Ridiculous SCCA Nissan 350Z crash equipment

[exigeracer]

Okay, not old news, I swear

This happened at Mid-Ohio just this weekend, same spot as the infamous ALMS DBR9 flight, but this one is waaaaaay more severe. Driver walked away.

Now, I hate it when people put up crash photos for no other reason than to laugh or be impressed or whatnot. But friends, look at this safety equipment:

Get proper safety equipment installed before you need it. A stock car even with a decent 4-point setup wouldn't have witheld this kind of rattling. If you're out there, this is how you're careful. Full professional cage, HANS etc.

 

[Tornado]

I was amazed by just how many pictures there were as I kept scrolling downward.

What caused it?

 

[V1P3R]

I'm kinda wonder how he got into that situation to begin with.

 

[McLaren]

Holy crap! He went over the tire wall, through the protective fence, and then another fence! He had to have been really hauling on that track when he lost control.

 

[Perfect Balance]

There were a few times when I thought, "ok, this is the last picture" and the car just kept going. Is there any videos of this?

 

[Holdenhsvgtsr]

thats almost basicly what happened to my mates time attack evo last week! (flipped over nose first,rolled several times and ended up in a spectator area)

 

[Muzaffar]

Ouch, that has gotta hurt!
Now I don't really mind spending the money on a roll cage and safety harness and those other safety equipments in my car!
Think how many lives that could save me if I were street racing.....

 

[CDailey]

This video shows him coming down the straight and braking too late and getting squirley and the beginning of the first flip.

 

[Revheadnz]

That's incredible, I'll bet the owner of the Z went back to the guy who built his rollcage and bought him a beer or 80 after that.

 

[Holdenhsvgtsr]

This video shows him coming down the straight and braking too late and getting squirley and the beginning of the first flip.

Thats strange,its looks like the brakes failed as there doesnt appear to be any drop in speed but that Gforce metre was showing braking force

 

[niky]

The title should be: "Ridiculously good SCCA Nissan 350Z crash equipment"... hell, even some professional rollcages might not have held up to such a beating...

What's even worse than the crash is getting the bill for the damage afterwards...

 

[niky]

On seeing the video... looks like a bad brake failure... see, he only gets full braking force for a fraction of a second and then absolutely nothing... at that point, he's just a passenger waiting to find out where he's going to hit.

 

[ferrari_chris]

I remember that spot from the DB9 incident.

Maybe they need to raise up that gravel trap so cars don't 'jump' off the edge of the track?

 

[a6m5]

Third pic from the bottom, is that the driver walking away?

I don't believe it.......

 

[Leonidae]

Damn.. that was some serious pounding that car got... too bad that the video didn't have speed display. And it indeed seemed like brake failure.

 

[///M-Spec]

<obligatory> That'll buff right out.


Good thing there weren't any spectators by that fence.


M

 

[Kent]

Amazing crash.
Although, I'm not sure brake failure was the key. In fact, I think he may have just gone too fast... You see the brakes being feathered after a heavy initial braking. After being feathered it seems like he lets off and then an instant later he's sliding towards sideways and off the track only a moment later.

That said, I can't really tell what happened based on what I've seen.
It would be interesting to see a video of what those pictures show.

 

[Duke]

Does he get 3 home runs for going over 3 fences?

Yeah, that guy's cage builder just made another friend for life.

 

[///M-Spec]

Kent, the gauge on the left side of the screen is a g-force display, not a brake-force display. It shows actual gs rather than how hard someone is pressing down on a pedal --in other words, NOT like GT games.

The poor guy's brakes went out. He posted this on another forum:

Yes, i had a hans on. That's what probably gave me the bruise on my forehead. Hans stopped my helmet but my head smashed into the inside of my helmet. I had a racetech seat with wings and head bolsters. Did not have a net on the right. Had a 5 point harness (2 groin belts combine into one buckle). Car never really had a hard impact. Just kept on doing cartwheels over a long distance dissipating the energy. Looking at the in car video looks like instinct took over and i tried turning at the end of the straight so i started flipping almost before i left the concrete. Should of gone off straight into china beach and hopefully had the gravel slow me down b/f hitting tire wall. Thing that bothers me the most is not knowing what happened to the brakes. Childs is conducting a csi investigation. My data showed a 1.2 G slowdown at the 400 mark just like always but only for a split second. Pedal felt good. Then my G's gradually dropped to 0. I remember lifting and pushing in the pedal again and the data showed my G's came back up to .7 then quickly dropped back down to 0 before i turned the car and flipped. I don't ever remember the pedal just hitting the floor. Brake fluid reservoir was still filled after the crash. Looking at the in car video, the car really shimmied at initial braking, almost looking like the rear brakes were working but not the front. Only evidence we have so far is on the front left wheel, the rotor had a weird discoloration and was completely scoured and gouged as if the caliper was stuck. I don't see how this happend though b/f the crash though b/c the car was pretty dead on straight, not drifting to the left as you would expect so maybe it somehow got scoured after the crash. Car does have ABS but I don't think it ever activated. Braking was totally fine going down the keyhole just prior.

