Super Trax @ Zwartkops Raceway - Monthly events

[FT_86_SM_GP]

Originally Posted by Fish Eagle

Ja no well fine. Be careful at the Z...
Don't say I didn't warn you.

If it bites you, you don't have a rewind button to make your car magically go back into one piece.
I say it again - choose carefully where you take risk.

You can't unscramble eggs.
But, if you've got the budget to buy more eggs, then give it horns.

That said, @FT_86_SM_GP you're driving so well, and I'm looking forward to seeing how you show the Audis, Renaults and Scoobies carrots in the Michelin Cup next year.

Thanks!

I am still in 'post farming shock' after that incident, was an eye opener and put what you say above into perspective,

As much as track days are 'fun', it requires the highest levels of concentration and preparation.

IMO not worth taking track days 'casually' as I did this past weekend.

Lesson learnt !

Im looking forward to Michelin Cup to build a more holistic driving skill set and experience, such as the gymkhana's(Which I am not a fan off) and hill climbs/tar rally's

[Fish Eagle]

Originally Posted by FT_86_SM_GP

Im looking forward to Michelin Cup to build a more holistic driving skill set and experience, such as the gymkhana's(Which I am not a fan off) and hill climbs/tar rally's

Yep, I'm also looking forward to it. I know precious little about drag racing and gymkhana, so I've got a lot to learn.

[86 South Africa]

Originally Posted by FT_86_SM_GP

Thanks!

I am still in 'post farming shock' after that incident, was an eye opener and put what you say above into perspective,

As much as track days are 'fun', it requires the highest levels of concentration and preparation.

I used to pass out at 7pm and sleep until 7/8am the next morning after track days (super keen to get into it again!)... definitely taxing on the body and mind, but so worth it.

There is no better place to learn than on the track. Z is notoriously dangerous because there is little run off, so I was always more cautious there.

I also found that the best thing to do after an off track experience was to get out there again immediately. Granted I was racing at the time, but it was to make sure you didn't lose the mental edge after chilling at home and re-thinking the whole incident week after week - you get back on track, ride/drive through it and you're back at speed within 1 lap

Dunno if that works for anyone else, but works for me.

[LostSalad]

Originally Posted by Sporran

There was a Honda went off at turn 1 yesterday causing some damage to the front end. I was chatting to the young lad afterwards and he said that he was a little distracted and lost concentration briefly as a result, which caused his prang. Backs up all you have said above and is the reason why we look at a track day as something to prepare for in order to get the maximum enjoyment out of it - not a spur of the moment decision.

Was it the grey Civic with the rear spoiler, cage and racing seats?

[FT_86_SM_GP]

Originally Posted by LostSalad

Was it the grey Civic with the rear spoiler, cage and racing seats?

I saw a car without a front bumper in the first session, I thought it was an Honda Accord, (Asian guy driving)

But it was a super hot day so I could have been hallucinating,

[Sporran]

Originally Posted by LostSalad

Was it the grey Civic with the rear spoiler, cage and racing seats?

It was a silver Civic but not sure about the interior as I didn't look too closely. It was parked in the pits ahead of the black Porsche GT4 at the start of the day.

[Sporran]

Originally Posted by FT_86_SM_GP

I saw a car without a front bumper in the first session, I thought it was an Honda Accord, (Asian guy driving)

But it was a super hot day so I could have been hallucinating,

That was the one - I thought it was an older model Civic sedan but could have been an Accord.

[Fish Eagle]

Originally Posted by FT_86_SM_GP

Thanks!

I am still in 'post farming shock' after that incident, was an eye opener and put what you say above into perspective,

As much as track days are 'fun', it requires the highest levels of concentration and preparation.

IMO not worth taking track days 'casually' as I did this past weekend.

Lesson learnt !

