Cobra4B Posted January 21, 2012 Author Share Posted January 21, 2012 Ugh... stuff like that makes me sick. But I loved the part where you said F it and manned up and finished the job! I've had some annoying stories, but nothing that bad. I did have the Panoz come off the trailer once. I used to tow with J-hook straps (never again after that) and it started raining. The rain let the straps stretch and the rocking of the car let the front hooks come loose. Leaving a light all of a sudden "BAM" the rear of the truck comes nearly off the ground and I see the nose of the car up (open trailer). Luckily I was able to pull over, was only going 30ish and the rear straps stopped the car from coming all the way off the trailer in traffic. Furthermore, I had just been on the highway going 65 and went through one of the many local tunnels... so it could have been way worse! My open trailer has a low deck so it's not far from the dovetail to the road surface. The car came off and the wheels hit the pavement and the frame was just resting on the edge of the trailer... no damage. Some cops showed up and had a floor jack so I jacked the car from the rear and was able to pull out my ramps and get the car loaded back up. I promptly ordered snap ring straps! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jason Posted February 6, 2012 Share Posted February 6, 2012 Damn Joe Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Diller Posted February 28, 2012 Share Posted February 28, 2012 Unfortunately, I have learned several lessons the hard way. I have forgotten hood pins and had it destroy my roof and windshield. I have even forgotten to "pump" the brakes after swapping back to my street pads and almost rear ended a line of stopped cars. My biggest oops (some may remember this at Road Atlanta August of 2010) came when I went to the track for the first time with no family or friends. For some reason I felt it necessary to lock my truck after every time I got in it. Well that lead to the locking of my truck keys, my race car keys, and my phone in the truck before the first session of the weekend started. Well after missing three sessions waiting on a locksmith, I took the BFH to the passenger side window of the truck. After all, track time is more expensive than the window of an F250. I don't know if it was the strength of the window or my body recognized the absurdity of the actions but it took several good swings of the 5 pound sledge to get into the truck. Got my keys and continued on with the weekend. Well all was not over for that weekend as the right axle broke going up the hill at turn 5 on the last lap of the last session of the weekend and I placed the car quickly into the outside wall of turn 5. Lotsa learning for one weekend. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
kbrew8991 Posted February 28, 2012 Share Posted February 28, 2012 at least none of us has crashed into a jet dryer Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sperkins Posted February 28, 2012 Share Posted February 28, 2012 at least none of us has crashed into a jet dryer /thread. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
vpnwiz Posted February 28, 2012 Share Posted February 28, 2012 No doubt! JPM, oh man... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Cobra4B Posted February 28, 2012 Author Share Posted February 28, 2012 at least none of us has crashed into a jet dryer Broken axle... apparently not much he could do. But yeah Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bill Seifert Posted February 29, 2012 Share Posted February 29, 2012 Two First, at IRP, pulled on the scales. The guy in charge told me to back up a couple of inches. I did, and when he told me to leave, I though I was in first gear, but was in reverse. I immediately backed into the car behind me, and squished his air dam. The threw a can of Coke at me, and chased me around the pits. He didn't catch me, I have often wondered what he would have done, if he had caught me. Second. In lineup at Sebring, when we got the 5 minute warning, I noticed I did not have my helmet. I immediately drove to my pit, ignoring the guy trying to stop me, because I couldn't think of anything to tell him why I was going back to the pits. I got my helmet, and joined at the end of the field, which was no big deal, because I was only a couple of spots up from there anyway. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
donstevens Posted April 2, 2012 Share Posted April 2, 2012 Didn't check the tire pressure on new tires from the on track vendor. On the second lap I spun at Bishops bend at Sebring going 100+. Flat spotted all 4 tires to the cords, the sun roof popped out (since I was going backwards at 100) and it broke the windshield. The tire had 50 lbs of pressure in them. 4 new tires $600 New windsheild (including weekend track installation charge) $750 Being call pop top 20 years later..Priceless Don Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
