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WGI July Sprints - Recap and Sunday's wreck


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#1
svvs

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Well, the July Sprints were lightly attended, probably because the Majors event was a few weeks prior at the same venue.  Understandable for those drivers, but I missed having part of the regular crew around to race with.

 

That being said, it was a fun weekend......until the end.  Here is a short Danny Steyn-esque recap.

 

Thursday:

 

I was up for an open track day event with Aaron Povoledo.  Great track walk, and good coaching.  Had an electrical issue (I actually shorted out the battery!) but a new battery, some wiring changes, and I was back in action.  Probably got about 2 hours of track time in.

 

Friday:

 

Relaxed, waxed my car, reset my front toe (was 3/16" out....), learned how to string box a car (thank's Ed), and helped Marc Ulan with some video.  Good times!

 

Saturday:

 

Things were going really well for me.  I poled the car in SM2, and was fourth or so in SM (again, light competition).  I was really happy with how my 1.6L car was performing.  I thought I was a bit slow, but so was everyone else apparently.

 

Saturday SM2 Qual race:  I led the race until I caught lapped traffic twice in the bus stop and the carousel.  This let Jason Livingood catch me (along with a blazing lap he had) and he passed me at the line for the win.  Congrats to him on that!  We went door handle to door handle through the toe of the boot, the heel, the off camber left......then I botched turn 11 from the lead.

 

Saturday SM Qual Race:  Kind of a blur because lots of action.  Catania had a mechanical and had to pull out, which left me battling for the podium with Paul Redante, and Ugurlu.  Paul got me into the bus stop on the last lap to take third and put me to fourth.  At one point we were flying in the draft, and i got down to a 2:20.7  I forget what the fast SM time was.

 

Sunday:

 

After an awesome dinner at the new BBQ place, we were ready for Sunday.

 

In the Pro IT race Kevin A and Yosh H put on a heck of a show.  Yosh had his 1.6L down to 2:20.3 or so.  Just wanted to shout out to those guys because they had a great race.

 

Sunday SM2 race:  Jason got held up on the start, and I drove around him to take SM2 lead.  It took me a lap or two to pass an ITB VW, but then I had clear track for a while with jimmy Locke behind me by a bit.  Jason and Paul drafted up and Jason got passed me into the bus stop.  He held the lead for the rest of the race, while Paul and I swapped second and third at least once.  End result was Jason, Vicktor, Paul.

 

Sunday SM race:  Spec miata happened.  See the below video.  Paul is ok, but his car is totalled.  My car needs a drivers side rear corner I guess.  Still haven't taken it apart.

 

 

I'm not going to say anything except we need to be leaving each other more room.  We were moving at about 105 when Paul got clipped.  He got me as he came sliding backwards back across the track (he was just a projectile at that point, not his fault I got hit).

 

I drove it back in.  Paul not so much.  I took some time to collect myself and then went to help Paul load his car into his trailer.  Thanks to the other 7 or so guys who came to help (especially Smarty and Weaver). 

 

In hindsight, I should have thrown paper if just to make a point that we need to leave eachother some room.

 

-Vick

 

 


Vick
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#2
Mike Collins

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Wow...seen something similar on the front straight at Summit before.  Sorry to see it.


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#3
Ken Quartuccio

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Sorry to see that Vic
Was that Locke on right ?
Who was in middle ?

#4
svvs

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Locke on the right, Ugurlu in the middle.


Vick
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#5
steveracer

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It appears Locke had LOTS of room to his right, and no reason to move left, IMHO.

 

Isn't that the straight run to the bus stop? He had the inside for that anyway.

 

Asshattery from my vantage point of thousands of miles away.


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#6
Ron Alan

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This type of contact seems to happen way more than it should. One driver wants to hold another car to a point on the track, the other driver wants to "lean" on that car to force it to move(all in a straight line for the most part). And many times the outcome is the innocent bystander...in this case 2! Sorry for both you guys.

