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I'm sure there's a lot to be learned.
Posted: Wed Apr 25, 2007 11:11 pm
by kickslop
http://forums.vwvortex.com/zerothread?id=3197431" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;
* Long thread shortened: Experienced (but apparently lacking in common sense) autocrosser gets to drive a Porsche GT3. Drives it at apparently 10/10ths and gets way out of wack at the end of the course. Carnage ensues.
* Safety steward for the course indicates that the course was "100% within spec of safety regulations" and a Freak Incident.
* Driver had just had a similar spin in his Corvette before getting into the GT3.
The rest you can think about for yourself. Let's keep any discussion civil, please
Posted: Wed Apr 25, 2007 11:18 pm
by kickslop
From further down in the thread:
That being said, here is the deal with PIR. There are two parking lots that are used for autocross. The "good" lot, really isn't all that great and is sometimes difficult to build a safe course on. Even with trying to build safe courses on that lot, there was still an injury accident in recent years there in which a car lost control and went straight for and hit a course worker, before hitting the concrete barricade. The course worker luckily tried to avoid being hit and jump, otherwise he would have been pinned against the concrete barricade and probably would be dead. He was still seriously hurt in the accident and the car was a total.
Now, the lot that this incident took place in is the "bad" lot. I think it is extremely unsafe. Spectator areas are virtually nil, parking is at a huge premium, staging areas are tight, grid lines are cramped, the course area is very small, the start and the finish in most cases cannot both be viewed at the same time, and the pavement is extremely uneven. A course has to be tediously laid out to achieve anything resembling safe. The biggest problem with all these factors is that the designers will still try and achieve a 40 second plus course, when safely, 30 seconds or less should be desired. There are a great number of "regular" drivers who will not run on this site for one, some, or all of the reasons listed above. This site was an accident waiting to happen, and it finally did.
I really hope that this is a wake up call to think twice about whether or not this is a safe site to run on.
Posted: Wed Apr 25, 2007 11:32 pm
by kickslop
Apparently the auto trans vette driver (driving the GT3) stood on the clutch instead of the brake... for quite awhile. Kaboom.
Not that it would fix a situation like this, but I have always had issue with our events not REQUIRING a COMPLETE STOP within a certain distance after the timing lights before proceeding. This most recent course at SPC would have been an exception as it had an absolutely excellent stop + run off return.
Posted: Thu Apr 26, 2007 4:53 pm
by Alizarin
I also posted this in the Off-topic section... I guess not many saw it
