C66 Racing

Well… after three race seasons and 30 SCCA races, yesterday I finally met that concrete wall I’d been trying so hard to avoid all these years… and I met it in a big way. Short story is that car is trashed and driver is fine, though a little sore this morning. For all my fellow racers and DE enthusiasts, I’d like to share the experience and some lessons learned with you while it is still fresh in my mind… and before I become shell shocked at how much money I just lost.

Background
Due to my day job, I’ve had very little track time in the last two years, only four track weekends, two last year, two this year. To keep my SCCA license active I needed a few more races and hoped to get them in this weekend at Pacific Raceways, a track I’d never driven at before. As I knew I’d miss Friday’s practice and qualifying for Saturday’s race, I got special dispensation from the race Chief Steward to start last without having turned a lap on the track. Before the race I got some advice on the track from local pros Cindi Lux and Scotty B White which helped. My whole intent was to just tool around at the back of the field and learn the track in preparation for Sunday’s qualifying and race.

Race
The race started well and I spent the first few laps following much slower cars around familiarizing myself with the track. Around race lap five or so, a three car wreck at the front of the field brought out a full course yellow which lasted for about five more laps. These slow laps helped me further familiarize myself with the track. On the restart I was feeling very comfortable on the track, but still had no intentions of driving really quickly. I got around a slow GT1 car and settled in behind an AS class Camaro for about two laps watching his line. I was well within my comfort zone and driving at what I would call 7/10ths – about my typical DE zone.

Crash
A long sweeping 180 leads to front “straight” at Pacific Raceways. Shortly into the front “straight” is a flat out right hander taken as the car is accelerating through 100 mph, with a concrete wall as the apex. Though fast and bumpy, the corner appeared to be fairly benign despite the concrete apex and I was very comfortable in the turn. Since the turn is at about 100-105 mph, it is right in that area of the 3-4 shift (my rev limiter is higher than stock). I tried the corner a few times holding the shift until after the apex but the speed and rpm was pretty high and having lost a timing chain in 2004, I was leery of those rpms, so I tried short shifting to 4th. On the lucky 13th lap, I shifted a little bit later than I had the previous laps, which was right in the area of a pretty bumpy part of the track. As soon as I started to let out the clutch the rears locked up, the nose pitched right and I knew I was doomed. Though I’ve never grabbed 2nd on a 3-4 shift before, I suspect that I did in this case. I had about four car lengths at 100-105 mph to watch the concrete wall come to meet the right front corner of the car. I went both feet in and counter steered to the left but there just wasn’t time to miss the wall. Just before impact I loosened my grip on the wheel and relaxed. The impact was horrendous and even worse, my wife and daughters were literally 10 ft away in the grandstands. Fortunately, although I went straight into the wall at about 100 mph, the wall was at about a 60 degree angle to my direction of motion so the car didn’t stop completely and bounced off the wall to the other side of the track. Somehow the left front tire still had enough grip that I was able to steer it and park it off the track along the guardrail on the outside of the track. I’m told a yellow never even came out as I was off the track. I sat there a second taking stock, realized I was okay and somehow the car was still running. Turned it off, killed the accusump and tranny cooler pump, tried calling my wife on the radio but it was dead, so I climbed out quickly to let her know I was fine.

Lessons learned:
- Even driving well within your comfort zone, the track is a dangerous place.
- Safety gear: Having the proper safety gear is critical as you certainly don’t plan on hitting a wall and when you do it will likely be totally unexpected. I have a Cobra Suzuka Kevlar racing seat, a Simpson six point harness and a HANS device. More on each below.
- Seat: My Cobra Suzuka Kevlar racing seat has slots for the lap belts, shoulder straps and the anti-sub straps and very deep side bolsters. The impact was a slight passenger side front quarter, and I feel my seat did a great job positioning the belts holding me in place.
- Lap belt: The lap belts are mounted to hardpoints on the frame and tunnel. The lap belt should be mounted and tightened so that it is on the hip bones vice up on your stomach. Mine was and I suffered no stomach injuries and no bruises on my hips.
- Anti-sub straps: My anti-sub straps come up through a slot on the seat and each side mounts to a bolt through the floor pan to the steel rail running under the driver’s seat. I felt the impact hard in the groin and thus feel that without an anti-sub strap, or with an anti-sub strap draped over the front of the seat vice through a slot, I would have submarined somewhat down towards the dash and pedals.
- Shoulder straps: The shoulder straps are mounted to the roll cage behind the seat. The harness spread most of the impact over my whole rib cage and I have no bruises or soreness in my chest.
- HANS device: I will never go out on a track again without a HANS device. When I hit the wall I felt my head snap forward hard and then stop as the straps on the HANS device stopped further forward motion. Today the most soreness I have is my lower rear neck muscles.
- Helmet: I have a Simpson Kevlar racing helmet with built in HANS device mounting points. As my HANS device stopped the helmet, my head kept going at around 100 mph. I feel sizing is critical. My helmet fits very snugly and as soon as the helmet stopped, the foam inside the helmet started stopping my head. Today I have a little bit of soreness on my temples where the majority of the impact of my head stopping against the helmet occurred.
- Shift points: Before yesterday, I never would have thought that a missed shift could’ve put me in a wall. My biggest concern would have been over revving the motor. After yesterday, I caution everyone to carefully consider shift points. I will not shift again in a corner with concrete. I will either short shift prior to turn-in, or shift after the car is straight on exit.

