I just posted in the car-history forum, but thought I would share here too.
I totaled my car at an HPDE event on May 17 by dropping two wheels on track out, inducing a spin out of the highest-speed corner at Summit Point Shenandoah. Neither my instructor nor I was harmed (harness and HANS for me).
For those of you entering this hobby like me, listen to Bob: buy track insurance. I was fortunate that Liberty Mutual agreed this was not an event for racing or preparing to race and covered the loss, but I would have felt much better with separate coverage.
And remember, the consequences are real. Obviously this is nothing like the instructor death at Summit Point Jefferson last weekend but it was far from how I imagined things might happen.
This is the corner, running anticlockwise. As I realized the car was leaving the track, I remember thinking what I had heard many times in class: do not, under any circumstance, try to turn the car back onto the track. As I straightened the wheel, the tires skipped the curb and hit the wet grass, and the back end went fast. Had I realized it sooner or corrected faster or lifted earlier, I have to imagine things might be different. But that portion of the track is very narrow and once the car was sideways, the result was inevitable, at least for me.
So I have learned many things, the hard way. While I am planning to buy another NSX, I do not plan to track it until my skills are far down the road. And then I will probably not drive it at 10/10ths of my skill. This was my fourth weekend tracking, which could never be construed as much experience. I have received good feedback from my instructors and was running in the intermediate group at all the events I did this spring. I was getting reasonably good at controlling the car when it got out of shape and instinctively balancing the weight to get the car to do what I wanted. I could explore the limits of trail braking on corner entry, which although it generally resulted in me over slowing, allowed me to get the rotation I needed. But for some reason I had never viewed track out with nearly the significance that it deserved. Since the car was stock, it generally didn't take the most delicate touch to maintain its composure on track out, but obviously I needed more experience/awareness balancing the push with the throttle.
I do plan to continue tracking when finances allow for a dedicated track car. I had actually bought an open trailer the night before this incident for that very reason. While a Miata is a massive step down from an NSX, the low cost and low speed actually seems like a good thing for what I'm trying to do. I am interested in getting absolutely everything possible out of the car. When I have the skills to do that consistently and accommodate disturbances (traffic, track conditions, car condition) then I will feel better about moving to faster cars. I don't know if you are familiar with Rob Wilson, but he is a driving coach to a number of race drivers including a handful on the current F1 grid. He coaches in rental cars on an airstrip (swapping tires I believe). I have the good fortune of spending a couple days with Rob in the fall, which I am looking forward to tremendously. It strikes me that if he believes in developing skills in an everyday car, then I should be able to embrace the same.
Of course, one of the reasons I am planning to buy another NSX is because of the Prime community. Because of that, I welcome any comments or advice on anything.
-Jason
I totaled my car at an HPDE event on May 17 by dropping two wheels on track out, inducing a spin out of the highest-speed corner at Summit Point Shenandoah. Neither my instructor nor I was harmed (harness and HANS for me).
For those of you entering this hobby like me, listen to Bob: buy track insurance. I was fortunate that Liberty Mutual agreed this was not an event for racing or preparing to race and covered the loss, but I would have felt much better with separate coverage.
And remember, the consequences are real. Obviously this is nothing like the instructor death at Summit Point Jefferson last weekend but it was far from how I imagined things might happen.
This is the corner, running anticlockwise. As I realized the car was leaving the track, I remember thinking what I had heard many times in class: do not, under any circumstance, try to turn the car back onto the track. As I straightened the wheel, the tires skipped the curb and hit the wet grass, and the back end went fast. Had I realized it sooner or corrected faster or lifted earlier, I have to imagine things might be different. But that portion of the track is very narrow and once the car was sideways, the result was inevitable, at least for me.
So I have learned many things, the hard way. While I am planning to buy another NSX, I do not plan to track it until my skills are far down the road. And then I will probably not drive it at 10/10ths of my skill. This was my fourth weekend tracking, which could never be construed as much experience. I have received good feedback from my instructors and was running in the intermediate group at all the events I did this spring. I was getting reasonably good at controlling the car when it got out of shape and instinctively balancing the weight to get the car to do what I wanted. I could explore the limits of trail braking on corner entry, which although it generally resulted in me over slowing, allowed me to get the rotation I needed. But for some reason I had never viewed track out with nearly the significance that it deserved. Since the car was stock, it generally didn't take the most delicate touch to maintain its composure on track out, but obviously I needed more experience/awareness balancing the push with the throttle.
I do plan to continue tracking when finances allow for a dedicated track car. I had actually bought an open trailer the night before this incident for that very reason. While a Miata is a massive step down from an NSX, the low cost and low speed actually seems like a good thing for what I'm trying to do. I am interested in getting absolutely everything possible out of the car. When I have the skills to do that consistently and accommodate disturbances (traffic, track conditions, car condition) then I will feel better about moving to faster cars. I don't know if you are familiar with Rob Wilson, but he is a driving coach to a number of race drivers including a handful on the current F1 grid. He coaches in rental cars on an airstrip (swapping tires I believe). I have the good fortune of spending a couple days with Rob in the fall, which I am looking forward to tremendously. It strikes me that if he believes in developing skills in an everyday car, then I should be able to embrace the same.
Of course, one of the reasons I am planning to buy another NSX is because of the Prime community. Because of that, I welcome any comments or advice on anything.
-Jason