 

Victor...to understand your reaction (because the camera cant quite see whats going on to your left), did you feel the car that hit the wall was going to come across your path at first? I hear you lift as the cars in front move away.


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#7
svvs

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Ron:

 

I lifted before they got together because i could see something was about  to happen.  Contact ensued, and I saw Paul coming back across the track.  I forgot bouncing cars are not laser beams, and hesitated a few tenths before getting back on the throttle.  I then got back on the gas and moved right as far as I could.

 

Wasn't back on the gas soon enough I guess.  Three feet further forward I might not have gotten hit.

 

Paul's video is scary.  I barely slowed him down before he backed into the armco on drivers right.


Vick
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#8
Ron Alan

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Got it...and I think you were in 5th...not exactly a get away gear!


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#9
Parity

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Here's the vantage point you don't want to have. Broken everything. Tie rod has a 90 degree bend, control arms are bent/folded, diff broke in half, tub bent, and roll cage looks twisted. Amazingly we spent 45 minutes in impound after the SM2 race for a investigation into minor contact which resulted in a dislodged bumper. I would think this would warrant some review.

 

Added - Thanks for everyone's help and support and getting it back in the trailer.


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#10
Jim Creighton

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I usually don't comment about on track things, but someone should have filed a protest against the car on the right who started this. He obviously was moving to the left for no other reason than to block or he wasn't watching his side view to see that another car was there. You are required to give racing room. Things like this are not necessary and end up costing the victims money and hours of lost racing. Please, guys, when things like this happen and you see it and have it on tape, help the guy who gets taken out by offering the video for his protest. This is just a waste of money! Even worse, this could have taken out two thirds of the field and hurt someone. Glad no one was hurt.



#11
Waterboy

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Not so sure 100% of the fault lies on the guy to the right, although a large percentage does. The guy on the right wouldn't have know about the guy on the left. The guy in the middle did, or should have. If not at fault still not wise to put your care there, especially on the first lap. Was there room, sure but not much to spare.
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#12
Mitch Reading

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Vick and Paul, really sorry to see your loss.  What we love so much about the class is also what can be its biggest weakness.


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#13
DrDomm

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Glad I was on call (working).


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#14
svvs

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Glad I was on call (working).

Well I missed seeing you and your family.  Hopefully I can make the fun one.


Vick
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#15
Dennis Valet

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Maybe some people don't like to talk about this sort of stuff, but I do. I don't like when I see people destroying cars with mistakes that are reckless and irresponsible. Sorry if I offend anyone, but I enjoy this class and I don't want it to turn into nascar.

 

 

I place equal blame on the car on the right and the car in the middle. 


As for the car in the middle. It is incredibly irresponsible to place your car three wide down the fastest part of the racetrack on the very first lap. You can see that his car got loose as he first got between the two cars. That should have been his first clue to stay in line behind the car on the right. Instead, he tried to press his luck. Where is he going to go at the braking zone anyway? The bus stop narrows down very quickly at turn in. Certainly not enough room for three cars, let alone two. He is forcing everyone into a bad situation. To top it off, he can't be sure that the car on the right even knows there is a third car all the way on the outside of the track. That car is right in the right car's blind spot. Whole mess is easily avoided if he stays in line and continues behind the car on the right down the front straight. 

 

As for the car on the right. I know a lot of people view it as a legitimate tactic, but I don't condone pushing cars to the edge of the racing surface when they are trying to pass you. I know people view it as "as long as you leave them racing room then who cares" but I feel at this level it is not worth the risk. So many times we see contacts between two drivers who try to squeeze each other as they drag race into a braking zone or out of a corner (runoffs a few years back ring any bells?).  Here, the driver on the right clearly moves towards the left side of the track. Maybe he didn't do it intentionally, but it certainly looks calculated. Maybe he though the middle car had tons of room to move to the left with him. Clearly that was not the case. He pushed the car in the middle to the left who in turn had no where to go as there was already a car up against the edge of the racing surface on his outside. Maybe the car on the right did not know there was a third car there, who knows, but those are the risks you run when you make these types of moves.  I find it especially reckless on the first lap where you should be assuming that you are surrounded by cars on all sides.

