BostonDMD

I am by all means no authority on the track cones placement, but if you are talking about the front straight, I am guessing they are a visual cue of where you should be and how far from turn in point (only 1 cone before uphill) you are......

dmoffitt

The forcing cones SUCKED at LCMT last time... I understond why they are there to keep people "safe" and from flying off the track toward the birch trees on the left, but did we really need FOUR going half way across the track?

Cones make nice visual markers but don't get used to them - one of my FAVORITE DEs was at Nelson Ledges and they took them away on the 2nd day hahaha, man some people got lost ...

KRA993tt

You did save it. Right after you got lost and no longer committed to turn 7. Glad you were able to keep it off the walls. Lesson learned with no extra dollars involved .

Riff

Interesting, forcing cones. Every DE I have attended they were just off the track surface, never on it. Are the trees really that close???

BostonDMD

Thank you.....and yes very good lesson learned for the rest of the week-end.....

Lady Luck was on my side this time.......

dmoffitt

Nope, there's a wall in the way (it was something of a joke / sarcasm, I always forget that doesn't work on das Intarweb). There was NO need however, a simple "um, and don't stray too far left after braking from the front straight / prior to entering 1 or you'll have an off" at the driver's meeting would have sufficed. That's ok, a few people managed to punt them (by accident, I'm sure) half way through the day

Veloce Raptor

It's nice to see Paolo's newfound humility.

Mike in Chi

Doc

You could have possibly saved it once you were on the grass by letting the car settle before giving it steering input. Your immediate steering input made the car hook. BTDT -- cost me a lot of money.

If you early apex a corner and go off in the grass before track out, drive straight in the grass for a bit, (unless of course,you're going to hit something). Some schools at Road America put a cone in the grass down track and outside from Turn 7 and the Kink (where most hooks occur), and tell drivers to aim for the cone if they early apex and go off. You'll have to fight your instincts on this, but it works.

In a Skippy Race Series pre-race drive-around, the notorious Duck Waddle demonstrated this unannounced in a fully loaded 10 passenger van in the Kink. Drove off before track out in the Kink at 75 MPH (!!!!!!), let the car settle, and drove back on. They could hear the collective gasp of 9 people in the paddock, btw.

BostonDMD

Thanks Mike.....

I remember distinctively that my brain was telling me to keep on going straight on the grass for a bit more, like you said, unfortunately my hands just couldn't wait.....

Thru this, I have learned a very valuable lesson about early apexing and keeping it straight on the off-track surface for as long as possible......

I am glad that luckly it didn't cost me an expensive trip to the body shop (or worst) and it didn't jeopardize any other drivers' safety...........

Noel

Glad you and the car ended up OK. That could have been very bad.

M758

Yep. That is correct to an extent.

Once you get into the grass/dirt there is not much you can do and any "save" is 80% luck and 20% skill. Franly the grip in the dirt or grass is so lousy that most drivers cannot respond to that change fast enough to recalibrate how they would need to drive on dirt or grass. It seems like the most "control" on dirt or grass comes when the driver just rides it out for a few hundred yards. That means, no change in steering, brakes or throttle.

There are spots I have hit the dirt or grass at speed and just stayed with it an come out fine. Was it luck. Well at some point yes, but I do think some of that luck was created by not trying to give the car any inputs. Once thing settled out I could slowly bring the car back on track. At Miller this year I lost concentration and went off in the dirt at track out at 90 mph or so. None the worse for wear I got back on track a few hundred yards later. How did I save it? Well firstly I did not try. I just let the car keep going and very gently adjusted it back on track. Lucky? Maybe but did remember while that was happening that years ago hit the grass and tried to get back on track ASAP. Big mistake as I went spinning around like the good doctor here. I was lucky to escape that one clean and learned to be VERY slow and delibrate to bring the car back on track. No sudden movements.

Still luck plays a large role since any inconsistantices in off track surface can toss the car anywhich way and if that happens correcting that is nearly impossible as you don't really have any control in the first place.

Now in that place on the track it might have been "in-to-the-wall-hard" if the car not spun like it did.

M758

I have done a few races where there were "forcing cones". These were not on the track surface, but mostly on the curbs to keep people from use the edges of the track to make the course wider. They usally don't last long and get hit and knocked out of they way 1-2 laps in. It usally is like "Oh crap.. whacked the cone." Next lap no cone and you use all the road and then some.

Bryan Watts

Those are the cones I hit on the warm-up lap.

M758

I perfer to wait till lap 1. You know when you go two wide and can either wreck or wack the cone... "Honest Mr Race Director... there was no where to go."

On the warm up you risk corner worked calling something in.

Bryan Watts

That's why I get to know the corner workers...you can get away with a lot when you share some cold ones with the corner workers.