996 AND 997 coolant fittings

[fasthonda]

hi. I've been behind cars that have suddenly dumped coolant/oil/some mixture thereof. (as you guys know, I race often; DE not quite so often). One of those times was behind a 996 GT3 that had the typical leak described above. Fortunately, I wasn't following too closely (maybe 10 cars back); I saw it start steaming and backed off and ended up going 2 wheels off on the outside, but stayed on track and didn't have any sort of incident (got my heart rate up a lil bit though haha!). another time was at VIR, at the very top of the back straight, just before Rollercoaster; I had been drafting a 944 in my Probe; was probably 3' off his rear bumper, and BANG! entire motor let go and dropped all the water and oil about 2 secs before the brake zone (Even in my Probenstien, we were travelling ~ 125+ mph). To this day, I don't know how I saved that one -- car went completely sideways; crossed up 3 different times, with me trying to whoa it down and not go off sideways at 100+. somehow skated it around the outside on the grass and back down into the pits; I was shaking violently when I pulled in!!! I'm not blaming Porsche in either of those instances; it was just two examples of what can happen (the 944 only had water in its engine; when I race, the requirement is for pure water or water/waterwetter. no coolant. big fine if they catch you with coolant in your car!).

but the most frequent times I have had incidences where I've had to drive through water/coolant/oil have been when vintage racing. this was a month ago at Summit Point, approaching T3; the three of us were battling it out for the lead in Group 2 Vintage (a pair of Ginettas and me in my Lotus Super Seven). apparently a backmarker had blown up his engine entering T3; there was no flag yet, and we all blazed down into it; none of us saw anything on the track. I ended up going 2 wheels off lightly into the gravel; the leader rim shotted his way through, and third place went mega 4 wheels off into the gravel. (you don't ever want to go 4 off sideways into the gravel in one of our vintage sub 1500 lbs cars. they like to roll over when you do that!): https://vimeo.com/55890234 (several different in car cameras used during this clip; it was a short race too haha!). anyway, point I am trying to make is that on track spills will happen; some vehicles are more likely to cause leaks/spills than others. My feeling is that especially in White DE or higher rungroups, no coolant should be allowed. cars are likely to be going faster, travelling in tighter packs, and be more highly modded. highly Modded cars will ALWAYS be more likely to blow up/leak; just my personal observations! one more thing -- perhaps during the classroom sessions, it should be a 'chapter' in teaching to explain what to do in event of a car leaking/blowing up in front of a student -- tell them to keep the car straight; not jump on the brakes; drive it straight off if need be (or guide it around in a rim shot). most students would have no idea what to do, and usually there isn't time for the instructor to say anything other than 'oh shit!'. enjoy the vid clip, and happy new year too!