My Accident at Texas World Speedway

[JeffersonRaley]

heh heh - I'll keep an eye out. My new head should be here in 2 weeks, so there is a chance I'll have the car back on track in time to run TWS one more time.

[80-CU.IN.T]

I have been off this sight for quite a bit and decided not to build / purchase a vehicle of similar design. Explained below after losing the latest friend of 40+ years –

 

Gentlemen –

It is not a question of if your going to crash. The questions is WHEN.

 

Motorcycles are fantastic but when my 3^rd friend was killed many, many years ago, I don’t ride motorcycles any more. The latest friend killed several years ago in a 357 Porsche Replica – Got his Head Ground down & cut off when it flipped on the street - No roll protection event though I kept harassing him. I checked the crash sight, saw his head skid marks and analyzed the available data.

He Just made a mistake in the wrong spot -1 in a 1,000,000,000.

I went to the coroners office to identify the body to save his Fiancé (Going to be married in 3 weeks) and son (20s) from doing it. I identified him by his ring, clothes he was wearing and body shape. Not much left above the shoulders.

I love formula type cars – The newer cars are much safer but I don’t get in them now. My mistake, someone else - Who knows – I stile suffer the consequences. I could be killed doing what I love - My choice I don’t have kids – BUT - Maybe I live and am worse off than being dead. I don’t run anything, anymore without a crush zone and proper safety equipment.

Nothing gives the adrenaline rush of a motorcycle or open wheeled vehicle but I don’t heal as well as I use to. All my Cadaver Donor Parts, Titanium, ECT do not work as well as the originals.

We have one life & one body treat it well.

I’m glad the OP is healing. Consider it a cheap learning experience. It could have been worse.

 

Big slicks, big aero & brakes put the joint that failed under extreme stress. All of the welds should be checked for fatigue after each event. Hard to do with paint or worse – Power coating concealing the joint.

I do hope you have a speedy recovery

Free Advise is what you pay for it.

[NVP66S]

Shane:

I hope your mending process is proceeding apace. In your first comment on this thread, you said you don't know about the seat. There are a few easy things. First, that aluminum sheet tub is not so bad if supported correctly. Nothing poking up under it or behind it. Support it on the sides and not the center. That will allow it to bend down in the middle if you overload it in negative Z axis. Bending it or tearing it absorbs energy (a good thing). Second (I think this is already true of the various sevens) make sure the belt attachments go to the chassis, not the seat. You don't want your body mass trying to pull the seat away from the chassis, because maybe it will. Third, there is a very good energy absorbing foam on the market. It's variously called temper foam or memory foam. Your body heat causes it to deform to the shape of your butt, and in an impact it distributes the load to your entire butt, not just the bony bits. I get mine here: http://www.seatfoam.com/aviation.htm

Dan

[xcarguy]

Update...no photos to share, but just to further substantiate how hard I collided with terra firma (and to reiterate how sudden the energy transfer was), here’s the latest damage report. First, the upper RH ball joint was bent slightly forward in the area where it protrudes from the a-arm (not noticed until front suspension disassembly). Second, the upper LH portion of the fuel tank was moved forward about .5”. My tank is (was) hard-mounted via aluminum tabs (welded to the tank) which were bolted to steel tabs welded to the frame (bent the steal tabs and fractured one of the aluminum tank tabs). Lastly, I disassembled the rear end to check for any unseen gotcha’s. As I pulled the axles, the right axle slipped from the housing with little effort while the left axle required a bit of convincing with a dead blow hammer; not much, but enough to raise a red flag. When I looked through the housing, it was akin to looking through a long piece of horizontally oriented PVC pipe, suspended only on each end…definite downward bow in the middle. After a trip to a local machine shop, the tubes are now probably better aligned than the original factory spec. As for the chassis, it is now adorned with three casters (crudely welded in place), making it a candidate for the world’s largest LS6 engine stand. :jester:

[Vovchandr]

I'm bumping this because it's the first time I came across this thread and I personally found it invaluable. It's been a number of years since this post was seen as active and there are many new members that can have some key takeaways from this well documented experience. 

[Croc]

The Stalker was rebuilt from this TX accident to be better than new.  Lasted until 2021 when it died permanently at Lime Rock in an unfortunate incident.  

 

The driver recovered fully.  Still a complete nut job at heart but a lovable one.  Now driving Miatas.  

 

So Vlad, @Vovchandr what did you learn from this thread?

 

[Vovchandr]

1 hour ago, Croc said:

The Stalker was rebuilt from this TX accident to be better than new.  Lasted until 2021 when it died permanently at Lime Rock in an unfortunate incident.  

 

The driver recovered fully.  Still a complete nut job at heart but a lovable one.  Now driving Miatas.  

