TrackdayRSA.

Speed Secrets
3 hrs ˇ
WARNING: Long post - Time for a Reality Check, HPDE.
I'm pissed off. And sad, feeling very bad for the family and friends of a driver who was recently killed when participating in an HPDE event at Road Atlanta.
I understand that he died doing what he enjoyed, and that's a good thing. I'm all for that way of living life. I've done that for the past 58 years. I also get it, that stuff happens (last December, a blood clot from leg surgery a week earlier triggered a pulmonary embolism - causing me to die for about five minutes - so I really get that "stuff happens"!).
We can't eliminate all danger from our sport, or from our lives. And one can argue that we shouldn't eliminate all danger in our lives, for the right amount of it helps us feel even more alive. But too much risk, especially risk that is relatively easy to reduce, is something we should... no, must, minimize.
A few small changes could help reduce the risks involved in many motorsport events, and that would be a good thing.
For example, Motorsport Safety Foundation (www.motorsport-safety.org) is doing some really great work, like making head and neck restraint devices available on a rental basis to keep the cost down for low-budget and infrequent participants. That's the kind of smart thinking that will help reduce the number of injuries and even deaths.
I'm all for HPDE events being easy for participants to get involved in. That's their purpose: to introduce people to the sport, and help them learn how to drive better.
What doesn't make sense, and what pisses me off, is this: Street cars with little to no safety equipment are allowed to drive far faster than race cars that are fully-equipped with safety equipment.
Why is a fast car (you name it - an Audi S4, BMW M3, Porsche Cayman, Corvette, Viper, Mustang or Camaro...), with no more than its standard seat belts, allowed to drive at speeds of 40 MPH or more faster than a race-prepared Spec Miata, which has a roll cage, proper seat, harnesses, window net, and head restraints? Is the driver in the HPDE event (often wearing an open face helmet without a head and neck restraint), a more skilled driver? Possibly, but unlikely.
When a driver is hurt or killed driving a car that has as much safety equipment as we currently know of (like with a race-prepared car), then I feel as though we've done our very best to minimize the risks. But to send a street car, designed to handle highway-speed crashes, out on a track without any additional safety equipment is irresponsible.
And we must stop doing this!
I get it. HPDE events are meant to be entry-level events, with a low barrier to entry. They're not supposed to require participants to equip their car with roll bars, race seats and harnesses, and window nets. That's too much of an investment for someone who's just coming into the sport, and may not stay, to make.
So what do we do? It seems really simple to me. We either make cars have all the safety equipment, or we control speeds.
For most tracks, controlling speed would only need to be in one or two places - the highest speed places, the longish straightaways. Yes, it's going to require someone with some common sense to decide where these speed restrictions will be put in place, and how. But if we don't have someone with common sense running these events, then we've got another (bigger?) problem.
If an HPDE event - a High Performance Driver Education event - is not about education, then someone with common sense also needs to shut it down. And let me ask, how much education is going on when someone is driving over 120, 140, or even more down a straightaway? How much learning is going on? How much skill does it take to drive down a straightaway at high speed? Sure, it takes some, and I understand that the thrill for some drivers is seeing how fast their car will go on the straight. But after a driver has been down a straightaway very fast a few times, the thrill rubs off, and it’s the twisty bits that are most fun and challenging. We all know that.
So, have two classes: one for safety-equipped cars with no speed restriction, and another for street stock cars with a speed restriction. Drivers have a choice:
1. Want to see how fast your car can go? Pony up for the safety equipment.
2. Want to work on learning to be a better driver, developing your road course driving skills? Then it's okay to drive a street stock car, but you'll have a restriction on how fast you can drive on the straightaways.
Controlling and enforcing straightaway speeds is not that difficult. One way is a simple chicane, set up with cones in the right places on the track. Speed limit zones at specific areas of the track, with the threat of being sent home from the event for non-compliance, works very well (I've run enough schools myself to know this works), especially in an HPDE environment where most drivers have an instructor on board with them. Or maybe it's time that HPDE event organizers purchased a simple radar/digital speed readout, along with a black flag for anyone driving above a set speed.
Straightaway speeds are not the only problem, but it's the place to start, as it's usually the area that leads to the biggest risk of heavy impact in a crash. Again, it takes someone with common sense, the ***** to stand up for the safety of participants, and the ability to say, "Just because we haven't done this in the past, that doesn't mean we shouldn't be doing it now. We need to make changes. Cars have gotten faster, so we need to adapt the way we run our events to these cars." Those people are out there, and happily involved with our sport.
I know some event/school organizers are going to scream that putting these speed limitations in place will reduce the number of drivers coming to their events. Guess what? Drivers getting injured and killed also reduces participation numbers! (Imagine going home to your spouse after an HPDE event and telling him/her that a fellow participant was killed...).
And, excuse me! It's okay to put people at risk of death in the interests of having more people register to participate?
We assume that by limiting the speed that the drivers who choose not to equip their cars with safety equipment will not participate in HPDE programs. How do we know that? That's actually a pretty big assumption. Has anyone done a proper survey (and I'm not talking about a "survey of one")? There may be more drivers than we think who would actually feel better about having straightaway speeds controlled.
How many more drivers or instructors at HPDE events need to be injured or killed before we do something about it? Or before insurance rates, or track regulations make it so that event organizers can't afford to operate anymore? What impact will that have on the number of participants?!
Yes, the driver who was recently killed was doing what he enjoyed. But I can guarantee that he didn't sign up for what happened to him. Some will say that we accept risk every time we head out on the track, but that’s a lousy excuse. Sure we do, but that’s not an excuse for not doing what we can to minimize the risk.
Some will say that the driver who was killed was unlucky that a car had blown its engine and put oil down on the track, and stuff happens. But that’s a lousy excuse, too. Why not do whatever we can to minimize risks, to reduce what happens when stuff happens?
My condolences to the driver's family and friends.
What do you think? I'd love to hear your thoughts on this critical topic. Or more important, who's willing to stand up and take this on?

winders

This is a "knee jerk" reaction to a sad event. Straightaway speeds are not the only safety issue drivers face at a track event. You would also need to limit speeds in many corners at various tracks as well.