 

I know everyone is competitive, but no one wants to roll their car into their trailer at the end of the weekend knowing it's totaled, especially when it's not their fault and the contact was completely avoidable in the first place. I'm glad everyone was ok, as that was a vicious hit at high speeds. Hopefully everyone involved learned something so they can avoid anything similar in the future. 


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#16
Tom Sager

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Maybe some people don't like to talk about this sort of stuff, but I do. I don't like when I see people destroying cars with mistakes that are reckless and irresponsible. Sorry if I offend anyone, but I enjoy this class and I don't want it to turn into nascar.

 

 

I place equal blame on the car on the right and the car in the middle. 


As for the car in the middle. It is incredibly irresponsible to place your car three wide down the fastest part of the racetrack on the very first lap. You can see that his car got loose as he first got between the two cars. That should have been his first clue to stay in line behind the car on the right. Instead, he tried to press his luck. Where is he going to go at the braking zone anyway? The bus stop narrows down very quickly at turn in. Certainly not enough room for three cars, let alone two. He is forcing everyone into a bad situation. To top it off, he can't be sure that the car on the right even knows there is a third car all the way on the outside of the track. That car is right in the right car's blind spot. Whole mess is easily avoided if he stays in line and continues behind the car on the right down the front straight. 

 

As for the car on the right. I know a lot of people view it as a legitimate tactic, but I don't condone pushing cars to the edge of the racing surface when they are trying to pass you. I know people view it as "as long as you leave them racing room then who cares" but I feel at this level it is not worth the risk. So many times we see contacts between two drivers who try to squeeze each other as they drag race into a braking zone or out of a corner (runoffs a few years back ring any bells?).  Here, the driver on the right clearly moves towards the left side of the track. Maybe he didn't do it intentionally, but it certainly looks calculated. Maybe he though the middle car had tons of room to move to the left with him. Clearly that was not the case. He pushed the car in the middle to the left who in turn had no where to go as there was already a car up against the edge of the racing surface on his outside. Maybe the car on the right did not know there was a third car there, who knows, but those are the risks you run when you make these types of moves.  I find it especially reckless on the first lap where you should be assuming that you are surrounded by cars on all sides.

 

I know everyone is competitive, but no one wants to roll their car into their trailer at the end of the weekend knowing it's totaled, especially when it's not their fault and the contact was completely avoidable in the first place. I'm glad everyone was ok, as that was a vicious hit at high speeds. Hopefully everyone involved learned something so they can avoid anything similar in the future. 

You make a number of good points although I think you're a little tough on the driver of the middle car.  The track is wide enough to go 3 wide there without incident IMO, but yes 3 wide at the bus stop won't work very well unless drivers yield to one another at some point.  I think a number of drivers if in the middle would have taken your advice and not put it in there, but many others would.  At the point the middle driver made that decision, it looks to me like there is enough room on both sides and that he had enough of a run that he had a good chance of clearing the other 2 cars by the bus stop.   It sure looks like the inside driver knew they were being overtaken and also moved too far left.  Like a lot of these things a couple feet here or there is the difference between fun and heartbreak and the outcome stinks.  Actually it could have been a whole lot worse.  

 

I still like the NASA contact rules that require drivers to report at the end of the race if involved in metal to metal.  I think that it's a good deterrent as it makes drivers more aware of taking risks which is important in class where so many cars are so close.      


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#17
wreckerboy

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I agree 100% with Dennis and think he didn't go far enough . I don't give a ripe rat's ass if it's the first lap, the last lap, or any lap in between, the sort of stupidity exhibited by the center and right cars is just irresponsible. We are racing for $3.00 damn trophies here, and there are no F1 or NASCAR scouts watching our races looking to hand out pro rides.

