Straight out of a cartoon...
 

http://www.teamjamoto.com/dixeregionpage.htm

I like how he has the parking brake up afterwards, like it's gonna roll away.

I want to hear the story. Forgot the lug nuts? How the hell else does that happen? Messed up a decent looking RX-7. Shame.

How did he drive over to the start without them falling off?

Tech inspector should be fired.



sidenote: someone must really hate that guy....best payback ever.

my guess was aluminum lug nuts (gotta lose than fraction of a lb on street cars ya know) that were over-torqued. Not the first time it's happened and it's easy to do... don't run aluminum lug nuts unless you have a damn good torque wrench and you lube the hell out of the threads when you assemble them.

Supposedly, the comments were a shop installed the wheels the night before, with either the wrong thread on the lugs... Busted most of the studs off....

I've seen this on multiple sights, gotta love how stuff like this spreads like wildfire. <G>

Dave,

:eek4: wow. I am speechless.

If a shop really did do that I am amazed. It amazes me how many "tire shops" have no idea what a torque wrench is. I just smile nod and walk away from places like that. Thats another reason I only take my tires to be mounted to my wheels and do the installation myself.

It also helps if you use the right size lugnuts. :rofl:

hot dog in a hallway.

but it's SCCA, dont they inspect that? dont they cup your nuts for you?

Just be glad nobody was hurt... SCCA would require safety wired lugs to run in the stock class if someone was.

From closeup pictures... the thread from the lugnuts was still on lugs... someone destroyed aluminum lugnuts most likely, as Ark mentioned.

Ah. The pain.

Brutal

I work at a tire shop see that kind of stuff happen all the time. If the rumor of those wheels just being put on the night before is true, than it is because the new wheels and lug nuts needed to be retorqued. After 25-50 miles all new wheels and lugs need to be retorqued. They do loosen, I don't know why but they always do. Even with the correct torque they need to be checked again.

It's really odd... The right rear tire came off first, the right wheels rotate in the same direction as tightening the lug nuts.

FUCK guys, you have it all wrong. CLearly they mighty rotary has way too much torque for those lugs to handle for fucks sake.

From grassroots motorsports forum

Quote:
Hello all,

I was at the event and know the guy who owns the car.

I was in the paddock area next to him changing wheels at the same time as him. I watched him torque all of them. I even borrowed his torque wrench to tighten mine (I always forget something after I get on the road or I left it so the wife could keep the kids in line).

He went to a wheel/tire business and asked for spline drive lug nuts for his particular make/model/year car for the Enkeis, and what they gave him is what is in the video. He did not purchase the tires or wheels from them, just the lug nuts. He purchased the wheels and tires from online from a vendor with expertise with the FD.

The lug nuts where sheared off the studs. Several members lifted a corner of the car to slide a jack underneath it. With a few more jacks, blocks of wood, etc, they were able to mount the stock wheels and stock lugs nuts (at least 3 per wheel) back on, torque them and drive the car off course. The design of the car, possilbly for aerodynamics, tucks all mechanicals on the underside a little higher than the body line, or lowest part of the brake rotors. Not even the exhaust was really scratched.

I'm not a mechanic, but the mechanics theories there was that the lug nuts where the incorrect size, but they were just small enough to grip the outer edge of the threads (as I mentioned, they torqued to 75-80 ft/lbs without complaint). The week before this event, he had mounted the wheels and drove on them around town to make sure there wasn't any rubbing. He did not drive it hard at all on the street. The front passenger side wheel left first. It was at the first significant turn on the course which was a left turn into a slalom which required braking (for me - ES Miata on 225/50-14 V700) to make it in. "Lucky" for him, the failure occured for him there and not down course where he would have carrying a lot more speed.

Hopefully, the only damage is to the body and brakes.

The guy with the red racing shoes was not him.

EVERYBODY in grid checked their lugs after it happened.

crazy ... video is down btw

i've seen links to this in several forums and still haven't been able to get the video to work...:vash:

Guess you guys didn't read the note below the video saying you could click the "^_^" above the video window to download a local copy?

http://webzoom.freewebs.com/jamoto2/...10_07_0003.wmv

I saw the note, but it wouldn't work either.

Thanks for reposting the video, that was pretty crazy.