Well, I crashed today *video*

[Weston]

Oversteer setup + greasy tires + inconsistent track surface + loose nut behind the wheel == this (http://apexracingmedia.net/videos/2005-08-07/Crash.wmv).


This is my 3rd season of road racing and my first actual crash. That happened at about 60-70 mph approaching turn 7 of the Mead track (I-25 exit #245). Damage wasn't too bad... tire marks all over the front bumper, a very slight bend in the fender, and a very bent left rear control arm (went from -1.5 camber to several degrees of positive camber). Kicked up so much dirt that it was like someone threw buckets of it into each window... it instantly got into my eyes, hair, face, everything... and it's all over the interior and it even came with some ants. It even got shit that was inside of the glove compartment.

[LeonZ]

Damn, glad you're OK.

[Kwando]

damn weston, glad you are ok. that sweet that you have the camera constantly going when you are racing... that way you can go home watch the footage to learn what to improve on... that is pretty good quality also....

what nut was loose?

[Weston]

Damn, glad you're OK.

Thanks, me too... no injury to me that I'm aware of. I'm sure I hit my helmet on something though (developed a headache a little afterwards), so it could have really sucked to not be wearing a helmet. Horray for safety gear I guess.

damn weston, glad you are ok. that sweet that you have the camera constantly going when you are racing... that way you can go home watch the footage to learn what to improve on... that is pretty good quality also....

what nut was loose?

The driver. ;)

[BluByU]

Whoa, glad you're ok. Hope nothing creeps up on you in a few days. Did you go get checked out?

[Conrad]

I call BS you were trying an E-brake drift turn :rofl:

Glad to see your ok man... Sucks about the car!

[stu]

I heard you instantly set your e-brake in the video. Glad you're okay. Do you need a $400 parts car to put your motor into so you can feel better about wrecking next time?

[JL LGT]

I call BS you were trying an E-brake drift turn :rofl:

Glad to see your ok man... Sucks about the car!
HaHa! Conrad called it!

Likewise though....no harm to you is the best. Wish I could get out and do some racing.

[doctorstupid]

Look at it this way, now the car has character :)

I was hoping to go today with Erron (blue stealth, #80 EM class), but instead I slept until 5pm :D

[-=[Juztin]=-]

Damn bud, great you came out safe 'n the car not badly damaged. Good thing there was those tires there. Did the ants bite you?

[Weston]

Look at it this way, now the car has character :)

I was hoping to go today with Erron (blue stealth, #80 EM class), but instead I slept until 5pm :D

Erron didn't race due to a vibration from the right front wheel in hard left turns. We suspect the wheel bearing.

=-']Damn bud, great you came out safe 'n the car not badly damaged. Good thing there was those tires there. Did the ants bite you?

No, they were friendly black ants. Would have sucked if they were fire ants. :rofl:

[celica man]

damn....that suck man. good to hear your ok though

[Dave_L]

Good to hear that you're ok.

[Th3Cleaner]

I am glad your ok, but maybe you need a car that doesnt instanly lose control :-)
I will list a few:
Ford F150
Dodge Durango
A Minivan
Semi Truck


:-))

[doctorstupid]

Erron didn't race due to a vibration from the right front wheel in hard left turns. We suspect the wheel bearing.



No, they were friendly black ants. Would have sucked if they were fire ants. :rofl:
He was just asking me for a CV all of 20 minutes ago. He didn't tell me about the vibration, probably the wheel bearing in that case.

And yes, fire ants would have sucked. Talk about adding injury to injury. No wait, injury to insult?... Fuck it, it's both :D

[Brian]

Glad you are ok man.

[floored4door]

I have some pet Fire Ants if you want to have them ride with you next time to make things more intresting. Not that the video isn't intresting enough. Glad your ok. :)

[wild.irish]

hope you didn't get a "stage fright" after this! glad you're ok otherwise!
will you run at the test day at 2nd creek? or you won't have your car up and running before then?

[Weston-work]

I am glad your ok, but maybe you need a car that doesnt instanly lose control :-)
I will list a few:
Ford F150
Dodge Durango
A Minivan
Semi Truck


:-))

Eh, that's the risk of going fast. I still placed 9th overall out of 31 drivers, and 3rd in my class (only 3/10ths of a second away from 2nd place, and 9/10ths from 1st, damnit!). We did have an unusually high number of cars that went off course and/or got damaged that day... The Mead track is not exactly real safe, but we still didn't have anywhere near this many problems during our last race out there, back in May.

