Close Call

A college buddy of mine was at a track day at Mid-Ohio today and he had a close call with a Corvette.

Thank God for GoPro!

http://youtu.be/SQiLeiCgO7Q

Not being a dick - but I could see by how he braked hard that he was staring at the spinning car instead of looking thru for his escape. If that was really a close call he would have hit him. He actually had room to drive to the apex w/o lifting.

I do get that it is disconcerting and I am really not trying to be a dick - but it isn't the last time he will see that if he keeps at it. Tell him to keep his eyes up and keep the chaos in periphery. Look only where you WANT to go. The sheet metal gods smile on he who follows this path :)

I can see what the driver was thinking, he could have just as easily looped the Bette back down towards the apex and hit the Acura. This wasn't NASCAR, so no need to take risks like trying to squeeze past a spinning car when you can just hit the brakes and see where he goes next. Looks like maybe TT so it's only one slow lap and he's back on pace the next one.

I wonder what level the group is at. The 'Vette guy lost rear grip before he touched the brakes... Ego or inexperience? or both?

m

That or a brake bias issue.

That corner has seen a lot of action as I recall.

Z350 one was huge a few years ago.

Meh not that close. Driver did wait too late, I would have at least started to slow down once I saw the Corvette get loose (by about the time he hits the brakes - bad move on the Corvette driver's part BTW) and I would have gone hard on the brakes once I could see that he was having a serious loss of control about 1/4 second later.

Geez, we sure are a bunch of back seat drivers here. Give the guy a break - I'm sure the 'Vette took him totally by surprise and he just reacted by instinct. He missed him, and that's the most important result.

It looks like a DE session. If it was his first experience with this kind of thing it was a really scary event. The reality is that he was not going so fast that he did not have options. It is proof that he was probably only at 8 1/10ths of what the car can do and thus a spinning vet is nothing more than a moving chicane. Everyone remembers there first time. It is a reality check that lets you know that stuff will happen out there. It should prove the point that you always have to be prepared. It is a little look in to what wheel to wheel racing is about and the added dynamic of having others racing in close proximity to you and that you always have to be aware of the situation.

I have to ask the question. Can he afford to ball that car up and walk away? When I was driving a car that I could not afford to replace (the owner knew this and was ok with it) things like this scared the you know what out of me. Once I got smart and started using cars that were disposable, racing got a lot more fun and spinning cars and trading a little paint was all part of the fun. It also let me explore just how good (or bad) a driver I really was. It also let me drive the way I wanted to not the way I had to.

Again probably a heart stopping moment for him but in the whole grand scheme of things of car racing it was not even close. Had he been at 10 1/10ths on the edge of adhesion and had no other option but to follow his line then I could see things being different.

I am just glad he did not decide to bail and head for the grass as that would have surely ended badly.

Unforchantly those of us that have been around racing get a bit callis to this kind of thing. For me when i started out this would have been the topic of conversation for weeks. Now it would probably not get a mention. It is sad to say but do this long enough and you will ball a car up. You will see friends will get hurt or even worse. We all know it we just dont dwell on it.

If nothing else it should be a wake up call to re examine your priorities of moneys spent on fast car parts versus money spent on your safety gear. Even in a DE bad things can happen. In fact some of the worst accidents I have seen have all happened in practice sessions. People relax a little and let there guard down. Unforchinity many people forget that the same laws of physics apply.

I am glad everyone is ok and no sheet mental was hurt. Learn from it and become a better driver, have fun and be safe.

"Thank god for Go-Pro", How did that help ? Looks as if he did every thing pretty well. There used to be a saying, "when a car spins in front of you, aim for him as he won't be there when you arrive" Or something like that. Main thing is , he didn't panic and lock up the brakes which could have made things nasty.

Ya it didn't seem all that "close" to me either. Glad it worked out for everyone.

In reply to iceracer:

That was a joke, hence the . I more or less meant it as we actually got to see it than just hearing the story.

I will agree that there are some backseat drivers here. This was just a track day with a Porsche Club. Everyone was just running laps, there's no racing going on here. How are you supposed to know how the Vette driver was going to handle his spinout? By the looks of it, my buddy got on the brakes enough to slow down to see where the Vette was going to not get tangled up with him. His small correction in steering shows me that he wasn't sure where the Vette was going.

For someone who doesn't race, I would sure as hell consider it a close call.

looks like the only damage was a bruised vette owner's ego... good learning experience for all around

Been in a similiar situation early in my HPDE experience. My instructor saw the s2000 we were following was pushing too hard and told me to give him some space. Good to his advice I backed off a bit and in the next corner the s 2000 spun right in front of us. We just drove our line and continued on. I can see how it would be a bit scary if it was my first time. Looked to me that the driver kept control of his car and avioded the vette well enough. That is a sneaky corner as I recall and it catches alot of people off guard

The GoPro has a really WIDE field of view. Makes it look like you're faster than you are, but it also downplays how close that vette was.

For a DE, I think the driver did a good job. That vette was closer than it looked.