Safety comes in 3rd at local autocross

"Cash Rewards" (cashrewards)
07/30/2018 at 11:01 • Filed to: None

At a local SCCA event a few weeks ago, I was recommended another local driving club with an event this past Saturday. It was 20 minutes from my in-laws; perfect. Until somebody stuffed their M3 into a light pole just off course. Lets review all the red flags that I disregarded in the morning, shall we?

First: Safety inspection. “Pop the hood. Yup, there’s an engine in there.” Done. Local SCCA is asking for a throttle blip and checking wheels and suspension, at minimum.

Second: Looking through the loaner helmets, there are some DOT spec helmets, rather than Snell rated helmets. And the Snel l helmet I did find was a S nell 2005: expired.

Third: Working the course, there was a flag and radio at each corner. Local SCCA has a med kit and fire extinguisher. Not here! Probably would’ve been helpful.

To start the afternoon sessions, a e9x M3 was exiting the last slalom prior to the finish and get on throttle too early. Rear end came around, and driver was along for the ride. Over the parking space concrete bumpers, through a chain link fence, and hard into a light post. Air bags deployed, car totaled for sure, light post screwed, fence screwed. Can’t imagine it felt great for the driver. I heard people saying “of all the places for him to go through....” and I wanted to scream. Look at the course you laid out! Anyone losing control out of the slalom was always going through the fence and into the pole. There was no other option! This was entirely due to the course layout. Based on everything I saw leading up to this, I really can’t imagine much thought was put into the hazards off course and their position relative to the course.

I’ve seen three accidents now during autocross. The first two weren’t due to the driver losing control; they were due to all the mistakes made after the driver lost control. Trying to be a hero, save a run that was already lost, getting on the throttle and getting further and further off course when they should’ve just got on the brakes and brought the car safely to a stop. And they were both soft hits, nothing that ever made me worried about driver safety. This time? Driver had no chance to bring the car to a stop, and I was genuinely concerned about his welfare. To me, that’s not the point of autocross.

DISCUSSION (20)

Highlander-Datsuns are Forever > Cash Rewards
07/30/2018 at 11:27

This is a thing these days, back when I started autocross there were very few cars that were that fast and course layout could be a bit more relaxed. Now days there are many cars that are very fast and you have to know how to set a course and make it safe if someone goes for a ground loop.

I’ve ground looped at 90+ mph but we were at an airport so no harm. My dad was shitting his pants tho since I was driving his car and there was this huge cloud of dust.

functionoverfashion > Cash Rewards
07/30/2018 at 11:37

As a ski coach, I’m always looking at where kids might crash and making sure there aren’t obstacles in that path; to some degree, ski races these days have way more safety fencing (“b” fence) than you really need, but if it saves one kid from losing an edge and flying into the woods at 40mph, then it’s worth it. You just look at a corner and say, “if I fell right here, where would I go?” This isn’t rocket science - although it is a little bit of vectors/trajectories/inertia...

yikes.

merged-5876237249235911857-hrw8uc > Cash Rewards
07/30/2018 at 11:39

That’s a bad deal. All the autoX I’ve done was definitely handled more professionally, sounds like similar to your home SCCA autoX.

Normally the courses I’ve been on were 60-70mph tops for top speed. They would chop it up enough to keep the speeds low. The airport courses were the best. Wide open and fast. The worst I saw was a porta potty almost get taken out due to its location near the finish line, and a driver was trying to hero his way out of a slide.

AutoX should be a low to no risk for vehicle damage. And if the venue doesn’t allow for that, then that’s a problem. Nobody wants to crunch their cars on an autoX course. That’s a very bad day.

Cash Rewards > functionoverfashion
07/30/2018 at 11:52

And a lot of common sense. I feel I let myself down by not looking for this stuff. I assumed the safety was similar to the SCCA standard. Probably shouldn’t assume much when it comes to safety.

Cash Rewards > merged-5876237249235911857-hrw8uc
07/30/2018 at 11:53

When I was in Indiana, we’d have an event a year at a National Guard air strip. Flat, grippy concrete, as far as the eye could see. Spectacular.

Cash Rewards > Highlander-Datsuns are Forever
07/30/2018 at 11:55

I’ve done it a couple times. No harm, no foul. Brake and clutch in, take your DNF and go again later. This guy never had a chance. But you’re right. A used C5 or C6 vette is gonna cause a lot of trouble when it gets loose at the speeds they can manage, and can be had for not too much cash used these days. You can get a lot of speed, cheap.

ITA97, now with more Jag @ opposite-lock.com > Cash Rewards
07/30/2018 at 13:04

Back in my autocrossing and SCCA board member days, we occasionally had to uninvited participants for failing to give it up when spinning. In particular, there was a group of mustang guys who would try to stay on the throttle and loop a spin back around onto the course without stopping. The first instance would result in some serious conversations with the safety stewards. A second instance resulted in being forced to immediately take their toy and find somewhere else to play with it. A few years later, I wasn’t too surprised to learn one of those guys made it on the local news for killing someone while street racing.

