Just read about two racers being killed at Thunderhill recently. Kind of freaky since I was just there the end of August.

In short, a GTA sideswiped an RX7 heading into turn 14, went off the track and slammed into another RX7 at turn 8. Both drivers were killed. RIP.

Thunderhill Fatality

There was also an incident at Buttonwillow where two folks in a convertible were killed.

Be safe out there, and I know if I do more than just HPDE's I'll invest first in safety equipment.

 

Wow. Sobering news. Be careful out there.

 

Racers in fully-prepped SCCA cars getting hurt is one thing...but people getting killed during a "parade lap" is really unforgivable.

This is why we never allow convertibles without proper roll protection at our schools. And no one (except instructors) are allowed to take passengers out on the track.

Emre

 

Glad to see we're not the only ones. Not sure about you guys, but we also strictly forbid instructors from taking students cars out on hot laps. There was a recent incident where an instructor rolled a student's car at Watkins Glen.

We run parade laps during our lunch hours, lately we've been pacing those laps with a lead car... but even when it was open, we never had any problems.

Just know that there has never been so many groups running track events than right now. With so many people doing it, incidents are going to increase. Problem there is that we're already seeing insurance premiums going up, and tracks requesting that clubs purchase higher liability coverage (one track here on the east coast went from 2 million in coverage to 5 million in coverage).

I'm afraid the days are numbered for HPDEs that are less than $300.

Stacy King
Track Events Coordinator
Triangle Z Club
North Carolina