RedLS1GTO

Nobody!



Such was the end to my SCCA license school this weekend at Summit Point. It was an absolutely miserable weekend from the first minute. Rain, hail, even snow. All the while on track in a car with no defogger and no wipers. It was a challenge to even see the apex, much less hit the lines consistently. Throttle? Forget about it.

After 2 days of pure hell in a race car, it comes time for the first "practice race". The weather has FINALLY had a little break. the track was still wet, but the rain had stopped. I could finally see. The Hoosier wets were finally getting a little grip. I was starting 5th, a guy in a GT3 RS was starting 4th with some lower hp cars up front. Immediately at the green the car in front went to the inside which prevented me from using my hp to get all the way to the front. I rolled into T1 on the leader's bumper with the Porsche on his outside. After a weekend of caution, the Porsche apparently wanted to lead and got on it WAY harder than he should have and kicked the rear around into a lazy slide into the middle of the track. He had it locked down, dead center of T1/T2 with room inside and outside. I was low and went to the inside. As soon as I was beyond the point of no return, for some un-****ing-known reason, he released the brakes and it hooked straight across the track with a 180 right back in front of me. I hit him and we both went down to the inside into the tire wall. I climbed it with the right front and ended up with the right side tires off the ground against it. Luckily it didn't climb quite high enough to get me upside down, but was high enough that the left side body was in the dirt (as you can see) and torn up pretty good.

All in all, I ended up with damage pretty much 360 degrees around it. I don't think there is a snigle panel without at least 1 major crack in it other than the deck lid. The left front is obviously gone. The frame and front clip look good. Sway bar and steering rack are toast. Left front shock looks like a pretzel. The master cylinders and clutch cylinder are knocked all to hell.

The P-car driver did take full blame and apologized but I still have a torn up race car.

After months of un-screwing the previous owners half-assery, it looks like I'll be going at it again.

Gotta love racing.

RedLS1GTO

...and of course, no video.

With the visability isssues out the rear from the water/spray, I decided to add another mirror on the passenger side to see anybody coming up from behind and took the camera out because it was right in my vision path.

argonaut

That really sucks Brian, very sorry to hear it. As an old pro once told me "nothing good happens in the rain"...let alone snow and sleet. What kind of shape is the GT3 in?

RedLS1GTO

I realized after the fact that I didn't take any pictures of it.

Mechanically I got the worst end of it, although $$$$$ wise, I'm sure he did.

I hit it at almost a perfect 45° angle right on the left tail light. At quick glance I think the suspension was undamaged. The bumper was obviously gone and some damage to the structure underneath. The exhaust was folded under it, but after a pull, he actually drove it away.



On my side, unless there is something hidden, it should be pretty straight forward to repair. Just ordered up body panels from Five Star. As soon as I can get the shock off, it's off to Bilstein to see if it's salvagable. If not, it may be getting new Penske all around. The body supports are heading off to my friend's weld shop to see what can be saved. What can't be fixed we'll probably fabricate. A-arms are cheap. Looking at used sways from Roush. Probably going to put a new spindle/hub on it for good measure after a hit that big. Brakes look ok. Most importantly the engine and driveline seems undamaged.

All in all, I hate to test it so soon, but this is EXACTLY why I went to this car over the Z06. First, I think it is undeniably a safer car when something does go wrong. Second, that exact hit in a Corvette would be way harder and way more expensive to fix.

It's fixable... and it'll be back!

rmackintosh

The good news is tube frame cars are easy to repair....I know the $$$ will suck...but it can be as good as new in no time.

...AND, of course, that you are OK!

Scooter70

That sucks to hear.

But... now it's time for the Camaro body!

travisnd

That really really really sucks to see.... especially when you just finished sorting the car. I'm finishing up my aero on my C5 in the move from PTA to ST-2, but not sure I want to go fight it out in the rain... just not worth it to me at this point.

trackboss

You are still way ahead with repairs. For the most part you can throw a bucket of bolts at a stock car and get it back on track relative to what needs to be done to a production car.

rmj951

Sorry to hear that! A buddy has a GT3 RS had a LR tire delaminate at COTA beat up the fender & rear bumper damage estimate was 10K.

