Do you think that is the weakest link in most HPDE cars? I don't know that there are any studies, but there doesn't seem to be much I can do to prevent a fence post from impaling me through a door.

Two different types of risk I suppose...

 

Not to mention cars' ever-increasing performance potential. When I was growing up, the fastest exotics in existence (Ferrari F40, Porsche 959) had less than 500 hp. How you can go to your neighborhood Chevy or Ford dealer and buy a car with more power than that for not an outrageous amount of cash. Just because you can afford a 500 hp car doesn't mean you're capable of driving a 100 hp car safely on track, though.

Not trying to say anything about the driver in this specific tragedy at all, but rather making a generic statement that as cars get faster, but the driving skill level of the general population doesn't get any higher, the likelihood of bad things happening on the street or on the track goes up.

 

Nothing is going to prevent that. Except for better driving that keeps you from a fence post. But in the first example, you wonder how much the 4-point had to do with the fatal injury. In some cases, it's worse than the OEM belt.

For the second situation, a better driver would have absolutely prevented the death of the instructor. If it's me, I'm driving a car I can throw away and if there's something in the way and I'm already at the edge of grip, I'm hitting that bad boy and if I lose control it'll be in a straight line. I'll try and move over to not hit it with the driver's compartment, but still.

I'm okay with risk of freak accidents. But when I race, I'm going to do it in a full size car with windshield (i.e. no open wheel cars, no SRFs, and I'm not cutting the windshield off completely from my E-production car). I don't want to have a Massa-like incident.

 

They allowed passengers when I did it only a few months back. I was surprised as well.


And re mandatory instructors on the East Coast or different orgs (e.g., NASA)... somewhat irrelevant for situations like this since a lot of the big accidents seem to be in the intermediate groups -- people who are just getting fast enough to be dangerous, but still learning car control.

 

This is what scares me the most.
I see it all the time, even in solo. I've been to events where a novice in a nice car will come out, do 5 horrible runs, and immediately think they are a driving god. I had a novice with an e39 M5 that constantly overdrove the car, plowed into cones, spun the car, etc. He passed me on the way home doing well over 100 mph, because he was now a racecar driver.

 

This is why in my opinion Chumpcar needs to start getting more serious about post race tech for cheating and making sure the cars are slow. I built a Legit Chump car. It makes like 70hp. We looked at what's showing up and the lap times at sebring are that of Touring 3 S2000's. You can't have POS cars driving on a track that can do 140mph. You need to slow them down significantly. It's just a matter of time till someone dies in that series if it hasn't already happened. I'm hearing stories of BMW's with M internals and Cams and such running around in chump car with big HP numbers. I'm sorry but the only BMW worth $500 is one without an engine.

 

I know! The E36s on track at Road America put down 2:55s using the BEND (not the kink).

It's basically a few top teams running spec BMWs at a high level and a bunch of goobers blowing up on track, but paying the track bills.

 

Chumpcar is crazy especially at certain tracks, I broke my hand in at Rd Atlanta surprising a slow car round the outside of T1.
Theres a lot of people driving around without using their mirrors or people who just turn in on you even though you are alongside.
Some people out there running 30mph slower, where they don't need to track out but they are driving the "school" line so they go wide anyways.
Chumpcar is a lot of fun though I don't know that I would change it - I think if you have to change the way you drive and pass to survive a race.

Its realy sad to hear about a death at HPDE but its the sort of thing that seems to happen a lot on the roads to.
Make sure if you are going to take passengers you give them the same harness/seat safety stuff you have.
A friend of mine recently rode in a porsche Gt3 turbo or some realy fast porsche where the guy had hi dollar scroth harnesses but the passenger seat was stock with a 3pt.
Anyways he came out of the pits on cold tires like a bat out of hell in front of me then drops it 2 turns later in a fast sweeper.
Once he had lost it he didn't put 2 feet in properly and started to roll back across the track in front of me!
I had to get back on the gas to make sure it cleared him - it wasn't that close but it was near enough

 

Chumpcar is crazy especially at certain tracks, I broke my hand in at Rd Atlanta surprising a slow car round the outside of T1.
Theres a lot of people driving around without using their mirrors or people who just turn in on you even though you are alongside.
Some people out there running 30mph slower, where they don't need to track out but they are driving the "school" line so they go wide anyways.
Chumpcar is a lot of fun though I don't know that I would change it - I think if you have to change the way you drive and pass to survive a race.

Its realy sad to hear about a death at HPDE but its the sort of thing that seems to happen a lot on the roads to.
Make sure if you are going to take passengers you give them the same harness/seat safety stuff you have.
A friend of mine recently rode in a porsche Gt3 turbo or some realy fast porsche where the guy had hi dollar scroth harnesses but the passenger seat was stock with a 3pt.
Anyways he came out of the pits on cold tires like a bat out of hell in front of me then drops it 2 turns later in a fast sweeper.
Once he had lost it he didn't put 2 feet in properly and started to roll back across the track in front of me!
I had to get back on the gas to make sure it cleared him - it wasn't that close but it was near enough
[/quote]

I think the solution for Chumpcar is 4 bangers only. And give a min weight based on OEM HP rating. Problem solved.

 

I find that surprising. After all track days I am exhausted, both mentally and physically. I hit cruise control for exactly the speed limit and coast home.