[Wichita-SCCA] Auto-x finish gone wrong

[Sam & Greg]

Greg:

Don't forget.  The driver error or vehicle failure you talk about can 
happen anywhere, not just at the finish.

Greg S.

At 10:04 AM 4/24/2007, you wrote:

>----- Original Message -----
>From: "James Harrison" <jimh_mic at msn.com>
>To: <wichita-scca at wichitascca.org>
>Sent: Monday, April 23, 2007 11:28 PM
>Subject: Re: [Wichita-SCCA] Auto-x finish gone wrong
>
>
> > HAve you all looked at these vidoes?
> > http://forums.vwvortex.com/zerothread?id=3197431&page=4
> > If I'm looking correctly the finish is before the last turn? I don't
> > understand how this happened.
> >
>
>Thanks Jim.  Seeing the four videos of the event helped sort it out in my
>mind.  None of the videos included the actual accident but each of the four
>shows a different portion of the course and one can piece the course design
>together.
>
>First off, this is a crappy surface and wet to boot but that didn't effect
>the cause of the accident.  The finish lights seemed to be well back from
>the end of the coned course just as they should have been.  Shortly after
>the finish lights, the course turned left in a smooth radius due to space
>limitations so I imagine that the drivers would tend to continue around the
>corner at speed (roughly mid-2nd gear) and then slow down within the
>following straight.  This straight section was pointed at the exit gate and
>the distance was fairly short but we in the Wichita Region have had numerous
>events with shutdown as short or shorter, speeds as high or higher.  At the
>exit gate there was a tee intersection with an access road going to the left
>and right.  The paddock cars were parked along far side of the access road.
>It was clearly quite easy to slow down to a stop at the exit gate, and then
>turn right or left onto the access road as desired.  After seeing the video
>several times I can't honestly say that it would have set off any alarm
>bells in my mind if I had been there.  It wasn't the best but one makes do
>with what one has and stopping before the exit gate would have been well
>within the capability of any competent driver in any mechanically solid car
>regardless of speed on course.
>
>Where the design of the shutdown got into trouble was that it didn't allow
>for the "what if" question.  What if the driver is not competent and fumbles
>the clutch/brake pedal?  What if we have a car that experiences sudden brake
>failure?  Where is he going to end up if that happens?  The answer with this
>shutdown design is that a car would have nowhere to go but through the exit
>gate and straight across the access road into the cars and any people who
>might be around at the moment if either of those things happened ... and one
>of them did.
>
>The accident, as I understand it, happened when the driver reached for the
>brake and got the clutch pedal in an unfamiliar car.  The car failed to stop
>and he went sailing through the exit gate to slam into the parked cars lined
>up along the access road, directly across from the access gate.  The only
>good thing is that the paddock cars probably protected the stadium bleachers
>from damage because that's where he would have ended up if they hadn't been
>there.
>
>I want to be perfectly clear on the point that I now believe that this
>accident was caused by a combination of factors.  The major factor was that
>the driver fumbled the pedals and then panicked.  The lesser but still
>contribituting factor was that the design of the shutdown did not allow for
>this or a similar problem to occur while still keeping within a zone of
>safety.
>
>One Monday morning quarterback idea would have changed the course design
>after the finish to include the original left turn but then quickly add a
>right turn to shoot the cars down track, followed by a U-turn back and only
>then to the exit gate.  I suspect that this or something similar is what the
>event officials switched to after the collision.  CAN YOU BELIEVE THAT THEY
>CONTINUED THE EVENT AFTER THAT SMASH UP?  Unbelievable.  I would have shut
>it down and also would have gotten out cameras and video cameras to document
>everything.  Then witness statements and so on.  This one will end up in the
>courts, guaranteed.
>
>Of course I can say this now but the truth is that I myself failed to shut
>down an event where I was chairman that, in looking back on it now, still
>sends shivers down my spine.  I even got the "Event of the Year" trophy for
>that event which was the Riverfest solo of 1986.  We were on Main Street in
>downtown Wichita.  The street looked wide enough but turned out to be slick
>and treacherous with oil and road use.  There were two close calls.  One was
>where a sports racer lost fluid in his hydraulic clutch and couldn't
>disengage his clutch.  This became a problem because the cars were required
>to stop before proceeding into the alley that went to the bank's parking
>garage.  The driver had to overpower the engine with his brakes and the
>sports racer came to a shuddering stop so violent that the front portion of
>his hood (hinged at the front) flew open.  The scary part was that the
>corner worker stood directly in front of this car with his hand up during
>the entire incident even when the car ended up only three feet from his
>ankles!  That incident got my nerves on edge but no one was hurt and the
>event went on.
>
>Where it really got hairy was when a girl in a ... Camaro? Mustang?
>something of that nature ... lost control in mid-track and looped the car.
>She ended up parked straight into the curb with the front bumper hanging
>over the curb and the front wheels almost but not quite touching the curb.
>No harm, no foul you say?  True, but this was a Riverfest event and there
>were spectators lining the curbs on both sides of the street for four
>blocks.  We had flag lines to keep them back but that was the only
>protection there was.  The Greg Laws of thirty years ago just wasn't
>experienced enough to realize that the situation was a time bomb and never
>should have been staged in the first place.  The event continued.  All that
>I can say now is that I lucked out and that the folks in this collision
>situation didn't.
>
>Enjoy,
>Greg Laws