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Re: Spins & Blame

To: autox@autox.team.net
Subject: Re: Spins & Blame
From: "Jeff Winchell" <Jeff@Winchell.Com>
Date: Thu, 1 Apr 1999 03:37:24 -0800
From:                   Benjamin D Thatcher <bthatch@juno.com>

> 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.

How many times have you seen a car upside down at an autocross in 
those 13 years (and roughly how many cars haven't done that)? From 
what I've been able to gather, thousands of autocross entries have run 
in our area before one has rolled (so far I haven't heard of a 
documented case, so the number is probably more like tens of 
thousands of entrants without a roll over). I'd bet the accident odds 
aren't noticeably worse than what one sees on the highway or in 
neighborhoods.

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