Quote:
Originally Posted by Vegas69
Yep, you have a split second to react in these tight venues. A stuck throttle or a loss of brakes and you're screwed. At a local SCCA event, a throttle stuck on a miata and ended up a set of steps and almost through a building. The whole self tech thing is a load of bull sheet. EVERYBODY shoudl be subject to an inspection by a knowledgable racer with tech experience. If nothing else, two sets of eyes are always better than one.
Guys, we are hauling ass in these protouring cars. Every time I get out on the road course, I"m reminded of the importance of quality parts and maintenence. These aren't factory engineered cars. Things do work there way loose and wear out prematurely. We are pushing these things to the max!
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Not to get way off track here but I'm a HUGE fan of self tech sheets. I also believe in personal responsibility and Darwinism. I look my car over every time I take it out to make sure it is good. I find lose bolts all the time. I re-torque all my critical fasteners, check brake pads, and just look the car over after every track event. This winter I’ll pull the engine, trans and diff to have them checked out. If my car breaks it is my fault! Not some clip board totting tech guy that did not see my rear caliper bolt was finger tight.
I love events like the last one I went to at Gingerman. The registration and Tech process took 2 minutes. I paid my money signed the drivers sheet, turned in my “self” tech sheet the tech guy looked at my helmet and I was done.
I also believe many of this “Pro-Touring” Auto-Xs are a little dangerous and sold as “safe”. There have been a number of incidents at Goodguys events and some at shoot-outs. I think there have been more cars damaged Auto-Xing than doing the road course stuff.
Auto-Xing is great! I started out Auto-Xing due to the fact it was cheap and attainable. When I work with new people we always start out Auto-Xing. It is where we are going to get new people participating in events. So we should attempt to make them fun and as safe as possible.
One thing we could do is communize our rules to make it easier for new people. Goodguys event allow 180 tread wear and Optima events want 200 as an example. It would be very nice if this winter some of the major players got together and set common set of rules.
Back to the DSE Car. Stacy is a very good driver and all their cars are prepared top notch. She was unhurt because they have good cars with good safety equipment. I have seen a couple DSE front sub-framed Camaro involved in accidents and the sub-frames showed great toughness in absorbing the impact. I’m very happy she is OK and the car is on the mend and I’m sure the Blue ‘69 DSE test car will be back on track with Stacy at the wheel soon.
Mark