Veloce Raptor

Straightaway speed limits are fine and some groups use them now in green. Some also disallow R compound tires in green and blue.

But you still have to keep the sport accessible ... And attractive.

Coochas

As I recall, the instructor who died at Summit Point was from a relatively low speed lateral impact, so I agree with what you are saying.

I think Ross makes some excellent points but it is not clear to me how to 'fix' the problem. Certainly cars have gotten faster over the years but they've also evolved in terms of safety (better crash protection, electronic nannies). A two run group strategy (stock versus safety prepared) is interesting but will it 'drive' people away from participating?

I'd like the see an analysis of all the DE accidents which either killed or seriously injured participants/instructors to get a better understanding of what led to the crashes (driving error, poorly maintained car or someone else's car, braking, high speed turns etc etc).

winders

I think the biggest issue is that many of the cars used today at HPDE events are just too much for the drivers that drive them. They are capable of high straightaway and corner speeds that allow less capable drivers to get in way over their heads quite easily. Add to that the safety equipment designed for the road and you have a recipe for some serious injuries and deaths.

You can't require that all high performance cars have a full cage, race seats, 6 point belts, and require the driver to wear a head and neck device.

TXE36

I agree, seems very knee jerky to me as well. Oil/coolant on the track is a tricky hazard to deal with. I nearly t-boned a friend and damned near totaled my car on a patch of this stuff, not on a straightaway and not going all that fast. I could have very easily rolled the car, or hit a flag station head on, or Juan Pablo'ed into the flagger's parked truck.

Without knowing the specifics of this crash, it is difficult to even tell if safety equipment was much of a factor. Even if one thinks speed limits are a good idea, how would you enforce it?

As an instructor I do put a speed limit on the straights with my students that is in proportion to my confidence that they know what they are doing at the end of the straight. The hope is once they solo, they have demonstrated the aptitude to handle the car. The success of this directly rides on the instructor corps and the criteria for promotion. IMO, any student relying on active driver aids should not be promoted and, if anything, perhaps should be demoted if observed. It makes me cringe to see PSM saving a car in the top student or (cough, cough) an instructor run group.

-Mike

944hal

I wouldn't call it knee jerky. I wouldn't be surprised if the writer hadn't given this situation some thought, prior to the incident at Road Atlanta. I surely have as an instructor. There is definitely a safety issue with street cars driving at speed on a race track. I think the article is a wake up call. I don't have an answer, but it sure is worth discussing. If we are not proactive, we'll end up being reactive at some point. I also do not think the issue is with the instructed groups so much as with solo. As another article recently stated, there is a GAP that occurs between safety and increased speed as the driver get more experienced. The more comments the better. Maybe some from the organizations sponsoring these events. Yeah we all sign a release, but that doesn't promote or excuse looking for better safety solutions. I also agree that PSM breeds overconfidence.

mglobe

Its certainly a topic worth thought and discussion. But I'm not sure I agree with the idea of across the board speed limits. And I don't think we can ever completely eliminate risk in our "industry". Manage risk? Yes. Eliminate it? No way.

I've seen incidents at speeds attainable by cars that are not all that fast that could have been very serious but for some fortune. In fact I've really only seen a couple of incidents that were at speeds anyone would consider outside of the envelope.

I wonder what the statistics are really like. Are we safer on the highway than the track? I doubt it.

cec3

In mountaineering/climbing, we have an annual collection of accidents (which are described with as much detail as known) that is published with the sole purpose of helping everyone else learn and not make the same mistakes. Similar idea would be very useful for club-level racing/DE.

sbelles

The difference there is that with the possible exception of professional guides, nobody has liability on the line. It'll never happen in HPDE or club racing.


More skiers die from hitting trees then anything else. Clear cutting the mountains or at least banning tree skiing would solve most of that. I'm sure glad they don't. I'm much more worried about being the guy who drops the oil then the guy who hits it.

mkd944

I respectfully have to disagree with Ross regarding not taking any skill to drive fast on the straights. Of course, since I do not track my 911 as much anymore, I am in usually driving a Miata. Nonetheless, my straightaway speed is an indicator of my corner exit speed and contributes to my total lap time. And these factors (corner exit speed, straightaway speed, lap time) are all important as part of my Driver Education.

Regarding chicanes as a solution...As drivers will still be interested in maximizing lap times and getting through the chicane as fast as possible, it may just shift the hazard to the chicane. Especially, in the open passing groups where the chicane typically allows one car at a time. Admittedly, if there is an accident in the chicane, the cars will be traveling slower.

I do commend Ross for starting this discussion. My first reaction is that it is a bit of a knee jerk and swings the pendulum too far. However, I do agree with some of the points he makes and think that we need to encourage, or possibly even mandate, better safety equipment in all cars that are driving in the advanced run groups. I really hate the idea of mandating, but because so much is potentially at stake, most importantly lives but also the future of HPDE, maybe now is the time or maybe this is my own knee jerk.

Just my $.02

audipwr1

Over 200 treadwear tires if not full safety gear

Veloce Raptor

I wonder if Pastor had these same issues?

winders

That is just arbitrary.

audipwr1

This whole conversation is just arbitrary and opinion based, what's your point?