We're having a major problem in WDCR with stupidity like this writing off cars at race after race. "The stewards need to enforce the rules. The stewards need to enforce the rules" has been the refrain of late. While that may be true, it isn't the stewards driving around out there. It's US. And WE are the problem. After two seasons of being at the receiving end of contact I took a long hard look in the rear view mirror and decided that if I was getting hit that often the constant factor in that particular equation was ME. So I set a new goal for this season - no more contact. When in doubt, back out. Guess what? It works. I'm going faster, finishing higher, and having more fun doing so.

I recently raced against at least one of the cars in that incident at NJMP - Paul Redante. Now that's at least one less car I'll get to race against again. That sucks for him and for me. I don't want to run well because of accident induced attrition. I want to win on the track, not the body shop.

Look in the mirror - we're all to blame. And if you see something like this happening, throw paper. Make the stews do their job. We had an incident at MARRS 7 in the SSM race that resulted in paper getting thrown. Right, wrong, or indifferent, and regardless of the outcome, maybe everybody there will think twice before trying that lower percentage move because it may have consequences beyond body work, as if that wasn't enough of a reason.
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#18
Yosh

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Low percentage move from Ugurlu going up the middle but I think that Locke (#70 on the right) definitely crowds him.  I do think that both Redante (left) and Locke (right) leave too much room between them, but as Volpe (camera car) shows you can try and dump out of a trap if you leave yourself options (I think Vick shows good instincts, but a spinning ping pong ball is unpredicatable.)

 

Earlier in the day, I ran the ProIT race and Locke (#70) did a pretty aggressive move for turn 1 squeezing into a spot that you KNOW is going to go away.  Contact on BOTH sides.

 

 

Look for it at about 0:23.

 

0:55 shows 4 wide into the bus stop is possible, though I'd like to see a faster car like that RX8 spend a bit more time thinking rather than doing.

Finally, 3:22 shows why (IMHO) the inside is always a better choice for a pass attempt into the busstop.  I have the option of dumping to the right if the red car or the middle car is still there and needs room.  You take away that option trying a pass in the middle.

 

Happy to hear that both Paul and Vick are ok, but disapointed in the damage and write-off.



#19
AW33COM

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Glad to see that no one got hurt.  This was the same type of hit I took on No Name Straight (Lime Rock) few weeks ago when someone pushed me into the barrier.  Big hit for sure. 

 

Some of you will think I'm chicken, but since my crash and the rebuild I decided to race only on specific race tracks where there are no Armco barriers all around right next to the track.  Screw it, for me it's only about fun.  



#20
mmcspecracer

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Looks to me like its 100 percent Locke's fault. According to a race monitor, both Paul and Mustafa were a full two seconds a lap faster than Locke in qualifying. You can see that Locke is clearly slower then them and there is a huge hole between Locke and Paul. Mustafa got almost a full car length ahead of Paul when the contact was made, so I disagree that they were "three wide" going into the bus stop. I'm not suggesting that this wreck was Paul's fault, but in hindsight, he should have tucked in behind Mustafa at this point and he and Mustafa would have easily passed Locke. But that's Monday morning quarterback and when you are racing, it's not so easy to always make good decisions.

In any event, Locke was too aggressive in pushing Mustafa to the outside and there was no need for it. As i said, Mustaf and Paul were a full two seconds a lap faster then Locke in the qualifying race and instead of acknowledging that and giving them room, he made an overly aggressive move to try and hold a position that he was going to eventually lose anyway. It was the first lap! Get out of the way of guys that are two seconds a lap faster then you.

If I am two seconds a lap slower then somebody, I want to run behind them in the hope of learning why they are two seconds a lap faster. Locke should have stayed where he was and let them by him.




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