froggy47

Dan Weldon's passing got me to thinking about this & a track day tomorrow.

I'd be interested in getting advice/opinions from you guys who actually do what I do, not stuff out of a book or googled off the net.

I think most of us figure we are good to great drivers, but if a car ahead dumps coolant/oil you may be going off no matter what.

Think of both road courses, some have nice runoffs & some not so nice and rovals with walls to hit.

Lets stop short of roll cages & limit the equipment to what works in a STREET/track dual purpose car.

Stuff like Hans, in car fire extinguisher, nomex suits, stuff like that.

Rank what you would do first, 2nd, etc.

Really interested in guys who actually do DE or prep cars for DE or have moved on to WTW but remember their DE days.

VetteDrmr

Honestly, in the times I've been running DEs (and certainly seen many fewer DEs than others here) I've seen one car significantly damaged in an off track excursion (due to 2 cars in front blowing a coolant line; 1st car saw the steam, backed off and made it through). It was a street car without additional safety gear; no injury to the driver.

For a dual-purpose car, frankly a helmet is the main thing. And that's for protection from debris coming in through the window (I've been hit by "stuff" more than once).

The other main thing is the driver's attitude towards risk management. If the driver is aggressive, pushing the limits to 10/10s, running any track they can find, etc. then a dedicated track car is really needed with all the attendant gear.

OTOH, if the driver is out to have fun, running 7-8/10s or so, then the risk drops down considerably. Running lower speed run groups gives you more time for better situational awareness, more braking distance, less resource management (brakes mainly), and so on. IMO that's what a DE'r with a street car should expect for them to plan on driving the car home.

I imagine the above contains some blasphemy, but if it does it does.

Have a good one,
Mike

travisnd

All you can really do is a good helmet and a head/neck restraint. If the car doesn't have harnesses a R3 is your only option that I know of.

I much prefer to be in my race car with full cage and all my gear.

JDIllon

I woke up about 2 years ago with the same thoughts that you mentioned. I got to thinking I'm running almost NASCAR speeds in a street car?? Here is the process that I used right or wrong it works for me. First Good helmet and R3, the R3 because I instruct and wanted something that would protect me in students cars. Then I up graded the brakes to a BBK ( Stoptechs) then race seats with sharkbar and 6 point harness, along with a halon fire ext. mounted on the passenger side seat mount. Then I decided to upgrade the seats to full race seats and a full thru bolted roll bar with full cross bar rear supports, this can be upgraded to a full cage when I'm ready. So, I'm one step away from a full cage. I feel short of that step, I have done all I can do to protect myself. By the way I'm running a highly modded 2006 C6-Z06. Thats just me! Short Throw keeps pushing me to go the full cage!! But like you I still like to street the car. When I take that step, I'm going to gut the car and go full track car. JD

TRACKMAN2

1 harness absolutely nessary!!!
1a real race brake fluid and pads(not saftey equipment but greatly reduces the chance of fade whitch causes most track issues i see..greatly improves your chances of stoping in an emergency..
2 seat harness works better with one
3 neck suport foam neck pad minimum and nessary
4 hans
5 fire suit mide as well jet a good one
6 cage...the importance of this varies with year make type of car.
7 fire extinguisher probibly should rank 1 or 2
8 fire proof shoes and gloves

if you do get a seat harness and hans i garentee a 3 sec lap improvement in lap times!!!!!!!

containment is everything when driving youll get more out of these items than $10,000 in mods.....

AU N EGL

CHJ In Virginia

Over the years, I have seen several wrecks where the car was totalled in HPDE track day driving. At the speeds our cars are capable of reaching, if anything happens, it could be disasterous. Here is a list of the safety equipment that I run, and I really would consider it a minimum for an advanced driver.
1) 4 Point cross braced roll bar to give firm mounting point for harnesses
2) 6 Point Crow harnesses for driver and passenger
3) Seats modified for proper pass through for shoulder and submarine belts - race seat for driver this winter
4) QUALITY Bell Helmet
5) Hans device
6) SFI-5 Nomex fire suit, nomex shoes and gloves
7) Fire extinguisher mounted at base of passenger seat.
BE SAFE - there is no reset button for what we are doing !!!

fatbillybob

How many of you DE'ers really need to run antifreeze during the times of the year you run? Do yourselves and your buddies a favor and just run water with "water wetter".

jvp

My list, assuming DE and not racing:
1. Good quality helmet. Duh. Protect the noggin.
2. Harness bar
3. JetPilot harnesses

Done. Easy. Am I leaving stuff out? Absolutely, and I'll probably get flamed for it. But here's my reasoning for leaving various things off:

You said you wanted a car that can be operated on the street: that basically eliminates the full cage. Good. I agree with that. Further, roll protection is built into your car. I've seen a car like yours upside down at the track. The driver slithered out of the window and was fine. So that scratches off the roll bar as well.

Fire gear? Nah. It's a street car. Can a street car catch fire? Yep. Can you get hit by lightning on a cloudless, sunny day? Yep. The odds are about the same, really.

