It seems to be a widely accepted fact that no matter what happens on track, every driver is responsible for fixing the damage to their own car and only their car. It's kind of an interesting distinction because on the road, the person that was repsonsible for the damage is liable for all repairs. All of us racers seem to accept this principle without hesitation and have probably been in a situation where we've had to replace something becuase of contact. I hadn't really thought of it as odd until a friend, who hasn't been in a competition environment, asked who was paying for the damage with respect to my busted tire and debted body panels this weekend. I told him that the drivers are responsible for their cars and I've never heard of a situation where someone else paid to fix another's car... it just doesn't happen. Has anyone every heard of this happening?

 

I know of cases where drivers found/scrounged/purchased body parts to give to their victims. A VERY nice gesture.

K

 

When Bert and I had our incident two years ago, I offered a few weekends labor to help build a new car. Of course, Bert being Bert, there was already a car 3/4 complete behind his house, so he politely declined.

I've never seen money change hands, but I have seen parts and labor offered as a good-will gesture.

 

In Michigan, on the road, you pay for your own vehicle.

If you smash someone, they pay for their own vehicle.. No fault insurance.

Some crazy punk full-throttle accelerated into me in the Taco Bell drive thru, smashed my rear door, bumper, tailights, windows etc...

I had to pay $2,900 (Actually, insurance did, but it still sucked)

 

I know of two stories from friends. In the first, an agressive driver rear-ended another driver, doing $7,000 worth of damage to her 300Z with his 'vette. He said he would cover it but once he heard the actual repair costs, decided he wasn't going to help her out anymore. He's now in court.

In the second story, a friend loaned his car to another guy for a session. The second guy flat-spotted two of his Hoosiers. $500 worth of Indiana goodness (this was a Viper.) The driver, who was an event organizer, played fair and gave him the next two events for free. Some people know how to do the right thing.

-Adam

 

If you run into cars, racers tend to pay for their own damage. If you run into parts of the track, they send you a bill! How is that fair? Tracks should have more of the racer attitude me thinks!

 

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by mityVR6 &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">In the second story, a friend loaned his car to another guy for a session. The second guy flat-spotted two of his Hoosiers. $500 worth of Indiana goodness (this was a Viper.) The driver, who was an event organizer, played fair and gave him the next two events for free. Some people know how to do the right thing.

-Adam
</TD></TR></TABLE>

Was the drivers name skip by chance?

Viper tires are easy to flat-spot anyway. The lack of ABS on most of the cars causes this.

 

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by PhucNguyen57 &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote"> The lack of ABS on most of the cars causes this.</TD></TR></TABLE>

Wouldn't that be the "lack of ability to drive a car without ABS causes this"?

Diane ~ who's Miatas do not have ABS and who has never flatspotted a tire (autocross, HPDE, Time Trials, or a Race)

 

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by r2x &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">

Wouldn't that be the "lack of ability to drive a car without ABS causes this"?

Diane ~ who's Miatas do not have ABS and who has never flatspotted a tire (autocross, HPDE, Time Trials, or a Race)</TD></TR></TABLE>

Yes, many Viper drivers need ABS because of their lack of driving skills. IT is really easy to lock up a viper that has a brake upgrade though.

 

He spun it, thus the flatspot. It was years ago and I probably wouldn't post his or her name up here anyway. That wasn't the point.

The car does have StopTechs on it and, yes, it is difficult to drive. My friend is plenty fast and rarely has problems with lockup or flat-spotting due to lockup. The driver at the time was quite good, also, as a frequent open-tracker of a 964 RS America. One might say that with as much pedal effort as the Viper one should never get to the point of lockup.

I think like in most any other sport, if you hurt those you play with you try to help them get better. It's just that car stuff is, well, expensive, and some people get in over their heads playing with other peoples' expensive toys.

-Adam