Peer review of newbie safety plan

[Chief Geek]

As many of you know, Rich and I will be competitors in 2013. The first priority is to learn the car, the hills, and ourselves. Driving faster and making the car faster will come later.

The following is the logic of our safety plan. Please comment if you have any advice, thoughts, or constructive criticism. I'm all ears and there's no need to worry about creating bad mojo by speaking your mind. I work very hard to understand and respect my limits.

Our car is a 96 Miata, (ex-Estey red w/ white top, most recently run at 2012 Ascutney 1).
- No engine work
- Shenglehoffer brand roll hoop (designed to be the 1st phase of a full cage)
- Sporty 185/60-14 "not special" street tires. (The 15" R-compounds will live in the basement for a while.)
- Upgraded springs, dampers, & front anti-roll bar. Adjustable spring seats that lower the car, probably 1"-ish.

Assumption 1: Driver protection is all about energy (as in KE = 1/2 * m * v^2).
Assumption 2: The basis for impact safety is the structure's ability to absorb KE_vehicle and the way it disipates KE_driver.
Assumption 3: Mazda's OEM energy disapation scheme is reasonable for the car's OEM m and v_max.

Safety Plan:
A) Intentionally limiting our inability to generate too much v with car and tire choices.
B) The Shenglehoffer roll hoop has previously passes NEHA safety inspection. Hopefully, it contributes to side-intrusion protection as well as roll-over protection.
C) Rich and I are old enough to keep our ambition in sync with our current skills.

Please let me know (publicly or privately) if anything here seems incorrect or "un-wise".

Paul

[sachilles]

Sounds fine to me.
Couple of general thoughts.
Seat time is the best thing you can do for yourself. Run the car at any event your wallet and schedule will allow. Autocross is a good option as well as track days. Anything that will let you explore the limits of the car safely, is good. Sccv does an event at slmp in ny every year. It's a small road course with no walls to hit. You can find your limit there, so you know where that fine line is.

Red mist. Everyone is different. The adrenaline of the hill does funny things to people. It can make you over confident and compromise your judgement. If you find you can't sleep the night before Ascutney, sweat bullets before,during and after the fam run, that is entirely normal. If your first run doesn't absolutely scare the hell out of you while putting a goofy grin on your face at the top, then worry about the red mist. If you don't encounter your self preservation instinct at least once on your first day driving a hill, then worry about the red mist taking over. It's easier to get caught up in the bravado than you might think, especially sharing a car. One of you will b e faster than the other. Don't let the desire to beat your co-driver overwhelm your common sense.

The safety of you car is fine. It's the nut behind the wheel that is always the biggest variable.

[Chief Geek]

Thanks Seth.

It's comforting to get the similar answers from several people when asked the same question.

So far, there's no sign of competitive tendancies between Rich and I, still to wide-eyed. I think comfort and familiarity with the hills and car will be the controlling factor for both of us for a while.

My goal is to do at least 2 autoX's in the car before Ascutney 1, maybe more. Is SLMP going to be in the spring?

Also, are there any autoxs nearer to Grafton VT than Loudon or Devil's Bowl? (Not that I wouldn't prefer to run with NEHA folks.) Grafton is 30 min southeast of Okemo and 40 min southwest of Ascutney, Devil's Bowl is 1:45 and Loudon is 2:15 away. I'm closer to big portions of MA and some of CT than either of these.

Paul

[sachilles]

We tend to do slmp on memorial day weekend. We do two full days with camping, lots of track time. Free camping.
Grafton is a tough spot, you aren't exactly in the best spot for autox possibilities. I don't think you'll find anything else closer, unless a rallycross pops up near by. FT devins in Ayer Ma has many events from different clubs, but that won't be any closer to you. It's more of a case of a date being more convenient.

You have the right attitude. The fact you have concern now and forethought is HUGE. You've hung out with us to know you don't need to impress anyone.

I do recommend taking a fam run with some the regulars when the opportunity arrises, but for your first day, drive the fam yourself if you can.

[Chief Geek]

I do recommend taking a fam run with some the regulars when the opportunity arrises,...

That was my plan. So far, the NEHA "regulars" have been very generous to me.

Open question to the crowd:

Are there drivers/instructors that anyone has found especially helpful for newbie's?

Paul

[Rabbit Farmer]

If you want to take a little stress out of your run where you are worried that you are going to go racing up the hill as fast as you can.... stop at the start line. Yep, when you get the green light just wait for 5 seconds and then go. You just threw away the run (i.e. the best time possible) and can now focus on your driving.

I have often done a variation of this.... really slow out of the box and focusing on my driving instead of speed during the entire run.

Also... better cornering speed is determined by your EXIT speed not your ENTRANCE speed. Just drive slowing in and get out as fast as you can. You will slowly learn what your entrance speed is based on learning the corner backwards. It is hard to undo (i.e. CTRL-Z) an entrance speed that is too fast... gets expensive.

[Challenger392]

Steve, That is a fantastic idea that I also might use to keep my competitive edge from getting me closer to nature than I want to be.

[KevinGale]

Don't do what I did which was hit a tree and roll the car over at my first event. Some of us seem to learn the hard way which involves leaving the road a lot the first few years. I don't recommend it.

[Chief Geek]

Don't do what I did which was hit a tree and roll the car over at my first event. :lol: Some of us seem to learn the hard way which involves leaving the road a lot the first few years. I don't recommend it.

Bad luck or doing something stupid?

Paul

[sachilles]

I won't speak for Kevin, but I know my off wasn't because I was doing something smart
One of the many things I learned that day is that nobody wins the event practicing on Saturday at 110%.
Second Item I learned that is that wet and cold leaves are very slick especially in braking zones.
Third, the trees will always stop you.....eventually.

To this day I can't believe I wrecked.

As it says on another part of the website

When things are going really well beware. Ask anyone who crashed hard. They were having their best run ever just before they left the road.

Truer words have never been said.