My friend SprinkSport return home with a not so nice CRX from Road Atlanta this weekend. I also hear that a few CRXs didn't fare as well either. What happen? Commentary? Pics?

On a side note. I heard that OPM Autosports was there with lots of cars. I'm glad to hear that Tom and company are doing what they know best, race!

 

No pics yet but I wadded mine up

 

If anyone is looking for a free, caged CRX tub, Adam will have one available soon. All you have to do is pick it up .

Scott, who reminds everyone that proper safety equipment ownz your ***.

 

What heppened?!?

 

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by phat-S &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">No pics yet but I wadded mine up </TD></TR></TABLE>


details details please

 

sorry Adam, that just plain sucks

 

Don't have much on details, I would think my recollection isn't exact but from combining what I recall w/ accounts from people watching; I got loose exiting T1, countered, thought I had it and the rear continued on to the right. Out of track, I was rotating right, sliding leftward off track and left the track unstraight. I slowly rotated through the grass while (what seemed to be) parallel to the wall (this took a long time - was trying to get the car to restart for most of this). At some point the car has done roughly 270 degree turn and I think I am going to hit but then nothing ... then a huge hit d. side against the wall. Pop off my Isaac and harnesses, can't find a CW (no mirrors left) and grab my fire bottle (go ahead laugh =D) and then see a CW coming up from the outside wall. Get out, wait for him to take off for another incident, take off my helmet and spit out blood from my tongue bite (didn't want to scare the crap out of him as I didn't know if my balaclava was bloody).

Ended up w/ a bone bruise on my left arm (door bar), surface bruise on my inner right thigh, cut up the tip of my tongue (its not that bad actually - looks like one bite down, one up), strained my right hand middle finger (no clue when or how). No neck pain to this point, minor soreness in my lower left shoulder blade last night but not today. Basically, hugely grateful for the seat (Momo Cup GT), the Isaac Device and SFI padding where my arm hit.

Easier to list what is still intact than what's broken I'd think. I think the right side suspension is fine as are the right side wheels. The motor internals are hopefully all fine. Fire bottle is still good. Right side tires are good, lefts *might* be good. Think the kill switch is still intact. The battery, if it survived a trip through the engine bay is good. Wipers are good. The hatch glass is good. John's Air Dam survived HAHAHHA! Well, until we loaded it on the trailer . The front core support may be ok. The gagues are fine. Me, my helmet, my restraints (going to send the Isaac in for analysis but my cursory check seemed like they were still good), drivers suit still clean and perhaps my seat is still good. I think that's it aside from some wiring and other probably the oil cooler, remote filter mount and lines.

Basically just some great lessons learned with very little serious consequence. Very glad I had what I had on the car and me and consider myself a dufus but fortunate and much more educated. Hell, we wanted to build a new tub anyway so this just moves up the time frame. Most of all, I was very glad to have such great people there around me, the Pucketts, the Muresans, the OPM guys, Scott, Blake and a list of others.

Too bad I am on generator power right now as I have been w/out power since 7:30 last night Now THAT's irritating

 

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


details details please</TD></TR></TABLE>

Why?

Wet track
Went off
hit wall
bent car
safety equipment worked
Driver fine

I suppose if Adam wants to share the experience he will, but don't pester him.
Jeez.
Damn Chad, we don't bother you for details on how you got Herpes .

Note: Author doesn't really know if Chad has herpes and is making a thing called a joke.

 

Sorry to hear about the car Adam... been there.

I'll forward a copy of my "for sale" list to you!

 

Thanks man but seriously, if one can learn from it, please do. SFI padding is very good stuff, a good seat is very good stuff, a H&N restraint is very good stuff, a light helmet is very good stuff, a well positioned cage is very good stuff*, a fire bottle you can reach is very good stuff. I dunno, maybe its all just luck and **** but that's my take on it.

I have always thought that SFI padding is very important. I never padded what I didn't think I could hit with it but I honestly do not even want to fathom what shape my arm would be in if I hit some pipe insulation instead.

* another driver had very similar damage w/ a very poor looking cage (SSB bolt in IIRC) and left in an ambulance.


Scott, I have an email for you for just that purpose man! I need to get power back before I have outbound mail though - hopefully not too much longer .... as they are predicting snow tonight.

 

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by phat-S &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote"> drivers suit still clean </TD></TR></TABLE>

Sorry, at a time when it's no appropriate to laugh...I got a chuckle out of this.

But seriously, I'm glad you were not hurt. Metal can be replaced.

If you guys don't mind, could you share some information about how the cage held up?

 

Adam,
Didn't realize it was that bad, but most importantly, sounds like you are alright! I do stress the importance of a well built car. Also, it looks like I'll be purchasing that head and neck restraint a little sooner. Clark mention that he hit a parked miata in 3rd gear head on and so far, no neck problems. He was wearing a Hans.

