From: Scott Knight <scott@scottknight.com>
>Heh, as a crashing veteran, the best advice I can give in any crash
>situation is to relax as much as possible, hold onto the steering wheel
>with both hands
On the three occasions when I flipped SAAB 96 cars on the ice, I did indeed
grasp the wheel near the bottom. I trusted my 4-points to keep me in the
stock seat. And the driver window was open in all cases.
>(firm grip,
Oh, my, yes.
>but loose arms)
I won't swear that I did that.
>and get your feet somewhere
>you can keep them from flopping around.
Did that, too.
>I have never had even a slight
>injury from a couple of heinous crashes (both at well over 100 mph)
Other than the three rolls, I did have one good metal-to-metal crash.
Driver who had been drinking beer during the race ran out of road, then
proceeded to back his Mini unto the track. I hit him pretty hard, but could
not estimate the speed. Bent a front upright, nursed the car back to the
pits and retired. Seems there was a ball joint trying to share space with
my right-front tire...
>other than bruises where the belts hold me down
I was properly-clothed for racing with the driver window open, so belt
bruises were not a factor.
And another thing I don't understand: Race workers tell me that drivers
often pop their belts when the car is on its side or top, injuring
themselves in the resultant fall. I was always damned careful to brace
myself before yanking the lever.
>(well, OK, the airbag
>did bruise my arms and legs once,
What's an airbag? ;-)
>but I don't keep those activated
>anymore). Relaxing is one of the hardest things to do, but it is very
>important. The more tense you are, the more your muscles will get
>strained when the impacts come.
True. Two of my sisters-in-law were in a car which was rear-ended. The
driver saw it coming. The shotgun did not. The force was so great both
front seatbacks broke. The driver has stiffness problems a decade later,
the shotgun was never in bad shape.
>I find that it helps to concentrate on
>each impact and to estimate the monetary value of it's damage rather
>than to think of what can happen to my person ;^).
None of those cars was worth very much.
"Never take anything on a race track you would not push off a cliff." -
Larry Colen
Phil Ethier Saint Paul Minnesota USA
1970 Lotus Europa, 1992 Saturn SL2, 1986 Chev Suburban
LOON, MAC
pethier@isd.net http://www.visi.com/mac/
"If I can do it, it's not art" - Red Green
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