Special thanks:
I’d like to thank Fred Lux, the crew chief for Cindi Lux, along with the whole Naykid team, who helped a fabulous tow truck driver put my dead car on my open air trailer. Not having to deal with loading my car on the trailer allowed me to spend a few minutes with my wife and daughters and calm them down. How they all got my car perfectly on the trailer is beyond me.
I’d also like to thank fellow Z06 owner Bob R, who came out to watch, for also helping get the car on the tow truck and then the trailer and consoled me after the wreck, helping me keep perspective. Thanks Bob.

Post wreck:


Front quarter view:


Naykid team members helping load the car:


The carnage:

Bad Machine

Very sorry to hear, but glad you are ok! I know you probably heard it a 1000 times, but the car can be replaced. I bought a HANS last year and will not go on the track without it. Thank you for sharing the lessons learned. Even the best can be bitten by mistakes, but we can all learn from them. I look foward to continue reading your race results posts in the future. Good Luck.

yellow01

this stinks... I am so sorry to hear.

But, it goes without saying, extremely glad you were able to type this message.

not sure what else to say, I'm sure there's not much you want to hear.

Jon

JRD77VET

I saw your post on the SCCA Forum. Glad to hear your OK. The car can be replaced. You on the other hand cannot. Just goes to show the importance of quality equipment.

Hope your family is OK also.

Jeff

TedDBere

Glad you're OK and all your safety preparation paid off.

And thanks for your write up and sharing your thoughts so we all are well prepared in case of the unexpected.

tchapma1

Glad to hear you are ok, that is the important part! The car can be replaced.

RandyVettes

EXCELLENT write-up on lessons learned, thanks.

freefall

Scary - bad things can pop out of no where and happen so fast! Glad you're okay - everything else is replacable, although still painful!

emf

Holy CRAP Brad -- glad to see you came out unscathed, though.

TooManyIDs

Thanks for sharing the analysis and good that you are well enough to provide it immediately following your ordeal.

FastZR1

Great LL, and thanks for sharing your story with the rest of us.
Glad your alright.

PA Z06

As said numerous times, glad your ok and thanks for sharing your experiences.

John Shiels

for you, sorry about the car

Falcon

Sorry to hear of the incident, Brad. Glad you're okay and thanks millions for the writeup, that will help many of us.

I've been lazy about wearing my R3 H&N system during DE's, but after your advice, I'll be more diligent with its uses.

Janni

So glad you are OK. Sometimes it takes something like this to remind us that what we do - even if we're not "racing" is still dangerous.

It's intersting to me that you were not really "racing" at the time - you were just doing 7/10's or so - maybe 8/10's , but this wreck could have just as easily happened to anyone doing HPDEs.

It's just a matter of time - and your advice on safety equipment is spot on.

How many folks without a full cage, race seat, HANS, etc would have faired as well as you did?

If you are continually doing track events - PLEASE consider buying a dedicated track car. Ex T1 cars can be had VERY reasonably and they are much cheaper than doing all the upgrading yourself. Take the precautions - as these things can happen to any of us.

ghoffman

Brad, obviously we are so happy that you are healthy and well. This is the 2rd C5 in a week that I know of that has hit this hard and the driver walked away. The other has not been made public yet. The lessons learned are valuable for the rest of us. Do you have any video of this? I think that some head and neck restraint should be mandatory, even for HPDE's. Your crash could have happened at the same place, at the same speed in a test day or HPDE. With the newer cars like the C6Z, the speeds are higher than ever and a HANS or R3 etc, should be required.
Oh well, at least you have your ultimate factory ride. On the lighter side, will your crewmen that actually drive the SSBN give you a little ribbing about this or is that one of those things that you don't say to the Skipper?

Maineiac

Glad you're OK.

You can never have enough safety equipment...hopefully your post will remind people of this.

Allthrottleandsomebottle

Sorry to hear of the smack...............but glad all the saftey gear worked

Wicked Weasel

Wow - glad that you could walk away.

Safety is very important and having all the proper safety equipment only makes sense.

0Mike69@ECS

Sorry to hear of the accident, looks like you took a hell of a shot! Glad you were able to walk away unhurt!! Thanks for sharing the experiences, and Bad Machine, thanks to you for helping me put my HANS on at 1:30 am the night before Pocono!