Why it's important to have a GOOD cage in your car

[Stanger58]

Granted, this is a full-on "race car"... with "just" a V6. But it once again proves the point: stuff CAN happen when running at-speed on a track.

http://www.lotustalk.com/forums/f68/crash-mid-ohio-scca-t2-nissan-61500/

 

[wheelhopper]

Wow! No Nissans for me.

Jk.

I will have to start looking into a cage soon, as my speeds have started to increase.

 

[Ryan]

Ouch!

 

[VENM]

Holy crap :uh oh: Glad I'm doing a full cage this winter.

 

[Redmustang47]

well thats also the reason for seat belts, no seat belt, that guy would have been dead even if he had a cage if he had no seat belt

 

[Fast99Snake]

damn dude, from scrolling down through the pics I thought it was gonna keep rolling forever

 

[gcassidy]

That's near where Joey Hand flipped, isn't it?
I know my 4 point wouldn't hold up to that. :nonono:

 

[steve121]

The driver's compartment stayed in tact even after multiple impacts, allowing the driver to walk away. Bad things can happen even at HPDE's so a cage should be a high priority on your list of mods.

 

[David Hester]

^This was a roadrace. The car was a SCCA prepped Touring 2 car.
Driver had a brake failure and rather than driving into the gravel, he tried to take the corner. Not a good idea. China Beach has caught MANY cars.
Similar thing happened to me at Road Atlanta going into 10A. I managed about 130 down to around 100 before going off.
I knew better than to try and turn, but steered to miss the gravel too.:shrug:
Banged the bejeebers out of my spoiler and bent the crossmember under the radiator. (Also bent a brand new Fluidyne radiator in the process). I did get slowed before the bridge, but not enough to make it across track for pit lane. Ended up making a slow lap and was caught by leaders just as I did limp into pit lane. Small puncture (wear) on a hard line to my rear brakes.
But like Jeff said, Poop happens.
One of my old cars and no it didn't buff out.

Full cage and still bent body all the way back to the C pillar, bowed rear axle and of course took everything off the front of the engine.

 

[gcassidy]

One of my old cars and no it didn't buff out.

Have you tried rubbing compound and a Porter/Cable?

 

[Ryan]

How does that pan out from an investment perspective for you big dog guys? Or does that track insurance that's available through certain places give you replacement value?

 

[gcassidy]

I've also found myself wondering something after seeing this and the crash on the front straight at the Koni Challenge.
At HPDEs we're reminded that if we damage the facilities, we're responsable for repairs.
What about race cars in a sanctioned race when they do tons of damage. Does the driver, team, sanctioning body, or track/promoter cover it? Like in the case at Thunderbolt, the car was punted off during a restart when it took out the armco. Who's responsible, the car that hit it, or the car that did the punting?

 

[DREX01AZ]

Hey at least the paramedics were close by!!

 

[03'Darin]

WOW!! That's a big one right there. I too thought it was going to roll for ever. :rolling:

That was a well built cage, proper harnesses, a good drivers seat, a well padded drivers compartment and a HANS device at it's finest. Those safety devices allowed that driver to walk away.

This is one reason I retired my 03' Cobra from ot and built my track car. 8 point cage, 5 point harness, racing seat, fuel cell and a HANS device. Sure it's only ot'ing but weather you're doing 150 during an ot event or 150 while racing...... you're still doing 150!!

I destroyed a car while racing at Watkins from a brake failure. It's not fun..... or cheap.

Greg that wreck was at the end of the straigh where Joey wrecked. Joey's crash was about half way down that straight away.

 

[Double"O"]

there is vid out there too...i wanna say it on youtube but the workfilter owns me

 

[03'Darin]

The vid I saw of it is from the in car camera. The car enters the braking zone and goes hard on the brakes, the car starts to kind of fish tail and isn't slowing down. At that point he's running out of track while trying to make the turn. As the car goes of track sideways it starts to roll at which point the footage ends. Not really any of the wreck is seen, just the events leading up to it. According to the link it was some type of mechanical failure with the brakes but the exact cause has not been determined yet.

 

[brkntrxn]

From the driver of the car:

"From the driver 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. I'm 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."

 

[Double"O"]

the vid

[ame="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hvdaMMrmkF8"]YouTube - Jeff's T2 Z car at Mid-O[/ame]

 

[gcassidy]

Wow, thatnks for the story and vid, guys.
Darin, you're right. The speeds the same no matter what your entry form says.
And while there may be less "contact" issues at an HPDE, falures can happen anytime.
Just watch me try and convince my wife I need a cage and race seat in my street car. :nonono:
I have a lot of thinking to do after my last event of the year.

 

[racer]

Wow, thatnks for the story and vid, guys.
Darin, you're right. The speeds the same no matter what your entry form says.
And while there may be less "contact" issues at an HPDE, falures can happen anytime.
Just watch me try and convince my wife I need a cage and race seat in my street car. :nonono:
I have a lot of thinking to do after my last event of the year.

I agree with Darin, most of the HPDE cars are pretty quick in stock trim. I see people in HPDE 3 that are pushing pretty hard and if some kind of failure happens I don't think people realize how ugly things could get.

I realize there is a trade off between a DD and a track car (not race car) but if accidents/fatalities continue to happen it should make people think a little bit about safety equipment IMO.

That fella running HPDE 3 in a mini at willow a couple of months ago comes to mind. RIP.