[Fot] Followup on that Z-car crash

[David W. Riddle]

Here is the in-car video and the drivers write-up of what happened


>More pics: http://picasaweb.google.com/jeffdegrieck/MidOhioSept2008
>In-car video: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hvdaMMrmkF8
>
>
>Hey all, here are the pics of my crash at mid-o 
>this wknd. Data said I was going about 95mph 
>when I went off the back straight before 7. Some 
>kind of brake failure. Had brakes for a split 
>second then nothing. Slowed from 130 down to 95. 
>Someone said I flipped about 9 times. 
>Cartwheeled over the gravel trap and catapulted over
>the tire barrier and then over/through a 18 foot 
>fence and ended up in the spectator area. 
>Officials said they have never seen a car go 
>that far out or seen a crash like that at 
>mid-ohio. Iâm completely fine though, just a 
>small bump on head. Can't say the same about the 
>Z. Thanks to everyone out there that helped me 
>out especially cat killer, ralphy and ed.
>
>Yes, i had a hans on. That's what probably gave 
>me the bruise on my forehead. Hans stopped my 
>helmet but my head smashed into the inside of my 
>helmet. I had a racetech seat with wings and 
>head bolsters. Did not have a net on the right. 
>Had a 5 point harness (2 groin belts combine 
>into one buckle). Car never really had a hard 
>impact. Just kept on doing cartwheels over a 
>long distance dissipating the energy. Looking at 
>the in car video looks like instinct took over 
>and i tried turning at the end of the straight 
>so i started flipping almost before i left the concrete. Should of
>gone off straight into china beach and hopefully 
>had the gravel slow me down b/f hitting tire 
>wall. Thing that bothers me the most is not 
>knowing what happened to the brakes. Childs is 
>conducting a csi investigation. My data showed a 
>1.2 G slowdown at the 400 mark just like always 
>but only for a split second. Pedal felt good.
>Then my G's gradually dropped to 0. I remember 
>lifting and pushing in the pedal again and the 
>data showed my G's came back up to .7 then 
>quickly dropped back down to 0 before i turned 
>the car and flipped. I don't ever remember the pedal just hitting the floor.
>Brake fluid reservoir was still filled after the 
>crash. Looking at the in car video, the car 
>really shimmied at initial braking, almost 
>looking like the rear brakes were working but 
>not the front. Only evidence we have so far is 
>on the front left wheel, the rotor had a weird 
>discoloration and was completely scoured and gouged as if
>the caliper was stuck. I don't see how this 
>happend though b/f the crash though b/c the car 
>was pretty dead on straight, not drifting to the 
>left as you would expect so maybe it somehow got 
>scoured after the crash. Car does have ABS but I 
>don't think it ever activated. Braking was 
>totally fine going down the keyhole just prior.