AutoX can be expensive.

z32drifter · 08-25-2008, 07:19 PM

Not just the tires and mods to make you go faster either. We sometimes forget the risk we take anytime we are on the track. AutoX is one of those events that you don't think about wrecking your car, but it can happen. Yesterday we had and incident at an event, first time I have seen serious damage. Last run of the day the driver of an STI lost control at the finish and took out our timing trailer and another drivers car. The course design allowed for a very fast finish, I was in 3rd gear thru the final elements. We were lucky that everyone walked away and the only damage was material.
On to the caranage....

The Subaru hit the ramp at the back of the trailer sideways, launched about 4 feet in the air and landed in the Hondas 1/4 panel.

Niku-Sama · 08-25-2008, 07:26 PM

i declair the honda toast, unless you wanna put a ton of work into it to replace the rear quarter.
so what happens with this sort of thing, is there any kind of insurances?
the worst i have seen at our local track ( i only watch....for now) is a broken rear axle in a viper, dont know why the guy was out there its a small tight track.

that sucks though, no one got hurt and thats what is important

G4nismo · 08-25-2008, 11:54 PM

dang that sucks! yeh so what happened afterwards? insurance cover all that?

MorpheusZero · 08-26-2008, 12:49 AM

good god.

Glad everything was ok. I'm guessing insurance doesn't cover race events...

*sciff5* · 08-26-2008, 01:55 PM

wow those hondas are tin cans.

Thats some pretty serious damage.. you'de have to do a lot more than just replace a quarter panel on that civic.. that car is toast, the trailer and the scooby should be good to go though, unless theres more damage to the scooby that your not showing us.

**Matt93SE** · 08-26-2008, 08:01 PM

Horrible course design. shouldn't have been anything anywhere near the shut-down area for people to hit if they get stupid and lose control. timing light, maybe. Trailer? NO.

SCCA has insurance which would cover personal injury, but they don't cover vehicular damage, IIRC. the STI driver will be responsible for paying for all of the damage out of pocket. If he's extremely lucky- which I doubt because it was a timed competition event- his insurance will consider it a driving education event and pay for it. but that's 99.99% not going to happen.

*sciff5* · 08-26-2008, 08:07 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Matt93SE

the STI driver will be responsible for paying for all of the damage out of pocket. If he's extremely lucky- which I doubt because it was a timed competition event- his insurance will consider it a driving education event and pay for it. but that's 99.99% not going to happen.

wow... that really sucks. I'll have to keep that in mind when going to the track..

kat_u13 · 08-26-2008, 09:10 PM

ouch... that civic is done.. i'd be so pissed.. how would insurance cover for something like that? ... i'm under the impression that it wouldn't

**Matt93SE** · 08-26-2008, 09:12 PM

Definitely keep that in mind... if you spin off course at Miller Motorpsorts Park, you'll be billed to re-sod the grass you tear up. leak oil on the track? you're paying the cleanup crew. smack the wall or kill safer-barrier? OUCH.

take out some armco (guardrail) at just about any track and you're looking at about $3500 for a section of armco and installation. not to mention the damage to your car.

Umm yeah.. wrecking ain't cheap!!

*sciff5* · 08-26-2008, 09:27 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Matt93SE

Definitely keep that in mind... if you spin off course at Miller Motorpsorts Park, you'll be billed to re-sod the grass you tear up. leak oil on the track? you're paying the cleanup crew. smack the wall or kill safer-barrier? OUCH.

take out some armco (guardrail) at just about any track and you're looking at about $3500 for a section of armco and installation. not to mention the damage to your car.

Umm yeah.. wrecking ain't cheap!!

Fawkkkk.. That sucks.. I dont think they charge you anything at the dragstrip. If you hit the wall you never do damage to the wall and they just clean up the track and move on. Although I am pretty sure you pay for the tow truck.

**Matt93SE** · 08-26-2008, 09:30 PM

If you hit and damage a piece of armco, you'll be paying for it. But most all tracks now are concrete walls all the way down, so the worst you'll generally have to do is pay for a gallon of white paint to eliminate your skid mark. They won't bother with that.

z32drifter · 08-26-2008, 10:21 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Matt93SE

Horrible course design. shouldn't have been anything anywhere near the shut-down area for people to hit if they get stupid and lose control. timing light, maybe. Trailer? NO.

