Shutting off the fuel pump is great. But don't shut down the engine until
you are where you need to be--if nothing else it draws down the float
bowls.
BTW, I stole this stuff fair and square--it's part of the briefing in the
Russell driving class.
-----Original Message-----
From: BillDentin@aol.com [mailto:BillDentin@aol.com]
Sent: Tuesday, June 17, 2003 10:36 AM
To: Bill Babcock
Cc: fot@autox.team.net
Subject: Re: Blackhawk race weekend
In a message dated 06/16/2003 11:05:02 AM Central Daylight Time,
BillB@bnj.com writes:
Glad you didn't get hurt and your car is fine, but there's another quick
lesson therein. You might have had good reason not to do this, but when
you're on fire, punch your onboard extinguisher and DRIVE TO A CORNER
STATION. Or just drive to the station even if you don't have an onboard
(which you should). Even if you have to take a turn or two, it's much
faster for you to drive right to them than to get your butt out of the car
and put it out yourself or wait for the folks to do a 200 yard dash over
to you schlepping a big bottle.
Thank you! All good points...to be filed immediately in my on board data
base file. Which is still kinda scary, as access to my own on board data
base file gets ifffy as I advance in age. But you're right, in such
circumstances, there are decisions to be made, and quickly. Taking steps
to get closer to meaningful help quickly should be high on the list. The
T-Bolt has no on board fire system. Maybe we should have one installed.
My first thought was to cut the engine and shut off the electric fuel
pump. And that's what I did. I was, in fact, passing the TURN SIX Corner
Station when I first saw the flames. I had already eased up on the gas,
because they were displaying a debris flag, and I was looking for the
problem. I drove straight off at SIX instead of turning right. The
corner workers were in fact right across the track from me, but because of
traffic (51 cars on a 1.95 mile circuit) they could not get across to me
right away.
In the heat of the moment it's hard to remember to do that. Like
everything else, practice makes perfect. Just reminding yourself during
practice "if I was on fire here, I'd drive there" is all you need to do it
right when it happens. I know that sounds like one too many things to
think about since fires are relatively rare, but there's only a few things
that go really badly wrong with these cars, and fire is on the top of my
list as one I want to do something positive about.
It's also easier on the corner workers.
Amen. Thanks!
Bill Dentinger
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