I watched my buddy’s girlfriend get sideways down a 1/4 mile track in her '96 Z28 after hitting 3rd gear....The car flipped 5-6 times before coming to a stop upside down. She was in the hospital for a week with head trauma and broken collar bone/leg/arm....that was a bad night at the track!
Look at the picture of the crash that BQuicksilver posted above. See that grey lump sticking out where the right rear taillight should be? Well that's a fence post, and somehow it made it all the way to the driver's shoulder (hence the injury) without hitting any of the cage bars.
HPDE coverage from American Collectors has a premium of 1.5% of agreed value ($30,000 = $450), and it has a 20% deductable for claims. One catch is they don't cover ever state.
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Jeremy Lucas
02 Z06 - sold to go racing! (SpecE30 now)
Crap I have Allstate... The fact that we drive "expensive" cars and the risk of smashing it up is what makes me consider just getting a vert for the street and building a DE only car... maybe a e30 spec bimmer... it's cheap and if I smack a wall I can walk away.
If I totalled my vette and had no coverage I'd be hurting in a bad way...
How much does this HPDE insurance cost?
I thought the same thing (even down to the same e30). I decided against it. The e30 euro driving experience is fun, but no match for the romping stomping kind of feeling a big american V8 gives you at the track. That's why I went the Z06 track/street route.
Having said that, I think whether you should risk any "expensive" car at the track is a direct function of your level of what I call "Testosterone Toxicity". If you are fairly sedate, slowly build up to your limit, and are having fun just feeling the car at speed without comparing yourself to anyone, I would say you could do track days for years with low risk. Conversely, if you are always pushing the limit,trying to go faster and faster, and it really bothers you X,Y, Z person/ car passed you, you are at a high risk and should probably get a dedicated race car.
You can be very timid and get caught up in someone else's problem. If you are going slow enough, you may even indirectly create the problem. Lots of accidents happen around lapped cars.
You can be very timid and get caught up in someone else's problem. If you are going slow enough, you may even indirectly create the problem. Lots of accidents happen around lapped cars.
Although this is very true in "real" racing, I think if we are talking about track days, all danger factors are smaller, including the instance of negotiating past a "timid" driver (being in the right run group eliminates a lot of this).
In any case, I am not promoting that people be timid. What I am saying is that in my experience, people that slowly build up to speed, "just enjoy being out there" without constantly pushing their limits or the limits of the car and don't constantly compare themselves /car to others, seem to A) leave with a big smile and B)come back year after year with an unbent car. Some of these people have become VERY, VERY fast, the difference is in their attitude and approach to the sport.
MD
Last edited by Z06-Nomad : 01-24-2006 at 08:38 AM.
Although this is very true in "real" racing, I think if we are talking about track days, all danger factors are smaller, including the instance of negotiating past a "timid" driver (being in the right run group eliminates a lot of this).
In any case, I am not promoting that people be timid. What I am saying is that in my experience, people that slowly build up to speed, "just enjoy being out there" without constantly pushing their limits or the limits of the car and don't constantly compare themselves /car to others, seem to A) leave with a big smile and B)come back year after year with an unbent car. Some of these people have become VERY, VERY fast, the difference is in their attitude and approach to the sport.
MD
None of my experience is in track days (racing and test days only), however I've looked at a fair number of in car videos. On different forums: Corvette, Elise, Porsche, Miata, S2000, Supra.
And they have included a bunch of spins and wiggles. Most occuring just before or just after passing another car. Some showed cars spinning right in front of the driver with the video camera.
Yes, track days are more spread out than an oval track race. And the driver's are supposed to pass on the straights. However, they are still close in the corners (because of natural distance compression at the slower speed and because you are more likely to have just caught or passed someone before a corner).
Crap I have Allstate... The fact that we drive "expensive" cars and the risk of smashing it up is what makes me consider just getting a vert for the street and building a DE only car... maybe a e30 spec bimmer... it's cheap and if I smack a wall I can walk away.
If I totalled my vette and had no coverage I'd be hurting in a bad way...
I did this to a 2000 Hardtop. My RR Hoosier got cut braking into turn 3 at NHIS, car spun and hit the left retaining wall on the right side at 100+.
I've seen plenty of accidents but seeing them and being in them are two totally different things.
First race after winter mods. Mosport, April 2005, new R compounds, not heat cycled, cold tires, cold ashpalt turn 2 into the wall at a 45 degree angle at 98 mph. Took the front end off the car and soiled myself.
Where is that vid of nothing but C5's on the track and everyone is driving over agressively and within 2 minutes like 3 vettes lose control and go off the track etc? It was on here a year or so ago, I couldnt believe it when I saw it. I think rocketsled posted it but Im not sure.
Last Saturday at Pocono east course last run for the green or white group did dent find out which but a car lost it near the pit and took out two cars waiting to get on the track. All three cars totaled. Evo, G35 and a 94 NSX, a pure shame. Wasn’t the worse accident but got to be the worst way to go for the two cars staging and just sitting there.
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This is why I now drive a 2002 Z06
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