Getting It All Wrong: A Series of Mistakes Leads to a Destroyed C7 Z06 at Willow Springs Raceway
Driving a C7 Z06 on a racetrack is one of the most exciting things you can do. However, it can lead to catastrophe if not done properly.
Let me make a couple things clear right from the start. Everyone in this video walked away from this crash without major injury. The C7 Z06 was destroyed but no lives were lost. That is the most important thing. I am not writing this to shame the driver. At least he was on a track trying to improve his skill.
This is a teachable moment & my goal is to educate and to keep people safe.
I have nearly twenty years of track driving experience, held an SCCA competition license, attended professional racing schools, and am currently an HPDE instructor. However, I do not consider myself an expert. I am not the greatest driver in the world, and I don’t know everything. Not even close. But I do have some experience that others might find helpful. Hence this article.
I recently wrote an article about the 2023 Corvette Z06 in which I listed the first things to do when you get the car. I called out driving schools and track days as two of those first things. Then this video came out to prove my point. The video is posted on the jhnfrrguto YouTube channel. The video shows a now-destroyed C7 Z06 Corvette that is owned by someone named Steve. Steve takes his car to Willow Springs Raceway. Steve rolls his Z06 on the straight between turn 1 and turn 2. Don’t be Steve. A lot of lessons here, and I ran out of fingers trying to count all the things that were wrong with this. Besides the music overlay in the video being annoying. Let’s break down what seems to have happened so we can all learn from it and be safer.
Car Setup (Why Novices Need to Keep Traction Control ON)
The Performance Data Recorder is on and shows that the car is in Track / Sport 2 mode. That turns off stability control in a C7 Z06. This is a bad idea most of the time, but an even worse idea in this case. This appears to be the first run of the day and looks to also be a cold day. Tough to tell the specific model of tires on the car but they certainly seem to be summer performance tires of some sort. Not a tire you want to push on a cold day. On lap number one. With no stability control. With a novice driver behind the wheel.
I tell all of my students to leave the electronic aids on when they are first learning. In fact, 99 percent of the time I am driving on track, I leave them on in my own car. There is a point when you will progress to a level where they may interfere a bit and then maybe you have the skill to handle the car with the aids off. But even then, is it worth it? Maybe you gain a couple tenths on a lap but so what? I have never seen Laura Wontrop Klauser at any of my HPDE events and walk up to a driver and ask them to join the Corvette Racing team. The goal of HPDE is to have fun, be safe and leave with the car and yourself intact.
If you feel you can’t push the car enough at an HPDE there are plenty of racing schools, you can join. Last year, I had a student in a brand new Supra at the track for the first time. He argued with me in the first session about turning off traction control. He said it was being too intrusive. I told him it was saving him as he was overdriving the car. When the second session started, he quietly turned off traction control without my knowledge. On turn 7 of lap one, he put us and his car into the tire wall. Lesson learned. Steve is a novice in a massively powerful car, on the wrong tires for the conditions. He needed all the help he could get. Turning off the safety net of stability control was a mistake. As it almost always is.
Passengers (for Novice Drivers Should Only Be an Instructor)
This is as much about the organization as the driver. Steve had a passenger with him. Which, by all accounts does not seem to be an instructor. A novice driver should never have a passenger unless that passenger is an instructor. And to make matters worse, the passenger is recording the driver using a handheld camera. Are you kidding me? This driver needed instructing; not content. This could have ended in tragedy. Whatever group organized this track day should have prevented this. And if this person is an instructor, he sure wasn’t doing a great job of it. All he did was add to the distraction.
A Destroyed C7 Z06 – The Crash
Note: I don’t have any access to data other than what I can see in the video from the destroyed C7 Z06 Performance Data Recorder. So, I am making a few assumptions here, but this seems to be what happened…
Steve leaves pit out, negotiates turn 1 and then goes immediately to full throttle. The car quickly goes from about 70 mph to about 90 mph. Traction is lost at the rear and the car pitches to the outside of the track. According to the data we have, it looks like the driver then immediately lifts off the throttle and applies some moderate braking. The car then darts to the inside of the track. It hits the dirt at about 35 mph and rolls. The roof is crushed and both occupants are lucky to be alive.
In my humble opinion, a number of things lead to this crash, all of which could have been prevented. Car setup I already covered. Beyond that, the first mistake was the driver unleashing a full 650 horsepower on cold summer tires on a cold track. The second problem was when the car first stepped out. In this scenario, lifting off the throttle and jamming on the brakes is a big mistake. Why? Because weight transfers off the rear wheels, giving them even less traction. And this made the off-track excursion basically unavoidable at that point. It is a natural instinct for a novice driver to take this type of corrective action.
Sometimes in a situation like this adding more throttle can get the weight back on the rear tires. However, with the cold temps and summer tires him adding more throttle was probably not going to be an option. Given what we can see in the video, his best bet would have been to gently reduce throttle and counter steer. He may have saved it or at least kept the spin on the track. This comes with seat time and instruction. Steve had little to none of either and so, goodbye, C7 Z06.
Safety Gear
This is a big one. Again, I need to focus on the passenger here who seems to be wearing an Arai XD4 bike helmet. Arai makes great helmets, but if you are going into an automobile on a track, you really should be wearing an automobile helmet with the proper Snell rating. The bike helmet being worn does not have the same level of protection against fire as an automobile helmet. This crash could have resulted in a fire and the wrong choice in safety gear could have been very costly. Wrecks like this are not common at track events. However, they can happen, and you would be best served by using the best equipment that is available to protect yourself.
Last May I was instructing at New Jersey Motorsports Park. Between HPDE sessions we had some wheel-to-wheel racing taking place. In the race, driver Mark Petronis collided with another car and his 2004 Corvette racecar went off-track, hit a tree, and burst into flames. Pertonis was stuck in his burning car for three minutes. He miraculously survived but suffered third-degree burns on 35 percent of his body, and some fourth-degree burns on his elbow and hand. He was in the hospital for two months. I was maybe two hundred yards from this, and it was by far the worst thing I ever saw at a track event in person. I don’t know Petronis personally, but I feel that I can share his story because he has been very active since his crash in trying to educate everyone in the sport about the importance of safety gear.
The folks at Rock the Curb did an excellent job covering the details of his crash, and if you are interested, you can read it here. But one of the main takeaways is the safety gear that saved the racer’s life. Among the gear he had on was a Stilo ST5 composite helmet (SA2020). This is the same helmet I wear. Despite him being in an inferno for three minutes he suffered no third-degree burns to his face. The point is these incidents don’t happen often, but they are possible. Don’t be lazy or cheap when it comes to safety gear. Use the best all the time. It might save your life.
Lessons Learned From Destroyed C7 Z06
Don’t let anything above scare you. Driving a C7 Z06 or any Corvette or heck even any car on a racetrack is a thrill. Odds of crashing and wrecking your car or getting hurt are very low at a well-run and organized event. Get out there and see what your car can do. Make yourself a better driver. But let this video below be a lesson to you. Do things the right way….
- Seek instruction
- Wear proper safety gear
- Leave traction control engaged
- Start slow and warm up your tires
- Be mindful of conditions (temperatures, etc.)
- Forget about making content with a buddy
Don’t be the next person with a destroyed C7 Z06.
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