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Guys,
I sort of hesitated before posting this, but I think you guys would want to know. BMW CCA Club racer Dave MacPherson was killed in a wreck at the NH Club race this weekend. I have not seen/heard many details, but it seems to have been an accident during practice/qualifying. Dave was part of the JMT Trackcars/ Team Semora race team, and he usually drove a KP E30- but it has not been confirmed exactly what car he was driving when the accident happened.
RIP Dave.
Bret.
As I eagerly anticipate building a SpecE30 car, incidents like this are a sobering reminder that high performance driving/racing is real, with real consequences. I’ve had some correspondence with James Posig, and one of his sales pitches for his rather pricey (but highly competitive) cars was their exemplary saftely record. Last I knew, James’ team was leading in the national standings for KP cars, so it’s especially frightening when you learn of talented drivers in well-prepared cars meeting with tragedy. This reaffirms my decision to sell my e36 M3 and not hit the track again until I’ve got a HANS device and a car with a full custom-welded cage. But I am confident Dave was similarly cautious. I will not sleep well tonight.
Sasha
As those of you I race with know…I take safety very seriously. In-fact my ground job when I’m not flying, is as the Squadron Safety Officer. I get very upset when drivers take unessesary risks or make dangerous moves on the track because I’ve lost about as many friends as I’ve been in the Navy for years. That’s 12 but who’s counting. When you lose someone unessesarily it has an effect on you.
Flying F-18’s and driving race cars are very similiar in many respects…risk of injury or death is one of them. I’ve never been one to "stop living, just to stay alive" but it’s important that everyone have a healty respect for what we do and conduct themselves within the limitations of thier car and the drivers around them.
Stay safe…
brain
Post edited by: brain, at: 2005/10/30 07:24
brain wrote:
[quote]I’ve never been one to "stop living, just to stay alive" but it’s important that everyone have a healty respect for what we do and conduct themselves within the limitations of thier car and the drivers around them.
Stay safe…
brainPost edited by: brain, at: 2005/10/30 07:24[/quote]
Well said.
all of the details haven’t been released yet.
bruce
30SpecE30 wrote:
[quote]What happened?
What can we learn from it to be safer?
Ric[/quote]
I don’t need to know the grusome details but I agree that we should try to learn from this tragedy, if possible.
If anyone knows the basics, please post them here.
Carter
I understand the incident occured on the oval in turn 1. For reasons that are still unclear he was not able to negotiate the corner and hit the wall at ~80-100mph at about a 45 degree angle. The frame, cage and seat mount were twisted badly. He did not have a hans device. Some people have argued that a hans would not have helped him because it was not a head on collision, but I find that difficult to beleive. I think there may even be some testing data on hans and other restraint devices from angled impacts from SAE - but I can’t be certain. Regardless, it is a terrible tragedy.
I spent the weekend at Summit (Skip Barber School) with a circle track driver who hit a wall at about a 65-70° angle, going 80mph, in May. She swears (and her statement’s even on the HANS website) that she felt the tethers restrain her head and that the HANS saved her life. After seeing the photos of her car, I’m inclined to believe her.
(She also strongly suggested rally-style head bolster.)