Your better off in that GTA car even though you had more damage you were safe & your wallet wont be hurt as bad as his will!

Captain Buddha

Oh man, hate to see that, but you walked away, right? Did you get yours license? During my first race (an SCCA Majors event) a BMW M3 dive bombed me and he ended up the much worse for the wear, his race was over, it just dinged a $50 rim and I kept on trucking...he left a little tire scuff on my passenger side body panel, it looks purty LOL!

RedLS1GTO

... and that is EXACTLY why I went with this car. That same hit in the Z06 would cost about 5 times what it will cost in the stock car.

There's no doubt that on the $$$ side, he will have more than me. Granted, I shouldn't have ANYTHING to fix, but that's beside the point right now.

Yea... walked away with nothing more than a bruise or 2 which is the most important part. I did get the license, although in all honesty, I'm not really sure what that's worth at this point. I'm pretty sure that if you showed up, you got it.



Body panels are on the way already from Five Star. Suspension gets ripped apart this weekend to see what exactly it's going to take. At this point I'm thinking it needs a shock, master cylinders (clutch and brake), A-arm, lower arms, steering rack, sway bar, and possibly a spindle in addition to the body itself. Not cheap, but could be worse.

Captain Buddha

Your experience is exactly why I sold my '13 Z06 that I was using for track days!

At the Super School weekend that I attended there were 7 (out of 13 or 14) of us that got waivered right then and there for full comp licenses, the others in the group either did not want to or were not waivered for whatever reason. The instructors knew the students that put the effort into getting everything out of it and were comfortable and that didn't give up. I know personally that it took a LOT of effort (time and $$$) to make it happen...it was time and money well-spent and now I've got the full comp license for 3 years. I was talking to national HQ about when it would be mailed to me, etc. and the customer service gal mentioned that this was a precedent - meaning that it's not normal for a large group of students to get full waivers. I wonder if it had something to do with their being two Majors events as the next two races in our region....?

MarkDFW

Sorry to hear about what happened to your car. The idea of that happening to me is exactly why I also just sold my corvette and bought a GTA car. WAY cheaper to fix and you'd be hard pressed to find a safer car.

mbeckers

I cringed after reading this post. I am going to SCCA school at Daytona in a GTA type car the weekend of April 12th. I really hope my car and I come out unscathed.

RX-Ben

You should really have nothing to worry about at a comp school. Maybe some slight touching at most. Yes, you should be going all out to simulate a race, but nobody should be trying low percentage moves. The only caveat is mechanical failure - someone in my comp school group lost the brakes in their resto-rod race car and hit another car.

rfn026

We have an annual Porsche GT3 RS crash fest at Sebring once a year. It's called Porsche Club Racing. If you see these guys you need to stay far away from them. This year I think 4 guys crashed on the front straight at Sebring. That's not easy to do. The car RS is exceptional. Yes, it's that good. What's happening is that a lot of bad drivers are buying them.

Richard Newton
Car Tech Stuff

sleeper02Z06

I was in a similar situation 2 years ago at the glen. Except I was the car in front that spun. In attempting to save it another car behind me and I became one. In some circles I was blamed. In other circles the car that hit me was blamed. Perspective can change based on who you are with regard to the incident. I don't think based on the description this should become a p-car caused incident so much as a racing incident. But then, there is no video. All involved are healthy is the key, we build our cars safe for a reason!

racer313g

P-car tries an outside pass on multiple cars, turn 1, on a wet track. And oh by the way, has already had offs during the weekend. Seems pretty simple to me. I just wish Red would share his name and car number so I knew to stay away from him.

#pcarforthewininturnone

RedLS1GTO

EDIT: Thread was never intended to bash the other guy.

Captain Buddha

Red - I remember the practice starts and such during Comp School...most of us played it cool and played smart...both mornings started out CCCCOLD with little to no grip...everyone wanted to go home in the same condition they arrived in. However, on the Sunday of Comp School, after we all "graduated" we entered the race (with a few exceptions)....two of the Mustangs running AS had a little oopsie, they both went into a high-speed (90'ish) left-hand sweeper and the guy on the outside held his exact line and didn't factor in that the inside guy would be drifing out so that had a little contact, they both learned and left A-OK...but with some "beauty marks."