Though I haven’t posted here in quite a while, I check in occasionally to catch up with what’s current. I just ran across this post and first of all, I’d like to extend a thank you to all of you who have wished me well with my recovery. I’m currently enduring week sixteen in the brace (with several more to go) all in the name of avoiding surgery which would require entry through my chest as well as my back and would require having a heart surgeon involved; and another twelve weeks of recovery. I’m trying really hard not to go there. And hopefully, I’ll be back in the air soon instead of simply flying a desk….and, hopefully, back to driving again.
While I’m here, I’d like to clarify a couple of things. First, the fracture on the a-arm mount was a fresh fracture, caused by impacting the pothole. There was no ‘failure in progress’ prior to the accident and for those who have questioned the discoloration present in the photo/s of the mount, it is, indeed, dirt. Below, I’ve added a photo of the lower a-arm bracket on the RH side of the car. You can easily see the fracture of the mount; though now discolored from sitting on a lift for three months, it’s was, at the time, a fresh fracture and happened once the car impacted the ground; this was after becoming airborne.
Secondly, I spent quite a bit of time compiling and creating the accident information all for the sake of safety, so that ALL who share the same passion for driving might gain something constructive from my experience. For those who are interested, here is an additional link to a USA7’s thread regarding my accident:
http://www.usa7s.net/vb/showthread.php?10354-XCarGuyI did not, however, spend weeks analyzing and editing this information for the sake of being criticized for entering an apex too early and then choosing to power out onto the rumble strip and then off the pavement at the exit while carrying a passenger who also happened to be an instructor. Frankly, there was no pavement to run off of at the end of the rumble strip because the track had deteriorated and was no longer there. The person who made these comments is the very reason I stopped posting on this site for the most part, and those comments are a shinning example of why I chose not to share my information about my accident on this forum. But for those of you who have stayed on topic in this thread, thank you. This was my first time running this venue, and if the video is reviewed in its entirety, it is evident that during the next three laps (after hitting the pothole) leading up to the accident, I (early or not) come off the apex and stayed well clear of the rumble strip. Photos of the deteriorated track surface are also in the video.
As a professional pilot with 10,000 plus hours and many years of accident and incident free flying, as well as the current aviation department safety officer for a fortune 100 company, I can assure you that I absolutely do not do 'haphazard' well. Every component of every aircraft should be given the same attention to detail during a preflight for the first flight of the day......EVERY COMPONENT....EVERY PREFLIGHT. And if you choose to drive your car in a high performance environment, it deserves the same attention to detail before getting on track…..EVERY TIME. A tech inspection, by comparison, is cursory. Be thorough. If I sound preachy and condescending, my apologies; sixteen weeks into recovering from a compression fracture, a burst fracture (and two other fractures) and dealing with daily pain had made me a bit of bear to be around. More importantly, it motivates me to stress the importance of practicing safety, in the hopes of passing something positive on to others so that they may avoid what I'm currently enduring.