Safety, Don't just preach it practice it

[SSLance]

This Lat-G feature story hits a little close to home, the racer Stephen is from the KC area and may of my friends that do the endurance racing thing know him and the team he was driving for.

http://lateral-g.net/safety-dont-just-preach-it-practice-it/

Other than not practicing his egress from the car in a hurry, his other mistake was opening his helmet visor to help see better. I have always been guilty of racing with my visor up to aid in vision and for comfort.

I have made plans to purchase a new scratch free visor for my helmet and will run with it down all the time now as well as acquiring a full set of fire retardant underwear and a balaclava for my head.

What safety upgrades are you all working on this season?

[Chad-1stGen]

After reading the full article part 1 and 2 and watching the video of the fire crew trying to put out that car fire it seems like the fuel pump may not have been turned off or stopped when the engine did.

Given the description in the article he talks about finding the fire suppression switch but not that he actually engaged it, just that it was useless at that point. No mention of electrical cut off either and reading the comments of his fellow racers it sounds like running fuel and oil lines inside the cockpit is common on 944 racers.

Lance, if you have mutual friends I'd be curious if that happened or not.

[SSLance]

The first thoughts I heard right after it happened were of a suspension failure that compromised a fuel line. I haven't talked to anyone close to the situation since he's come home and the team has had time to diagnose though. I'll see if I can find out any updates.

From what I understand, there was so much damage from the fire that it might be hard to tell exactly what happened. It started on fire while traveling down a long fast straightaway though, and it was a fuel fire inside the cockpit.

Ron Sutton may be able to chime in but I think the fire suppression systems run out of material fairly quickly and the thought behind it not doing much good at this point is because the car was so involved by that point. If a fuel pump was pumping fuel on the fire, literally...not many fire systems are going to be able to put that fire out. The old mechanical fuel pump on my car doesn't' seem like such a bad idea anymore now that I think about this.

[BMR Sales]

This Lat-G feature story hits a little close to home, the racer Stephen is from the KC area and may of my friends that do the endurance racing thing know him and the team he was driving for.

http://lateral-g.net/safety-dont-just-preach-it-practice-it/

Other than not practicing his egress from the car in a hurry, his other mistake was opening his helmet visor to help see better. I have always been guilty of racing with my visor up to aid in vision and for comfort.

I have made plans to purchase a new scratch free visor for my helmet and will run with it down all the time now as well as acquiring a full set of fire retardant underwear and a balaclava for my head.

What safety upgrades are you all working on this season?

I wear my Visor up most of the time for ventilation. I've always worn Balaclavas - they soak up that Head-Stink!

My Upgrades this year are;
1 - a new Bell Carbon Fibre Helmet. It will have HANs Clips & an Eject System
2 - a Cool-Shirt. After using a Cool Shirt last year, I can't believe it took me this long to do it

[miltmilton]

As an old Army Viet Nam era chopper pilot and instructor as well as a civilian fixed wing driver that has survived several extensive crashes I can attest to the critical need to practice, practice, practice and practice some more. "Muscle Memory" has saved my life on more than one occasion. There were times I got out and don't remember doing anything since I was dazed. The Military Method Of Instruction (MMOI) always treated each approach to landing as an emergency situation (maintain situational awareness). And when you practice any maneuver, practice it in TOTAL blindness with all your driving gear on. Don't simulate anything. You can practice every time you start or turn of your engine by consciously placing your hand on the appropriate switch, knob or handle before looking for it. Same for exiting the vehicle. Don't skimp on safety equipment both because of price or "I don't need it because the rules say I don't have to have it". One last bit of advice that I use to brief my flight before every mission - "Don't do anything stupid".

milt

[GregWeld]

I wear my Visor up most of the time for ventilation. I've always worn Balaclavas - they soak up that Head-Stink!

My Upgrades this year are;
1 - a new Bell Carbon Fibre Helmet. It will have HANs Clips & an Eject System
2 - a Cool-Shirt. After using a Cool Shirt last year, I can't believe it took me this long to do it


My buddy Lillard makes fun of me for running a cool shirt.... he doesn't know what he's missing!!


Last thing I do when I get buckled in the car -- I look down at the fire extinguisher "pull" - I feel my 5 point latch and think about the release - I look at my cut off switches. I KNOW where all this stuff is - but in my mind I'm running thru what order I'm doing what - and just "thinking" about the what if.

[intocarss]

Thank god he is ok

rm3DFI9ERlY