This reminds me of another place and time about 45 years ago. I was working
a flag station at a driver's school at VIR (Virginia International Raceway).
It was the last practice race on Sunday on the last lap. The last place
driver in a Spitfire was a good thirty to sixty seconds behind all the other
cars.
In our minds the race was over. All of the corner workers were starting to
pack up and were thinking about the drive home. I was the only one looking
at the track when the Spitfire lost it in the turn and flipped. There is a
lesson there about the race not being over until the last car finishes.
Anyway, I ran over with a fire extinguisher got the driver clear of the car
and put out a small engine fire. We looked at the car and the rear axle was
broken off which explained the rollover. However, the trunk lid was bent
double and there was about a hundred pound slab of concrete lying in the
middle of the track. It took a while to figure out what happened.
This was a completely stock Spitfire. The owner was a college student. He
drove the car to the track. He was having handling problems and the
instructor suggested he needed something to hold the rear down. The
instructor was obviously thinking about a rear sway bar. The driver's
solution was the concrete block. The block was just lying loose in the
trunk. Can you imagine the handling problems caused by the weight transfer
of 100 pounds in the corners when the concrete slid back and forth?
The end result was that the college student had to find a way to get 100
miles back to college with a totaled car and no other transportation. I
would have liked to have seen him explain to mom and dad how he totaled his
car.
Jim
-----Original Message-----
From: spridgets-bounces@autox.team.net
[mailto:spridgets-bounces@autox.team.net] On Behalf Of Frankie Clarici 4th
Sent: Tuesday, May 17, 2011 9:21 PM
To: spridgets@autox.team.net
Subject: Re: [Spridgets] Front Springs
50lb cement bag in the back.
We used to do this for winter sprite driving.
Seriously if you have a spring shop nearby they can setup the spring to
lower the car.
Frankie
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