http://waterfordhills.com/cms/phpBB3/viewtopic.php?f=1&t=1358&sid=88528a5b5efa085c450d652170366177


M

 

[Kent]

I understood that M-spec. 👍
I just figured the reason for the g-meter's display was indicative of his brake use (that is to say, if the brakes hadn't failed and the meter presented that same data I would believe the brakes were not being used entirely). However, being that several of you, including the driver now, have presented the failure situation, I'll have to agree and say it's a horrible sight when a simple brake failure leads to that sort of crash.

I was looking for video of this crash and found some other stuff you guys might be interested in seeing.
First an older BMW clip (some of you might remember this from re-caps of racing from SPEED's year-in-racing). 👍


Then of course... Here's the flying Aston mentioned in this thread.


Unrelated "Grid" crash...


Finally, I can't find the Z crash on video.
If anyone else has better luck finding it please feel free to post the video. 👍

 

[superberkut]

Thank you for showing those videos.

Late braking seems to be the cause, but I don't know if he misjudged the turn, got too caught up in trying to overtake the car in front or if his brakes really did fail. Either way, good thread, and a good safety reminder.

 

[///M-Spec]

^ You doubt the driver's statements that his brakes failed? Really? Why?


M

 

[exigeracer]

Finally, I can't find the Z crash on video.
If anyone else has better luck finding it please feel free to post the video. 👍

The one Muza posted is the extent of the footage. The owner of ChaseCame, the recorder manufacturer of the video equipment in the Nissan, is a Lotus guy and chimed in that the recorder was tossed from the car on the first roll.

Going 95mph too - that's not faster than your average HPDE. Keep that in mind when your tracking just for fun, or when you are driving down the highway.

 

[peeweegary]

HOLY CRAP!!!! If i were that race driver, i'd never step inside a race car for the rest of my life...Wouldn't have the guts to. How lucky must he have been?!

As Richard Hammond said...."has he stopped screaming yet?"

 

[JCE]

Okay, not old news, I swear

This happened at Mid-Ohio just this weekend, same spot as the infamous ALMS DBR9 flight, but this one is waaaaaay more severe. Driver walked away. Get proper safety equipment installed before you need it. A stock car even with a decent 4-point setup wouldn't have witheld this kind of rattling. If you're out there, this is how you're careful. Full professional cage, HANS etc.

This has to be the most insane crash I've ever seen. And the dude walks away. Amazing. I wonder how fast he was going?

 

[Jim Prower]

Geez. Firstly, there needs to be some reprofiling of the ground near that corner. That sand trap is NOT doing it's job.

two: great advertisement for why you should make certain you have proper safety equipment in your race car. Violent wreck, reminiscent of Talladega/Daytona blowovers, and I'm glad he got out okay.

 

[exigeracer]

I wonder how fast he was going?

~

Going 95mph too - that's not faster than your average HPDE. Keep that in mind when your tracking just for fun, or when you are driving down the highway.

 

[JCE]

Missed that bit.

 

[Muzaffar]

The one Muza posted is the extent of the footage. The owner of ChaseCame, the recorder manufacturer of the video equipment in the Nissan, is a Lotus guy and chimed in that the recorder was tossed from the car on the first roll.

Going 95mph too - that's not faster than your average HPDE. Keep that in mind when your tracking just for fun, or when you are driving down the highway.

Sorry but its not me. I can't take the credit if I didn't post it. (it was CDailey by the way) But isn't there any outside footage from the spectators or anything? Surely the guy who took those pictures have a video somewhere.....

95mph doesn't sound too fast, but the crash is sure is violent. So what is gonna happen to the car now? Going to the scrapyard or is going for a major repair? Seems the car looks totally totalled to me.....

 

[superberkut]

^ You doubt the driver's statements that his brakes failed? Really? Why?


M

It was the driver's statements?

Anyways, it may have been the squealing of his car's tires before the crash, but looking at it again, that was from going sideways at high speeds.