Ride of the day...

[Tommo560]

Well i haven't put this up yet because i am still getting over a sore hand fro saturday.

So anyway here's the story. As you might know my car is a track/sprint car, well in the spirit of the car i was out at the last tuning day of the year at wanneroo raceway (perth, western australia), celebrating the day after the end of year 12, and was having a great day, everything was going well except that the car still has a fuel starve problem when under load in fourth up the hill. Out having a great time, caught up with a wrx, had a bit of a play, then went past him, a track car mini catches up and we have a bit of a play, and then he gets past me, so i'm now out almost with the whole track to myself. In the mean while i've been waiting for the 15min session to finish and little do i know that i've been out for way longer than the 15 minutes because the track operator has decided to open up the track for free sessions. so here i am putting arround thinking its probably time to come in, but i'm having so much fun and getting faster every lap, so i keep going. then the inevitable happens, pushing too hard on a set of tyres on its last legs and.... well, here's the result.

<img src="http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v621/Tommo560/PB230111.jpg" alt="Image hosted by Photobucket.com">

<img src="http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v621/Tommo560/PB230112.jpg" alt="Image hosted by Photobucket.com">

<img src="http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v621/Tommo560/PB230115.jpg" alt="Image hosted by Photobucket.com">

<img src="http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v621/Tommo560/PB220109.jpg" alt="Image hosted by Photobucket.com">

I was going into colb corner (a fast 180 degree right hander), just too hot and the rear end started to come around. so i caught it and attempted to turn in again... then the sticky stuff hit the fan. i completely lost control of the car at about 100 km/h and started heading for the sand pit. came in to the sand pit on a bit of an angle, front left in first (hence all the damage on that side of the spoiler), stopped in about 20 m, and according to the rescue crew was lucky not to roll the car in the super soft sand. Anyway, so i've just had my first big spill EVER in a motor car. i finally come to a stop, there is sand everywhere from the open drivers window, my hand hurts, and i'm shaking in shock. instinctively during the spin i put my foot on the clutch and so the motor is still running. i shut it off. i then look for any fire's. none. then get out of the car realising as i go how deeply it is buried (up to the bottom of the door) and quickly retreat to the safety of the tire barrier. Then my hand starts to really hurt as i am coming down off the adreniline, and i realise i must have hit it on the steering wheel during the stop "Great, last thing i need the day after i finish year 12, a broken hand!". the rescue man arrives, we retrieve the car and i notice that the two left wheels have been sanded from where i went in, and the rear left wheel has come off the rim and is now flat (that was a fast stop). I then get in with the rescue man and he takes me to the medic, turns out i have only recieved minor soft tissue damage and should be back to normal in a week. Phew.

Fortunately, now, five days later, car is almost in one piece again, new tires are fitted (the ones pictured are my street tires), my hand is on the mend quickly, and my dad and i are preparing for this saturdays Vintage Stampede at the track. But although all is good , i can only help but think that even though it was unfortunate i had a spin and a big off, that luck must have been on my side to get away so lightly with two very close calls.

All in all, it was a good fun day, i'm ok, the car is now ok, and i am grateful the this accident occured AFTER my TEE exams, and not during.

And that, my friends, is my ride of the day.

Tom.

[260DET]

Easy to lose concentration after a while, or else keep pushing until............. Been there, about five laps at a time is enough for me.

[boyblunda]

Pleased to hear that you escaped relatively unscathed and the car is not too badly damaged. A pretty cheap lesson it seems.

Your front spoiler looks as though it could use a little attention but other than that ..... I have not heard anyone repairing a spoiler other than with fibreglass but on canoeing expeditions we carried a Selleys? product called Kneadit or similar sounding name. It worked really well and I mean really worked. If you are glassing the rear of the spoiler to repair it the Kneadit could go well on the front surface and can then be ground back. I am about to try this on my own spoiler in the near future. FWIW

Ari Vaatanen once said that to learn to drive fast he kept on driving around the same corner until he came unstuck ......... and then he learned to judge how to drive 0.1% slower than that critical speed - or words to that effect (you had to hear the accent to appreciate the comment).

Regards

[Tommo560]

Yeah, it was a cheap lesson, and a lesson i will not soon forget.

As for concentration, i dont think it was that, i havn't had much track time so i think i was just pushing too hard because it wasnt too fast, the car was just unsettled on the way in and then i lost it.

As for the spoiler, the back has been glassed, any lumps were then ground done and smoothed and bog used to fill in the holes at the front. it is now being painted and i will re-fit it tomorow for saturday.

Tom.

[Alfadog]

Very lucky! Your injured hand & exams reminds me of a time I went to an exam and accidentally left my fingers in the door as I closed it! D'oh! If you've ever closed a door on an Alfa 164 you'll know what I'm talking about when I say it HURT! I could hardly hold the pen in the exam.

Good to see you're taking it in stride though - an accident is bound to happen some time, lucky it didn't roll! Good luck for Saturday!

[pro240c]

it always takes a bit of an "off" to realise just how far NOT to push it.

was good you didn;t roll it - or worse - because you can learn from this and you know just how the car feels when it's at it's limit of traction.

i'll bet it takes you another year to get back up to a similar entry speed in colb!!!