LVDell

But Mike, things happen. Think about what happens if you have a mechanical failure. I had an axle break at the end of a high speed straight that resulted in a crazy 720 spin that if it was close to an immovable object I would have made contact. There was NO controlling it (well to an extent). Thank God there was plenty of pavement to save me.

Geoffrey

Dell, 13s are not generally given when there is evidence of a mechanical failure.

MarkM

Dell,

Most people with a proveable mechanical failures like you mention don't get 13's do they?

MarkM

man, slow typing strikes again.

LVDell

I really need to stop drinking in the afternoon

Or in my case, slow thinking strikes again

Geoffrey

From my experience of being a Scrut, we look for any and all evidence of a mechanical failure and I've seen some of them go to great lengths to find evidence. I remember walking through the top level of a transporter looking at a heavily smashed GT3 last year at Sebring, just to look at a ball joint. Contrary to popular belief, the Stewards don't like to give 13s, they are all racers themeselves.

Larry Herman

Fixed it for ya!

Jarez Mifkin

Beat me to it!!!

Kerrigan Smith

I feel the strength in this new ruling lies with not adding insult to injury. Most 13/13's I have known of have been issues with either cold tire conditions or a drying/wet track. Both of these conditions are mistakes that even pro drivers will make at some point in their career. It is nice that now people have a chance to learn from their mistake and move past it in the same weekend.

I praise PCA for giving this a trial run and I hope it becomes the standard for the 13/13.

MarkM

Larry, I'm not the one who sold his car because talent showed up in the class.

Actually, I have never been accused of driving slowly. My problem is the car tends to want to go backwards for some reason.

Sorry to hijack the thread, Larry and I will take this outside.

M758

I my 95 races I have had a total of 1 single car off causing damage. It was on my second hot lap in qualfying at Willow Springs in 2003. I was turing in to turn 9 and the back end stepped out. I correct quickly, but as soon as I did I ran out of asphalt and was going off straight in the dirt at 100+ mph. Bumpy right, but what did not know is that there was a dirt birm way way off track. I ran up the berm at 30-40 mph and tore up the left front of the car. This was 3 minutues into my 2nd session of the weekend. I would accept going home if I did not have the parts to repair it, but it turned out to be an easy repair and I not only started the race later in the afternoon, but also won both saturday and sunday.

In PCA that minor off would have sent me home. Now it was the only time in 95 races and over 100 track days, but still it would have put a really bad taste in my mouth. I already felt like crap about damaging the car and possibly having to go home, but to know I had the parts to fix it, but still have to go home for that would have make it even worse.

Drivers should never plan for an off and hit something, but we are racing and not doing DE. The onbjective in the race group is to run hard and fast. So risk ARE taken and you are expected to push hard. Now it is club racing so no need to wreck it and just walk away approach that some pro's have, but to fear and minor off as ending a weekend is just following with the idea of club level racing. We are all amatures and can make mistakes. I know I have gone off hunderds of times in my time on the track and I always balance the learning I can get from pushing the limit to the risk that comes when exceeding it. I believe I am a fair judge of risk and don't need the PCA NANNY to come tell me you dented the car go home.

John H

The thing that I think sucks about the 13 rule as applied over the years is that if you make a stupid mistake when no one else was around and slide off and ding the tire wall, you were hit a with a 13 and basically had to drive at 80%, run fewer races (none in inclement weather) and just hope nothing happened for 13 months.

It always seemed odd to me that (hypothetically) I could spin on track 6 times in a weekend and cause all kinds of mayhem, but if I was unfortunate enough to slide off near a tire wall and bother no one else's race, I would get a 13.

Chaos

I joined NASA !

944Cup

Great to see PCA continues to look to improve their club racing program while still making PCA a safe and fun place to race. Another positive change in a string of good moves during the last couple of years.

slivel

In view of the number of times that I have seen cars tear off splitters and ding front bodywork by aggressively attacking curbs/gators - not driving out of control, just being too aggressive on the corner, this adjustment to the 13/13 rule seems a reasonable thing to do.