My wife was at the scene of the fatal accident at Lime Rock when it
happened. The driver had a too-low roll bar, lap belt only and no arm
restraints.
Witnesses saw him whipping around inside of the car. During five rolls his
head was crushed on the pavement.
VSCCA does not require roll bars and allows minimal safety equipment. The
philosophy is that if drivers have all the latest safety gear, it will
incline them to drive too fast. VSCCA suggests driving at only "6/10th". They
have never heard of the famous Red Mist that is familiar to the rest of us.
The racing club VRG formed when real racers in VSCCA got tired of driving
with guys who wanted to do parade laps.
Many of the VSCCA cars are barely race cars and often create a real hazard
due to slow driving and failing to give way to faster cars. That was the
case in my group in the Lime Rock races when two slow small sedans insisted
on hitting every apex when being lapped by cars traveling 30 mph faster.
I ran the weekend with my TR3 and finished third in a field of 36 that
included Aston, Ferrari 12 cyl. and 15 Alfas. During the first race my rear
wheel cylinder seal went and I had no brakes at the end of the straight. The
Alfa in front of me had very good brakes and I rear-ended him at over 100
mph. Since we were both moving, it was not serious, though I did make his lap
time a bit faster. Amazingly, he kept going so I did also until half a lap
later when my temp gauge topped 250 and I quit. My whole nose, grill and
radiator were smashed and a fender buckled. I was wearing a Hans and never
moved during the crash. No bruises either. I had another radiator that I
have been carrying for 20 years, so was able to finish the weekend.
_______________________________________________
fot@autox.team.net
http://www.fot-racing.com
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