Coochas

I was down at VIR this past weekend for my first ever Spec Atom race (and really only my 2nd ever race weekend!).

I had an absolute blast although I didn't drive as well as I would have liked. Some things never change. There are some really solid drivers in the series and I was impressed. On day 1, I qualified 9th out of 20 on the twisty South course (not a fan). In the race I moved up two positions which for me was the most exciting part of the weekend.

Unfortunately, during Sunday qualifying as I was going down the hill after South Bend I had a sudden loss of control while on the gas at 100 mph. I thought something in the gearbox or rear of the car had suddenly locked up. I fortunately did not hit anything but I was about 10 feet from the tires when I finally stopped. As I sat in the car I could not engage any gears. The clutch was fine. It wasn't until I was allowed to get out of the car that I saw that the left rear wheel assemble was 90 degrees bent. I was shocked.

I think the weld on one of the toe links snapped. Some of the pics below show a clean break at the weld spot.

Of course the worst part about something like this is everyone in the pits asking you what you hit! When you say "nothing," they look puzzled!

Here's the incredible part. TMI (Atom USA) put my car back together in about an hour and I managed to stage for the 2nd race with less than a minute to spare. UNBELIEVABLE. Massive kudos to the guys at TMI. I drove OK in the race although I think I was too adrenergic!

Overall, I really loved spec racing. I plan on going back for the next race on the full course.

Here's the vid of the spin and some pics. The last pic shows what the suspension arms look like intact.

adrial

That's cool that they fixed it quickly, but spec cars shouldn't have structural failures like that without hitting anything.

What is their corrective action?

Coochas

It's not clear at this time. I was told they are testing a new design link on one or more of the cars right now.
The only impact my car has had was on the other side and it was very low speed.
Maybe the corrective action will be simply replacing the involved parts at regular intervals. I don't want to walk on anyone's toes at Ariel, and I know they are thinking on it.

My Atom has over 3000 miles on it (only track of course).

KOAN

Glad you were not hurt. A failure like that...anything could have happened. That's 2 lives down, 7 to go.

TXE36

Were you as close to hitting that flag station as it looked? I've seen flag stations directly ahead when agricultural and it's not a good feeling.

-Mike

Coochas

Thanks Chuck. Problem is I used a bunch of lives when I was young.

I was probably about 10 feet from the tire wall at that station. I definitely was watching it though and let off the brake a bit to try to steer (backwards) away from it.
Ariel USA has a new toe link which is being launched soon.

hf1

Coochas, glad you didn't hit anything when you spun. Was this an arrive & drive deal you did for the weekend? If so do you mind sharing the $ details for it. You could also PM me if you prefer.

Coochas

To run the SRA series you buy a car for 47k ready to race. There are ten races over 5 weekends. Most people leave their cars at TMI. I keep mine as I drive it at many tracks.
For race weekends you can hire TMI for 400/day plus consumables. They will fuel, torque, and assist with anything. I thought they did a fantastic job and will hire them again.

So, to answer your question, most do arrive and drive. BUT you need to buy the car.

Streak

If the above is true there's a lot wrong with putting unsuspecting human crash test dummies out there IMO. If they want to test that stuff they should do it at their own facility and risk their own lives not yours.

There must be more to that failure. Their policy can't be "Hey, let's see if this works," and put a customer in the car to race it.

Glad you had fun though!

Coochas

I've certainly thought like this as well but then I started thinking about whether or not this should be considered a wear item. Certainly there are many who recommend replacing control arms and such at regular intervals.
I don't want to crucify anyone as I don't have enough information.

Coochas

BTW, here is the view from the car behind me.

mrbill_fl

code brown! in the corner station....

jittsl

Bugger. At least you were alone and didn't hit anything. Stuff does break on race cars. We demand they be as light as possible and then go beat the snot out of them. Hopefully that's a one off for you. Lucky pussies have lots of lives.

Matt Romanowski

I doubt they are just guessing at what is a good suspension arm and running human guinea pigs. Just like lots of other race cars, you find some parts start to fail after lots of use and either have to be replaced at specific service intervals or redesigned to last longer.

This high load suspension part went 3,000 track miles. That is a lot of use.

LUV2SPEED2

Buy yourself a lottery ticket ! Your a lucky guy.........