 

So Vlad, @Vovchandr what did you learn from this thread?

 

 

I learned that we need bigger nose cone whiskers if we plan to go airborne 😳

 

On a serious note, makes me consider track insurance more seriously, he glad I got a HANs and other safety

[MV8]

Imho, it's hard to imagine 600# springs on a caterham. Something's got to give to cut peak loads including bump stops. Make a bigger bar if needed for roll control (along with adequate links). A little increase in diameter goes along way. Tubular is a option to reduce weight.

[KnifeySpoony]

1 hour ago, MV8 said:

Imho, it's hard to imagine 600# springs on a caterham.

 

It's not a Caterham though. It's much heavier, and the motion ratio may be different as well.

[IamScotticus]

Good reads.

Damn pot holes!  Im constantly scouting my streets for the damn things and they're everywhere.

I know when they jar me and my Colorado on 32s,  they'll be hard on a 7.

 

I had a collision with a spun out '64 F150, hitting it at 60 at night  in a VW Rabbit.  I looked down to change a radio station,  looking up  and  had about two seconds.   Decided to stay on the road and veer right but still hit him.  I was unscathed, amazingly,  but the mental thing stuck for a few years.  I was terrified going over hills.  I puckered if I couldn't see what was on the other side.

Edited May 17, 2022 by IamScotticus

[sf4018]

On 5/16/2022 at 3:51 PM, Croc said:

The Stalker was rebuilt from this TX accident to be better than new.  Lasted until 2021 when it died permanently at Lime Rock in an unfortunate incident.  

 

The driver recovered fully.  Still a complete nut job at heart but a lovable one.  Now driving Miatas.  

 

So Vlad, @Vovchandr what did you learn from this thread?

 

The recovery sounded like a nightmare, but good to hear he’s back to full strength -  I hope he’s not racing spec Miatas, those guys are nuts!

[Croc]

8 hours ago, sf4018 said:

The recovery sounded like a nightmare, but good to hear he’s back to full strength -  I hope he’s not racing spec Miatas, those guys are nuts!

 

Scroll down to July 19 post by Xcarguy (pretending to be "Suave" his stuffed alter ego).  He found a safer version of an Exocet to "launch" 

 

 

He's still nuts - spec miata or not!  

 

 

[xcarguy]

23 minutes ago, Croc said:

 

Scroll down to July 19 post by Xcarguy (pretending to be "Suave" his stuffed alter ego).  He found a safer version of an Exocet to "launch" 

 

 

He's still nuts - spec miata or not!  

 

 

Aaah….you do know I can hear you, right?

[Croc]

7 hours ago, xcarguy said:

Aaah….you do know I can hear you, right?

 

Of course I know!  I have always said to your face you are nuts.  

 

When are you coming through Teterboro next?  We are overdue for a beer!

[xcarguy]

3 hours ago, Croc said:

 

Of course I know!  I have always said to your face you are nuts.  

 

When are you coming through Teterboro next?  We are overdue for a beer!

Yes, we are overdue. With my current employment, Teterboro has become more of a pick up / drop off location. If we overnight in the northeast, it’s usually in Pittsfield, MA where the aircraft are based; no ramp fees, cheaper fuel, maintenance if needed. However, if a Teterboro overnight does come up, I’ll give you a shout.

[John B]

Shane,

Best wishes on your recovery. 

A mechanical failure is one of the scariest things to me. I had a similar failure while racing when a front A-arm broke under braking in a sports prototype at Mid Ohio. I could no longer steer or brake and was merely along for the ride at that point. It was surprising how little the car slowed down.  Fortunately for me there was a well prepared gravel trap to catch me that time. I'm willing to accept the consequences of my own mistakes while driving, but the lingering potential of a mechanical failure can be really creepy.

[xcarguy]

17 hours ago, John B said:

Shane,

Best wishes on your recovery. 

A mechanical failure is one of the scariest things to me. I had a similar failure while racing when a front A-arm broke under braking in a sports prototype at Mid Ohio. I could no longer steer or brake and was merely along for the ride at that point. It was surprising how little the car slowed down.  Fortunately for me there was a well prepared gravel trap to catch me that time. I'm willing to accept the consequences of my own mistakes while driving, but the lingering potential of a mechanical failure can be really creepy.

John,

 

Thanks. My accident has been several years ago now (2015) and I’ve recovered quite well, all things considered. Still, to this day, the most amazing thing to me about my accident is how time seemed to slow down. When I think through the accident, it will take me about 30-40 seconds to process what happened. From the time the left front wheel assemble broke away from the car till the time the car came to a stop was 10 seconds. No gravel trap for me, just air. Today, I’m a full one inch shorter. I tell my wife that being shorter means I now have a lower center of gravity and therefore, I should be faster.