Date: Thu, 23 Sep 1999 13:03:59 -0600
From: Chris Tutor
<<Ok. I just gotta ask. I am about to run my first AutoX in a couple of weeks
in
a Honda Civic coupe. What are the chances of me flipping it? My Honda is much
taller and much less wider with far less-sticky tires than that poor Miata
(btw, it was a truly beautiful car).
If you tell me you've seen dozens of Civics on their backsides, I may just
call this off. >>
I have been involved in autocrossing for over 12 years now. I have been at a
site where a total of 3 cars have rolled now. The first was 10 years agao,
and the other 2 were both this year. I have been in a variety of cars, and
have watched thousands of runs with any kind of car you can imagine running
through a course.
Rollovers in autocross are VERY rare. The first one was total driver error.
He was way off course and went through drainage dips in a four wheel drift
under power trying to get back on course to save a run. Once you have missed
the course, it is time to give it up.
The next one earlier this year was also a case of driver error and was
totally preventable. The un-named driver had a hiostory of getting angry and
doing smokey donuts when he issed a course. Well guess what happened. He
DNF'd anoffset, and punched it as he swung back in. The car crossed the full
width of the course and then traveled well over 120 feet across grass before
dipping into a rain runoff canal which turned the car over. Over 700 runs
went past that same point with no incident beyond a cone hit.
The last one was the ES car at Nationals. I did not see it happen, but know
the area of the course well, I worked that course, and drove it. It was a
very fast slalom into a tight 90 right turn. Many cars were getting upset by
the manuever. The concrete has amazing grip and VW's lean ALOT. Then there
were broken parts and pealing patches in that turn, the driver has said the
car was drifting and bit in mid slide. Tripping is the most common cause of a
roll. Most autocross courses don't have trip problems. Asphault is much less
likely to cause any problem since there just is not enough grip to do it.
Anyone whop has watched a good fast VW driver knows they lean alot and lift
tires all the time, but still rarely go over. The oscilating slalom probably
hit a harmonic of the suspension and had it leaning far more than a steady
turn of that speed wuold, and then it hit a broken rut as it was already on
the edge of two wheeling.
Not having whitnessed it, I have to go by what the driver reported. Would it
change the way I drove that turn. NO! I took my runs there the day before,
but even if I had been following, I don't think it would have changed how I
ran. To be honest, I know I was too slow out of the slalom, but mostly
because I was driving someone elses car and did not feel comfortable slamming
into that curve. But I was concerned about hitting the cones on the exit,
rolling a car never entered my mind. It takes something extreme to do it. At
Nationals 920 cars each took 3 runs through that same turn, and ONE rolled.
That is some amazing odds. The fact it was a VW (sorry VW lovers) is no
suprize to me. A BMW would also be a likely one. A Honda, don't even think
about it, they are far more stable.
Gary M.
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