Chump at AMP, Oct 29, 2016

[rodhx]

Well, our first Chump race didn't go quite as well as our Lemons race earlier this year. It was immediately apparently that we were significantly outgunned with our poor little 330k mile 22R. Our first driver completed his 1:45 stint, but as we completed our pit stop and I got ready to go out we noticed the water pump leaking. About 25 minutes later a new water pump was on and out I went.

AMP is a tough track to see for the first time as one of the slower cars in a 50+ car field. I spent more time watching mirrors than watching where I was going. The video picks up about 15 minutes into my stint. I apparently lost the clutch going into turn 1, briefly managed to find 2nd gear, but seemed to lose everything at the top of hill in turn 4 where I first saw smoke. My first assumption was it was steam because I figured the water pump had failed. I never could see the flame evident in the video.

Never had an on-track incident before, so lots of things I coulda/shoulda done. A key mistake was not learning corner stations well before going out at a new track. With everything going on I couldn't find a worker for assistance. Could have pulled off driver's right, but I seemed to stop in a good place and event officials agreed afterward. No way I was getting out of the car, so not sure why I took the belts off after pulling the fire system. Never take the belts off. After I realized what I did I put them back on.

Anyway, here's a video of one complete lap and then "the incident". The bad news is we were home at 5pm on Saturday. The good news is everyone is okay and the damage seems to be minimal. Hopefully we'll be back on track for Chump at Barber in December.

[nicktcr]

It's always easy to see what you coulda/shoulda done when you watch the replay. I still think it was handled very well all things considered. Glad no one was hurt, and it sounds like the car will live again anyway, which is always a plus. Makes me want more safety gear!

[farrout]

Good lessons learned Rod. Learning corner stations and where to pull off is something we teach in our Road Race Schools. We also teach having the driver give a sign to the corner workers to let them know he is conscious and not injured.

If I had reason to pull the fire system, I would have also exited the car as well and headed directly away from the track surface toward the nearest Armco or trees. The simple reason is that you do not know if the fire is actually out. I had an engine in the DSR blow at Nashville. Saw a lot of smoke in the mirrors. Pulled over and got out of the car quickly.

You did not mention them but what did the corner workers do? First thing, they should have seen you and assessed the situation for your safety. Assessing the situation is knowing that you are alive and responding to them and that your car is in a safe location. Second thing is that they should have seen your fire and/or the fire system go off and responded accordingly. This determines if they throw a red or black flag and call out the emergency vehicle.

Glad you were all right.

[rodhx]

You did not mention them but what did the corner workers do? First thing, they should have seen you and assessed the situation for your safety. Assessing the situation is knowing that you are alive and responding to them and that your car is in a safe location. Second thing is that they should have seen your fire and/or the fire system go off and responded accordingly. This determines if they throw a red or black flag and call out the emergency vehicle.

Glad you were all right.

Thanks Craig.

I never saw a corner worker and I don't believe there is a station driver's right where I coasted to a stop. My first inclination was to head for the cut-through on driver's left but a stream of overtaking traffic made that look like a poor decision. The worst part of the whole experience was sitting there practically blind with no outside guidance.

I was surprised the guys in the truck didn't realize the car had been on fire. They said "your car's leaking something" to which I replied "yeah I hit the fire bottle". Still strikes me as odd that they wanted to open the hood and poke around.

This will definitely make me re-think not only how I approach a new track as a driver but also how I work corners.

[farrout]

After watching the video, I am worried about safety of the drivers at AMP. Corner stations do not appear to have sightlines for the entire track but I may be wrong. But, you stopped on track with a smoking car and no corner workers either did not see you and/or chose not to respond. Either way, it is a bad situation.

Where you were parked, exiting the car would have been a risky proposition. But if you had seen flames, you would have been out of the car in a bloody hurry.

[chuck schultz]

My impression is that AMP depends a lot on cameras, with few corner stations. I think sight lines are OK from the stations, but the distances can make responding impractical. I ran/worked a Track Night last year, and I was covering two parallel sections of track simultaneously, alone. Signals have precedence over other F&C activities while the course is hot, so you should plan on waiting for an emergency vehicle to respond in most cases.

I don't have any knowledge of how Chump covers events at AMP, and I don't remember, for sure, how well staffed we've been at Barber for their events. However, even at Barber, with all 17 stations staffed, you can still end up a long way from anyone able to respond, especially when you consider that someone across a hot track is functionally equivalent to being an infinite distance away.