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Do tracks do enough to mitigate the impact of going off?

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Old 05-22-2008 | 12:51 AM
  #31  
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Here is a cross post from another rennlister about WSIR. This is totally unneccessary and his car could be saved if that dumb berm/ski jump was smoothed out. It's still there today for the next unlucky victim...


<<Professor,
That reminds me of a qualy at willow springs years ago. Weather was fine and I went out did a decient out lap and stood on it hard. Got in one lap and was working on the second when the car got lose in turn 9 and the only reaction I had was to straighten out and head off into the desert. I ran up a berm and bent the front suspesion. Lucky for everyone else the track stayed green since I was so far off the track. I get dragged and came to find out my 1 complete lap got me class pole. So I fixed the car and won the race from pole. Fun stuff.>>
Old 05-22-2008 | 09:11 AM
  #32  
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While we worry about our safety in the car, how about flag stations? Many are really unsafe...

I lost a friend when a vette hit the unsecured jersey barricade and both landed on him. In the flag station!

Thats an often neglected, & overlooked area of safety. IMHO.

-(very few stations I would want to be in with a flying loose wheel headed my way... for $75 a day)

Last edited by mrbill_fl; 05-22-2008 at 02:18 PM.
Old 05-22-2008 | 09:21 AM
  #33  
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Originally Posted by fatbillybob
Well yes but I think 2 guys died at BW in the last 5 yrs from rolls. They could still do alot to repack the dirt to the level of the track so that cars are not encouraged to dig in and flip. WSIR could do many things too. Some of the offs at WSIR are like a motocross track with jumps.
The one incident at BW with 2 deaths in a rollover, as I recall, was a street car doing LUNCH LAPS at what was near parade lap speed - no helmets, no safety equipment. Went off outside Magic Mountain, can dug into the soft dirt and rolled. BW has a lot of run off room but a lot of soft dirt that will allow a car to dig in.

WSIR has some nasty spots - combination of rocks, large grave and soft dirt. Fortunately the only really big off I ever had there was in the Radical when I decided I could do T1 flat - damn near made it too - LOL.
Old 05-22-2008 | 11:08 AM
  #34  
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Originally Posted by fatbillybob
Here is a cross post from another rennlister about WSIR. This is totally unneccessary and his car could be saved if that dumb berm/ski jump was smoothed out. It's still there today for the next unlucky victim...


<<Professor,
That reminds me of a qualy at willow springs years ago. Weather was fine and I went out did a decient out lap and stood on it hard. Got in one lap and was working on the second when the car got lose in turn 9 and the only reaction I had was to straighten out and head off into the desert. I ran up a berm and bent the front suspesion. Lucky for everyone else the track stayed green since I was so far off the track. I get dragged and came to find out my 1 complete lap got me class pole. So I fixed the car and won the race from pole. Fun stuff.>>

That post came from me. And to be honest it there was not a ski jump anywhere. I went off track straight at 100+ mph and got on the brakes hard as I got in the dirt. I figured I was fine because I could not see anything infront of me. I figure just wait for the car to slow and then clean our the dirt. Well at 100+ mph and soft dirt the brakes don't work all that well. It probably took me 100 yards to slow down and by this time I noticed a large (5-6 ft) berm that formed the edge of the track. So at maybe 30 mph I ran up that berm.
Damage was
- Torn up front spoiler
- Bent left front tie rod
- twisted left front control arm

Nothing else was damaged. Not even the wheel. So while the car did not roll after that I had it fixed in 2 hrs and need only a spare control arm. Total damage bill was $25 since I had spare parts car spoiler at home and I could hammer straight the tie rod.

I will see if I can find a picture of where the berm was in relation to the racing surface.
Old 05-22-2008 | 01:29 PM
  #35  
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In my opinion, there is no excuse for not removing rocks and grooming the runoffs to be reasonably smooth. That is low hanging fruit and wouldn't cost too much to take care of.
Old 05-22-2008 | 02:14 PM
  #36  
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Originally Posted by Bull
Ah, got it! It is just my natural tendency to give people the benefit of the doubt and go easy on them I guess.
That's just crazy talk....
Old 05-22-2008 | 02:37 PM
  #37  
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We are the main customer for a lot of the tracks in our area. Unlike the big name tracks that have been mentioned, i.e LS, VIR, WG, the tracks we are frequenting are older or are no longer in vogue for the racing circuit. They may have one or two races a year that bring in large chunks of money but we are their regular customers. And I agree with the vast majority of the respondents, the tracks are not doing enough. As to the static barriers (walls) many of them cannot be moved, however many of them could be made temporary and easily moved for us. The run offs can be made so that we do not destroy the undersides of our cars from minor run offs. The culverts in the infield can be redesigned so that they do not eat your car, etc.

Please excuse the rant but I have seen too many people having their weekend ruined because of a minor off.
Old 05-14-2010 | 04:02 PM
  #38  
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Originally Posted by mglobe

Post of the week. Or maybe the year. Whatever, captured for posterity. See my sig.
And 2 years later it's still there!

Musta made a helluva impression.

Old 05-14-2010 | 05:59 PM
  #39  
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Originally Posted by Randy V
And 2 years later it's still there!

Musta made a helluva impression.

I wondered what caused this thread to be dredged up. And honestly I had forgotten where I pulled the Bull quote from.
Old 05-15-2010 | 12:19 AM
  #40  
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There are some reeeallly old tracks around that haven't changed much over the years...some only a little bit just recently. FWTW.
Old 05-15-2010 | 10:25 AM
  #41  
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There's always Lake Lakeville at Lime Rock in the esses. Plenty of money, plenty of races, no permanent solution for the lake. It really does stuff up the underside of the car with an off.
Old 05-15-2010 | 08:49 PM
  #42  
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As I've said so many times, Watkins Glen is the most culpable on this topic. I'm looking forward to seeing these new improvements....



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