I cant disagree more with a few of you. That Jack Hall individual should have his license suspended indefinitely/permanently. Drivers like him are a catastrophe waiting to happen.

 

I don't know if the faster car knew all the history of Jack before the incident or if he took a special interest after the event occurred. If he in fact knew Jack was a cruiser then a less aggressive approach would have clearly been better.

That said, jamming on the brakes at that speed after a corner was clearly unexpected by the faster car and it sounds like Jack was rightfully found at fault.

 

I can see both sides to this situation, on one hand there was absolutely no reason for the slower car to slam on his brakes at that point, it just doesn't make any sense to me why he would do that. On the other side that seems to be a fairly tight section of track where there is little to no room for error and the faster car seemed to take the turn at near max speed even though he was obviously quickly approaching a slower car. Had he left a little more on the table going through that turn he may have been able to avoid the slower car braking or not. Either way this is wheel to wheel racing and anything can happen but if you're going to be going that slow why even bother being out there, just go to a track day if you want to "cruise" around.

 

///thread...

Hitting your brakes in the middle of a short straight with someone rapidly approachig.... Probably not a good way to make friends.

 

A similar thing happened to me just a few weeks ago in an open track setting.

If I hadn't recognized the situation well in advance (known slow driver/car), I would have ended up in the rear seat of the car in front of me. As it was, the car I was following almost crashed coming upon the slower vehicle.

The driver's mistake was simply he assumed the person in front of him would do the correct thing (as the car he previously passed did).

Given that the driver of the slower car was know for his inconsistency, the oncoming driver should have acted with more caution which would have given him a better opportunity to avoid the crash.

I fully agree however, that the slower driver "caused" the accident and should not have been out there to begin with if we are to believe the previous history of the slow driver.

 

Looks like the slower car may have been trying to allow the overtaking car to stay right to set up properly for South Bend. Well intentioned but unpredictable. Getting off to the left there after those 100+ mph esses can really screw you up for the fast lefthander that follows. At my last track outing I drifted wide after the esses and went off in South Bend because of it. No harm done but definitely made a mark in my mental impressions of that part of the track.

 

Whew, that's a fun place to pass! I've only been ballsy enough to pass there once or twice and only when I have ~100hp differential. Sucks. I'll be there in 3 weeks.

That is by far the most rewarding turn on the track, similar to turn 4 at summit main.

 

exactly.

 

I have to say last weekend I had a very fast Porsche driver coming up on me at Summit (in not nearly as fast a turn as this one) and I went to the outside (off line) and hit the brakes hard to let him by. Afterward he approached me and asked what I was doing and we talked it out but to me in the moment it seemed the best thing to do. I've had many experiences with getting off line to let a fast approaching vehicle by, but I suppose the difference here is that I was not in a race situation. I was driving in the instructor class where we're not told to stay on line.

 

it has to be WAY in advance, in the right place and the overtaking driver should see a clear signal.

 

Totally the fault of the car being passed. Not only did he hit the brakes quite suddenly and unexpectedly, but he hit them at a point on the track that left the passing car ZERO room for escape. IMNSHO the car being passed should always remain predictable ... i.e. stay on the racing line, maintain speed, unless you're on a long enough straight where you can move over safeley (read: well before the faster car catches you). Once the faster car is passing you, it might behoove you to let off the gas to let them by completely, but that's only in a non-competition.

l8r)

 

stop singling blame.

its partially youre fault if you blast in on a guy...
..in esses
..at a 50mph+ differential
..you know the guy is a menace.

both guys made bad decisions.

 

I've had HPDEs where the rule was to stay on the line or move off the line when being passed, however, this sort of situation scares the crap out of me when I'm out there because a lot of the times I'm out there in the novice or intermediate group. I've had a couple incidents where I catch up quickly to a car (they were wool gathering or slow or something) and I'll see them (finally) see me in their mirror and they'll get all shakey and make stupid moves (like the one in the video).

I actually find it an odd situation to be in. I want to be close to the car I want to pass in order to make sure that a) I can pass during the passing zone and b) they know I want to pass. On the other hand, I have no idea how good or poor a driver they are, so I want to stay back in case they do something dumb (like hammer the brakes). I've been chastised by instructors for being too close and too far away. It's a lose/lose situation.

That said, the driver of the car that HIT the one that slammed on the brakes should have better situational awareness and should have known that that car wasn't going anywhere near as fast. Was this a wheel to wheel race or a time trial? It seemed like an awfully dangerous place to pass at those speeds.

 

Agree with Ryan, both are partially to blame.

That is a fair area to pull off a pass. It is typically much easier when there is a decent speed differential, as the braking zone is so short it's hard to pull it off when running similar times.


_____
Jason

 

Two more chevys off the road? Win-Win!