jdistefa

Aw man, sh*t.

Captain Slow

Just horrific. There was a near instructor fatality there last year also..

A bit of an update:
http://www.heraldmailmedia.com/news/...e6d384cd4.html

It sounds like the instructor was teaching a "hyperdrive" session - if they were on the Jefferson course - definitely not a standard DE environment.

BostonDMD

Condolences to the family...... shocking to hear........

Ken89911T

This sucks, big time. My heart goes out to those involved.

SP is one of my favorite tracks, but I've seen/heard about more injuries there than any other track I frequent. Wish they would address some of these safety issues.

Chaos

RIP. So sorry for the family.

aero997c2s

Heard they were on Jefferson. In my opinion no car belongs on that track. No safety when it comes to run off on Jefferson

Julian Allen

This is so very sad. Life is fleeting and we aren't promised tomorrow.
Prayers for the family.

TraqGear

Just awful..and scary. I wonder what safety equipment was used in the car..??

Cyril

Horrible news
R.I.P. and prayers for the family.

Horizontally Opposed Man

The safety equipment in the car hardly matters ,the track safety is the issue .The instructor died from blunt trauma.The blunt trauma was a tree.Don't drive there!!

kurt M

I got the same info that it was on the Jeff. The Jeff was not intended to be a racing venue but a training track. Its corners were all intended to be odd or hard to give more ability to teach car control. Recently they expanded the track but I have not been on it since.

The standard stuff you see in a track car does not help all that much in a T bone with a tree. Non containment floor mounted non deep halo seats standard nascar or X bar systems and the like. The door area is weak even in cars caged with door bars. Tubes have a hard time spreading out the impact load without deforming and allowing intrusion when the hit is concentrated in one area and 90 deg to the tube runs. Most popular seating systems are only bolted to the floor and can flex. In hard offset hits they deform and spill the body out. Body spills out, bars bend in and bad things happen. Very hard to build to resist a hard 90 deg concentrated hit between the A and B pillars. The fix is to make the hits into flat things that help spread the energy out. A guard rail with a row of tires with conveyor belt bolted to the front as example rather than a hard vert cylinder. This helps with car off track but you still need to work on car to car hits. We sit very close to the outside world and have little take up room for side impacts. Helmets and H&N do little when the rest of you is mashed up.

Agree the Jeff needs to be used as originally intended or it needs improved runnoff and catch. I have seen a few car make it into the trees. Most with little energy left by the time they get to the trees. As speeds and use profiles change the track systems need to as well.

I am not commenting on this very sad incident BTW. There is not enough info and too much conjecture on the internets about this.

Veloce Raptor

Yes, Jefferson was intented primarily for DSS tactical training.

TheDatanator

Very sad. R.I.P. Instructor man.

DarkSideDE

This was horrible news - and it always makes me think twice about a sport that I love... if it's worth it.

I thought this a proper space to remind folks of Tom Norby - one of our instructors. He was at CMP - in the right seat, and died instantly when a limb of a tree came in through the passenger side. RIP Tom -

and to the family of the person who has not been named, my deepest sympathy. I'm so sorry for your loss.

TraqGear

I would think safety equipment in the car would be safer than nothing. A cage with door bars are better than having no cage at all in a t-bone. It could have been enough to save a life. Yes, it matters. Not always with the best outcome...it is not perfect. Anyway, it is tragic and I hope it is something to be learned from on some level. I've heard of no less than 4 instructors perish in crashes in the last few years. It's a big deal. Look at everything, track, safety equipment, incident, everything.