I did some agricultural re-engineering at Summit Point a long while ago, in my C5 coupe. My car had the sport seats with the shoulder belt slots, and I had a harness bar with harness installed. I didn't budge. At all.

A close friend of mine obliterated his C5 coupe at the end of Summit's big straight one day. He had his helmet on and that's it. Stock seats. Stock seat belts. His door wouldn't open, so he squirmed out of the driver's window and walked away completely unharmed.

I've been in a NASTY car accident with my former C6 Z06, and I was completely unharmed (this wasn't on the track). The car was squished. She took the hit for me. Understand that Corvettes really are tanks, even though they don't weight as much as one. They're insanely safe vehicles and they will take the hit for their drivers.

MHO, anyway. Flame away: I don't have my Nomex on. :-)

jas

jawfixer

1.Helmet--the best u can afford!
2.Frame mounted Hardbar and 5 or 6 pt harness system with a back reinforced racing seat.
3. Hans system
4.Fire gloves, suit and shoes,sox,balclava--dont like fire
5.Fire extinguisher--get the h--- out practice in case of fire

autoxer6

1. Select which tracks you run on. I live 25 minutes from Road America and have never run there. There are safer tracks in the area, so I go to those and then drive 10/10ths.

2. SA full face helmet

3. Race Seat with 6 pt Harness and Harness Bar

4. Hans

That is what I do.

mountainbiker2

That's my thought. I never wanted to participate at Auto Club Speedway Roval. To fast, with a big wall. I never teach on those days either. If I can't trust myself, how can I trust someone else.

Steve A.

Joy of 6

The above is all important. I would encourage accident recovery practice. Many driver schools give you some instruction

joenationwide

+1 This is exactly my plan.
I am hoping to pick up a C5Z06 to use for DD and some occasional track days asap.

I've been tracking my E36M3 for 5 years now, and always with a stock interior and a reclinable sport seat, and stock 3pt belts. Most people would probably say I'm retarded (strong possibility). Its always been a risk, and for the first 3 years I usually didn't go beyond 90% and I always ran street tires. But the last two years I've been Time Trialing, and going 100% all the time while running Hoosier R6s. Everyone keeps telling me that I'm pushing my luck, and they are probably right. But next year I will likely cage the car to go W2W racing.

So if I do that, I want to also have a street Z06 that I can do HPDEs with now and then. Good to know people have survived crashes with stock cars.

Jason

What I did before I caged my car:

Seat, harness bar, 5/6pts, and a HANS. Firesuit. Our cars are much less likely to roll over than they are to hit something at ludicrous speed.

And I wore/wear it all every time on track. Once I had the firesuit, I always said I'd feel awfully silly if I was on fire and my firesuit was hanging in the trailer.

jlutherva

Well, you're tougher than I am! I have the fire suit but just can't do it after the first run at VIR or Rd Atl in July. Maybe I should just set out July events.

Safety equipment includes Bell helmet, seats, harness bar, 6-point harness and Hans.

I hit my first oil slick last event at VIR in the braking zone for T1.
I'll never forget the pucker factor.

Jim

sperkins

The only time I've ever been in a car that caught fire (students car), my suit was back in the paddock. I actually stood there before going out that session and talked myself out of putting it on. Never again.

Greywolfe

I've been doing HPDE for 3 years now, maybe 15 weekends. My car is still my daily driver.

I still have stock setup, stock seat, 3 point, airbags. I just have my full face helmet, shoes and gloves. It kinda sucks not being held in place in the corners but I can't afford for the car to be a dedicated track car yet.

I am about to install a harness bar/harness/seat and get a HANS. But its going to be a pain to keep swapping seats and belts in and out. I'm already sick of street pads/rotors to track pads/rotors every other month, lol. Can't afford truck/trailer setup just yet...

I agree with an earlier post saying to drive at only 7/10 or 8/10 ths. There is still things out of your control like antifreeze but 7/10 gives you alot of time/space to correct. (I run straight watter plus wetter but not everyone does and then there is always oil)

Now once you get to TT and racing its full cage time 10/10 ths or more!!!!

So yeah I'll just putt putt around for now in DE ...


Been toying with the Idea of selling the Vette and getting a Spec e30/truck/trailer combo but I love the Vette and the C5 Mafia guys are pretty cool too!!

TRACKMAN2

i used to call it my flame retarding or flaming retard suit...one of our buddies wasnt wearing his full leathers he had bought off us back in the superbike days because it was hot ...hit the front of a dump truck (he was an idiot) ground his derieare doun to the pelvic bone along with a list of other inguries..hes now known as half ***!!!!! got it wear it!!!!

jvp

I certainly understand that, but as I said: in a street car, the odds of that happening are so infinitesimally low, it's not worth the horrendous discomfort that Nomex provides. It really isn't.

Life is about successfully managing risks. That's not a large enough risk to worry too much about.

jas (15 years of HPDE and still going)