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Agreed, ironic to call it a 'safety track' with all those trees. Trees are among the worst hazards in runoff areas faced by vehicle passengers (on both road and track). I read that the track was designed by motorcycling enthusiasts, and I don't know if they had any proper engineering input on the safety aspect.
Driver could use some guidance. Too much use of the equipment. Just my humble opinion. Trees are better then concrete. Overall, much respect to be on the track. Enjoy.
Not always. Tree trunks can spear through a car, and an instructor I knew was killed that way. Tree branches can also come through windows. Decent-sized tree trunks also don't yield much, so don't be fooled by trees being woody and branches being flexible.
With a concrete barrier, you generally won't have the spearing problem unless hitting an unprotected end of a barrier. Unfortunately, that has happened on tracks as well, where such protection was lacking.
Trees are better then concrete. Overall, much respect to be on the track.
Um, no. Hitting a big wide immovable object is much preferable to hitting a very narrow immovable object. A tree is one of the nastiest things to hit street or track.
I've got a bad feeling one of those unprotected trees is going to kill someone who is unlucky or runs out of talent.
If the barriers are not far enough in front of the trees, what happened to Allan Simonsen at Le Mans could happen again. He hit Armco backed by a tree.
-Mike
Last edited by TXE36; 04-24-2017 at 06:18 PM.
Reason: added not before far enough
Very scenic and reasonable grass run-off (if 2-wheels off), as others have commented, but then the tress come up quick. Corner worker stands seem unprotected too, but above car height (if not airborne) so secondary impacts (with ground if "legs" taken out by a wayward drover).
Thank you for education. I am new to hitting trees subject. In New England we have mostly concrete and not much runoffs. It will teach you to be smooth and respectful very quickly.
Thank you for education. I am new to hitting trees subject. In New England we have mostly concrete and not much runoffs. It will teach you to be smooth and respectful very quickly.
Hitting nothing is best!
That being said, many times (not all), the impact with concrete or armco barriers is more of a deflection rather than head on. You get to dissipate some of the force.
With a tree, not matter what angle you come at it from, it is a direct impact.
NYST makes Summit Point look like a bumper car ride at a carnival.
Here is the effect of a car hitting a tree at a track. Instructor, who I knew, was in the right seat and was killed. The turn where the car went off wasn't particularly fast.
I was there that day too, not in my Porsche but in my Evo, the Exocet in the OP's video is mine as well, my friend borrowed it for the day. NYST isn't that bad when it comes to safety, it is a relatively slow track and most trees are out of the way. I don't think a 2 or 4 off will be that bad, however I do worry about a failure such as brakes or even worse - a combo brake/ tie rod/ball joint where the car is aimed off into the woods at speed.
Are there any learning moments in the posted video?
Like any turns that were taken incorrectly?
As I was watching all I could think was how brave it was to post that here. Hands Mr Fast, hands!
As for the trees, the whole thing reminds me of the George of the Jungle theme song. Ironically, if you let the video play through, the auto-next YouTube video is of a car spinning and getting a branch through the windshield.
04-24-2017, 12:00 PM
