PCA DE Fatality at CMP

[Darren]

http://forums.rennlist.com/rennforums/ra...ca-de.html

[ccm911]

In a case such as this, don't be sad.  This guy lost it doing what he loved.  We should all be that lucky.  Beats waiting to die from cancer.

[AMoore]

This is truly sad.  We all recognize the dangers associated with DE.  At first I was concerned that someone could killed in a car with a full cage, harnesses, a hans device, etc, but then I read that a tree branch had pierced the windshield.  It doesn't need to be a freak accident to cause a fatality, but it makes me feel safer when it is.  I hope that doesn't seem too cold to my brethern and sisters on the track out there.

[AMoore]

Has there been any thought about requiring liquid cooled cars to convert to 100% water for track events.  It only takes a few minutes to convert, and it would not result in an increase in engine temperature?

[Darren]

It's an unusual situation in that the fatality was the instructor.  I'm sure this will cause many instructors to re-evaluate.  The student driver survived.

At first I thought not to post the link here until I realized that would be a form of denial.  We all know abstractly the risks of DE, racing, leaving your house, but talking about them in light of situations like this is important.

Our club experienced the same situation a few years back of course.  At the time I don't think any of us was really prepared to deal with the situation and we all went into a state of shock.  Shock, denial, minimization, blame, all normal reactions but we dealt with them individually instead of as a group.

[Darren]

AMoore wrote:

Has there been any thought about requiring liquid cooled cars to convert to 100% water for track events. It only takes a few minutes to convert, and it would not result in an increase in engine temperature?

That is a rule for racing. It's more difficult to implement for DE because we don't want to make the barrier for entry so high that it's impossible to get new people to participate. To some degree I think it's a balance.

Of course we can't substitute oil and that is pretty slippery stuff too!

[bobt993]

Aaron,  antifreeze is pretty evil,  power steering fluid is even worse.  Oil also bad.  I agree that it would be one more variable reduced, but this is a risky sport and when instructor's talk about the modern cars being too fast now you know why.  Tracks are/were designed with certain speeds in mind for competition on a pro level.  We are seeing those speeds in street cars now with novice drivers.   

This very tragic incident could have been anyone of us instructors out there in the car. 

[ccm911]

Darren wrote:

It's an unusual situation in that the fatality was the instructor. I'm sure this will cause many instructors to re-evaluate. The student driver survived.

At first I thought not to post the link here until I realized that would be a form of denial. We all know abstractly the risks of DE, racing, leaving your house, but talking about them in light of situations like this is important.

I don't think any of you need to really worry. You probably have more of a chance of getting hit by a bus than by a tree branch puncturing your windshield. Or more likely, the drive to the track is much more dangerous than the time spent on the tack. I hate to say it, but pre-destiny may play a role here. When RTR experienced this, I do recall the cause maybe being a Heart Attack?? Could have happened anywhere.

Although, I would seriously look into having the guys in the upper run groups run straight water. Why take chances?

[Darren]

ccm911 wrote:

You probably have more of a chance of getting hit by a bus than by a tree branch puncturing your windshield. Or more likely, the drive to the track is much more dangerous than the time spent on the tack.

The tree branch theory seems to have been incorrect:

From roadraceautox.com Forum:
The car lost control after turn 9 between turns 9 & 10, not 8 & 9.
The car did not have a full cage, only a roll bar behind the seats.
The car travelled approx. 400 feet, over correcting twice before hitting the trees short of the barrier at the track cut-over.
It was a latteral impact into the passenger door which was pushed in more than a foot.
No tree limb entered the car, blunt force trauma was the COD.
There was a small fire, quickly extinguished by track personel. (the mis-reported "steam")

[Brian Minkin]

Returning to the incorrect tree branch story for a bit.  A lexan windshield would prevent a tree branch from puncturing the windshield.  Food for thought about glass windshields on a race track.