>Paul I ran on that course and that was after the car had rolled.
>I saw no problem with the section granted it had been redone but
>to actually hit the timing vehicle going through there might be
>possible if say the person ignored all the cones and just drove
>straight at them. I think our safety stewards were right on top
>of it. They did a course redesign and let everyone that had run
>get reruns. What more do you want?! something happened, it was
>corrected, and I never felt like I could hit the timing van in anyway
>during a run. Life isn't perfectly safe, everyone at this event
worked
>very hard to make it as safe and fun as possible. But if you
>overdrive your car in a big way you can get hurt.
>Over 1300 runs and one car that was admittedly ill prepared
>sticky tire with bad shocks rolled. No injuries that's pretty darn
good
>in my book.
Although it is hard to come to any sort of rational conclusion without
more facts, there are still a number of factors that everybody seems
to be glossing over. This was a very fast section where the driver had
to navigate a very tight corner. Furthermore, the car ended up close
to another car and in the proximity of the timing trailer. Those
appear to be the facts and they are not good.
Now there are lots of people who state that not every condition can be
considered, but this sure sounds like a situation which could have
been avoided. What would have happened if a heavy prepared car had had
it's throttle stick? Never happens? Shouldn't be considered? I
disagree. If you are going to have high speed sections they should be
in the back away from such hard obstacles with a great deal of runoff.
And they should give the driver some leeway to recover from mistakes
without having to worry about hitting something or someone. In this
case it didn't appear to be the case.
And I simply do not buy the bad shocks theory. That is no excuse,
particularly with only 60K miles on a stock car. It sounds more like
the car was going too fast for the driver to properly react in a safe
manner. This sport is all about relative newcomers strapping on a set
of sticky tires to their stock daily driver and having fun without the
immediate concern of trashing their car. I really hate to see that
change because I believe it is the greatest thing about autocrossing.
This is not a professional sport where incidents can be shrugged off.
This is a sport where there should never be an injury. This is a sport
where there should never be a rollover of a stock car owned by a
relatively poor student. This is a sport which does not require an
ambulance in attendance, nor does it require roll bars or cages,
drivers suits, or window nets. Those sports exist but I really hate to
see autocross become one of them. And I don't think our insuror is
going to be too pleased with the number of recent incidents either.
Some of you think it is just the odds. It doesn't really matter
because unless it stops autocrossing will either come to a quick end,
or the relative expense, the lack of licensing, and the lack of safety
equipment will have to change. It is our choice. Our reaction to such
incidents will be the major impetus. Do we shrug it off or do we do
everything we can to ensure it doesn't happen again? It is up to us.
IMHO
Paul Foster
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