Several impressions after hanging upside down

[6PAK72]

First, thank you all for your thoughtful outreach, your support of Liz, and your offers of help. We're relatively new to the club, many of you we don't know all that well, and both Liz and I are humbled by your caring. We are blessed and respectful.

For those who haven't heard (there's a couple of really extreme stories floating around), the driver rear road wheel, a Miata OEM 15", fractured rim-from-hub just about the time I had hooked up the rear end from T10. I had seen the point-by from Tom, and made my turn to pass when the rear end stepped out. It felt exactly like a skid, I unwound, and I suspect the act of unwinding transferred weight and allowed the now wheel-less hub to hit the asphalt. I put both feet in, and vividly remember the car rolling onto its side and skidding.

In fact, my thoughts were "if it stays on its side, this is repairable". The next thought was, knowing Cy was right behind me, "I hope everyone can get around me OK".

At that point the banging began and I heard the shattering of glass, the grinding and realized I was upside down. When I stopped skidding, I saw the grass and realized I had made it to the infield. The car engine was still running, and I very consciously reached down (up) and turned off the ignition.

The next thought was "Fire". I located the fire extinguisher, I had enough time to try to get myself out of the car and realize it was not going to be possible, and to relax and understand that a crew would be there - it felt like no more than a minute until someone had his head in the window asking me if I could hear him and if I could feel anything. They told me exactly what they were going to do, what to expect, and how I could help. It was very reassuring at that moment.

The emergency crew staff was unbelievable. We all know in the back of our minds that they are there for us, and that somehow, they are part of the infrastructure we pay for when we send in our check. I've been an EMT so I never really took them for granted, and at some point we all should personally acknowledge their contribution and value to us.

To Cy's comments, I had done a complete 4-point check that morning. I torqued every bolt on the a-arms, suspension, brakes, everything. I had checked wheel lugs before I went out, but I had not checked the wheels - it just never occurred to me that a wheel could shear.

Yes, this was the first event that I wore a HANS - HMS sold it to us a few weeks back and set up both our helmets. Liz and I had a winter discussion about how we were both getting fast enough and frequent enough that we needed to upgrade safety equipment. Our plan was personal gear, then a cage. Brand new 6-points had been installed, and Les had just re-worked the seat mounting points after the car was gutted. So, I was out on the track in 3-layer suit, gloves, shoes, everything we all should be doing.

I have a group of bruises that completely tell the story. There are 2 large chest bruises where the HANS obviously prevented a forward whiplash or steering wheel/windscreen impact. I have 2 bruises on my shoulder muscles where the HANS clearly took the load of the roof compression and transferred the force from my helmet to the HANS to my shoulders, probably preventing a spinal compression. I have a bruise to the left of my pelvis where my slightly off-center harness latch dug in, and both wrists are sore from compression against the steering wheel where I was holding on.

Last, the management we've elected to run the club is stupendous. I can only imagine what they were doing while I was appreciating how tightly I was belted into the seat - getting all of you safely off the track, working with the track staff, and then re-spooling the event so everyone got what they signed up for. Will and Sam did their jobs factually and with compassion in telling me what was up, what they had heard from other drivers, and how the world was going to be vis-a-vis COM.

So, we will both be back, we've gone to look at another Miata, I think that Smurf is done for - there is a broken A-arm mounting point and the rear end looks pretty squirrely. And we'll take some of you up on your offers of help so perhaps we can be on-track for Memorial day.

Be safe first. Then be fast.

[6PAK72]

m

[CP]

Again, glad that you're ok Jeff. We really should thank the emergency staffers more often as they're the best in the business and know what they're doing when it counts.

Control arms are replaceable and mount to subframes, which are held to the car with 4-6 bolts and readily come off easily. Fenders bang out. Windshield frames can be cut off and replaced. Dented hoods and doors look cool. It's a track car, not a show car.

With that being said, people are almost giving away 1.6L Spec Miatas right now with the trend towards the 99s. If your car is toast, salvage what you can from it before sending it to the crusher and get into another with a full cage. Your entire drivetrain and some of the control arms are still good based on my observations. Think about replacing the harness, as they tend to stretch during an incident like yours. Check your helmet for dents and/or big scratches and replace if you find any, as the foam inside compresses once. Wash your suit due to possible soiling

Get well soon and get back on the horse. I've had two similar incidents in the last two seasons and the best thing to get over it was getting back out there and up to speed quickly. Trust your safety gear and your driving ability. This unfortunate accident was out of your control and not your fault.

