This is what happens when you go too fast in a rally car

"Santiago of Escuderia Boricua" (sdiglesias)
04/24/2015 at 19:51 • Filed to: None

This WRX was stupid fast. Probably over 300hp. At this point we were writing our own notes. We took did “left 3 stay inside over crest into right 4.” There was a large pothole in the middle of the road. The driver went to the outside carrying a lot of speed, got into the loose dirt, and slid off the road right into a tree.

Surprisingly, once they pulled the car out, they were able to drive it back to the shop.

As a seat belt engineer, I decided to check out how the harnesses fared. I thought my shoulder belts must have been loose since my helmet cracked against the harness bar. As it turns out, there was some belt slack. There are folds put in to the belts with specific stitch patterns that will break at a predetermined load. This helps restrict the maximum force transmitted to the occupant. This may have caused my helmet to contact the bar, but since my chest rotated with my head, I didn’t get whiplash. Science!

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DISCUSSION (13)

TheOnelectronic > Santiago of Escuderia Boricua
04/24/2015 at 19:58

Did this happen at a rally school? Damn.

The one I went to (O’Neill) pretty much only gave us 80’s and 90’s cars with cages and a few modification. Can’t imagine giving some of the people there something at a WRX level.

Of course, I busted a tire and a strut hitting a sneaky tree root, so who am I to say?

Santiago of Escuderia Boricua > TheOnelectronic
04/24/2015 at 20:05

Yeah, today was day 5 at Team O’Neil. This was the fastest car they had, according to them. Most cars we drove earlier were fiestas and 80s-90s quattros, imprezas, and an e30. I did my day 5 in the e30

Santiago of Escuderia Boricua > TheOnelectronic
04/24/2015 at 20:12

Rally school is probably the best place for this to happen since the instructors are carrying radios and keeping track of us.

Nobody lost tires this week. Do you remember where you hit a tree root? I don’t remember that on any of the roads I drove

TheOnelectronic > Santiago of Escuderia Boricua
04/24/2015 at 20:22

This was back in like 2010 or so, so it’s pretty fuzzy, but it was a case where the dirt road had eroded or washed away, exposing the root. Neither I nor my co-driver saw it, and we managed to avoid it the previous 2 times we’d been down that stretch. No idea, really.

Santiago of Escuderia Boricua > TheOnelectronic
04/24/2015 at 20:28

Were you driving a quattro? I’ve seen those debead tires even in rallycross

TheOnelectronic > Santiago of Escuderia Boricua
04/24/2015 at 20:33

Nah, it was one of the Imprezas.

Santiago of Escuderia Boricua > TheOnelectronic
04/24/2015 at 20:34

Ah. I didn’t drive that much. I didn’t like it. It had no power and didn’t like to rotate

Justin Hughes > Santiago of Escuderia Boricua
04/24/2015 at 21:14

I’m really enjoying your daily reports - especially from the days I haven’t done (yet). RWD FTW! Maybe I’ll see you at some local rallies sometime.

Santiago of Escuderia Boricua > Justin Hughes
04/24/2015 at 21:34

When you go back, tell them you’ve been before. You should get a free day

Santiago of Escuderia Boricua > Justin Hughes
04/24/2015 at 21:39

Thanks. I’ll be doing the day five writeup tomorrow. I’ve got lots of video and the hotel internet is terrible. Also I’m still feeling the crash

Justin Hughes > Santiago of Escuderia Boricua
04/24/2015 at 21:41

Yes! I can sign up for 2 or 3 days, and start halfway through day 2 as a refresher. I definitely have that in mind for one of these days.

Santiago of Escuderia Boricua > Justin Hughes
04/24/2015 at 21:47

Do it! Days 4 and 5 are the most fun

twohlix > Santiago of Escuderia Boricua
05/06/2015 at 11:06

Yea, Sorry I crashed you into a tree. If you want to see the video of it: