at a local racetrack in a torrential downpour of rain i came onto the back straight and was doing about 180kph or so..maybe more, when the car bucked sideways and left me facing perpendicular with the wall....corrected it and the car went about 70 deg the other way then back towards the wall again..then straight just intime to get on the brakes for the next infield session.

 

just watching sechsgang drive...

oh..dhinkle clipping tirewall in his 996 at barber or going from like 6th to 2nd in his cupcar at road atlanta in 10

 

By far my biggest "sphincter clincher" was during a practice session for my clubrace at Summit on the second day. I needed new pads as I had worn my yellows completely out during the sprint races the day before. All we had were oranges which I THOUGHT were broken in...well, they werent. First turn, warm up lap, 145 or so into turn 1 (a 50-65 or so mph turn in depending on car/*****) and I had NO brakes...well, it was open passing and damn it if someone thought they were going to pass me on the inside while I was determining if my ***** could acutally come OUT of my throat as I needed to breath. This driver scooped in between the rumble strips and me and missed me by about .1 cms...I swear it, I thought that was gonna be the end of my clean record...SOMEHOW, I managed to take the corner about 15 mph hotter than I wanted to, WHILE pushing an outside line, just to re-pass the same car that gave me the heart attack...haha


and that was just practice...needless to say, that one was worth some cloth from my recaros...haha

 

uh uh you didnt...well if watching is scary, just imagine being IN the car...haha

 

Not in a P car, but at Laguna Seca at Skip Barber racing school. I was getting alot of "that a boy"s from the instructors, but I was just a fraction of a second behind another driver from being the overall fastest. I weighed about 250 and the kid probably weighed 160. Huge in these underpowered cars. I was trying to gain every advantage. Hard braking, great car rotation, fast shifts, etc. Coming out of the cork screw I missed a shift from second to third. Accidentally put it in first. The rear of the car came around clockwise and I smashed into the wall.

The one and only wreck of the weekend. Hard lesson learned. I was at a racing school and not a race. Had no business trying to be the fastest. I should have been concentrating more I the technical aspects.......like perfect shifting. I brought a broken upright and hub home with me as a reminder.

 

I have a penchant for being behind cars in trouble at DE's...

My first oh 'snap' moment occurred when [piloting the RX-8] at TWS, corner 4 exit, the white Carrera in front of me lost it. He carried too much speed through the corner, and, as is the rule, with no warning of weaving he snapped 180, towards the inside of the corner, mid track, aimed right at me...

Its not so much oh snap because there was any metal to metal or impending metal to metal because I had momentum pushing me to track out anyway, but ill never forget the fear in the driver's eyes as his car pirouetted to face mine - and his fear was what got to me. I swerved around him, no problem, but I try not to set up passes between 4 and 5 anymore because of it. If I hadn't been able to swerve off line fast enough his only choice would have been to swing his car at the corner station... No bueno

#2: TWS once again a couple of weekends ago - following an srt-10. first lap in the green, running dry line but everything was still moist- my passenger and I kept making quips about how if he kept driving like that he'd be spinning any minute so I kept my distance - sure enough, coming out of 3, he got on it too heavy and 180 plused. I'm always going to be a bit anxious when a car in front of me spins mid track but this guy didn't inherently put two feet in [which I think would be second nature or muscle memory in an srt10 - haha... I jest] but he lit up the rear tires in panic, which thankfully sent him off track and out of the way

I haven't yet had an oh snap moment because I lost it somewhere bad [except for the time my car spun turning from park lane to us75 south] but when I do it will be on video! I'm just not fast enough I guess

 

mevans

Are you running with driversedge?

 

OK, it wasn't me, but I have to share it. I had just gotten out of the car and Paul jumped in. I was at turn 5 when he crested the hill dead sideways. Watch the orange anti-lock brake failure light go off one millisecond before he hits the breaking zone. The best part is at the very end when he though he had blown the engine...uh oh. I would have wet myself if it happened to me just three laps earlier.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZtuLZpPYD1s

or search: firehawk at road america on youtube.

 

I run with the pca and TWSmsc [my brother can't run with pca as he doesn't turn 18 until may]

Should I be running with driver's edge?

 

^^^You going to Road Atlanta, VIR, Limerock or Summit for any clubracing this year?

 

OH SNAP! What a place to have that happen! I am usually 140+ at that point on the track at RA in my GT3. Great save!

 

I haven't run with them in a year, but they are cheap and fun. About $300 for 4 run sessions on saturday and 4 run sessions on sunday.

 

No doubt! We are usually just above 150, crest the hill, let the car settle and stand on the brakes. What a surprise. At least there is a bit of track there. He slid about 200'. If it happened going into Canada, it might have been really nasty. Paul is a great driver and a PCA instructor. I am just glad I wasn't driving.

 

Last summer at Putnam I spun in turn 7 (not that is something I haven't done before ), but just I was spinning into a "please t-bone me" position I remembered the red 993 C4s I had just passed late going into 5. As I finally rolled off track backwards, I actually enjoyed the soiled seat with a big smile as I had I put so much distance on him that he was just breaking at that point.

On the soiled seat not. I was working the grid at Putnam this summer and saw was I swear was a soiled seat in a arial atom. The black seat was I seriously dark brown right behind the sub belt slot.

 

Racing a Panoz GT in my 2nd race event. The 1st day of practice we were having driving rain from a hurricane that was hitting the Carolina's. Experienced a "white out" at 120 mph as I was entering the braking zone on the back straight. Rain was blowing into the car, couldn't not keep the windshield from fogging up and the windshield wipers were barely hanging on (if you raced Panoz, you can only imagine!). Only time that I thought my wife may be correct that I really had lost my mind with my new hobby of racing.