7-Up CLub Racing: Ober's Little Off-Track Excursion

OUR LITTLE PAGE OF "MISHAPS"

One Saturday Morning.... We are a humble bunch and will share our lessons learned, both good and bad, with whomever is interested. Herein lay the bad. Our first on (or off depending on your perspective) track "incident" was experienced at the fall 1999 MADS event held at Summit Point Raceway on the Jefferson Circuit. Paul Ober decided to explore the landscape in turn 5 while we were running the track in the counter clockwise direction. For those unfamiliar with this course or this section of the track, turn 5 is a downhill medium radius left hander with a healthy dose of positive camber. It is a little bumpy but can typically be taken at about 40-50mph after braking down from 85-90mph after cresting the hill. All this is given optimum conditions of course. However, on the saturday morning it was overcast and damp. Paul later told us that he turned the wheel and nothing happened and straight off into a ditch he went. And on into a tire wall nose first. The trip through the ditch and into the tires was harsh enough to hole the radiator and A/C coil, buckle the two front fenders and hood, scratch the windshield and destroy essentially all the under body and lip spoiler plastic. What we can say, is that the impact was soft enough that the air bag did not deploy and unbelievably Paul was able to drive the car back to the pits unaided albeit with the coolant buzzer screaming in his ear. There was no structural damage. Cold tires, cold track, and THE RED MIST, do not for a pleasant experience make! Paul's car has made a complete recovery. Below are a few pictures of the repair as it progressed.

A LITTLE FATT DANCE Summit Point for all intensive purposes is a fairly forgiving track. In September of 1999 it was freshly repaved. And a mighty fine surface it is now. So off to Summit Point we go to sample the "new" track. Friday At The Track (FATT) was attended by Chris Regan, Rich Mills and Ed Hahn. However, Mr. Hahn in the process of testing a new set of Kuhmo R compound tires got a little exuberant with the loud pedal coming out of turn nine. This resulted in a beautifully executed 360 followed by a slide into the grass and a friendly kiss with the tire wall. After all was said and done he came to rest halfway up a dirt retaining burm almost underneath the flag station's crows nest. The resultant "damage" is seen below. The missing element of these photographs is a flattened tire that was peeled from the rim during the ride up the burm. The car was driven home under its own power. Mr. Hahn has some plans for a new paint color after the body work is done but is keeping his choice a secret.

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This page last updated May 20, 2000

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Disclaimer: All images contained on this page are the sole property of C. Regan or were collected from the public domain, unless otherwise indicated. If any image contained on this page is considered private property please contact Christopher Regan.