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Car is back together and on the ground! No oil leaks yet (new pan & crank scraper) so everything is a go for BeaverRun since my SCCA June Sprints trip got canceled.
Tomorrow we just need to do an alignment, finish the cool suit install (hopefully), and pack up the trailer so that I can head straight there after I get back from being in Cali all week.
Don’t worry too much about the alignment. Close is good enough the way you drive 
Michael
Was just looking at the schedule and was surprised to see it’s a 3 race weekend. 1 on Sat, 2 on Sunday. 
Pre-Race: Rick’s clutch blew up 5 laps into practice. Since it was just replaced from doing the same thing at the previous event, he decided further investigation was needed as to why a brand new clutch would fail, so that left just Michael and I for the races with Tom running HPDE in his street E30.
Race 1: I botched the pole start and Michael got past me. After I got past him I was able to put a little bit of a gap on him but that wasn’t much fun so I slowed up so that he could see better what I was doing and we chased each other around for the last 1/3 of the race.
Race 2: Things did not go smoothly. On the opening lap going through the kink on the back straight a rookie Miata braked so I moved to the middle of the track, only to then be brake checked by a slow back of the pack 944, so I moved into the inside lane and started braking. I’m not 100% sure what happen next as it all happened so fast. I think my foot initially slipped off the pedal and I reapplied but I just could not get slowed down in time and went across the track in T10 right in front of a different 944 which collected me on the left side and sent me into the tires on the right side. It’s 100% my fault and as those of you that have run with me know it was a very untypical moment; there may have been contributing factors but in the end it’s my error and I feel terrible about the damage to the 944 as well as damage on the team car.
It’s not going to buff out. Trying to get an expert opinion on it this week. If anyone knows if the rear subframe can survive a hit like this (body is pushed into/around the left rear subframe mount) or if I need to be looking for one of those too, please let me know. I already have trailing arms but I probably need a b-pillar to rear qtr clip as a minimum, besides doors and right front fender.
Obviously I don’t need to post pictures but I have so that others can learn from my mistake. Trust me, nothing can make me feel worse than I already do right now.
The crash was an disappointing end to an otherwise good weekend. Well, it was good for me anyway. I will send out an email update as is required by NASA for series directors. The short story is, Rick shredded a clutch after 5 laps after the clutch was just replaced post VIR. He packed it up and left. Jeremy and I had fun and he is a great teacher. Jeremy forgot to tell the whole story that as he was slowing to let me catch up and give him company on the 1st race I squeezed by him. No worry he got by a few turns later when I missed a shift. AND, I also got him on the start of the second race but got caught behind the wrong line in some turns and he went right by.
The crash is very uncharacteristic of an otherwise great driver. I was a few car lengths behind him and he seemed to hit the brakes and then went sailing through the crowd and go collected about 2/3 way through. After that I just stayed out of the way of the other classes for the remainder of the race.
The race was a success for me as I got to put my car back in the trailer in just as good of shape as it was when I removed it. I have not always been able to do that. I am back in Gulfport, MS and the car is still loaded and ready to go to Mid-Ohio in July.
Michael
Man that sucks Jeremy. Not sure if your sway bar in the back is toast or not, but if you need a new one I believe I have the right size one. Just let me know if you want it, and I’ll ship it out.
That’s all I have right now.
Bummer Jeremy. I wish I could have been at this event but work had me away for needless training out of state that week. I hope they hold this event again next year so you have someone in your class to lap. :lol:
I’ve not seen any E30s wrecked like that (I’m an insurance adjuster) but I’d suspect the control arm would bend first/most. However, it may be better just to buy a whole rear suspension out of one so you have everything. Cost shouldn’t be much more than just buying the arm itself.
Yep, you need a quarter panel. Probably around 12-15 hrs of labor to cut off/weld in without looking it up. Typical used price for something like that should be around $150 or slightly higher. There’s time in the yard cutting it off the car so it will vary.
jlucas wrote:
Very untypical. Jeremy, I consider your driving-style as a reference point in NASA-GL for consistency and smoothness at-the-limit. Accidents happen. Just sorry it happened to you.
We’ll get it put pack together in time for the August event for sure.