During this past weekend at Laguna, a tail section of a car was lost in an incident at the start of Saturday’s race in turn 5.
See:
You Tube “2017 - 06 Laguna Seca, Two out of Three, not good enough LOL”

What makes this incident worthy of reviewing was that a fellow GEN3 driver got the idea to “just hit the tail and it would explode” out of his way.

It is worth noting the driver of the car in front was able to avoid the tail without incident while the driver in the video swerved to hit the tail.

The notion that it is perfectly ok to destroy someone else’s property if the opportunity is presented is bad enough; the idea of sending pieces of fiberglass all over the exit of turn 5 at Laguna at the start of a race is less then intelligent.

The cost of a new tail is $1,500 plus prep, paint and fitment and most SRF drivers would accept it as part of the costs of racing, but currently SRF has several young and talented drivers (the kind SCCA and San Francisco Region needs) who are on a tight budget and the cost of a new tail could prevent them from entering a future race.

The purposeful destruction of a fellow racer’s property is needlessly wasteful and it hurts the future of our sport.

San Francisco Region SCCA is made up of 99% great people who would and do regularly avoid hitting other cars and body sections while racing.
Unfortunately, it just takes one who is not thinking to screw it up for all of us.

Did you speak to the driver who hit the tail? Did he tell you he did it deliberately? And did you fail to see the car to his left leaving him no room to go that way? Did you even consider the possibility that his swerve was a response to that car on his left leaving him no room after he tried to go left to avoid the tail section?

I personally would be worried about it riding up the nose of my vehicle and hitting my head... at 60 MPH that would not be fun. If it was intentional, I hope nobody tries it again. You also don't need much imagination to come up with bad scenarios for a tail coming down on the cars behind if it did take flight.

That looks unintentional to me. He saw the tail, tried to swerve left, realized that somebody was there and hit the tail to avoid the other car.

RStephens wrote:That looks unintentional to me. He saw the tail, tried to swerve left, realized that somebody was there and hit the tail to avoid the other car.

Just watched the video and have to agree, there was not room with car 7 on his left of the nose, and there was not enough pavement on the right of the nose to clear it...suspect dropping two wheels on the right would be a spin, might have been worse if he wound up back on track, given all the traffic coming.

steve kramer wrote:

RStephens wrote:That looks unintentional to me. He saw the tail, tried to swerve left, realized that somebody was there and hit the tail to avoid the other car.

Just watched the video and have to agree, there was not room with car 7 on his left of the nose, and there was not enough pavement on the right of the nose to clear it...suspect dropping two wheels on the right would be a spin, might have been worse if he wound up back on track, given all the traffic coming.

Gotta agree with Steve. This was OOTRD: "One of Them Racin' Deals"

I have raced with Jerry for a long time and he would never do anything like what you are suggesting...it was a case of the flock going in one directions and thinking the resulting gap was an opportunity.

I had to cancel being there,,,, however, I did see the video,,, come on Intentional??? LOL

"" Bob G!

I was the one driving the #71 car in the video. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gBGPontkoww

It was not my malicious intent to try and destroy your tail. Hitting your tail was the outcome of the “best” (least worst?) option at the moment. After avoiding the spin in T5, I saw a tail laying across the track. For those that were not at the race, this incident was on the first lap and we were only at T5 cars were still bunched up. I had just a split second to consider/select one of four options, knowing there could have been 15 or so cars right next to or just behind me. They were:

1) Swerve left of the tail to avoid – thinking: a risky move, potential spin action here, and then saw a car was next to me; option cancelled

2) Swerve right of the tail to avoid – thinking: possibly would have to go two off in the beach, potential spin/hook action over there potentially instigating carnage by multiple cars

3) Hit the tail at an angle – this could potentially punt the tail across track or into a spin in front of the other cars instigating more carnage with the other cars

4) Hit the tail square on – try to drive “over” it, or take one for the “team” making it a single car track incident

In that moment, I chose number 4, figuring that to do something radical (option 1 or 2) or hitting the tail obtusely and likely punting it, (option 3) would likely have involved other cars.

One the subject of crash damage, yes the tail was totally trashed, but my car did not go away unscathed. My brand new nose was torn up and a lot of the associated aluminum up and around the radiator was damaged. I spent the rest of the afternoon repairing and pop riveting it all back together. Like many, my racing budget is proportional to my kitchen passes, and my damage was probably similar in cost to what was quoted above.

I always try to race clean, to me it is not worth having an track incident with someone over a checkered flag. I figured it was a racing incident – no more than that. Obviously you think otherwise. After the incident I did try to hook up with you several times later in the weekend to talk it out. Each time I was tried to approach, you were in a conversation with others at the moment and I did not want to interrupt. The weekend got away from me and so we never did hook up. For that I apologize, I should have tried harder to find a time to talk it out.

On a side note - at the last second before impact, the thought did cross my mind hoping that “hey maybe a miracle would happen and this tail would explode into a million pieces just like in the movies and I could drive thru this incident unscathed – kinda like in Days of Thunder”. Well life slapped me in the nose (again) and reminded me “hey you are not Tom Cruise and this is not the movies"

Jerry, thank you for responding to this topic and offering your explanation.
I wish we had been able to talk and clear up the issue while at Laguna.
I appreciate getting your perspective and as far as I am concerned, the matter is settled.
We both had good starts and it was a shame it all ended on the first lap.
Look forward to running with you at Sonoma.