[breakaway500]

Pretty scary stuff. Have to say, the rescue guys were right there,on the ball. What amazed me was the lack of fluids/steam/smoke etc. I've managed to put a golf cart on the roof...that didn't go over well either..

[blindsidefive0]

I had enough time to try to get myself out of the car and realize it was not going to be possible, and to relax and understand that a crew would be there - it felt like no more than a minute until someone had his head in the window asking me if I could hear him and if I could feel anything. They told me exactly what they were going to do, what to expect, and how I could help. It was very reassuring at that moment.

How exactly did they get you out of the car? I was on the other side of the track when this happened, and my heart dropped when I saw the car after coming in. The windshield looked like it caved in like cardboard.

...just glad you are alright - and glad you are going to get back out there.

[6PAK72]

There was a dialogue about keeping me in the harnesses and rolling the car with me in it, and then once they believed I was not injured enough to hurt myself further, we agreed they were going to jack the driver side, I was to release my harnesses and slide out through the window into their arms and the backboard.

Pretty much went exactly like that.

[breakaway500]

"I was running our "B" set of Toyo's. The "A" set is on K-1's. As will all further sets..."

Wheel inspection after every event is a good habbit to get into,regardless of what wheels you are using. Just a quick cleaning (inner and outer surfaces) with a rag and some Windex will show up any fatigue cracks as the brake dust will tend to fill those cracks,and form black lines.I have found enough "bad" wheels to make it a mandatory step in my post event maintenance routine.While the wheels are off,it's a good time to eyeball the brakes/suspension and frame pickup points as well. Once you start pushing your equipment to extreme limits...maintenance becomes SO important.An ounce of prevention...

[WillM]

Excellent post Jeff, thank you for sharing.

Many nuggets of information there, and it all serves as a great reminder how important safety is, and that safety starts at your garage at home (or at your mechanic's).

I'm sure Les is very happy to know that the harnesses and seats he installed all functioned properly!

[paultg]

Jeff, again really glad you are ok. I'd be interested to know more about the safety equipment you had in the car as well if you don't mind sharing.
Type of roll bar?
How does the bar look after the incident, did it deform at all?
How do the bar mounts and support plates/hardware look?

Type of seats?
Mounted to the floor, on sliders, etc?

Type of belts?

Thanks,
Paul G.

[6PAK72]

Hi Paul,

Momo FIA seats, wrap-around shoulder style, 16" wide (very tight to my butt). Drilled through the fiberglass with washers with Grade 5 hardware to the OEM slider rails. Lock nuts. Sliders bolted to the OEM mounting points with fresh Grade 5 hardware. I had done that before the car got stripped, and Les did an immaculate job duplicating it.

Autopower welded 1.2 DOM roll bar, 4 mounting plates, with the single diagonal. Grade 8 bolts into the frame rails behind the seats, Grade 8 bolts with 6 x 8" x .250 steel sub-plates under the "package" deck for the upper hard points.

Autopower 6-point pull-down harnesses, brand new. Shoulder belts are wrapped on the harness bar on the Autopower roll bar, the waist belts are Grade 5 bolted onto the OEM mounting points, and the anti-subs are bolted through the floor on the supplied "o" rings with 3"d. washers top and underside. Everything was reverse-threaded the way it should have been.

The rollbar has a high-density SFI foam pad Gaffer-taped to it, and the foam pad is not scraped or compressed, and I see no damage anywhere on the roll bar or the sub frame. No broken or bent bolts. I plan to pull the roll bar this weekend, so I'll share more info.

The only thing I really was surprised about was how completely the windscreen collapsed. Flat against the dashboard hump above the gauge area, and bent the mounting bracket for my GPS timer. That, and the hardtop just disintegrated. At least is slid between the asphalt and my helmet - I can't imagine the ride had I been in an open-top...

[StephanAlfa]

Great info Jeff.
As for Smurf, can it not be turned into a PC class like Lee Walsh did with his Miata?
He gutted everything and turned it into a "tub". Windshiled off, just a deflector, etc. Just a thought.

[TroyV]

Why are you trying to get people to leave ST4 Stephan?

[StephanAlfa]

Why are you trying to get people to leave ST4 Stephan?

I wish! just trying to see if the car can be salvaged soemhow but I see they got hold of a black with red top ... what's up with this? Prefered overall choice at COM?