The Crazy Kanuck; RIP Oppositelock > Cash Rewards
07/30/2018 at 13:47

Yesterday at Auto-X I go to register thinking “will they allow a Juke to run?”, I get there they ask what car it is. They give me a number, & say “have fun”. They did not question its top heavy-ness.

Cash Rewards > The Crazy Kanuck; RIP Oppositelock
07/30/2018 at 13:49

I know scca has a width/height ratio that you have to be below. I’ve heard the stock fiesta falls outside, but the ST is lower and acceptable? Not sure about the Juke though. It’s decently wide, right?

The Crazy Kanuck; RIP Oppositelock > Cash Rewards
07/30/2018 at 13:55

The group I ran with is not affiliated with CASC (Canadian equal of SCCA, use SCCA rules). I tried with a different group (CASC group), but they won’t let it.

Cash Rewards > The Crazy Kanuck; RIP Oppositelock
07/30/2018 at 14:51

Only one thing to do: but a GTR, merge the two, build your own Juke R. For safety’s sake. It’s the responsible approach, really.

merged-5876237249235911857-hrw8uc > Cash Rewards
07/30/2018 at 15:12

Yeah, mine was Toledo, and we’d go on the Bax global tarmac. It was excellent. We did some pro solos there too. Great site. Those airport courses are awesome!

Trevor Alexander Hermance > Cash Rewards
07/31/2018 at 18:38

In my experience, Snell 2005 is not considered “expired”, outside of wheel-to-wheel racing. All good points otherwise, however.

FiR1 > Cash Rewards
07/31/2018 at 20:08

If there were problems with obstacles and course layout why not bring it to one of the organizers attention? Safety is everyone’s responsibility.

crazypjman > Cash Rewards
07/31/2018 at 20:40

SCCA allows SA2005 helmets.

Cash Rewards > crazypjman
08/01/2018 at 09:11

So they do. I thought it was just the current and one previous

Cash Rewards > FiR1
08/01/2018 at 09:25

I didn’t recognize the hazard until after it happened, and they cancelled the rest of the event.

But you're right. I didn't recognize the issue because I wasn't looking, because I assumed it was as good. But as cheesey a saying that it is, safety is everyone's responsibility.

Cash Rewards > Trevor Alexander Hermance
08/01/2018 at 09:26

My mistake, that's apparently true. I thought it was current plus one.

marauder > Cash Rewards
08/03/2018 at 10:03

The club in question I’ve been racing with them for 4 years now, attending 15+ events each season with them . You’ve stripped down a lot of things just to make your point, instead of showing all the facts.

1. Safety inspection. I s not just a pop the hood there’s an engine. They check your battery, look for coolant leaks, oil leaks, anything lose in the bay. They check for floor mats being out. Check to see if there’s play in the wheels, ask you when you last torqued your lug nuts, and pop the trunk to make sure it’s empty. This event wasn’t any different, they questioned the car being teched next to me for a coolant smell. they had 4 guys under the hood looking for any leaks and to verify that the drivers statement of having recently done a coolant flush a week before was valid(radiator was brand new) . No leaks were found so he was allowed to race.

2. They don’t have first aid kits at each station, not sure they’ll do a whole lot of good, seems like a perceived safety feature. They have full size med kits at the timing tent, which is always centrally located. Med kits are just bandages and gauze, a course worker running over to someone with a bandaid or gauze isn’t going to make much of a difference to the person, if he gets in then or 10-20 seconds later from the full size kit at timing tent. If 10-20 seconds is going to make a life or death difference a med kit isn’t going to be enough to save them . That doesn’t even take into account the corner station having anyone what knows first aid, where the event organizers do. Regarding the fire extinguishers , they have them for each station, this was the first time I didn’t see one at my station(bottom left station near start) .

The course properly followed SCCA course guidelines. The driver did try to ‘push’ through it after he started to lo se the rear end. You could hear him applying throttle and trying to steer the car back towards the finish. The car suddenly regained traction and pulled him off to the right, where he couldn’t regain control and went into the fence.

Please don’t bash a club or water down the facts just to write an article. Journalism should be better than that.

Cash Rewards > marauder
08/03/2018 at 18:38

I’m not sure you realize this is a off topic blog. I’m not a journalist. However, nothing I said is untrue. I do recognize there are two sides to every scenario, which is why I didn’t name the group, or even describe the location. But to address your comments:

Maybe your tech inspection was different. Mine was exactly as I described. And that’s for a 2001 car with an engine covered in oil from a leak that had since been fixed.

Maybe they have fire extinguishers every other time but this time. I don’t know. But they didn’t, and they almost needed them. And “are you really going to save someone’s life with some bandaids” is a pretty crappy argument for not having me d kits. They’ve been the case at every other venue I’ve been at.

As for the course and the incident, I stand by what I said. I was right by the break in the fence near the timing tent. It is a comprised venue, but anyone losing control out of the slalom was going through the fence. It was a fun setup, but not the safest setup.

I wish the club the best. I hope their future events go better. I won't be there.