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Bad news is the chassis is destroyed. Right front and front end are smushed. Miscellaneous irrelevant body damage down the right side. I'm salvaging parts once again.
Yesterday was the 3 years to the day of my last crash. I should have paid attention to this. Third session I went out, car had been great, weather was sunny and dry and 65 degrees. I come around the back straight into T10, brake hard, turn in, the tail comes out and around, and then I'm headed towards the wall. The weather was sunny and dry, but the grass - the grass was completely soaked from weeks of rain. Zero traction. All of my safety gear worked. Kudos to Schroth for outstanding hardware, and my Marrad seat, although not FIA or SFI anything, has been a trooper.
Travelling 75 to 100 feet sideways through wet grass towards your inevitable meeting with the laws of Mr. Newton offers a surprising amount of time to reflect upon how you just fucked up, and upon how you don't won't to meet that wall, and for a surprising amount of cursing. I stopped after the second "****!" because there was no point.
To describe the impact, facing the wall, the car was pointed 45 degrees to the left and traveling sideways to through the grass 45 degrees to the right. The wall was a couple of rows of tires in front of the concrete barrier things. I don't know what they weigh, they are larger than the standard concrete highway barriers, I'm going to estimate 8000 lbs.. I hit hard enough to move the barrier back 2 feet and tip it over. RF hit first, turning into the whole right side of the car impacting, then I bounced off. Bounced as in literally bounced, witnesses report the car a good 3 feet in the air, landing parallel to the wall about 10 feet farther down-wall and about 5 feet away.
The ambulance was called over despite my saying I was ok. Which is totally fine, not going to argue with that. They were nice. I don't think the young lady running me through the concussion protocol had actually done one for real before. I had to prompt her several times.
It is nauseating to me that this is 100% driver error. The tires (225 Toyo RR takeoffs) weren't up to temp yet. I should have been cautious through the T10-T11 chicane. My best speeds in the first car were about 95 mph with the wing. I just looked at the data, and the Aim Solo shows me entering at 95, and probably coming off the brakes a bit too slow. I had an outstanding 3 days at Laguna in October, I was happy to be back at my home track, perfect weather, and it appears I simply over-drove into this corner. I have no excuses, I own this, it sucks. Data doesn't lie.
I'm still married. The phone conversation went surprisingly well, she ended with "Honey .... maybe autocross should be your thing." Which is probably the best potential reaction; I was seriously afraid of the "you're done with miatas" stance.
There will be no part-out, I'm rebuilding once again. The good:
engine starts and has oil pressure
intercooler possibly ok
radiator possibly ok or salvageable; swaybar has impacted it on lower drivers front. Coolant has drained but can't tell yet if it's from the rad or from a popped hose.
rear everything and drivetrain should be fine
brakes still have pressure
interior is fine
RF Xida status is unknown at this point. Hard to imagine it surviving but you never know, maybe all the force went around it.
So, conceivably, a new chassis plus new front suspension bits (RUCA, RLCA, swaybar, ELBJ, tie rod end, maybe a brake duct, maybe some bushings maybe not) and I'm back in business.
I have to give Kudos to Mazda here. The windshield did star crack on the passengers side, but both doors open (drivers side not fully because of frontal chassis shift to the left), both windows are intact and work, and the top still latches.
Huge thanks to the guys at AR auto service getting my car from the track to their shop, and housing it for me until I can get it into my garage for disassembly.
I now give you the carnage. First photo is of the barrier. The bottom is facing you. Second is obviously of the car.
The car to me is just a tool, I'm not emotionally invested in it. But there's still a ton of work and time put into it that has to be re-done now, and my kids liked it and now they can't ride in it. You can't build something like this without putting something of yourself into it, and it hurts to lose a piece of yourself.
On the other good news front, I just received a call saying I would be receiving on Monday an offer for a position I have applied for.
So unless things go wrong, my 8 years of man-wifery are soon to be at an end. Or maybe I'm about to enter a phase of my marriage where someone still expects full man-wifery from me even though I have a full-time job. We'll see!
Glad you are OK! That must have been a big hit to shift that concrete, the car seems to have held up better than I would have expected based on the photo. We all know that money spent on safety gear is a good investment, but there is nothing like an experience of a big shunt to bring home the soundness of that investment!
Good luck with the re-shell, just think of all the improvements you can make this time around ...
Glad you're OK and you certainly have a very practical outlook on this (I think I'd be cursing for at least a month - I DO have an emotional attachment to my car).
Thanks guys. I feel especially bad for Curly, since I bought the car from him, and he disassembled my old car for me when it died, and he built the engine for the old car, which he pulled, and put into his car for me. There's a lot of Josh into that car too and I feel so bad for losing our mutual investment.
Build 3.0 will be this, continuing. 3" exhaust. The baller rear hubs. Maybe the supertech 8.6 pistons, maybe not, maybe wait on that. But get them coated and ready.
I can't, I mean, my life ... Josh built this engine for me Jan 2015. Since then it's had basically 2k miles put on it. It's only on its second oil change after break in. If I open that door and wallow in it, I want to cry. But I won't. Forward!
I'm going Excursion hunting as soon as my job offer goes from "proposed" to "signed." There's only one SUV that was ever actually a proper true tow vehicle, and that's the diesel Excursion, and I"m going to make one mine.
Also, I need to note for 3.0:
new rollbar (this one has assisted in saving me twice now, thank you, you're done)
re-certified harness, or new obviously if they decide to not re-cert, but I think they will.
Simpson hybrid hans device. This was exactly the crash where it would provide benefit over a traditional fore-aft focused hans device with no specific lateral support considerations. And it works with seatbelts, so I can wear it instructing.
OH. God damn. Speaking of which, something else that should have tipped me off about yesterday: My student was in a 2002 mustang cobra.
Not a young individual, older than myself. This was his toy car, as we do. He bought it with a poor condition interior. He put "race" seats in it. He put in 5pt harnesses. He pulled the 3 pt OEM restraints. So, the seats had shoulder slots but didn't have sub holes, so the sub restraint was looped over the front. I immediately identified this and talked with my CDI and the hosting organization president. They fully backed me on my right to refuse to get in the car.
We had a skills clinic autocross set up at the event. I rode with him in that, and decided he was not a hoonigan. Messing aboot with the harness, I got it to where the lap belt was cinched good and tight on my pelvis, and the shoulder belts felt right. Not ideal, but I decided to give him his time. We did a full session before my fateful session, and he was ok. A typical floundering beginner trying hard but not really getting it, but trying, and listening to me, so I felt ok. And he was a mechanical engineer by degree, so I could talk to him technically. But he wasn't a performance car guy, didn't know slip angle or contact patch etc. Which was fine.
My point is, I made a mistake into a corner that put me into a wall. I have been into that corner literally a THOUSAND TIMES. Any beginner that gets over enthusiastic can easily make the same mistake.
If you instruct, I highly recommend you get the Simpson hybrid restraint. If you get MSF level 2 certification (or maybe even level 1, not sure) you get 20% off through a deal through them. And don't get into a car with an improperly set up harness.
And, as I think about it, I may not miss 2018 after all. I may not bring a car, but I may be able to come along. Perhaps there is a portland resident that would wish to share the commute with me in my potential tow vehicle. Perhaps! Who could know, we shall see. I would dearly love to make it even on a "hang/meet with the guys basis."
Somewhat dependent upon my newly found gainfully employed status, I guess. But we'll see.
04-20-2018, 05:47 PM
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