Nope, he was running a 15% and was surprised (and pissed) that the belt broke. He talked about creating an vented underbody tray a-la Elise to shield the belt from a similar occurrence.

 

Here's his trophy from the race

 

Without being able to see it up close, I would have never guessed that was a belt! Randy has done some in-car footage before, but it sounds like that he didn't this time...

Phil, if feasible for you, please post some video!

 

Tony,

I have no way to post video clips, I would love to, any suggestions?

The Vacu-Cam is really cool

Randy said he taped it

 

Phil, while I've never done so myself, some (I believe onasled being one) have used these guys: http://putfile.com/

I'm going to ping Randy! Thanks.

 

It looks like we should have both been there. What a gas!

Matt

 

Yep. You've got bim-com, but we had Laguna.

 

I was thinking the same thing until I saw the photo of that MCS that rolled! I always thought these driver-instructed events were, well, uneventful for the most part. I guess if the track were on the wet side, I'd tend to expect more mishaps, but the weather should have been a non-factor... Just glad no one got seriously hurt...

 

Not to be a wet blanket, because on balance it seemed to be a good day for most, but I can't be the only one who thinks this level of carnage is unacceptabable for a driver's education event. What was up?

 

Seems like there were those who thought they were Michael Schumacher driving an F-1 car instead of novice drivers taking a driving class. They forgot the most important rule for these type of events- DON’T LEAVE ANY PAINT AT THE TRACK.

Here’s a picture of one of the other victims showing the result of meeting up with a tire barrier.

 

Interesting that in this photo it does not appear that the air bags went off. Ive seen some of those side impact bags go off just hitting a bit bump in the road. As for the other unfortunate drivers some of them are familiar and you may be rite.. Looks like a tough day all around.

Randy
M7 tuning

 

Wow..Dudes

I raced many times at Laguna Seca, but never seen so much carnage.....
Is it the MINI, the drivers, or the equipment???

Looking at the images, it looks like everyone who crashed out except one car
had heavy S-lites, and if they used runflats...bye bye. I also believe a lot of drivers over estimate their driving skills, and to top it of they install the stiffest and thickest swaybar they can find.IE. Oversteer deluxe.

Thank God no one was hurt

Peter
Team M7

 

Even more strange, the airbags didn't even go off in the rollover. Not so strange, if you look at the car - nothing in the front or the sides was actually struck, but still bizarre that a rollover didn't trigger any of them.

 

I sort of thought that the yellow strap a few photos down might be related to an air bag deployment. I guess that it's the last few letters ("...ATED") that has me thinking that...

 

IIRC, that was a tow strap, and it said CHP RATED, or some such. Did strike me funny that they left it in the car, though.
They most definitely didn't use the tow hook to haul it out - I had to loan them mine to haul it up onto the flatbed.

 

I was planning on going but had to cancel. I too am a perplexed by the amount of car-nage. Not being there I could only speculate, but I would agree with Peter's assessment on sway bar stiffness and over agressive driving.

Thank goodness the event was at Laguna and not Infineon. Now that's an unforgiving track

 

I enjoyed meeting so many of you. Here is the only picture I had time to snap. It is the race cars coming down for the green flag with my hubby coming back in from pace car duties. If anyone has some good pictures to share I would appreciate it.

I am planning on coming back next year but will probably fly and rent instead of driving Casper out..........loooooooonnnnnnnnnngggggggggg drive.

 

Eric, thanks for the clarification. Yah, that strap does seem way too hefty to be related to the airbags I suppose. I think it's a pretty important question to ask why the bags didn't deploy. Maybe since there was no impact of significance on the front, back or sides...

 

x2

 

From what I saw of the roll from the paddock, it wasn't terribly violent. The car slid into the gravel ("kitty litter" as Phil called it) and, almost as it was coming to a halt, the car ended up sideways and the wheels dug in on one side. The car rolled all the way over and landed back on its wheels again. I don't believe this is the sort of thing that would deploy the airbags. Interesting also that there was almost no intrusion into the passenger compartment. The MINI did a great job of protecting its driver, from what I could see.

