OK, OK, I've gone and done it again. I periodically get involved with a
discussion on this forum and the written word once again is unable to
convey the true meaning of what I'm trying to say.
Some of you think I'm trying to say that the sport of Autocross is
supposed to be dangerous. Not at all. It is one of the safest motorsports
activities available. Probably even safer than road rally because of the
inherent danger of driving on public streets and highways.
However, we also do the sport a disservice if we portray it as so safe
that we can just spin a car on course without the danger of ever hitting
anything. I'm saying if competitors have that expectation, in time they
may have a rude awakening if they see a car in a fence, upside down or
over a curb. I hope they never see that. But in my 13 years in the sport,
I've seen them all and none of them happened because of unsafe course
design or excessive speed. We have to be responsible and teach our
competitors to respect how quickly things can happen and that a moving
automobile can be a danger. Managing that danger is the challenge of our
rules-makers. They are doing a great job.
Our Novice chiefs and autocross schools are on the job to help new
competitors to understand the laws of physics as applied to automobiles.
That a car starting to spin is best allowed to take a safe path off
course rather than get back to the gate on course at any cost. We need to
teach, teach, teach safety all the time.
Our course designers need to keep in mind the devastating effect of 45
mph offsets contributing to wild spins. A 70 mph straight leading to a
wide 90 degree corner that has a place for straight line braking is far
safer than those higher speed offsets mentioned above.
I'm sorry if I came across as endorsing this sport being dangerous,
because it is relatively very safe compared to any other motorsport
activity.
Ben Thatcher
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