 

I took a good look at Adam's cage with both Blake and Adam (Blake was the original builder a few years back). The cage was bent in several places including the door bars (NASCAR style) and the lower cross bar in the main hoop. The bar across the rear shock towers was intact, but had destroyed the left rear tower.

2 things stood out immediately:
1. Blakes welds held. Even where the bars were bent.
2. The parts of the cage that seemed to take the most of the impact are typically NOT EVEN A PART of a bolt-in cage.

As things stood, less than an hour after the impact Adam was standing around joking with us about biting his tounge and Whittaker's damned splitter surviving the whole thing completely intact. I truly, honestly feel like that would not have been the case had he been using a bolt-in cage or some half-assed "hey, I can weld so I'll build a cage" garage job.
Its pretty sobering and should be required reading for anyone wanting to save a few bucks on a cage.

Oh, and it was a one car incident. The same type that happens at DEs all the time.
That should be pretty sobering for some of you guys as well.

 

I don't know the person but was there another brown CRX that got wrecked too? I hear that it was the cars first race.

 

Wow! Glad to hear you are okay Adam, that sounds like pretty scary ****!

Would you mind telling me how the Isaac device works?

 

http://www.isaacdirect.com/

 

The link Sebastien pointed you to has a "how the Isaac works" page. If you meant in this case however, I would just be making a layman's stab at it of-course but would think its a combination of compression on the left hand side and rebound on the right hand side that are slowing your head down (so the lateral jerk is softened). I expected that the left hand cleat would have driven down into my left shoulder but it clearly did not, I had no bruising/marks/discomfort there and I believe Gregg (Product Engineer w/ Isaac) said that their tests showed it stayed between the seat back and the shoulder. It goes without saying though that all safety items were working as a system, the Isaac, the seat, the SFI padding, the tightness of the belts ... I would venture a guess that you take out any one of them and things would have been different - how different, I have no real way to guess. It really is sobering to think what would have happend w/ no door bar protection or with a torso support seat - I'd think (but I haven't looked at the car since Saturday mid morning so I need to look at it in more detail) my chances on hitting my head on the concrete wall would have been pretty good. Perhaps not of-course, I really need to look at it again.

 

I'm curious ... did you remember to un-pin the Isaac before you attempted to crawl out of the car?

I just have this image in my head of a driver unhooking his harness, hopping out, running two steps, then spraining his neck because the Isaac is still conencted to the harness.

 

Yes, it was the first thing I released. I doubt you could get steps out of the vehicle still attached - only the length of the belt from the seatback to the adjuster clips.

 

You know, that is is the only thing that is preventing me from purchasing the ISAAC is the fact that you are attached to the belts in the car. While I agree we all need this kind of protection, it does not ease my mind 100%, more like 85%. I think I'll end up with an Hans instead.

 

See the section about Altenburg getting toasted by his HANS, about 1/3 the way down:

http://www.theracesite.com/ind...=6482

Same with Bobby LeBonte bailing from a cup car last year.

You want your H&N restraint to be part of the harness. Otherwise you (or a CW) will have to drag it out the window.

Gregg

 

No matter how many times I see them, I remain of the opinion that Hanging Window Nets are Stoopid. "It's the Gravity Stoopid!"

Scott, who needs to order his HANS soon...

 

Richy, I doubt it would aleviate your concerns if you already have them but after getting in and out of an Isaac for over a year, I can tell you that detaching the device is a no brainer. Getting into it the first dozen times takes a bit of coordination but I never had an issue getting out of them under a second. Obviously I am a fan of the Isaac but whatever you go with, get some type of reputable H&N restraint as all of them offer some degree of protection.

And too, its the sum of all the components that really seems to save the day, not any particular one. To that, for me; a H&N restraint (the Isaac in my case), a shoulder supporting seat, SFI padding, window net, proper distance from the cage all play a substantial role. I really find it funny that I ever thought that a good composite seat and SFI padding were expensive.

One thought does come to mind. In my case, I had to get out of the window (don't think we got the door open until back in the paddock) but I am not a big guy. I would think that larger guys would really benefit from leaving the device in the car for quicker/easier egress. JMO though.

 

I agree with RR98ITR. Hanging window nets make no sense at all.

Adam is right about the egress issue, and it's not just a matter of opinion. A professional EMT crew was timed extricating an "unconscious" driver from an inverted seat-harness-cage setup. It took about 90 seconds with a HANS device and about a minute with an Isaac system.

If you gotta bail, bail naked.

 

Just ordered my Issac yesterday........can't have fun if you're not safe !!

Actually, Phat S's story confirmed it for me......can't be stupid anymore.