Poor Tweety..

Post by **Mick** » Tue Jun 20, 2006 9:22 pm

Poor Tweety..

Here's a clip of Lee's off in turn 1 at Mosport. The camera was in Mike S' car with me between him and Lee.
http://www.mydig.com/auto/06.06.13_Mosport/Tweety.wmv

In an email exchange Lee told me that the left control arm broke and the wheel snapped full left pulling the car to the outside. From my car I saw that he immediately put 2 feet in and got full lockup, which gave him a good amount of braking time while still on the pavement. He came out of it with only minor sheet metal damage and I'm sure his quick reaction made all the difference.

Lee's out of town at the moment, so feel free to poke fun at him in his absence. I'll start by putting on my Rosnick hat...
"It's a good thing those Miatas aren't fast, that could have been serious!"

rajito · Post by **rajito** » Tue Jun 20, 2006 11:57 pm

Looks like he was going WOT when he hit the tirewall.

Raj

Stynger · Post by **Stynger** » Wed Jun 21, 2006 8:08 am

For the record it was the left inner tie rod end that broke.
We are starting to see many different things break from fatigue on these older cars.
Time to go through them and eliminate some those stressed older parts.

timmmy · Post by **timmmy** » Wed Jun 21, 2006 8:43 am

That sucks...... thanks for the video though.

Sorry Lee.

Certainly looks like something let go as one minute he was turning, then just going in a streight line towards the tires. And a very frightening place to go off as there really isnt much run off...particulalry given the pace Lee goes through that corner.

It looked like after Lee passed the black miata with the tan roof he made a move back to the left and then a hard transition into the right hander, which I guess could have broken the tie rod when it loaded up.

As Lester says, everyone needs to go through the check lists and replace anything that might be suspect.

H

timmmy · Post by **timmmy** » Wed Jun 21, 2006 8:44 am

Stynger wrote: Time to go through them and eliminate some those stressed older parts.

I know he's away but you really should talk about lee like that

KMMotorsports1 · Post by **KMMotorsports1** » Thu Jun 22, 2006 7:36 am

But Lee is such an easy target and deserves every bit of harassment given him.At least he is fine which is all that matters.

enjoythemusic · Post by **enjoythemusic** » Thu Jun 22, 2006 4:24 pm

yipes, major bummer

Am glad he is ok.

brucesallen · Post by **brucesallen** » Fri Jun 23, 2006 12:19 pm

Frightening. No time for braking. Amazing there was so little damage!! I love tire walls (as opposed to concrete). :tweety:

Crusin · Post by **Crusin** » Sat Jun 24, 2006 2:43 am

Thanks for all of the comments and replies. Yes, I had just passed Dennis Friedman, moved back to the left to set up for turn one. Turn in was fine, and the car was hooked up at the apex point, feeling the horizontal g load. Suddenly the car went numb, the loss of horizontal g load was instantaneous. My first thought was I had hit some oil or coolant and would drive through it, but that did not happen. I first thought was this is going to hurt. Minimum braking time on the pavement, then the grass and gravel trap. Once I hit the gravel, it was a dust storm. I let go of the wheel and closed my eyes due to the dust. I felt a bump and waited for the crash, but it did not happen.

James Price appeared out of nowhere and asked if I was OK. We motioned to the corner worker that all was well. I loosened by harness, left my helmet on and stayed in the car, until the safety crew arrived. I removed the helmet and harness and the crew were interested in any neck injury. I only asked for Ego pills since mine was deflated.

James was the first to notice that the left and right front tires were pointing in opposite directions. Then he notices the left tie rod was broken, allowing to left wheel to do its own thing which was to turn full left while the right wheel is still trying to steer through the turn. Basically, the car went straight at that point, the left and right wheels cancelling their inputs.

Due to the tire wall, damage was minimal. The left front fender is wrinkled and the distance from the firewall to the front valance is 1 inch shorter on the left than the right.

Les is correct. The older Miatae are going on 17 years old and many have been used and abused.

See everyone at NHIS

Lee

offcamber09 · Post by **offcamber09** » Sat Jun 24, 2006 9:51 am

Lee, glad you are ok. I refrain from any Miata bashing for now.

Crusin · Post by **Crusin** » Sat Jun 24, 2006 7:56 pm

Real men drive Miatae...I can take the verbal abuse.

Thanks for everyones concern and as Bruce said, tire walls are great.

At impact, I felt a bump, not a crash. In fact, there was no loud metallic noises of crunching metal.

Several other cars faired much worse than Tweety but to my knowledge there were no injuries.

The plus side is that Scott now feels some sympathy, so maybe he will be a little quicker on his point bys in the future when he sees a Miata on his tail

rajito · Post by **rajito** » Sat Jun 24, 2006 11:05 pm

Crusin wrote:The plus side is that Scott now feels some sympathy, so maybe he will be a little quicker on his point bys in the future when he sees a Miata on his tail

Wow! Someone must have switched up Lee's wine and cheese for beer and chips!

Glad to hear everything is ok. Hitting a tirewall in an STi would be a much more expensive endeavor.

Raj

COM Sports Car Club

Poor Tweety..

Poor Tweety..

that sucks

A O K

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