boxedfox

Sometimes all it takes is one poorly planned pass to ruin everyone's day. Have a look at this bit of in-car video from the Hoosier Super Tour at NOLA earlier today.

In-Car Rollover Video from STU #33 - Honda Civic

(Skip to 7:17 if it doesn't do so automatically)

You're riding along with Greg Amy in the #33 STU Honda Civic Si as #105, a T4 Mazda MX-5, attempts a wildly optimistic overtaking maneuver and punts Greg off the road at high speed. Well, you can see what happens next.

To top it all off, the driver of 105 threw profanities and inappropriate gestures at the stewards when they penalized him for his move.

sjg88

dude seems to have bad luck...his integra got smashed @ watkins glen

is the car totaled?

edit:

tried posting the proper link but honda-tech wont let it embed properly

if you click the title where it says "STU Crash" it will work if you open it in another window

boxedfox

It sounds like the roll was slow enough that it didn't cause that much damage. New windshield, body panel repair, straightening of the A pillars, and new sheet metal for the roof.

Here's an edited 360 degree video from the car that was sitting behind when the incident happened. The MX5 does appear to turn into the Honda at the apex, which is pretty nuts.

90civichbsi

iTrader: (1)

I wouldn't want to drive anywhere near that miata. If you watch the minute leading up to this he dive bombs into multiple corners just to lose a lot on the next straight, almost clips the black vette at turn 1, then the Integra at turn 2.

iwannarace

Am I the only one who kind of thinks that was an almost okay pass? he had the speed. if only he'd given the civic room to track out (assuming he didn't hit him). It does look like he sort of corrected/turned into the civic which was effd up.

cluelessmale

iTrader: (1)

I was thinking the same thing, like he was trying to blocking or something, but than again I suck at w2w racing.

boxedfox

Hmm. You know, I'm thinking about this, and I think that if the Civic went to block the MX5 into that corner, this crash probably wouldn't have happened. The Honda is significantly faster in a straight line. He could have just turned in early, hung the MX5 out to dry on the outside, and just motored away through the straight.

There's a reason he didn't block though. Thee two cars aren't in the same class. The Civic is in Super Touring Under and the MX5 is in Touring 4.

Results from the NOLA Hoosier Super Tour Race

If I was driving the Civic, I wouldn't expect a car in a completely different class to attempt a low percentage pass in a high speed corner.

...esteban

Totally.

Miata driver was begging for a wreck, and made one happen.

Greyout

The contact was unfortunate but I don't think the move was that crazy. If you are behind the wheel of a Miata and want to win anything, you have to divebomb everyone. At the very beginning of the video, I was thinking to myself, "The STU back markers sure are holding up the lead T4 cars. Someones gonna get frustrated and do something ballsy"

miamirice

miamirice

killerpenguin21

it earned him a 4 month suspension

miamirice

miamirice

boxedfox

My understanding was that he was punished for this incident. Running his mouth to the officials happened after the decision was delivered.

Greyout

Holy **** that was awful.

What happened to that guy?

sjg88

im guessing both classes need to be run simultaneously because of time/money?

jdblock

Reminds me of Senna/Prost in 1990. Senna drove into a spot that was always going to disappear, taking out Prost and winning the Championship.

boxedfox

Yes, and the number of cars in the class too. Unless there's a very large number of cars in the class, they'll generally get mixed in with other classes. In some instances they'll do things like a split start, where they'll physically split off a few classes into a separate group within the same session, and give them the green flag after the first group. This gives the faster classes breathing room at the opening stage of a race.

miamirice

rice_classic

What this guy did is wrong regardless of the type of car he was driving. The fact he's in a MIata in no way excuses a low-percentage maneuver at high speed. Thinking a 1/2 car width is enough at high speed is ridiculous in amateur racing and it shows a complete disregard for the safety and property of the fellow drivers. Worse than that, it was clear as day what Greg was going to do and that the Miata wasn't going to fit there. There was nothing, NOTHING, that suggested that pass was going to be clean and he went for it without hesitation - complete disregard for his fellow driver.

3 words.

**** THAT GUY

gramkrackers

Definitely optimistic but not that insane in my opinion. I think it is reasonable to assume the Miata driver thought there may have been enough room to get the car in there. But the Miata driver was also driving aggressively leading up to the incident.

If you watch the white Civic infront of Greg and compare the lines they both take into the corner, Greg seems to take a defensive line on entry. Especially when you watch the line Greg takes in the laps leading up to this one. Greg takes a much wider entry into the corner on previous laps. But on the lap Greg gets hit, he seems to be defending and in my opinion turns into the Miata when looking at his on board. However, looking at the onboard from the blue and orange Miata from behind, it looks like the Miata turns into Greg.

My decisions if I was a race steward would be no penalty and it would go down as a racing incident. The profanities and poor treatment of an official would be the reason Mr. Miata would be getting punished, not his driving.

It's easy to play Monday morning racecar driver in these types of things.Racing is dangerous and not without incident and we all assume the risk when we strap in.

Dilbones

red misttt!