SCCA Crash OH MY GOD!!

Ripped off of VWVortex, guess its a Spec Miata vs. a Lotus Elise...

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NlHfGGgTVsc

dont know how bad the injures are...

Holy bleeping bleep !!!

Is it me, or was the Lotus going the wrong way on the track?

they said he lost it in that corner and there was a local yellow, but you really have to look for the flag, i missed it the 2 or 3 times i watched that clip...

thats scary, hope everyone is ok.

HOLY FOOK!!

That was Ken Payson. He had a fractured vertebra but will recover and is in good spirits. They're talking about it on SpecMiata.com and SCCA forums. The other driver was OK as far as I know. No info really.

I just can't see how he drove directly into it, not judging but wow, absolutely head on.

Further views shows he ducked out to make a pass attempt, by the time he was out it was all over, just one of the those things....speedy recovery

Others have said it wasn't a pass attempt, but him following the proper line.

Not sure if it's the same as when/where I used to work corners but if there was a waving yellow the previous station should have been stationary yellow (if there was time).

Wow. It took 3 or 4 watches, but right before the crash you can see the worker station start frantically waving the yellow, I watched it unfurl. I didn't see any other yellows, including when traffic was passing the much slower red car. I would have to hazard a guess that the Elise driver lost it, spun, and was (I think) waiting stationary for traffic to go by when he was hit. The worker station would probably need about 2 seconds to react (they are human, after all). Unless I miss my guess, the driver of the Miata was in such a position that the car ahead of him was blocking his view, thus he had no idea the Elise was there until it was too late. It all happened so fast... best wishes to all involved.

As a flagger, I will attest to times when we had a MAJOR incident in front of our station (T5 at Summit) and I'm maddly waving the flag, and cars are piling down, right into the incident, causing it to become worse. With some guys, I swear they wouldn't see me if I were tattoo'd to their retinas.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NlHfGGgTVsc

At 36 seconds into the video you can see the Lotus stopped on the track (but all the Miata driver can see is the bumper ahead of him.)
At 37 seconds you can see the yellow flag on the right (the Miata driver likely still focused on bumper ahead.)
At 38 seconds the Miata breaks the draft.
At 39 seconds it all goes to hell.

That is gut-wrenching. I had to see it a couple of times before I realized just what had happened.

Holy E36 M3.

ughh.. that noise stays with you.

wow that was heart stopping. dayum if i was the driver of the camera car I would have felt the urge to stop and se if they are ok. Shouldn't they do that if theres a crash? get everyone to slow down and even stop? the driver of the camera car seemed to get right up the arse of the next car on that corner, despite what he had just witnessed! Madness.

Anyways i've never been autocrossing, just getting into it so i suppose i cant comment

Hope all involved recover quickly

In reply to Zman:

no you don't stop unless the red flag comes out... you keep racing....

not to say that you could come across a wreck where you are the only one near and able to render assistance ...

Yeah I just realised the yellow probs meant slow ( I used to go go-karting everyso often).

So if there's a lot of cars nearby and say one of the cars is on fire you have to keep racing? I know that would be a rare and horrifying event but would you at any point be told off for pulling over to the barrier, waiting for it to be clear and going to check on the drivers?

Like i said sorry for my ignorance but ive never done this before :(

Zman wrote: So if there's a lot of cars nearby and say one of the cars is on fire you have to keep racing? I know that would be a rare and horrifying event but would you at any point be told off for pulling over to the barrier, waiting for it to be clear and going to check on the drivers?

You pass go you do not stop or attempt to collect $200.00.

Period.

Red means stop, yellow means slow down and look out.

Mhk, i would feel really guilty but if thems the rules, I guess they are there to stop more people from getting hurt.

Although if it was my mate in the car I may feel differently.

Zman wrote: Yeah I just realised the yellow probs meant slow ( I used to go go-karting everyso often). So if there's a lot of cars nearby and say one of the cars is on fire you have to keep racing? I know that would be a rare and horrifying event but would you at any point be told off for pulling over to the barrier, waiting for it to be clear and going to check on the drivers? Like i said sorry for my ignorance but ive never done this before :(

Yellow flags are displayed at corners and other worker stations to alert drivers that a car is off-course, stationary or basically in an unsafe position. The flag stations are located before specified areas so drivers have time to react before arriving on the scene. Also. yellow flags are either stationary or waving - a waving yellow in indicates something is really amiss and the drivers must prepare themselves.

Under no circumstances is any passing allowed under a yellow flag.

In this case, it looks like Payson (the SM driver) was simply too close to the car in front and simply missed seeing the wavin yellow - shown to drivers' right just before the turn exited on to the straight. This was an unfortunate "racing" incident; Payson is an extremely experienced, accomplished, and successful racer

And drivers are instructed to keep driving. It's the corner crews who aretrained to assist under conditions of duress. I'll bet that corner crew members are far better trained than 90% of the drivers on course.

Zman wrote: Mhk, i would feel really guilty but if thems the rules, I guess they are there to stop more people from getting hurt. Although if it was my mate in the car I may feel differently.

It's not about how you "feel".

It's about keeping the area clear so the corner crews can get in there and perform the procedures to take of drivers and clean-up the track.

A driver who stops on-course only put himself and others at greater risk, so no one stops unless the red flag is waved.

oldsaw wrote:

Zman wrote: Mhk, i would feel really guilty but if thems the rules, I guess they are there to stop more people from getting hurt. Although if it was my mate in the car I may feel differently.

It's not about how you "feel". It's about keeping the area clear so the corner crews can get in there and perform the procedures to take of drivers and clean-up the track. A driver who stops on-course only put himself and others at greater risk, so no one stops unless the red flag is waved.

Alright chill :( i was simply stating how I would feel if it was my mate there, i would feel more inclined to stop but i fully undersand why you shouldn't and I would not do so for fear of getting someone else injured.

Also, thanks for the detailed explanation