It was good to see the driver hop out of the car, and, when it was all said and done, there was definitely new mood on the course. I don't think anyone took any of these events lightly.

Steve

 

Steve thanks for the first eye witness account and it makes more sence now . I watched Nuzzo have a rather violent roll over in a Grand Am race because he tripped the car on a FIA curb , lost the passenger door completely and still drove it back to the pits. The cars are tough no doubt about that it just hurts when you have to prove it .

Randy
m7 tuning

 

What a great event!!

All of the accidents, even the roll over, were non-violent events. After the Moto GP bikes the track has deep gravel run off, and it can catch a car just wrong and flip it, which is what happened. All drivers were talked to who were involved...

I had a few students, 6, and had a lot of fun trying to keep up with all of them! They all made excellent progress and left the track better street drivers for sure.

I don't know what a good lap time is at Laguna Seca, but I had a couple of high 1:46's. There is certainly two more seconds at least - I just have to push a little more, and the car was set up for another track (I'd never been to Laguna Seca). The vette was running similar lap times. His car was 3180 lbs and had 460+ horsepower (he came over after the race and hung out at the trailer).

I am designing something for high RPM cars. I believe it was debris related, but I am not willing to risk another win due to belt loss. WMS is looking at a cog driven belt system as well as a lightweight vented undertray. We lost the belt with two laps remaining, and were about 1/2 a lap ahead of second place at the time .

I do have in car video of the whole event - I need to figure out how to host it.

Thanks for posting the front straight view with the Vette!!

Great event overall. BIG thanks to Phil Wick's - my mate, MINI USA and the Bay Area dealers, the corner workers, and all of the instructors - some of whom came from the east coast! Of course, thanks to all of the participants who made it happen!!

Hope to see you all in Vegas in March!

Randy

 

My car was the one with two flattened tyres (Toyo T1-S). I had just left the corkscrew and was proceeding downhill to #9. Unfortunately, my turn to the left was just a tad too late and a slightly more than needed for the speed I was carrying. The car went off the inside of the track, crossed the grass and the left rear quarter panel grazed the rubber tyre barrier. The shear force may have been too great for the f/r right-side tyres because they broke their bead and went flat. The front rim had a very small bend on the inside lip. Both tyres reinflated quite well, held their pressure throughout the night, and made for an uneventful return home (@ 400 miles). I happen to have other rims (Enkei RPF-1), so I'll probably be retiring the Centerline Excels, except for some city driving.

Many thanks to Eric Rowland for the offer of loaning two replacement wheels. Several other folks were also very generous with their help. Prior to the "incident", I was really enjoying myself on this very technical and challenging track. The instructors were great and the event was very well organized.

This day at the track was a real hoot, and it was just great watching Randy Webb beating the 'vette for most of the race, and still hounding that interloper even after being passed on the first straight by a car that had over twice the power and torque of the Mini. Unfortunately, his pulley belt managed to get shredded, and on close examination, the belt looked like pieces of vermicelli!! Someone suggested getting a Kevlar pulley belt --- . The other Mini's and their drivers in the race were awesome and should be congratulated for their fine performance and stamina . Of note, a classic Mini finished at the front of the pack behind the counterfeit Mini --- .

BTW, there were a number of cars that spun out, and the term "carnage" seems a bit strong for this event. Yes, two cars had major damage, but, fortunately, there were no bodily injuries.

 

Did the Wicks people leave any hint of when and where they might return to California? I had them hold on to my fees to be appliled next time. On the phone they mentioned maybe Thunderhill or Infineon in 06.

 

As one of your 6 students, I wanted to say thanks! My one session with you in both the driver and passenger seats was worth the price of admission. You are one smooth-drivin' ****! I know you had a grueling day with so many students to work with, a race to prep for and run, then customer work at the end of the day. Man, you must have been burnt. Wish I could have had more time with you in the car, and wish the event included more instruction in general.

That was the big weakness, imho. It was more of a track day than a school. Not ideal for someone who had never been out on a track before (like me), but still fun. Given that I still have a lot to learn, I think I'll be looking at options other than Wicks for my next outing.

Thanks again, Randy!