It’s winter, which means it’s offseason for many of you. Of course, here in Florida, it just means we wear the fleece-lined shorts to the track. But I realize that the weather precludes many of you from doing actual track activities, and that’s no fun.
But there’s still stu…
Sorry, thought you said "burnout"...
I practice in my dark garage. I can do it in under 3 seconds now.
I've had a car catch fire with me in it; it was ever so brief but still not a great feeling.
I'm a pilot. If the airplane is in one piece, I'm not cheating on it, I'm riding the bastard down.
I practice a couple of times a year but I also try and use the same plan every time I get out of the car so that I can rely on muscle memory.
Every time a certain vendor calls me, or when the work Q.A. mailing list gets sent something.
Wait. What are we talking about?
Spoiler alert: This topic gets revisited in the next issue. TL;DR: What to do when you crash?
Appleseed said:I'm a pilot. If the airplane is in one piece, I'm not cheating on it, I'm riding the bastard down.
My old boss was a pilot, and I flew with him many times. He told me if he ever had to ditch he'd be aiming for a small space between 2 trees to shear the wings off (and the fuel tanks).
I never really felt comfortable with that wooded area at the end of the runway... 😳
I had a customer's S2000 we prepared for SCCA T-3 competition. I maintained the car and he was always spending $$$ on the latest and greatest stuff. One day he drops off a RaceTech "halo" seat for me to install. After one look at it, I told him that I would not install the seat and that if he wanted to upgrade the seat, consider something else without the helmet halo. He argued a bit and I told him that I would put it in the car if he would stop back at the shop with his drivers suit , helmet and Hans. I needed to prove a point, so I tore out his old seat and simply set the new one in its place. When he arrived and suited up, he was able to climb in the car over the top door bar, but barely. He had a cocky reply and said, "see, no problem". "Yep" I replied and proceeded to shut the door and told him that he just crashed and needed to get out the window opening since the door wouldn't open. He looked at me perplexed and said that it wasn't going to happen. I then said that the car is on fire and you have seconds to get out the passengers side. Well, between the belts, comm cables, right side net, halo seat, shifter and everything thing else, after a few seconds he removed his helmet. I said, "you just burned in the car, I'll call your wife". He didn't think about all of the consequences and even though the seat was safer, to what end?
I explained to him that it wasn't my first rodeo. I had a car fire after a blown motor at NHIS back in the early 90's and my brother almost burned to death in his car at Pocono. You race long enough and you'll have incidents, not necessarily accidents. I'm here typing this only because of training beyond driving. In my incident at New Hampshire, I pulled off in the grass after the blown motor. Besides the oil smoke, when I pulled onto the grass, the hot rotary exhaust didn't help matters and there was a fire under the car. I ended up out of the car quickly but when back in the pits, my father asked why I didn't open the door of the car to get out. I said I did, but after looking at video that my mother was taking, I actually climbed out the window! Out was out regardless of the path to get there, but it happened quickly because I practiced on how to do it.
With all of the cables attached to a driver nowadays, cool suit plumbing hoses, HANS device, belts with sternum straps, window nets, right side nets, sometimes a second window net(yes 2 of them), all of the gauge wiring in the car, fire suppression system plumbing, Accusump plumbing, petty bar placement and general rollcage layout, you better know how to quickly and efficiently remove yourself from the drivers seat. Your life might just depend on it! Please read this and take it to heart.
I'm not. My size means it takes me too long to up and over the door bars. I haven't raced since.
My goal for the year is to drop about 50 pounds. We'll see how that helps. Until I'm convinced I can bail out of a fiery crash before burning to death, I'll stick to less dangerous motorsports.
I did Tech for our Hornet Class for a couple years and I made rapid exit part of the required approval to race process. They had a minute to get out a window. In reality a minute is probably generous but at least it got them thinking about what to do in an emergency. I have climbed in and out of my new Legend car a few times and I am pretty fit and not overweight and it's still a struggle. I will practice getting out of both doors and maybe one window before the season starts.
On a related note, our oval track rules requires that the master shut off be accessible easily from outside the car and also from the driver seat while strapped in. But I see scca rules require it to be behind me where I would never be able to reach it. It seems like I will be fully dependent on Corner workers in the event of an accident if the ignition failed for some reason. What is the reason for that, and why is it not forward of the driver?
In reply to lotusseven7 (Forum Supporter) :
I hear you on halo seats complicating escape, but they can also be a (literal) lifesaver.
When I crashed my E36 at Road Atlanta, the outside of the halo had tread marks from the tire wall. Without the halo, my helmet would have taken a more direct impact and who knows how that would have turned out. I walked away with a concussion and a few broken ribs.
Some related reading from our old friend Charles Espenlaub: How I Became A Human Torch and Survived.
In reply to David S. Wallens :
I will never forget that incident. Some fellow racers always thought I was a bit paranoid, I shared that story with them.
On a related note, when I have a passenger at an HPDE the first thing I do after they get in the car is tell them how to take off the harness and open the door.
mcahn said:On a related note, when I have a passenger at an HPDE the first thing I do after they get in the car is tell them how to take off the harness and open the door.
You know, that's a great idea. I'm going to add that to my I have a strict no puking in the race car, here's how to tell me you're not having fun speech.
Jaytee said:I hear you on halo seats complicating escape, but they can also be a (literal) lifesaver.
IMHO every race car should have a halo seat, but putting one in a small vehicle like a Miata or an S2000 requires some creativity in mounting to maximize the available egress space. Mounting the seat relatively far back, removing the "vent window" on the door, and carefully choosing where the cage bars go are all important. There are lots of Spec Miatas out there with halo seats, it can be done.
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