GT944 Posted April 10, 2012 Share Posted April 10, 2012 All of these stories remind me of why I wuss out so easily when I start to feel things just not going my way... Fortunately the only thing that comes to mind is the time that I drug a gallon of Swepco around the paddock while taking dad's car (pre-track days for me) to the pump to fill up. Didn't even know until I looked around, wondering why the spill clean-up crew was working it's way towards me... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sonny Posted July 3, 2012 Share Posted July 3, 2012 Two years ago, I took my DD Subaru STI to CMP to run it in TT. I have a youngin at home & had the child locks on the back doors engaged. (Did I mention it's a DD?) Well, at the end of the 1st day, I climb into the backseat, because there's more room back there & the front seats obscure the view into the car, to change into shorts -- forgetting the child safety locks were engaged. The rear windows were up & the keys were on a folding chair outside the car. Luckily, the front windows were open so I shouted out to the nearest person -- Jim Pantas --to have him open the back door for me. He did me a real solid when he walked up to me, realized what had happened & ....... walked away to get as many people as he could to witness that I had just locked myself in the car. Dumbest things I've seen at the track: Last month at Road Atlanta, a friend was taking Comp School in his, new to him, Thunder Roadster. During the 2nd classroom session, right after they had gotten off track, one of the workers ran into the classroom to tell him that his TR had just crashed into a parked car. Apparently, when he parked the car onto a relatively flat part of the paddock, he didn't put it into 1st gear as he had thought. Shortly after walking away, the car started to roll away. Witnesses said it was "really moving" before hitting the parked car. A few years ago at VIR, my friends I were sitting around our paddock space when a relative noobie pulled up next to us in a Hummer towing an aluminum trailer with his slightly modded STI on it. We had all met him a couple of months before at another MA event so welcomed him to join us. We commented on his set-up as he was all excited about the borrowed Hummer & trailer. We weren't really paying him any attention while he proceeded to unload until we heard him pulling the car off the trailer & a big BANG! We all jumped up & yelled for him to immediately STOP. (Which he already did.) Apparently, he hadn't hooked the ramps onto the trailer correctly & as soon as the rear wheels of the car got half way onto the ramps, they fell off the trailer. So, there he was with the front of the car on the trailer & the rear on the ground but still on the ramps. It took the next hour, a few jacks, jack stands & bunches of wood blocks to get the car off the trailer. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
reedrum Posted July 3, 2012 Share Posted July 3, 2012 good one Sonny! I too have one from last event at Road Atl...my brakes were squealing and I thought that this was due to new brake compound I was using (especially loud at end of race on Saturday). When I went to rotate my tires, I inspected brakes and saw that my left front rotor was a really odd color compared to the right front. Upon further inspection, I found that one of my pads was backwards - metal backing on metal rotor! Luckily, it was a PFC system that has 4 individual pads on rotor so at least I had one correctly installed pad on that side of rotor. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
brkntrxn Posted July 3, 2012 Share Posted July 3, 2012 good one Sonny! I too have one from last event at Road Atl...my brakes were squealing and I thought that this was due to new brake compound I was using (especially loud at end of race on Saturday). When I went to rotate my tires, I inspected brakes and saw that my left front rotor was a really odd color compared to the right front. Upon further inspection, I found that one of my pads was backwards - metal backing on metal rotor! Luckily, it was a PFC system that has 4 individual pads on rotor so at least I had one correctly installed pad on that side of rotor. I know a Corvette owner that has done that. Luckily it was found before a track event. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Cobra4B Posted July 3, 2012 Author Share Posted July 3, 2012 Dumbest things I've seen at the track: Last month at Road Atlanta, a friend was taking Comp School in his, new to him, Thunder Roadster. During the 2nd classroom session, right after they had gotten off track, one of the workers ran into the classroom to tell him that his TR had just crashed into a parked car. Apparently, when he parked the car onto a relatively flat part of the paddock, he didn't put it into 1st gear as he had thought. Shortly after walking away, the car started to roll away. Witnesses said it was "really moving" before hitting the parked car. Yeah that was our buddy Jeff's pristine Electron Blue C5 Z06. Guess that gave him the motivation to make it a full-on track car. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rook Posted July 30, 2012 Share Posted July 30, 2012 Laguna Seca...I wanna say it was the end of 2010. Last day, right before the last session. Sounds familiar, right? Anyway, I was filling up on gas (at $10/gallon at the track) and checking my tires, as is my fueling routine. I noticed I was loosing pressure in one of my rear tires, so once I was done, I took it back to paddock and broke out the Windex. Sure enough, I had a clear bubbly puncture. Likely from a piece of the brand-new GT-500 that tried making love to a wall after the corkscrew a session prior. So...decision time. Obviously I decided: "Screw it, it's just one session and it's a small leak. What could go wrong?" Well it was a particularly hot day, despite being December...since it's Monterey we're talking about. The session actually went fine. What's more strange is that when I checked the tire after, I couldn't find the puncture...nor was I losing any more pressure. What's even stranger than that, is that even up until I replaced the tire, there was never any pressure loss sign of a puncture. It's like it welded shut. Other than that, hitting turn one at VIR thinking "meh, I can brake a little later" followed shortly by "I'll just put it in the grass, it hasn't rained in hours..." followed by "my driver-side door is totally gonna open." Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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