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Fire on track, anyone have a caged chassis for sale?
What Happened:
So its my first track day since blowing my motor 8 months ago at hyperfest and I'm braking in the new motor (2.4L inline pro build making 260+whp). I had done a bunch of other stuff while the motor was out including removing the charcoal canister (following the DIY on this site), replacing the fuel line and injectors. The car did well for the first 3 sessions and I was checking everything in the engine bay between sessions and never smelled fuel. 15min into the last TT session of the day I completely loose power coming out of a turn (probably no fuel to the motor), I start coasting into the grass out of the way, check my mirrors and see fire in the grass. I'm able to coast back on track, still see smoke behind me (not really in the engine bay) and get out of the car to watch it burn. Fortunately the fire crew came pretty quickly but a significant bit of damage was done.
What Caused the fire:
I really can't be sure but my theory is that it started in the rear of the car by the deleted charcoal canister since this is where a majority of the damage was. It's possible that the check valve I zip tied out of the way freed up and took out one of the fuel/return lines or there could have been some other leak back there. Its also possible it started at the front from the fuel rail, injectors, or fuel line then spread down the hardline but the lack of significant damage in the front and that I was specifically checking for this between sessions makes me think it started in the rear.
What Now:
Now that I've started totaling up the cost of parts I'm realizing I may be better off buying a new chassis without a powertrain. Fortunately most of the damage was under the car, not in the engine bay and the motor, trans, diff and suspension seem to be fine. I've been competing in time trials for the last few years so I never needed a cage or fire suppression system, it was always on my to do list but other expenses always came up. This seems like the time to fix that and buy someone else's project with a blown motor or something then switch my parts onto it. My budget is up to 10k depending on condition/what parts are included and I'm willing to drive up to 10 hours from Charlotte NC. It has to be a nice cage and decent chassis but I don't mind body panel damage. My car is definitely savable but I figured I'd explore this option before ordering parts. I haven't seen anything posted so if anyone does know of a car please PM me or email me at ryanmdel@gmail.com
Bonus:
I won TT4 that day by more than 4 seconds (4th overall) and was given the "Hot Shoe" award...
Good luck on the new build and glad your safe. I still own and race my car that burned down on track. My buddy also has a car that burned down on track, I rebuilt it for him and it tracks again.
Both of the above were due to oil filter spinning backward and spraying oil in bay. My car in particular with the amount of fire at the back of car it looked pretty wild; but apparently a lot of oil at speed was able to soak the underside and rear bumper before fire.
We all carry fire extinguishers in passenger footwell easy to get to and have oil filter issue solved. But for me on my list is eventually doing a real fire suppression system.
But for me on my list is eventually doing a real fire suppression system.
Getting a fire suppression system presents it own conundrums, but you can get a decent SFI certified one for about $1,000 - $1,500. I have a Safecraft LT 5 bottle system on my MGA with discharge points in the engine bay (carburetors), in the passenger compartment (aimed above my feet) and in the trunk (aimed at the fuel tank), operated with a pull cable. The suppressant is a gas that seems to do a good job killing a fire without leaving behind a damaging residual of fire suppressant material. But in hindsight, I believe the bottle is too small - especially as it will discharge to all three locations the way I have it set up. If I had to do it over again, I would go for the larger 10 pound bottle, or alternatively a second 5 lb bottle in the trunk, especially for the fuel tank. I'd also consider an automatic, heat sensitive discharge nozzle, both in the engine bay and in the trunk.
I suppose you don't necessarily need a certified system unless running with a race group that requires the certification. For track day use, for about a third of the cost you can actually purchase used fire systems on E-Bay that have bottles where the SFI certification has expired. But ask for the bottle date and try to get one not super old. In my case, my bottle was originally certified for three years (I think), and then I had it recertified for another three years, but after that Safecraft said my bottle was beyond a date (too old) for recertification. But who gets their hand operated fire extinguishers certified any way?
03-10-2024, 09:29 AM
Fire on track, anyone have a caged chassis for sale?
