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Posted by: campbellcj Jan 19 2015, 10:53 PM

Saturday I had my first car-to-car contact in 15 years of track driving. This was at Streets of Willow counter-clockwise direction, at the end of the front straight where you have to haul down from >100mph to make a 180° left sweeper. A guy in a significantly modded GMG WC-Turbo 997TT (600+ HP and brakes the size of my wheels) missed his braking point and dive-bombed on the INSIDE of me as I was starting to turn in hard to the apex.

This was time-attack (time-trial) not cup racing, so we were under controlled passing but regardless he was NOT making a pass, he was out of control. I was done braking and clearly owned the corner and there was no possible way he was going to make the corner. He was a new-ish driver and otherwise would have done the no-brainer thing of staying to the outside and simply running straight off.

Several course workers saw this and reported he was at fault, which he did not deny. He said he was fully into ABS and could not steer or stop any quicker. So now he is suspended (POC rules) with a 13/13 but zero damage to his $100K car. I have a clean record and my health but 914R has a caved-in door and fuched-up paint and decals.

I count my blessings as it would have been MUCH worse had it been a split-second later with my car rotated farther into the turn. As it was, I saw him in my peripheral vision in the last milliseconds and jinked right slightly, lessening the impact to a glancing side blow off his wheel/tire.

I'm not sure of the moral of this story, other than be careful out there, especially with the newer drivers in very fast cars and more money than skill. This has actually motivated me more to bump to the race group to run exclusively with the more experienced/consistent/situationally-aware guys. I'm aiming to do my first race clinic at Spring Mountain in March!

Posted by: sixnotfour Jan 20 2015, 01:16 AM

That bites...I had a turbo do the same thing except he went sailing past me and of track.. He did apologize afterwards...but really, I doubt he was gonna pass me in the up coming twistys..

Glad to see ist relatively minor damage to your fresh 914..

Posted by: brant Jan 20 2015, 07:26 AM

Chris

Truly sorry.
That sucks.

Posted by: campbellcj Jan 20 2015, 11:19 AM

Thanks guys! It was truly an accident and the other driver did apologize, but it still sucks... I'm gonna try to push the door out from the inside and just run the car for a while as the whole left side will probably need to be resprayed. The left rear fender damage is due to losing a tire at Buttonwillow, not from this. Luckily 914 doors are relatively cheap/available if it comes to that.

Posted by: SirAndy Jan 20 2015, 12:45 PM

I know this sucks but it could have been much worse. Glad you're OK ...

Posted by: bulitt Jan 20 2015, 12:52 PM

If he's got the coin for a 600hp997 he should pony some up to help cover your cost.

Posted by: stuttgart46 Jan 20 2015, 01:51 PM

Glad you're ok.
Nice that he came over and apologized. Hopefully I'm never the reason for a wreck but if so I'd do the same thing.

Posted by: ThePaintedMan Jan 20 2015, 02:13 PM

So sorry to hear it Chris. I think the more any of us run though, it's always just a matter of time.

A friend of mine taught me a lesson early on when I started getting into racing and track stuff - basically to never get too attached to a car. There is no sense ever running a car if one can't afford both financially and emotionally to see it wadded up into a little ball. Hopefully it never happens to anyone, but in the eventuality that it does, I always remind myself that it was my decision to be out there in the first place and to never risk my financial (or mental) stability over it... especially because there is always the chance "that guy" will be there on track with me.

Best wishes man, and glad you're okay - most important.

Posted by: Racer Chris Jan 20 2015, 02:57 PM

Sorry to see that Chris, at least only the door was damaged.
I wasn't quite so lucky at the 2005 Runoffs.



But I had it looking this good in 2 days:

Posted by: ThePaintedMan Jan 20 2015, 03:54 PM

What about when you got loose in the water at Lime Rock and hit the parked car in 2009? That still scares me to watch. Can't believe you were able to salvage the car.


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=t3r5tV9q4Jw

Posted by: Racer Chris Jan 20 2015, 04:27 PM

Well, that was my own fault, although I'm still not sure how the back end got away from me.







We had to cut off the RR fender so the tire would move.
I replaced the rear fenders with FG flares so I could have the car ready for another race 4 weeks later.
I still want to go back to my steel flares though.


This was right before the next race:

Posted by: campbellcj Jan 20 2015, 08:40 PM

Well said! Although I LOVE this car, I built it to be used hard, so I have tried to condition myself to not get upset about the inevitable rock chips, dents, bent wheels, broken windshields, and so forth.

After confirming there was no functional/safety issue, I went right back out on track.

Onward and upward. Keep the shiny side up everybody.

Posted by: Trekkor Jan 31 2015, 12:06 AM

Having ridden in your car back in '04 at the WCC and following your progress, I'm super happy the car isn't more damaged.

Reading the OP, I was fearing we were going to see a really hard hit and bad damage.

Glad all is well. Pedal down!

Posted by: Heater Guy Feb 3 2015, 07:17 PM

[It happens. I was taken out by a 911 GT-3 at Sears Point last year. They don't realize 914's are sometimes faster than they think. Here is a YouTube of the wreck
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=m0Le7LfdDNE

Posted by: stugray Feb 5 2015, 01:29 PM

Glad to see you are OK and the damage is purely cosmetic!

This is one reason that I am going to wrap my car in vinyl instead of paint.
If I need to redo one panel, it will be much easier than getting out the spray gun.
(Silver Lining? - At least he didnt break your stock mirror ...$$$)

Posted by: campbellcj Feb 5 2015, 08:29 PM

True story - right after this happened I was thinking "this is a 914 - the mirror and graphics probably cost more than the door - and the mirror is OK!"

Also the doors are gutted with no glass/regulators/locks so none of that was there to get broken.

Posted by: Cracker Feb 8 2015, 06:46 AM

In my years at the track...I have become quite adept at "dealing" with ALL forms of disappointment (my car last October at Road Atlanta). Oh well!