>That was one of the scariest car fires I've ever
>seen...Pilar and her passenger were very very lucky to get out of the
car.
<<<The way I heard it, the shotgun was Victor Sias, who jumped out of
the car
whilst it was still moving and dragged her out.>>>
You left out the best part. The incident was caused by Victor not
tightening the lug nuts after swapping wheels. I too have forgotten to
tighten all my lug nuts numerous times. I bet it ranks right up there
as one of the greatest hazards in autocrossing. Now that I am racing
more than autocrossing I double check the damn things and I usually
recheck them every morning just for grins. In most of the PCA DEs I
have particpated in, part of the morning tech is to have someone check
at least a couple lug nuts on every wheel. It probably wouldn't hurt
to make it part of the Solo II tech if you have the manpower and the
inclination. But keep in mind it is a lot easier with Porsches because
all the lugs are 19mm and they all should be torqued the same amount.
However, in this particular case it would not have helped because I
believe Victor swapped the wheels after the event had started.
Paul Foster
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