Veloce Raptor

On first blush, does anyone else feel that they were running the track in the wrong direction? Open ends of Armco should never face into the direction of travel...

Drew_K

That's exactly what it looked like to me.

TXE36

That's the scary thing about this as I don't think there is much an instructor can do if a student has a brain fart at the wrong time. A mechanical could have done the same thing.

I suspect the most improvement in risk to eliminate things to hit that will concentrate forces like the exposed end of a guardrail. That thing was like hitting a tree.

-Mike

ProCoach

They've reported that the course was being run in reverse direction, and it appears from pictures that this occurred at the exit of a turn into the infield off the oval (or higher speed) section. A recipe for disaster...

I have spent a tremendous amount of time driving and studying the trajectories (and placement as well as construction of adjacent barriers) coming off and going back onto ovals throughout the Southeast.

One of my first track event was at at Charlotte and I was CI, classroom or drove hundreds of schools and races at Charlotte, Rockingham, AMS and Daytona.

These are known, high-risk areas ripe for improvement (or at least review).

The problem is that folks don't do this until AFTER an incident...

Not sure there was a damned thing the passenger (who was the facility GM, too) could have done from the right seat, in the car.

GTgears

That's the root of my comment.

gums

i saw this on FB and immediately commented that it looks from the design of the guardrail that they were travelling in the wrong direction.

pontifex4

Could they have been trying to balance the wear on the facility cars' tires by running in both directions?

Tragic for all involved, for sure.

Gofishracing

- from an "observer" The real problem here could have been the track. If you look at the photo where the incident apparently occurred, the car appears to have gone off to the inside of the track where there is a gap in the Armco. If the car struck the end of the Armco on the passenger door, that would have been a very dangerous direct impact rather than a glancing impact.
Looks like a bad day for the Petty Driving Experience.

"Insanity? 25 yr old kid w/o any experience sold on racing an exotic car as fast as he can for 8 laps, with a "professional" instructor. Would you get into a car under those circumstances?
What we do is dangerous enough without being part of such a dangerous scenario. "

maxpowers

I was actually thinking of going to the driving experience after my trip to Disney coming up. There is also one close to where I live that I've done before and was planning on doing again.

Is this the 1st time this has happened, or are there other cases? Now I'm getting a little nervous about trying it.

On another note. I read an article recently about how certain guard rail designs are safer than others. This is a huge tragedy and I feel terrible for all involved and affected

mglobe

I can't help but think along these lines. Could something like this happen at a conventional DE? Yes, probably. But it's less likely to happen when folks have more time to be instructed, and more time to drive. You have 8 laps in the car? And you are 24? You are probably going to "go for it" right away. When you have two days, you are likely to explore the car and your limitations in a more careful and relaxed fashion.

RIP to the instructor. I feel for the driver as well. What a horrible thing to have to live with.

Weston Dillard

I think it's highly unlikely anyone is allowed to drive "as fast as they can" at this deal. Regardless, all of us who instruct have to realize that even at a "manageable" speed, sometimes it all goes bad and there may not be jack you can do. BTW - I don't mean to say we shouldn't be aware of safety stuff like the barrier mentioned in this thread.

West

JCP911S

Mickey's going to lose both ears and a tail.

As an instructor you can advise, but there is little you can do if a student makes a really serious driving mistake. You're "spam in a can."

I prefer the PCA model where the student owns the car... at least they have some skin in the game... and the instructors are volunteers and can tell the boss to "shove it" without a loss in pay.

I don't like this business model.

I have 20+ years of driving/instructing/racing experience and would still be very cautious, and intimidated driving a Lambo or Ferrari on the track...

Putting a 24 year old novice in such a car, with no experience, and a sense of entitlement ("hey, I paid $250 for this"), just seems plain stupid...

I'm not going to vilify the driver, as I think that is unfair without the facts... however, I question what the execs who approved this were thinking.

IMHO, both the instructor and, potentially, the driver were victims of an irresponsible operation.

This is tragic, but hopefully his family will be taken care of.

Veloce Raptor

+1

I am pretty sure they even publish the speeds you are allowed to go in each program. That said, unless the instructor has an instantaneous kill switch, nothing prevents some jackass from suddenly ignoring the instructor and nailing the gas to show their "talent"...whereupon said 'talent" rapidly evaporates before the instructor can regain control of the situation.

No clue whether this occurred here--it might be a simple as a blown tire. However, as someone who makes a very good living entirely by coaching other drivers & racers--primarily from the right seat--I am acutely aware of West's words every time I get into a client's car.

trev0006

More photos and video.

5 pictures and video in the gallery

.

GTgears

I've got a buddy who doesn't track his cars (why, I don't know) but who did the Vegas version of this. He did indicate that the instructors were very conservative and that they get on you hard if go beyond the established limits.

Now, I don't want to be critical of the instructor, whom I did not know, but some of the media reports suggest there was a personal relationship between him and the kid driving the car? Any truth to that? And if so, did the instructor possibly make a judgment error by letting someone he had a relationship with push the car harder than he would have normally done?

Though I still think the backwards barrier is the primary consideration here.