Dammit.

"AntiSpeed" (AntiSpeed) 04/20/2019 at 20:16 • Filed to: None

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Race 1 was looking good to be dry, but a s we were coming to the green flag, it started raining. It wasn’t too hard hard, like a heavy drizzle. E nough to dampen the track slightly but not enough to stop for rain tires . At the start, I got my right-rear on the apex kerb at turn 12 and nearly spun. I could see the car behind me did the same thing and wasn’t so lucky. We tip-toed our way around the track, and coming up to 10A at the end of the long straight, I consciously started braking far earlier than I expected I needed to .

I had been complaining of too much rear brake bias since I got this car last year, but we’ve been kicking that can down the road, and today it bit me. It helped yesterday; in the rain you’re not braking as hard, so there’s less weight transfer to the front tires. But with slick tires on a moist track it just leads to massive instability, and as soon as I hit the brakes the car swapped ends on me. At 125mph. I had slowed down to 80mph by the time I hit the concrete wall. Amazingly, I didn’t hit anyone going through the chicane, although one car did spin trying to avoid me. I was uninjured.

We didn’t have enough spares to repair the car for race 3 . But I should be able to scrape together enough cash to get it back together for the next race in 3 weeks. All the damage is isolated to that right-rear corner, plus a new sidepod and gearbox cover.

All in all, my performance yesterday is a big positive to take out of the weekend. I think people around the paddock noticed. A crash like this had to happen at some point, and it could have been much worse. I just wish I could afford to carry a larger stock of spares, and bring a professional mechanic to the track to fix things quickly. 

f86sabre > AntiSpeed 04/20/2019 at 20:50

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Ouch!  Glad you are ok and that the car was repairable.  Weather was rough all day. 

pip bip - choose Corrour > AntiSpeed 04/20/2019 at 21:04

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ouch.

bit o f fibreglass will do the trick ;)

vondon302 > AntiSpeed 04/20/2019 at 21:05

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Nooo!

Glad your ok and have a great perspective to this incident.

facw > AntiSpeed 04/20/2019 at 21:10

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That sucks, but if you can walk away from it, it could have been much worse. Best of luck getting back on the track!

just-a-scratch > AntiSpeed 04/20/2019 at 21:47

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Nooooooooooooooooo!

ITA97, now with more Jag @ opposite-lock.com > AntiSpeed 04/20/2019 at 22:06

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That is unfortunate, but I’m glad you weren’t banged up.  Modern safety gear is impressive.  I’m glad you’ve got the budget to piece it back together. I’ve been there, and it isn’t fun.

NYankee1927 > AntiSpeed 04/21/2019 at 23:50

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Sorry to see that. Crashes happen. Rain is a different bitch to drive in

davesaddiction @ opposite-lock.com > AntiSpeed 04/22/2019 at 11:02

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Dammit.

Glad you’re okay. 

AntiSpeed > NYankee1927 04/22/2019 at 23:46

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Yep. I can handle the rain, but not on slicks!

NYankee1927 > AntiSpeed 04/23/2019 at 11:52

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Sounds like there is still some work to do on that brake balance too.