First trackday of the year

[Dezzy]

Chris fooking hell mate. What a sickener!
Glad your ok mate.
I think it's time to venture to he chrome side!
None sunroof pre facelift 24v FTW.

That's my dream car!

[d6dph]

Holy shite, Glad you are ok Chris. Now two build projects to do for you then. One may be a tad quicker than the other though!

[Andyboy]

What a damned shame.

Is it an insurance job?

Lee's been talking about it, but I feel an E36 Compact S50 coming on!

[Jhonno]

Ouch...

Sorry to see that Chris. Taking it well though (the whole thing.. Not the steering wheel in the face.)

[billgatese30]

Ouch...

Sorry to see that Chris. Taking it well though (the whole thing.. Not the steering wheel in the face.)

If it was down to my own stupidity, or worse still, someone else's stupidity then I would have been pissed off big time. But at the end of the day, it was an unforseen piece of bad luck. Motorsport is dangerous and we all know the risks when we go out on track. I think I was quite lucky to get away as lightly as I did, metal can always be fixed or replaced, I can't.

However, for those who wear half face helmets when on track, please note that if I was wearing a half face helmet I probably would have woken up in an ambulance on the way to A&E. Instead with the full face helmet, alot of the impact my face would have took, was absorbed by the shell of the helmet and I only suffered by squashing my nose against the front of it when forehead hit the wheel. I was never unconscious (a little dazed admittedly) but with a half face helmet I probably would have stayed the night in A&E for "observation".

[d6dph]

Might have ruined your good looks Chris

[billgatese30]

Its funny but the nurse in the drop in centre this morning said that considering the crash I was looking good......



....."well I didn't before the crash so I must of done alot of damage" was my reply. I think she saw the funny side.

[DanThe]

Some harnesses would have held you back though, an open faced lid would have been ok then

Did you have a visor and did it break?

[billgatese30]

had a visor and it unclipped on one side but nothing is broken

[12345kevin]

Chris, glad you're all OK, will have to revise my open face helmet me thinks. AndyP has a tidy 318is rolling shell in red. would get you back up and running fairly quick.

[GeoffBob]

Chris, FYI, If you went from 90 mph to 0 mph in, say, 3m, then the whole event lasted 0.15 seconds and you experienced 26.6g's of deceleration (assuming you decelerated uniformly). Alternatively, if you slowed over 2m, then the event lasted 0.1 seconds and experienced 40g's of deceleration. That's enough to worry if your spleen is intact

Assuming you weigh 85kg, then at 40g's deceleration your body exerted a force equivalent to 3400kg against your seat-belt. Well, right up until the point where some of that weight was redistributed over your steering wheel. Good for you that you had a full-face helmet on at the time.

[keri-WMS]

Chris, FYI, If you went from 90 mph to 0 mph in, say, 3m, then the whole event lasted 0.15 seconds and you experienced 26.6g's of deceleration (assuming you decelerated uniformly). Alternatively, if you slowed over 2m, then the event lasted 0.1 seconds and experienced 40g's of deceleration. That's enough to worry if your spleen is intact

Assuming you weigh 85kg, then at 40g's deceleration your body exerted a force equivalent to 3400kg against your seat-belt. Well, right up until the point where some of that weight was redistributed over your steering wheel. Good for you that you had a full-face helmet on at the time.

Trust you to do the maths!!!

Glad you're ok Chris....

Looking at this photo it looks like you hit a nice radius behind the weedy barrier which lifted the car and would have pushed you down in your seat....I bet if it hadn't gone "up" you wouldn't have dropped you head on the wheel, but the overall hit would have been harder....I'm sure Geoff can add some physics for us!

http://thetrackdayclub.com/forum/downlo ... G_0300.JPG

[billgatese30]

Chris, FYI, If you went from 90 mph to 0 mph in, say, 3m, then the whole event lasted 0.15 seconds and you experienced 26.6g's of deceleration (assuming you decelerated uniformly). Alternatively, if you slowed over 2m, then the event lasted 0.1 seconds and experienced 40g's of deceleration. That's enough to worry if your spleen is intact

Assuming you weigh 85kg, then at 40g's deceleration your body exerted a force equivalent to 3400kg against your seat-belt. Well, right up until the point where some of that weight was redistributed over your steering wheel. Good for you that you had a full-face helmet on at the time.

Well I ain't dropped down dead yet so I'll assume my spleen is intact

For the record, at my last weigh in, I weighed 188 lbs (88.4546 Kg's) so your maths will be pretty accurate.


