how it all happened. I can’t believe we lived through that.

Lessons Learned:

-------------------------

Rollbars are great. That one saved us.

I need to look into a HANS or similar head/neck restraint.

The harnesses and racing seats worked great. I’m sore on my entire upper body from getting thrashed around against the roof, door, harnesses, and my helmet strap. My legs, knees, etc. are surprisingly unbruised or sore.

 

Wow! Glad everyone is OK!

It looks like a pretty large cloud of fluid in the video. Coolant or gas?

Be safe out there guys!

p.s.

Do you think my students will mind if we stay in 2nd gear from now on?

 

wow - so glad everyone is ok~!!!!

 

I am very greatful everyone is all right. I can understand how the accident happened. If you get a really good run from the bottom of the hill, you will be doing over 100 before you hit the top of the hill. At that speed, if you don't give a slight lift, you completely unload the suspension on the crest of the hill. This causes you to come down late into the braking zone. He was probably closer toward the middle or right side of the track after the transition from the new to old section. When he unloaded the suspension coming over the hill, he dropped 2 wheels off the right side. The only way he could have prevented the accident was to drive straight off. At that speed on the downside of the hill, it would have been impossible for him not to spin with bringing 2 tires abruptly back up on the track.

It is very similar to the EVO crash at MSR a year ago. A Lancer EVO dropped 2 tires off the outside of Boot Hill. He stayed on the gas and tried to turn abruptly back on the track. When he did, the car turned instantly to the curb/berm inside the turn. When he hit the curb/berm, it blew both front tires. The infield was wet from rain the night before. The soft infield allowed the wheels to dig in and flipped the car over on its top. Given that this accident was a much more violent wreck flipping multiple times, it is really amazing that no one was hurt. It really shows the benefits of having proper safety equipment in the car.

I did something similar about a year and a half ago. I was coming up the hill on the inside (left side) and unloaded the suspension on the hill coming up to ricochet. I knew I was in trouble as I was late into the braking zone when the car settled, but I decided not to drive off the back end. I decided to brake to the last cone, get on the gas, turn and stay on the gas no matter what. I went into a slide/spin immediately at about 100 mph with the back end going immediately right. Despite staying on the gas and turning hard into the spin, the car would not climb the hill to straighten out. I slid with the back end sliding faster than the front end about 2/3 the way down the straight before coming to a stop, almost all the way to the corner worker station on the right. I came to a rest with my right front tire on the left side of the track facing backwards. Greg in the 330Ci was behind me and drove off the outside of the track to avoid me while I was sliding/spinning. I have never since that day taken the hill before ricochet on the 3.1 without at least lifting before the crest of the hill.

 

I remember you coming to a stop around track out of ricochet about 3/4 of a car width from the right track edge. When you were loosing it I had already turned in for ricochet, I just straightened the wheel in Ricochet and hit the brakes going off straight at about 30-40mph to the outside passing you in the grass. Atleast that's how I remember it...

EDIT- Then you pulled over to the opposite side of the track/inside to let other cars by IIRC since you were right at track out.

 

I can remember being still on the gas as the car was sliding, being sideways on the track and seeing a black streak go across my rearview mirror. Other than the streak in my rearview mirror, I never saw you go around and continue on. I was still sliding and rotating when you went around. I can remember you saying afterwards you went off/around me at the corner exit. I don't remember if you drove completely off or just 2 wheels. You are correct that when I came to a stop, I immediately drove the car off the track on the inside (up the hill). Right after I saw a streak of you in my rear view mirror (even though I was still sliding), my thoughts immediately switched to the safety of the other drivers. As soon as the car came to a rest, I immediately drove it off the track and did not enter back on until I knew for sure it was safe.

For those who don't know, this was the exact spot where the only fatality at MSR happened. In a Formula Mazda race, one car spun in Ricochet and was stalled on track near the track out. A car behind him saw him on track when starting the turn. The driver could have driven straight off the outside, but decided instead to try to climb to the inside of the track to go around. He was unsuccessful and hit the back of the stalled car on track, killing him instantly. As each of these accidents have shown, we should never forget the potential danger in doing these events and not just to ourselves, but also to the others out there with us.

 

I'm glad you're all right, Veloce Raptor. Thanks for writing it up.

An inadvertent benefit for the rest of us is that your story means we'll all go back out with a renewed sense of how dangerous this can be. I know I'll be cinching down my harness straps a little tighter, wearing my Isaac, remembering your close call the next time I go out.

 

I spoke with the driver after the incident. It has really reminded me just how serious this activity is. It's easy to get careless. I hope I don't forget how I felt talking to him.

 

This actually brings up an interesting question in my mind. In the situation you described above, with other cars coming up behind you, is it better to sit still assuming that the cars behind you see where you are and that you are stopped, knowing they are already planning a line around you? If you start moving after you've come to a rest when traffic is behind you, might you risk wandering into the path of a car behind you that is planning his line around you assuming you are stationary? Visibility all the way through trackout in Richochet is quite good. Not saying you did the wrong thing, this is as much a general question as it is based on the description of your incident above. If a person spins and comes to a rest (both feet in) on the "line" or in track-out, should they sit tight until the traffic behind them is past, or try to move out of the way immediately?

 

They should look at the nearest flag station first.

 

As Geoffrey says, but depending on the track I am at (quality of flaggers present) and how blind I am for oncoming traffic, I might move the car to avoid being hit.

 

Glad they both are OK. Sobering. Glad I have a full cage and safety equipment. Next on the list is a HANS.

I also noticed the video is gone or restricted now.

 

In the case of my incident, traffic was actually in front of me; not behind me as I came to a rest facing backwards on the track. Blocking part of the track, I drove off the track the side I was closest to; on the uphill side going away from the line. There was no other traffic immediately behind Greg, so I had no issue getting off the track.

Coming to a rest on track with traffic behind you can be very dangerous. If you have a flag station near you, rely on their signals to guide you. They have the radio to communicate with other stations and more visibility that you do. There are places where you may not see a flag station. In this case you have to use best judgement. What would be your normal reaction if someone else was stopped where you are stopped and was looking to get around? If you saw a car stopped on course near one side of the track (even if it was on stopped on the line), would your natural response be to drive around on the open side of the track where there is more room? The general guideline I consistantly hear is to wait for traffic to go around and drive off the side closest to you if you need to drive off the track.

Both feet in applies when you are driving off under control. The last thing you want to do in a 911 when the back-end comes around in a corner is hit the brake. While it may work in a front engine car that understeers, it won't work in a 911 with all the weight out back. Hitting the brakes in a corner can turn a slide into a violent spin.

You are supposed put both feet in to drive off safely if you drop a tire(s) off the track or if you know you will not make a turn. Wait to slow down enough to re-enter the track safely. What makes a good driver? A good driver goes off facing forward, not backwards.

 

How do you watch the video??
thanks in advance?