Just watch the video.
In my highly unprofessional opinion this was unavoidable. The Porsche driver could not have seen that Miata stopped there. Not over that hill, not with those cars in the way. Sucks.
Tim’s team is having issues. They are predominantly fuel issues; fuel starvation and fuel leaks, which may or may not be related. They completed four laps.
Aftermath of the video after the jump.
24 Hours of LeMons Arse-Freeze-Apalooza: Ferkel and Miata go BOOM!
By Kamil Kaluski
Dec 5, 2015
By Kamil Kaluski
East Coast Editor. Races crappy cars and has an unhealthy obsession with Eastern Bloc cars. Current fleet: Ford Bronco, Lexus GX 470, and a Buick Regal crapcan racecar.
Jeff Glucker
Everyone OK I assume.
Yeah, hard to see how to prevent that (speaking as a guy who’s been on a track exactly once). After watching it a couple of times, maybe seeing the orange car (Golf?) swerve into the grass could have been a warning, but then again there’s 2 seconds from the swerving Golf to Miata impact.
Yes, I believe everyone is fine.
That’s good to hear. I wouldn’t expect much structural integrity of these cars, but I guess the extra frames and good seats do a lot of work here? Looks like the Porsche was going quick.
Wow, that was nasty, but the Miata looks like it sustained remarkably little rear end damage, especially considering how the rear of the Miata came off the ground. I think the Porsche got the brunt of the shunt. The shot to the front of the Miata was really a bitch.
Ugh, cars are scary. Crumple zones are awesome. Unavoidable racing incident.
Racers and future racers:
Anytime you think the tech guys are “just being assholes” it means that they care more about your life than you do. Remember this video (and many more like it), and know that even when you do everything right, shit can happen.
This reminds me of so many Russian dash cam clips, wherein there’s much ass-hauling, and at the last possible second, multiple vehicles ahead swerve around a stationary object at the last minute, giving you effectively zero time to react.
Glad everyone is okay!
There’s going to be someone who’ll say, “the Porsche driver could have swerved around the Miata”, but dude, you weren’t there.
I very muchrespect the skill of LeMons drivers, but c’mon, they’re not working with F1 cars here.
Anyone have an idea as to what closing speed was at the time of impact? It looks like at least 40 MPH…thankfully, the Porsche was already hard on the brakes for the upcoming turn.
I do wonder why the Miata was stopped on-track and not on the apron, though…
The gold Miata wasn’t stopped, they were limping around at a slow pace. Their in car video is on the top right of this one.
Thanks Jeebus everyone is OK.
I hate to be the one looking for blame but that corner worker should have had a handful of yellow flag waving like a madman. The placement of that corner station is to be the driver’s eyes beyond the crest.
I love the folks who work corners at my events. They’re not perfect either.
Ferkel was running hard. Those two Miatas rolled around the track like a couple pool cues. Brakes are only so good.
Glad everybody’s OK.
Also: “Ran when parked”
The 911 is back on the track this morning.
As is the Ranchero!
Yay! Did the 911 benefit from the Pete Peterson Method of Repeatedly Hitting It with a Hammer?
…with an additional liberal application of the Jeremy Clarkson Theorem™ of “more hammer”?
It buffed out.
BFH = Big F’in Hammer, BufFing Hammer… same thing, right?
Totally the same thing. Apparently, there was also a sawzall[hammer] involved.
Seems like there would have been call for a heat wrench as well.
The term “buffing hammer” just entered my vocabulary. I am sure I will have plenty of opportunities to use it.
Were there flaggers?
Are the flaggers connected by radio so that warning get get back up the track to give drivers more time to react?
They definitely have radios. But they are also still human.
I thought the same thing.
I rely on the stations to see ahead but sometimes they can’t react fast enough.
After some thought this was just a fucked up situation.
Shit happens.
There’s really no good way for the race control to talk to race teams, but the more involved teams have a designated spotter on the radio coaching their driver around the track. That spot’s blind unless your spotter goes to a very specific place.
Ah fuch !