17 replies to this topic

[z cars chris]

we went to angelsey this weekend for the latest two rounds of the championship
new guy on the grid was elliot coward in a steel body hayabusa mini, proplant paul and chris thomas also made the trip
satuday was pretty good till i was hit from behind on the second lap by a familiar face spinning the car and knackering the starter motor in the process so i retired
proplant paul went well and elliot had a good first run out in the car bringing it home safely
sunday was ubusual as we got a free practice and used the time to swap cars with paul
immediatly identified a brake bias problem which we fixed easily and he went on to have a storming race with very good lap times
i wasnt so lucky hence the title of this post
qualified 6th shot off at the start and unusually for our championship we only got one out lap everyone was sliding around on the first lap and id been dogged by a caterham R 400 and caterham CSR as i followed them i could see they were sliding around more than me and decided to really push out of the first hairpin and along the back straight
this is bloody fast and i was in 5th gear pretty much flat out when i rode onto the rumble strips and onto the grass at the end of the strip
not a problem normally i feathered the throttle and steered gently back towards the circuit, dont this a hundred times no problem but this time as my front right wheel touched the tarmac i span violently onto the track the car was on two wheels and 20 other cars were all bearing down on me FAST
as i span i could see first the big mazda RX7 go by then the DTM astra finally as i stopped drivers side on to the traffic i saw a very big looking TVR tuscan bearing down on me at 100 mph
darren smith the driver did his best to avoid me but was un sighted by the two erlier cars who had swerved round me
he hit my car on the front wing and drivers door which was interesting
the impact shoved me 50 metres down the track where i came to rest
my left knee hurt and my right toes also hurt straight away luckily i stayed concious throughout and as i slid along self preservation mode set in
you dont want to be trapped in a car full of fuel thats just had a hit like that
literally as i came to a halt i had the belts off kill switch off and i fell out the car best i could
this caused quite a stir amongst the other competitors and spectators as they all thought id been thrown out of the car by the impact
i was a bit winded by it all and just laid near the car for a few seconds to get my breath back
the marshalls god bless them got to myself and darren quickly and you can hear me talking to them almost straight away
got carted off to the med centre but remarkably ive only got bruised toes on my right foot where the wheel came into the footwell and a bruised left leg where it rattled against the steering column
the roll cage had done its job to good effect and im just walking wounded
my prides taken a bit of a hit as i dont often *male chicken* it up but it was my fault entirely thankfully both myself and darren will live to fight another day
the car will mend fairly easily and i plan to be at mallory in 5 weeks time
chris thomas is coming over today to recover the cameras so look out for some footage of that soon
proplant paul was right behind and his on board camera caught it all
im going to have my hands full with paul at the next round as he was flying in the restarted race and he ended up second in class on similar times to me earlier in the day
chris

[mgecko1]

The important thing is that you guys are alright! A testament to your engineering skills, solid:) Nothing like real world crash data. In retrospect, was there anything you would have done differently with the car's design/setup? Can't wait to watch the vid on YouTube. Take care.

Jeff

[Teapot]

Scary just thinking about it. So glad you're ok.
However .... I admit I'm hankering after some video! For research purposes of course, nothing to do with vicarious stimulation because I don't even know what that means.

by the way thanks for all your contributions to tmf. (Thinks blimey, if he's going to do this sort of thing again I'd better get the thankyou in now)

[z cars chris]

we are going to bring the new 2010 chassis out sooner than expected as a result of the crash i decided to keep the original chassis as a display piece to prove the strength of the cars
upgraded chassis will have a bar diagonaly up from the floor to the cross brace that holds the steering column
this is to stop the front wheel intruding into the footwell
also im going to pad the steering column as thats what my left knee hit and caused the bruising
if the car had these two very simple mods id have walked away with no injuries at all so i think they will be worth doing
chris

[Teapot]

Do you get paid extra for being a crash test dummy as well as all your other skills?

I guess I know the answer to that already

[miniadventure]

Crashed again! Only joking. hope your o.k, get well on back to the track.

[Zcars Richard]

all the other bumps ive had this year have come from someone else hitting the rear of my car this ones down to me alone and a bit of an embarrasment
totally my fault however i wont have to wait so long to drive the new improved version now will i?
cant wait to get back on track
im racing the diesel grass track mini this weekend so i can practice my grass driving skills so it doesnt happen again
chris

[irishdude]

all the other bumps ive had this year have come from someone else hitting the rear of my car this ones down to me alone and a bit of an embarrasment
totally my fault however i wont have to wait so long to drive the new improved version now will i?
cant wait to get back on track
im racing the diesel grass track mini this weekend so i can practice my grass driving skills so it doesnt happen again
chris

Glad your ok Chris. From the sounds of it to walk away with a couple of bruises is remarkable.

[crossed thread]

The end of the Mini Sprint and here's the video: YouTube Link

[yeti21586]

just watche th vid that looked painfull!!!! but is deffeinatley a good slling point as it shows how save Zcars space frames are!!!!

Glad your ok


YetI

[Pitcrew6464]

bloody hell mate glad your alright big impact, aside form that great footage from on boards, where are you guys based?

Edited by Pitcrew6464, 23 August 2009 - 11:23 AM.

[carboy001]

Blooming Heck that was a hit and half! Shocked me watching the impact first time round and i knew it was coming

Very lucky outcome there, could have been so much worse, but like it has already been said; thanks to the quality of the frame you make

[z cars chris]

we are near hull on the east coast
the hit was pretty extreme and we had to edit pauls immediate reaction when he saw it happening in front of his eyes the same thought crossed my mind at the time but i was too busy getting out to comment out loud
quite funny hearing me telling the marshalls that id banged my legs and i was ok lucky i didnt say anything untowards the cameras are great though at analysing exactly what happened in the cold light of day
you can see the front dip as the rear lifts when i hit the bump in the grass just as i get back on
to be fair i was getting back on to the tarmac at a bigger angle than i thought so that didnt help
all happened pretty darn quick though
chris

[drayton min man]

Scary stuff!! Glad you are ok Chris, remember 'bits of metal can always be fixed or replaced' as stated before a great testament to the product.

PS How did you get on behind the wheel of the grasser, are you missing it?

Geoff

[z cars chris]

Scary stuff!! Glad you are ok Chris, remember 'bits of metal can always be fixed or replaced' as stated before a great testament to the product.

PS How did you get on behind the wheel of the grasser, are you missing it?

Geoff

i raced at the last Briish autograss series meeting the following weekend mixed results still a bit bruised so hobbling around the pits was a pain still like it though especially in the diesel as its so unusual gets everybody talking
will you get out with the min next season on the circuits do you think
weve got a bit more interest now with a couple of guys wanting me to run their cars arrive and drive which is good
chris