It didn't instantly lose control... the back end got slightly loose coming out of that chicane, as it had before, so I corrected and restored control like normal. Everything was fine for an instant, but then something caused me to lose rear traction again, and that's when I spun and crashed into the corner 7 bunker. Although the video shows all of that happening in 3 seconds, it was much longer to me... when things like that happen, the adrenalin kicks in and time seems to slow down so I can react more quickly than normal, but there was still no saving it the second time that the back end slid out on me. The only thing I could have done to save it was to apply more throttle to shift some more weight to the rear tires, but there was a downhill "dragon slide" section coming up very soon, so the last thing I wanted to do was increase my speed going into it with with a car that wasn't settled. I'd rather spin and crash where I did than to risk going sideways down the hill and rolling. I'm sure the video of that would have been spectacular, but it's not worth the car or me.

hope you didn't get a "stage fright" after this! glad you're ok otherwise!
will you run at the test day at 2nd creek? or you won't have your car up and running before then?

Nah, I'll be back at it as soon as I fix things... It wasn't the first time I've lost control and it wont be the last. I've overshot turns, lost my brakes at the end of a straight, and had the back end loose plenty of times before, but I've never spun on a road course before. This just happened to be the first time that I totally lost it (my other spins have been at autocrosses), and also the first time that I've hit anything. I hope to still make Second Creek on the 28th... that's a much safer track.

[stu]

Why didn't you just drift through the dragon slide turn?

[Weston-work]

Why didn't you just drift through the dragon slide turn?

Because that's for ricers, and an intentional drift is a lot different than what happened here. They may look the same, but it's not. So I couldn't just turn it into a ricer move and scrub off some speed until things got back under control. That turn is also a fast downhill turn that's dangerous enough on it's own. Go to time index 1:10 of this video (http://www.apexracingmedia.net/videos/2005-05-15/Best%20Lap%20-%20512%20kbps.wmv) and you'll see sort of what I was up against... I crashed into the bunker about 10 feet before starting to go down the hill. It's more of an elevation change than the video indicates, and it's very hard on the car when you're driving normally, so it would be a mess to go into with a car that's "out of shape". I was also going much faster yesterday than the day I shot that video (a good 1.7 seconds), and with more of an oversteer bias too. The dynamics of a car going sideways or spinning get real exciting when it starts to go down a hill, and no matter which side I would go off the track, I would have hit something very bad. I would expect to roll over, and that would suck.

[stu]

Do you bottom out on that hill at the bottom?

Weston, get on IM sometime, I want to talk to you.

[Weston-work]

Do you bottom out on that hill at the bottom?

Weston, get on IM sometime, I want to talk to you.

Yup, but only if I brake before a certain point... I think it's just scraping the flex-pipe of the wastegate exhaust, since it sits really low. I'll be on AIM eventually...

[wild.irish]

.. (only 3/10ths of a second away from 2nd place, and 9/10ths from 1st, damnit!)....
ha, 9/10ths is an eternity! I lost to Dustin by .004 seconds last Friday ;)

I hope to still make Second Creek on the 28th...
then I sure hope i see you there, and hope i can make it too.

[Weston-work]

ha, 9/10ths is an eternity! I lost to Dustin by .004 seconds last Friday ;)


then I sure hope i see you there, and hope i can make it too.

9/10ths isn't so much when the overall time is 1:16-1:17. ;)

[-=[Juztin]=-]

Although the video shows all of that happening in 3 seconds, it was much longer to me... when things like that happen, the adrenalin kicks in and time seems to slow down so I can react more quickly than normal.It's called bullet-time buddy :cool:

[smithz]

Damn, I missed this thread... glad you are alright Weston. Hope the car isn't too bad to fix.

[Conrad]

I think Lord Long is losing his drifting skillz

[Skaterkid]

=-']It's called bullet-time buddy :cool:
Max Payne style!

[taikahn]

Weston,

Wow. Thats definately the spot for it to happen on that track.... I always felt a little weird going so damn fast through that slalom and then blasting straight down that hill.

Anyway, glad your ok. Ill be at the SCR event. I missed the mead one as it was my Birthday on monday and I had shit to do sunday.

Tai

[Th3Cleaner]

It didn't instantly lose control... the back end got slightly loose coming out of that chicane, as it had before, so I corrected and restored control like normal.
bah.. you know i was pulling yer leg :) :cheers:

[Weston]

Pics...

http://apexracingmedia.net/videos/2005-08-07/Side.jpg

http://apexracingmedia.net/videos/2005-08-07/Front.jpg

http://apexracingmedia.net/videos/2005-08-07/LR%20Tire%201.jpg

http://apexracingmedia.net/videos/2005-08-07/LR%20Tire%202.jpg