Ouch, I know what this feels like(I did the same to a Honda a few years back) Glad your ok.

Who was videoing? taking pics, amazed it was caught on camera.

AP

 

****. Gutted for you. Congratulations for having the quick wits to think about the best way to put it into the barrier.

Bloody hell, that could have been absolutely horrific. Extremely glad you're both ok!

 

Friend of mine crashed his TVR very hard at Coombe, you guessed it at quarry. Attempted to start his braking *after* Avon rise instead of before in a 5 litre Griff your travelling a bit once you hit avon. Hit the tyres at over nearly 70mph.

Anyway, point is his passenger was pretty badly hurt, carted of in an Ambulance.

It certainly makes you think ... How would you feel with someone sitting in the passenger seat squealing like a stuck pig ? blood everywhere ?

I've gone right of giving passenger rides, it's not like they sign an indemnity saying 'I / My family won't sue you if you kill me', then theres the guilt of course.

I don't think passengers actually think about the risks before they sit in your car. They on the whole (In my experience) aren't track savvy enough to realise track driving is dangerous.

Gary

 

ADP

A mate of ours, Dan

Works for Mercedes Enthusiast magazine....great photographer in my uneducated opinion.
Pure luck he was in the right place at the time

 

Ouch !!

Glad you and passenger are OK DJ.

Cheers

Ian

 

As long as you and Matthew are ok

Amanda

 

At least you were enjoying yourself - if nobody ever expected the occasional "off" they may as well just drive on road not track.

Main thing is you are not hurt and the insurance will fix up the car and you didn't hit anyone else. Probably seems a bit scarey now but will soon be just another pub story. Unlucky if you had a total brake failure though

 

DJ.....

....glad to see you are okay and likewise to your co-driver.

You just don't stop giving that poor car stick do you? :P

On a serious note, that looks like it could have been a lot worse and I am really glad that it wasn't. Hope you get the Red Beastie sorted and back out ravaging the UK tracks once again.

Take care,

Michelle.

 

John, glad you and your passenger are ok (ish)

Another case of the body shell doing it's job properly, shame it had to be tested though

Hope the financial damage isn't too bad m8

 

Thanks for all the support everyone.

 

In hindsight I can not help giggling a bit thinking about your attempts to repair it with the axe Wasn't giggling on Sat though...

I can totally see your point re passenger rides BTW. But maybe we have to let the dust settle down a bit before deciding on that ?

 

Sorry to read about this DJ. Good luck sorting it all out.
Re PAX laps I won't passenger with anyone as I know that in the worst case my life insurance company would almost certainly persue the driver/drivers estate in the event of a big accident..whether I wish it or not. Plus I'm a scaredy-cat
Anyway hope it's all behind you soon.
Regards
Chuckster

 

Hi Theo ,

Chuck, my life insurance expressly forbids any kind of motorsport or track events so in my case, they simply wouldn't pay out to Nic. I would expect most policies are the same or very similar.....

Matt.

 

Matt -- so does mine, but I think we're in the same situation as car insurance, i.e. does a 'track day' constitute 'motor sport'?

 

Mine excludes any kind of track driving (either car or bike) but not riding a motorcycle on the public road (I had that part of the policy amended (they never tried to add an exclusion for driving a car on the public road ))

Matt.

 

Jon - looks like you saved it bigtime!!

Glad you and the big man are OK - get Red 5 back out there ASAP fella

 

Echo Rich's comments. Glad everyone was Ok.

Chris

 

and me

Really glad your ok!

 

Glad you are ok though Was the car insured for the damage?

Paul

 

Doc,

I thought Donington inspected the track on cold days to check that gravel traps aren't frozen so they can do their job effectively - trackdays have been cancelled before because of it I'm sure.

Do you know if that's the case? Maybe RobMac could comment.

Or am I barking up the wrong tree (again )

 

DJ
Just like to add, Glad you are OK.
IMHO your skill & quick thinking made a major accident minor in respect of injury and damage (to a certain extent).
I for one enjoyed immensely my passenger laps with you at Bedford and it would be a shame for others not to be able to benefit from the DJ experience. As you said this was NOT driver error, it was the driver that made the difference on this occasion.
Hope to see you back on track soon
All the best
Pete

 

DocJock - are those my old wheels mate? Glad you're OK. I am moving to live very close to Donington soon, so keep in touch and I'm sure I'll see you there!

Simon.

 

Surely if a brake hose wore through, when you pushed the pedal the other circuit would give braking effort to 2 wheels, otherwise what's the point of dual circuit brakes

 

See I told you to stick to Tesco car park.
Seriously tho glad to hear no real harm done.

 

I think that the 'other half of the circuit' argument only works if there isn't a loss of fluid. You fill both circuits up using the one reservoir, so I assume that if the fluid comes out of one then you lose pressure in the other.
What about using the handbrake? I guess it's hard to control the amount of braking properly.

 

Normally the reservoir has a weir that comes up say 75% of the depth. If the brake fluid goes below this level then you have 2 independent reservoirs, each containing half the volume. You should never lose all fluid. At least that's how it was on the 205. You still fill it from the one opening.

 

I've had a hose fail(braided hose rubbed on wheel) and I lost all brake pressure.I was doing 60-70 mph approaching a roundabout on a dual carriageway.I used the handbrake and it made the car veer from left to right( I kept catching it) before eventually putting me into a broadside slide and a complete stop.I didn't hit anything despite there being other cars on the road.It took a long time for me to trust my brakes again.
The problem with some aftermarket brake hoses is that they don't have the necessary shoulders pressed into them to clip onto the strut to hold them in place.I now have mine wrapped in a sheath of split hosepipe and secured with cable ties.This way it's still flexible but isn't going anywhere nera the wheel.

 

I'm just waiting for Dave Lweis to comment on rubbibg brake hoses

Ian

 

Holy **** DJ, Glad you are both OK

Andy

 

Ian

I still don't know what happened mate.
I will soon enough.
Rubbed hose is only one of several possibilities with mine.