Thanks Odell. I'm not an expert at this, but I have learned a little from watching accidents at our track and talking them over with other racers in an attempt to understand what went wrong. I've also been in a hand full of situations with my car that could have looked like yours, but luckily I was on top of enough to prevent any damage. I've also seen others that turned out just like yours.
I think you're pretty close on your take of it. I see mostly slow and/or incorrect reactions. You're absolutely right. Your age does play an important factor. Especially if your not in the seat regularly, or maybe coming up on a new tuneup too quickly and not prepared for how the car may react.
I can't comment on the track conditions. I wasn't there. Judging by the video, it doesn't look like there is much rubber down. I would have layed back and let some more experienced drivers check out the track for me before I went down. There are some at our track that won't blink an eye after an oil down and run like a bat out of hell. I will admit, I'm not that brave. They are more than welcome to go in front of me. If it makes me look like a sissy, so be it. If anyone has witnessed my car go down the track, it's on the edge of traction as it is with a good track. I don't like to tempt fate.
The car looked to jump into a bad line right at the launch. It looked like you were lined up good, but after the initial hit, she took on a bad line. It seems you tried early on to straighten it up with a small correction and it put a little side to side motion into the back end. On the second attempt to steer the car to a better line, it just so happened that the shift into second and the side to side momentum of the rear end worked against you and she broke traction. At that point there may have also been a ramp up in boost level that further added to the problem. I'm just guessing on that, but I could imagine a ramp up in power being tuned in after the second gear shift. The second steering correction may have been excessive also. Just guessing on that one too, since there isn't a clear view of the front tires during that correction.
The tires have just broke traction. This is where I see the common mistakes occurring. A driver has got to have a keen sense at this point. Better if it's muscle memory. What I mean is, the reaction occurs without having to first think about it. Often the time it takes for one to think about what's happening is already too late. That's where age is working against you. A person's muscle memory may not be the same with age. Don't know that for sure, but I'm creaping up to that point of finding out for myself. I will say that Odell was out of the throttle in a respectable amount of time, but it wasn't fast enough. Being on the track is not like being on the street. Get sideways on the street and you can often power through a slide and straighten it out. Obviously, the track wasn't too bad. There was enough traction to propel the car across the track after it slid out. Of course, there was also a lot of weight on that right rear by that point too. The important thing here is, if the throttle had been released sooner, the power would not have been there to propel the car as it did. Bottom line, too late getting off the throttle.
Also. Steering played an important part as the car started to slide out to the right. You can plainly see that in the video as the car starts to steer left, headed for the left lane. Again, this is something that needs to be muscle memory. As the car started to slide out, the steering should have corrected more aggressively down track. As you see the car pitch up onto the right rear tire, you can see the steering was set to have the car do exactly what it did. The car followed the steering.
Here's somthing that's very, very important about the steering. If you make the large steering correction down track too late, you risk a roll over. Once Odell was across the center line, there wasn't much he could do. An aggressive steering correction a little sooner than he did would have most likely caused him to roll over right into the guard rail. The important time for the aggressive steering correction should have started just as the tires were breaking loose and started steering the rear end. Much the same way a drifter would react. The steering needs to follow the slide. Timing is very, very critical. Just a little too late with the steering correction, and you're headed for the other side.
One final error I see. This one is the most important. As soon as it was realized that the car was on a bad line on a track that was known to be iffy, the throttle should have been released. I know that's hard to do. I'm of the same racer mentallity, 'finish line or bust'. But, I'm slowly learning that it's better to save it for the next time.
Thanks Odell for letting me air my crash analysis. I hope it helps yourself and others keep the rubber on the right side.
One more thing. Many don't realize it, but you have different speeds or internal clocks as it relates to your reaction time. There's the Sunday drive clock, and there's the racing clock. You need to pump it up and make sure you're on the racing clock before you make the run. Sometimes that means you may be overreacting on every little steering correction, but once you're more accustomed to a new car or tuneup, you can adjust your internal clock speed and relax a little. Just a little!
And yes, my eyes looked just like that.