SCCA has insurance which would cover personal injury, but they don't cover vehicular damage, IIRC. the STI driver will be responsible for paying for all of the damage out of pocket. If he's extremely lucky- which I doubt because it was a timed competition event- his insurance will consider it a driving education event and pay for it. but that's 99.99% not going to happen.

The course was setup on a runway and the trailer was set back from the finish. I was able to cross the finish in the 80mph range and get back to a safe "grid" speed by the time I reached the trailer. I think the biggest issue was the finish was way to fast and the STI driver tried to drive out of a 80mph spin. I don't think the driver reacted with the proper "both feet in", I think he stayed in it. I'm not sure who is paying for the trailer but the STI driver is on the hook for his car and the Honda he hit. He could make a case that the Honda should not have been parked there. The Honda ran in the earlier heat and should have been off the course. I have a feeling the Honda owner would be happy with a replacement hatch to swap his parts too, it's a dedicated solo car. As far as I know the STI drove home after the event, however I'm sure there is hidden damage he will find when he puts the thing on a alignment rack.

I posted this as a PSA. These type of things can happen so use your head when your at an event. Look for the run off area an out of control car may use and stay out of it.

*4DRSpeed* · 08-27-2008, 03:02 AM

holy crap!

The one event I went too, they did a test run and at the finish it was a little hairy, they made several adjustments before they sent the first car off.

I wish we had courses around here where we can get up to 80. Bristol is the closest which is 2 hour drive from where I live. Last Bristol event they were hitting around 75 down some of the straights.

Danny@J&Dauto · 09-15-2008, 07:37 PM

Maxnine · 09-16-2008, 08:57 PM

Just glad to hear everybody got out OK.

At our last autox event, the shut down area was near the end of the first line of cars in the grid

*ThurzNite* · 11-05-2008, 08:55 AM

Wow serious, they should blame the course designer too. The worse I seen a a cracked axle from a fwd. And then there's the RX video on youtube that sheared off his lug nuts.

Oh wait, I remember a 3rd gen on floaty suspension disabled. I dunno what happened, but the tow truck pulled him away.

There was 1 track layout that was nasty. You kno how if there's a gutter in the parkinglot, if you need to cross over it, you're sorta parallel to it so you don't take it perpendicular and bottom out? This 1 course I did, just a couple feet after the finishline timing mechanism was a perpendicular gutter. You had to brake before you finished in order to safely cross the gutter. That one really sucked.

Dr J

z32drifter · 11-05-2008, 05:31 PM

The Honda was back on course Sunday. I was suprised they did not just build a new car, but they fixed the old one. I have not seen the STI or it's driver.

*DaveVQ* · 11-05-2008, 06:12 PM

OH SNAP! That looks pretty bad, but at least everyone walked away.

btw z, I'm in the process of rebuilding the suspension and engine right now, I'll be out next season going to everyone of these events starting in april or may. Need to fix somethings so what happened above doesn't happen to me.

ChrisMan287 · 11-05-2008, 06:17 PM

Thank god everyone is ok. Crazy **** can happen anytime.

Snypa · 11-10-2008, 08:17 AM

thats crazy. No one hurt...good thing.!!

*ThurzNite* · 11-10-2008, 11:42 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by DaveVQ

OH SNAP! That looks pretty bad, but at least everyone walked away.

btw z, I'm in the process of rebuilding the suspension and engine right now, I'll be out next season going to everyone of these events starting in april or may. Need to fix somethings so what happened above doesn't happen to me.

What mods are you thinking of, and what class?

Bjs470 · 11-11-2008, 12:11 AM

yike...sti was last run of the day too...

*DaveVQ* · 11-16-2008, 08:34 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by ThurzNite

What mods are you thinking of, and what class?

STX like I ran last season

modenaf1 · 11-19-2008, 11:02 AM

Holy ****. and I would have thought it was more dangerous to be out working the course picking up cones. Has anyone ever just flat out gotten run over?

Man I am feeling a wee bit unsure about autoxing now.....

*SilverGLE* · 11-19-2008, 12:34 PM

I was at the Nashville Superspeedway this past Sunday working the finish when a black S2000 got tail happy and became good friends with the wall... Link, start at Post #4 down.