June Sprints - who is going?

Greg Gauper":veaj4feg said:
Also, the wreck on the front straight during the FA/FM right before our race was pretty scary.
A FA car missed a shift and two FM cars touched trying to avoid. One got airborne and upside down and rode the wall. The photo on the Apex site (logon required) is unreal.
If you ever needed to know why the grid workers don't let you out by the inner pit wall for a start...this is why.
Driver was okay and actual drove later in the afternoon in the GT1 race.
Click to expand...

There have been times while taking photos along tracks I had to duck and dive but this one would have been wild. I am glad to hear the driver is OK.
 
For years, I railed at SCCA for the absence of a "frontal protection' requirement in their roll bar rule set, citing an incident like this as an example of the need for such a requirement. I was always told the rules were "adequate as written".

Watch this film carefully; notice how close the guard rail comes to the helmet.

This could have turned out much worse.

RJS
 
Unfortunately, the full course caution was because of a crash Dieter had into the wall at the exit of Canada Corner. The Spitfire snapped on him coming out of the turn, almost like something in the suspension broke, and sent him head first into the concrete wall, missing the tires. The impact in the front then spun him around where the rear hit. The crash did heavy damage on the car and bent the frame among breaking and cracking many things on the car. The Spitfire 1500, which my dad has been driving since 1978, is essentially totaled. It was a sad day in this sense but also a good one in the sense that Dieter did not have to go to the emergency room after a hit this hard. This car was built very strong and many of the roll bars that extend into the engine bay and trunk saved the front and rear end from being crumpled further.

The Simpson Hybrid Pro did a great job of protecting in this impact. In only two races of having this safety equipment, it already helped avoid a more serious injury than a stiff neck for a week! He could feel the tethers pull his helmet back after the initial front end impact and then the second, rear impact. This device has already paid for itself in the safety department and I hope that it keeps more and more racers a little bit safer throughout their careers.

I'm not sure what our next step besides tearing everything apart and seeing if things can be rebuilt, pulled, hit and pushed back into place. I just hope Dieter can get back on the track and compete again as he greatly enjoys driving, engineering and developing, and at the age of 70 is still competing hard!
 
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