Anybody see this yet?

[73itb]

Here's why the double downbar on the A-pillar and the reinforcement on the B-pillar are a good idea.

[JohnW8]

I hope the driver made it out of that ok.

How did that happen? Land upside down on top of a narrow, yet sturdy fence?

[73itb]

I hope the driver made it out of that ok.

How did that happen? Land upside down on top of a narrow, yet sturdy fence?

Found this on another forum:


Ok, time for an update.
First off, I'd like to say thank you to all of you guys that have been sending thoughts and prayers. They are greatly appreciated, by both myself, and my wife.
I really don't remember what happened, and I have memory lose of events that transpired from late Saturday, until sometime Wednesday afternoon.
The accident happened towards the end of morning practice Sunday; I was going down the straight between turns 4 and 5, traveling between 110 and 120 mph, when I just drove straight off the track, no turning of the wheel, no brakes, nothing. There is speculation that I may have been knocked out from poison fumes from burning brake fluid, as there was a report the previous lap that my left front brake may have been over heating. Don't think we'll ever know for certain...
I went across about 50 yards of deep grass, through a barbed wire fence, then hit a 6" diameter tree with the left front. The tree may have been growing at an angle, not sure, but the car drove up this tree, snapping it off about 4 or 5 feet above the ground. This created a ramp effect that started the car rolling as it continued forward. It had rotated 90 degrees, when it met a pair of trees roof first. These trees didn't move, and the car then slide down, coming to a stop upside down.
The roof had collapsed enough to push my head down, but unfortunately the collapsed cage got caught between my helmet and my HANS Device. This pushed my head far enough down that my airway was closed off. As soon as the report of a "heavy impact" was reported by the corner workers, the emergency personnel got there very quickly. They had a bit of a problem getting me out, due to me being upside down, and the cage being stuck between my helmet and HANS. As soon as they cut the tethers to my HANS, they were able to lower me down, and move me out of the car. Once they were able to straighten my head up a little, I immediately took a deep breath. At that point my face was deep red, and my lips were blue.
Meanwhile, they had decided that the crash was severe enough that I should be transported via helicopter to the hospital.
Sadly, they had to cut off my new driving suit, the t-shirt I was wearing (034EFI), and my gloves. But at least my shoes are ok...
I don't really remember much about the hospital stay, so I may have my wife write something about that...
Needless to say, the emergency staff at the track, and at the hospital, were fantastic. If it wasn't for the quick thinking of the track EMT's, I probably wouldn't be here now.
We returned to the track Thursday, so I could see the scene, and the car, and took some pictures. So, here they are:

end snip

read all here http://www.motorgeek.com/viewtopic.p...6273&start=225

[seckerich]

Glad the driver was OK. First look and there is no diagonal in the upper halo and no bracing from the hoop to the halo. Both would have helped some but that was a freak, wicked hit. Very lucky.

[Knestis]

Looks like a rally hit, which is why my cage looks like a rally CAGE. It's a long shot to get in that kind of situation but it's not good.

K

EDIT - This is particularly an issue on cars with long angled A-pillars.

[StephenB]

This was about 4 years ago at Putnam. it was a Audi coupe quattro in NASA, now a legal car in ITA. really awesome to see that the driver got better, built a new car and is back at it!

Stephen

[shwah]

Yeah not a recent incident. I know the guy that made the cage actually. Needless to say he had a lot of interest in this incident. I will say that it seems it was an odd kind of hit, but then again, I don't know if there is a normal kind of hit to speak of.

[RacerBill]

Yeah not a recent incident. I know the guy that made the cage actually. Needless to say he had a lot of interest in this incident. I will say that it seems it was an odd kind of hit, but then again, I don't know if there is a normal kind of hit to speak of.

But if we built cages that took care of EVERY possible hit, our cars would look like tanks! (and we would not be able to get in or out.....)

[Knestis]

The problem is a simple structure problem. A 4-sided bay WILL lozenge and a tube loaded in bending will bend.



And it's not hard to picture hitting a tree at a lot of the tracks we race at. I watched a Conti Challenge (or whatever it was at the time) disappear into the woods at VIR where the new condos are now. It probably seemed like no car could get across all that grass and through a tire wall.

Someplace like Summit Pt or Nelson Ledges...? Easy cheesey.

K

[StephenB]

What kind of scared me is the brake fluid scenario. How could that render a person unconsciuos in such a short amount of time? He must have had good pressure coming onto the straight. I ran a 1971 Bmw, which, I'll be honest was sometimes scary at speed. Stephan, you have had a few good passes on me at LRP. When commiting to the downhill, I can't help but wonder, I hope the front lower control arm is secure....Among othr things. I am just saying, you would not think this nasty wreck could be caused by a leaking brake line..It just goes to show there are many overlooked variables in safe racing.

That thread you linked above has a TON of information about the cage, and the incident. I followed it a few years ago for a little bit then forgot about it. Anyway without reading it all I think it was some other fluid other than brake fluid. I remember something about the oil catch can our something like that. If I get time I will re-read the story and try to remember. I do remember he passed out while driving and drove straight into the woods, climed a tree and rolled into another tree. A freak accident...

Oh and I agree about the suspension and stuff. Even more scary is thinking of those blasted wheel bearings... The downhill in an ITB car should be flat out and yup... you got to hold your breath sometimes to do it

Stephen

[JLawton]

... you got to hold your breath sometimes to do it

Stephen

it's not your breath you need to hold in the Down Hill!!!

[Simon T.]

I may reinforce those areas on the new car I'll be getting soon, seems like "fairly" simple security. After working at RA for the past four years there's no telling what can happen when you're on track.