Reality check - death at a track day in the US over the weekend.
BMW M3 hit the tyre wall around a marshal station.
Driver died, passenger badly injured despite rollcage, racing seats and harnesses.
The marshal was thrown out of the marshal station, but he's OK.
http://www.trackhq.com/forums/f303/f...51/index3.html

[LostSalad]

Originally Posted by Fish Eagle

Reality check - death at a track day in the US over the weekend.
BMW M3 hit the tyre wall around a marshal station.
Driver died, passenger badly injured despite rollcage, racing seats and harnesses.
The marshal was thrown out of the marshal station, but he's OK.
http://www.trackhq.com/forums/f303/f...51/index3.html

Sadness

I'm reading through the comments there (usually dangerous, but they seem OK so far). Someone says:

I don't think it can be stressed enough how critical it is to just unwind the wheel and let it go straight off. There's always another lap.

Can anyone clarify? EDIT: they're referring to that track in particular. My bad.

[Fish Eagle]

Originally Posted by LostSalad

Sadness

I'm reading through the comments there (usually dangerous, but they seem OK so far). Someone says:



Can anyone clarify? EDIT: they're referring to that track in particular. My bad.

I think that's valid and it applies anywhere.
If you're going to go off, then let the car straighten up and go off facing forward with some control over where you're going.
If you go off sideways, you have a high risk of digging in and rolling, especially with sand traps.

Here's an example of what I mean

[ame="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iZhqU3tz8D4"]Crash screenshots played at .05 sec per frame - YouTube[/ame]

[Dammod]

Originally Posted by Fish Eagle

Reality check - death at a track day in the US over the weekend.
BMW M3 hit the tyre wall around a marshal station.
Driver died, passenger badly injured despite rollcage, racing seats and harnesses.
The marshal was thrown out of the marshal station, but he's OK.
http://www.trackhq.com/forums/f303/f...51/index3.html

Shame thats terrible...


A good number of years back, at the first track outing I had ever been on in my Impreza, there was a fatality.

There were 3 cars near me: in front was a Golf, then it was myself and then an STI.

We had just gone around the double apex going on to the back straight (Killarney) when the STI overtook us both, he carried a lot of speed down the back-straight and as soon as he hit the brakes (+-200km/h) to slow down for the slow hairpin, his car shot off to one side and started hitting the barriers on each side until he went over the grass in the middle of the hairpin and hit a marshal - side-on and then under the car.

The driver got out of the car and didn't even know he had hit someone, he got told to get back into the car.

I pulled over immediately and ran to see how, if in any way possible I could help the poor marshal out, but there were no sign of life and he was physically in a very bad way, having gone under the car.

Not exactly a great story but its always good to keep in mind how quickly things happen.

To this day, I'm not 100% sure what happened to the STI to make it do that, but I have a feeling it could have been some sort of an ABS sensor fault or failure...I really don't know.

Stay safe gents.

[Freedom]

I got some great practice at supertrax skidpan this past Sunday. There were just 3 cars at the skidpan... I couldn't believe how quiet it was. I wasn't planning to go but I couldn't let an opportunity like that go by.

[ame="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tneCUtp7eK8"]Skid pan practice - YouTube[/ame]

[Fish Eagle]

For us track addicts - just a chilling reminder of the realities.
Especially with Supertrax at the Z

This was Saul Hack's brake failure coming into the tabletop (Turn 5) in the Formula 1600 race at Extreme Festival in August.
Fortunately, he escaped almost totally unhurt.

My videos show that I'm doing 154 there.
Food for thought.
Be safe guys...

[ame="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sYMvS1sX0Hk"]Investchem Formula 1600 2016. Zwartkops Raceway. Saul Hack Huge Crash Rolls - YouTube[/ame]

[LostSalad]

Originally Posted by Fish Eagle

For us track addicts - just a chilling reminder of the realities.
Especially with Supertrax at the Z

This was Saul Hack's brake failure coming into the tabletop (Turn 5) in the Formula 1600 race at Extreme Festival in August.
Fortunately, he escaped almost totally unhurt.

My videos show that I'm doing 154 there.
Food for thought.
Be safe guys...

that's mad.... what a lucky guy. I've looked at that section plenty times going up the tabletop wondering why there's just such a tiny piece of runoff into the tyre wall.... plenty skidmarks there too.