Potomac PCA at Summit Point 7/14-15 open NOW

[Brian Minkin]

Discussing escape routes I suppose have some merit as they will help with reaction time.  However I seem to remember a car going off at turn one at Summit and using the road to the skid pad and ending up on its roof in the trees.  The driver said he had used this pavement before when he was to hot to make the turn and was able to stop the car but this time the car got off the pavement and took him for a wild ride with the up side down result.  ( this was on rennlist a few months ago.  BMW I think)  I had an experience also at turn one as an instructor where my students brakes failed and we went off into the gravel pit and cleared the gravel and got onto the grass heading for the trees. Fortunatly he maintaned controll and was able to get the car slowed down before the trees.  The car was slowed some by the gravel and he down shifted (automatic trans) once we reached the grass and brought the car to almost a complete stop before turning left away from the trees.  So planning an escape route may have an advantage but you still need to be able to react to what the car is doing moment by moment.

To react properly takes both knowledge and experience. Knowledge can be found in the classroom but experience requires seat time and unfortunatly a mistake where you take the proper actions to correct it.