Always asshattery. This was done by a student. Not mine, I have stopped attending Alfa Club track days, although I did happen to be at PIR today for an autocross.

Greddygalant can elaborate when he has time. This is Turn 2 at PIR, the middle of the 3-turn chicane in the front straight. I don't quite understand how one does this.







Edit: the student continued to run the rest of the day, and another instructor bravely volunteered to ride with him.

 

That was me. Sorry again to Greddygalant. Too much speed and not enough judgment.

 

yeah, way too much speed, R comps and novice drivers really don't mix well, Im just glad nobody was seriously injured although I did spend a good portion of last night in the ER getting checked out, its a bummer you didn't have a harness on the passenger side or else I could have worn my HANS.

 

On the list before next season is a second harness, and a Hans.

 

We do our best to deter newbies from running R comps at our local events. ***** make their heads too big.

Hope you're alright GreddyG.

 

Yeah. I use them because they are 100 dollar sm takeoffs and are cheaper than even the cheap street tires I use. I just needed to slow down and drive within my limits.

 

I've not heard of any track days local to me that allow the instructor to have nonidentical safety equipment to the driver. Interesting.

 

This.

 

And use the cheap street tires. You're not learning a darn thing on the R-comps. You're not there to "win," you're there to learn, right?

 

Way to show up here and own it. I'm glad nobody was seriously injured and that you can be more cautious in the future. Let the instructor push you to go faster, not tell you to slow down. IMO you want the instructor to be saying things like "brake a little later, go a little faster into that next turn.."

 

Cheap street tires are ~100 a piece, takeoffs are 100 for a set. With a set of track wheels I got for cheap. It was my fault for crashing but I'm not trying to blame it on the equipment. I bought the takeoffs on advice from someone else. As I said I'm new to this and sorting through all the different bits of "advice" can get confusing. (Not saying either side is wrong just that I have to figure **** out for myself at some point) I'm putting money into safety equipment before anything else and am thankful that I didn't hurt anybody or myself.

 

Right, well we're saying the advice from someone else was retarded.

Street tires aren't $100/tire, my Neo Gens will run you $82/tire shipped to your door, and some other Hankooks that would be great would run you $66/tire.

My Neo Gens have lasted 3 track seasons, and still have life left in them. Your $100 tires are a good deal, but they'll last 2-3 track days at the most. That might be a season for some people, but if you get serious into track days, that'll be $200-$300 in tires per season, instead of closer to ~$125/season for street tires that will also make you a better driver too.

Just friendly advice, that's all. Sorry to hear of the damage. Doesn't look too bad and I'm glad all involved are not permanently injured.

 

Thanks for the advice. I will probably get something figured out by next season.

 

I use the Safety Solutions / Simpson R3 H&N device when I instruct since it works with stock three point belts.

My question would be how did you let the novice get to that point?
There must have been indications of driving over his head.

 

It was really crowded and was the first time I was on that straight without someone in front of me.

 

I haven't heard of any groups that allow it either and I instruct with different groups all across the country.

 

You're making the assumption that he was continuously driving in an unsafe manner and that he didn't simply just come in too hot or make a one time error. Generally new drivers are far from consistent and mistakes happen. This is exactly why best practice is to learn on street tires and not r-comps. When those mistakes inevitably happen you are generally traveling much slower and there is a lot more tire communication (screeching) to let you know you are at the limit with a street tire.

 

The trouble with takeoffs are you don't know the actual history of each tire.
I have friends who have run Continentals on their Mustangs from the Continental Tire Series with mixed results. Each set behaved differently.

With those tires you have no idea whether the tires were run for a short stint because of a caution, an entire fuel run or more.
Whether it was on the front/ rear or left/right side and how many heat cycles are on it.
A "set" of tires may be the four best tires left over from different race tracks over a number of events.

Then again a novice should not be running track tires in the first place.

 

I just bought some Federal RSR's for 68 a tire + shipping. Came out to $320ish. Had a friend mound and balance.... there are plenty of good options out there for less than 100 per tire.

I agree on running street tires while learning.

 

Indeed he was driving over his head, we lost traction twice prior going through the second part of the chicane on the two laps before and both times I told him you need to slow down more entering the chicane, you can carry a lot of speed into it but not sustain it, I gave ample warning. This was just a case of false confidence due to R comps and honestly not listening to what I had to say.