Geneman

can you guys chill out ?!

GT3 Techno

spg993tt

you cant really handle that situation any more professionally and composed than he tried. he tapped the brakes in advance a fairly professionally experienced move that most club guys never do, most pros know the importance of doing. infact i think he tapped it like 6 times. he did a double tap and went back to it so maybe he realized he'd have an issue. he got to the right, he put that clutch in and tried shifting down.
what more could one have asked other than to have pulled the e-brake

Nizer

Yup. Only thing he forgot to do was let go of the wheel before impact. Textbook. And damned lucky it happened at COTA.

hf1

So I assume the brake check "passed"? He stayed at WOT some time after the check. That's some bad luck -- brakes passing a check then complete failure seconds after. He did everything he possibly could after that, other than pulling the e-brake, of course.

EDIT: But that hit looked so hard even into those cushy barriers. Can't imagine how that would feel/look if it was armco/wall.

spg993tt

my guess he was unsure. its a street brake system probably so probably mushy most of the time, but he went back to it, so i assume something didnt feel right, but i dont think you're exactly feeling everything right then and there, and 'soft brakes' are probably not uncommon at COTA with so many hard brake zones. the guy acted as reasonably as a team owner or fellow competitor could expect.
he tested the brakes, maybe was unsure, kept on it, realized he had an issue, engine brakes, he avoided destroying a competitor's race, didnt hurt anyone, turn the car sideways which probably saved himself. guy got it done right.

Iridium

The thing I noticed is how high his head is in the halo. I would want that halo higher up so it doesn't act as a fulcrum in that type of hit. It helped for sure but I bet he is at the high side of where it did. Every halo I have sat on puts the helmet right in the middle of the pad. He must be super tall or have a tall torso.

Imho he handled that very well.

mark kibort

He did everything right! ! that was scary wow!!!!!

mark kibort

Hear that vibration before he hit the brakes.....that probably was a clue something wasn't right.

by the way Dave, he didn't hit that wall at 137mph...... he dropped two gears and that probably saved his life. I would estimate that impact at about 60-80, and those barriers saved his axx. Great technology!

again, fantastic job going through the gears and avoiding traffic......... however, in the sake of life preservation, he might consider rear ending the guy in front of him next time if he is not at COTA turn 12 with the same run off distance.

txhokie4life

Glad to see he climbed out of that ok.
Just shows you how quickly things can go wrong.

No reason this couldn't have been a DE and not a race. Shows the importance
of safety equipment on track (and how nice it is to be on a safe track!)

Mike

analogmike

I agree he did a great job. Also great to see the side net in action, it may have saved him or at least prevented injuries.

baddogz28

Holy smokes, those barriers made it look like an easy hit on the broadcast!!! That was scary to watch... That's the perfect ad for proper safety gear.