Bad day at Road Atlanta

[nsxbuilder]

Here's the end of a bad day for a Lambo at Road Atlanta:

http://www.directimported.com.au/down/570000.htm

Sorry if its been posted elsewhere and I didn't see it.

-Ed
www.nsxbuilder.com

 

[Osiris_x11]

no biggie...

hmmm, nothin' some bondo & a lil' elbow-grease can't fix... Jeez, totally playin'.

I hope the driver was o.k. I'm a bit curious why that concrete-divider/wall seems to be temporarily (sp?) shifted in closer to the track? Then again, what do I know...

 

[coolnsx]

Those photos just make me sick, that is such a waste.

 

[the nsxnut]

That is a permanently fixed wall; it protects the main pit entrance (look further in the background).

the incident happened in the winter of 2002, at an open track day organized by Panoz racing school at RA. Remember NSXPO 2000? The Panoz school doesn't allow in-car instruction, and they permit inexperienced drivers to go round at Road Atlanta in Diablos or Civics, and everything in between. This is one of the best cases for hands-on, in car driving instruction that I know of. The caution and control an instructor brings could have prevented this incident. It was a quite simple mistake, look at the view of the skid marks. The driver went wide at the track out of '11', coming down the hill from the bridge, touched the rumble strips, lifted, and rotated, and contacted the wall. He was a new owner of the Diablo. He was OK; even the way the door is smashed in, there is a lot of integrity in the passenger compartment.

 

[DocL]

Although it sucks to wreck a car at the track, at least the car died an honorable death. Much better than being stolen and then wrecked.

 

[nsxbuilder]

Marko,

Sounds like you were there!

I'm really surprised the side window didn't break, if from nothing else the guys head.

An instructor would have prevented it eh? Were you at NSXPO 2003? Case rested.

-Ed
www.nsxbuilder.com

 

[the nsxnut]

Aha, good point.

I wasn't there at the time, but got all the local scoop from some others.

 

[Tom Larkins]

Hey nut,

If memory serves me, coming over the crest of that hill, its off-camber too before the bottom falls out? Did anyone say anything about the driver loosing traction w/ all that torque at his disposal as a contributing factor. That corner is tricky enough as it is w/o the proper line. Thats just plain nuts letting someone out their w/o instruction.

 

[apapada]

An instructor would have prevented it eh? Were you at NSXPO 2003? Case rested.

I tried to find a thread in vain, with regards the accident you are showing. Any pointers of where to look ? If it was not discussed before, do you mind sharing ?

thank you in advance
Alex

 

[PHOEN$X]

Curious, did the insurance pay for the car, or did the owner have to eat it?

 

[nsxbuilder]

A driver on the second day of their first track experience gained more confidence than skill, and resulted in a situation where everything went wrong.

I was told by officials that every crash at a Drivers Education event at Sears/Infinion has been 100% covered.

-Ed
www.nsxbuilder.com

 

[nsxtasy]

A driver on the second day of their first track experience

This was not her first track event.

I've seen a lot of after-the-fact analyses of mishaps, blaming this and blaming that. Some of the time, facts stated are correct, other times incorrect. Opinions are stated that may or may not be widely-held or relevant, and after all, they are only opinions and are subjective by their very nature. It's easy to say that it wouldn't have happened if only X had occurred, but you can't replay the past to see whether or not that is really accurate. As they say, "hindsight is 20-20"...

 

[nsxbuilder]

In the post-event driver's meeting Jim G. said it was her first event, so perhaps there was a bit of fact checking to do first.

You ever known me to toss around anything but substantiated "opinions" Ken?

You'll note I didn't mention is was a girl, or her name, in my post - I didn't think they were relevant facts to the conversation.

-Ed
www.nsxbuilder.com

 

[RacerX-21]

Hey nut,

If memory serves me, coming over the crest of that hill, its off-camber too before the bottom falls out? Did anyone say anything about the driver loosing traction w/ all that torque at his disposal as a contributing factor. That corner is tricky enough as it is w/o the proper line. Thats just plain nuts letting someone out their w/o instruction.

Ed-
This is the point Mark was making, that a permanent instructor might have given this driver some additional advice. Like never to lift abruptly, unless in a straight. Or on some turns not to correct and just put both feet in. Or not to hit the rumble strips in 11, or to aim for that tree over the blind hill in front of you.

Instruction will never prevent all the crashes, but it’s defiantly the better choice of having it or not.

The school Mark referred to is lacking in design and value, in comparison to many of the competing schools.

Panoz is one of the largest contributors to this sport (in the last 5 years), and the people that make up this organization are great. It’s the school format that’s flawed.

 

[nsxbuilder]

X,

So you and Mark are saying that anyone with a car can show up at these events and with no track instruction of any kind, go out and drive solo? No prior experience, no track walk, no ride along, nothing?

Sounds to me like we'll have lots of pictures of wrecked cars to post here.

-Ed
www.nsxbuilder.com

 

[KGP]

I thought they were saying much the opposite.

 

[DONYMO]

X,

So you and Mark are saying that anyone with a car can show up at these events and with no track instruction of any kind, go out and drive solo? No prior experience, no track walk, no ride along, nothing?

Sounds to me like we'll have lots of pictures of wrecked cars to post here.

-Ed
www.nsxbuilder.com

Yes. However, if it's your very first time, your run group on Saturday is called TOURING and it is LEAD-FOLLOW.
But still no in-car instructors.

They do an optional "Van Tour" where a Panoz instructor takes you around in a large passenger van and talks you through the turns. They do 2 laps...one very slow and one at a brisk pace.

If you complete the Saturday Touring run group, and don't crash or do something real stupid, they let you run FULL HOT LAPS in the "Intermediate" run group on Sunday. This run group usually has mostly experienced drivers (A and B group types if you're familiar with BMWCCA events).

 

[NSXTASY_MD]

The accessment of WHY he went off I'd have to say i agree with completely. A simple matter of letting off in a rear/mid engine car in mid turn (in this case, where the turn also drops underneath you to exaggerate things)...then the rotation took him off (perhaps he didn't lock-up early enough...ABS in this case) Obviously he should of stayed in the throttle against his instincts...


However, whats intriguing to me was the LENGHT of the skid marks leading up to the actual excursion off the track...from the pics it "appears" looong. That car must of been carrying BIG speed thru that turn! It's safe to say he scrubbed off a decent amount of speed before the actual impact.....and for the damage to of still been that significant

 

[DONYMO]

The speed should have been around 90 to 100mph when he lost control. Maybe more if he was really pushing it.

 

[Feffman]

I was just at Road Atlanta three weeks ago and I hired a private instructor for the day with no issues from Panoz. Glad I did too as it helped me dramatically.

Mark Pfeffer