26g's is pretty bad, no wonder my chest was bruised by the seat belt. especially if it ended up slightly higher

[gooner1]

Bad luck mate, but at least your,e relatively ok and
pics and story will impress the Grankids in the future.

[billgatese30]

Bad luck mate, but at least your,e relatively ok and
pics and story will impress the Grankids in the future.

might even impress the kids when I have some, let alone grandkids

[DanThe]

That tyre wall is pretty pathetic TBH

[Dezzy]

Dan it's a go cart track.

It's been extended for track days drifts etc. When I was working as a turner machinist I worked next door.

Them tyre Walls should be alot thicker. We look after the ambulaces on site.

[DanThe]

Cant you fly a few hundred tyres on site? Give them a hint

[Dezzy]

We have 500 a week to get rid of so I will happily let them have some.

I am there Wednesday for a bit of crack on a tyre company so I will ask if they want any.

[DanThe]

You could say somebody came in complaining about the pathetic tyre walls and was thinking about suing them, then the punch line, "ive got 500 you can have for a couple of complimentary track days"

[Dezzy]

I am liking your thinking mate.

[Lloydie38]

Only seen it from the pictures but your car looked mint, really looked good, glad you're OK, now get planning the next E30 track fun car, proper wheels driving it and zooming sideways past front wheel drive trash

[billgatese30]

Only seen it from the pictures but your car looked mint, really looked good, glad you're OK, now get planning the next E30 track fun car, proper wheels driving it and zooming sideways past front wheel drive trash

To be fair, I have just spent a night in the pub discussing exactly that. next track car is definitely one to watch.

It was a mint shell. Inner rear arches were mint.

[Jon_Bmw]

Chris,

I am sorry to read your unfortunate story, you have taken it better than most would I feel, me included!

What was the actual story with the brakes, fade? There is the potential I guess on a Go kart track with little 'breathing' room.

Either the actual impact speed was a lot lower(eg gravel slowed you down) than 90mph or the tyres did an alright job I would have said. If you hit something solid at that speed, you'd not be here Standard seat belt? Whatever it was, bin it!

Looking forward to the next car developing.

ETA: The tyre wall does look flimsey, but it perhaps has worked? They are not built for saving cars though!

[billgatese30]

Cheers Jon. I think because the car rode up onto the tire wall it helped a lot, if it had dug in and stopped dead I'd be in a right mess (and the car would me much worse)

Another pic or two from the lockup.

[keri-WMS]

"Bugger, where did those tyres come from? I'll just check the map...."!!

Is that your blood on the door in the other photo?

[billgatese30]

map is just from where I was clearing stuff from boot, footwells etc as it was getting locked up


and yes, that's blood on the door, it was still pissing out of my nose when I got out, fortunately though, none on the carpet, or the seat

[MillRat]

Damn..... Don't worry about the tyre barrier (like you have said, the poor quality barrier probably reduced the impact of the crash). How about the sand trap, it worked a treat then.....??

Did it slow you up something like this (I.e. not at all);


Or, like this (pulling up this DBR9);

[billgatese30]

more like the first one, just not as quick

[Lloydie38]

Damn..... Don't worry about the tyre barrier (like you have said, the poor quality barrier probably reduced the impact of the crash). How about the sand trap, it worked a treat then.....??

Did it slow you up something like this (I.e. not at all);


Or, like this (pulling up this DBR9);

Hey Millrat, I'm lovin the front splitter on your profile picture

[BadDave]

Chris, I just heard about this last night.

As per our convo,It's good to hear that your OK and still in reasonably high spirits considering what's happened.

Also like your way of dealing with the atermath.

Look forward to seeing the new S50 powered Touring some time soon.

[MillRat]

Hey Millrat, I'm lovin the front splitter on your profile picture

Thanks, it is currently in a little better shape than Chris's......

[gareth]

Wow chris, you have been busy. I'm sorry to hear what's happened but at the end of the day, it's an excuse to hide in the garage and make the car your own (in a less destructive manner).

At least you're relatively ok though.

Just think, if you hadn't been shifting the pounds, your fat arse would have bruised your ribs even more!

[B7]

Did the big brakes let go Chris?

[billgatese30]

Cheers for the well wishes guys. Thanks for the phone call too Dave, appreciated dude.

Trev, I'm still not sure if it was just boiled fluid. I'm still uncertain though as there was no warning like you normally get with boiled fluids. Only other thing I can think of is a possible M/C failure but I'm not too convinced either way until I can get some time to investigate.