RE: 13.757 @100.70 mph
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[div class="dcquote"][strong]Quote[/strong]The day i was at the track this kid put his dad's zr1 in the lake when he was doing the auto cross. I did not see it, i had just left.check out some pics
http://forums.corvetteforum.com/showthread.php?t=1155358&page=1&pp=10[/div]no pics anymore. story is on page 8 or 9. the "kid" was a 35 yo father of 2...
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That "kid" 35 y/o is shaken up a bit to much i think.
http://i4.photobucket.com/albums/y108/1989x2/boating.jpg
http://i4.photobucket.com/albums/y108/1989x2/uboat1.jpg
http://zr1netregistry.com/uboat/uboat3.jpg
http://i4.photobucket.com/albums/y108/1989x2/underwaterengine.jpg
Well, I hoped the day would never come where I'd be the next 'idiot' shared on the internet, but it's better than being dead.
To answer some questions quickly before the story:
- I was in a total state of physical and mental shock while a dozen or so people rushed out to photo the car.
- I've been autocrossing for 9 years, but on slower cars - 90 RX7 & 95 Miata
- The car belongs to my father, his name is indeed George. He's owned it for 10 years.
- The roof was off to allow more helmet space
- I've given the VIN to a member at the ZR1 registry for posting when we have a resolution on the car
- I was not screwing around
- I'm happy to be alive
About me: I'm 35, married, father of 2 (1yr and 3yrs). I have a high regard for human life. I have a high respect for other people and their property. I've autocrossed this car before and have driven it several hundred miles on different outings. Compared to my cars, I was well aware that it has blistering power, excellent grip, and it understeers when pushed, but will oversteer with throttle. It otherwise behaves the same way as any other car would when you upset it's balance, but it has to be moving faster than others to get it there. I could go on more, but that should be enough to impart I had at least a mild handle on what to expect from it.
This was my last timed run of the day. I had no problems before with this element, or even the car all day with the exception of my second run in the morning where I unsettled the rear and slid sideways to the left for quite some distance. I noted what I did to upset the car and made sure not to do it again.
In the morning, I had run several 33.9xx runs, but in the afternoon, when it counted, I was pussyfooting to the tune of 34.9. I asked others if their grip was going away, but none concurred. I was just choking when it counted. Before my last run, I was down to 34.3, but still almost half a second slower than in the morning. I already had 1st place in class clinched. I wanted a lower time, but wasn't out making a "do it or lose it trying" effort - just pushing the car marginally harder to equal what I did in the morning.
After the turn around at the back, there were a series of gates that led to a right hander which pointed you towards the left hander down in the direction of the fence. I'd noted already the car was grippy enough that I could take that turn without fully lifting while going to the right towards the fence, than apply a little more power straight before braking for the left hander. I had done so on 4 or 5 other runs already (13 total in the day) and it seemed good for ~2 tenths. After going around the right hander with some throttle applied, I could feel the wheels start to spin some and the rear moved maybe a few inches to the left side. Not much different then before, up to this point. Previously, I waited for the wheels to settle back in, hit the brakes, pulled the car down, then made the left back up course.
When I got into the brakes hard to pull the car down for the left hander away from the fence, the rear snapped out to the right. I'd guess it was not completely settled and I really aggrevated things with amount of braking I'd applied. At this point, "I had both feet in", but can't recall how firm I was on the brake. I don't know how long I was skidding/sliding sideways, but I was carrying a great deal of speed when it started. Things get a little cloudy as I'm still in a very emotional state of shock. I remember looking at the fence as I was sliding sideways towards it thinking "Holy ****! I might not stop before the fence." Sometime or distance before then, the car straightened out to point directly at the fence. Things got very euphoric as I had realized the blanket of safety I thought I had was gone, I was going to hit the fence. At this point, I still had 2 feet in, but don't recall whether I was on the brakes enough to engage the ABS. There was no thought at this point about trying to turn the wheel, the fence was coming fast, and I thought I was braking at hard as I could. Then I realized as I was almost on top of it, I was going into the water. "I can't believe I'm really going into the water" I thought in panic. Just before I hit the fence, I could hear Jean Kinser-Dana saying "You're looking in the wrong place. You look where you want to go and you'll get there. You look where you don't want to go, you get there instead." At that point the car slipped underneath the fence, hit the 12-18 inch berm, and launched into the water. I watched the nose hit the water, and splash up the windshield.
The car had come to a stop and water began rushing into the cockpit. As I reached down to immediately unbuckle myself (no joke, thank you Fear Factor), water was enveloping the buckle. The amount of time my father waited as he ran out towards the car, until he heard "he's up" must have been an eternity. In a total state of shock, I stood there on top of the driver seat as the car continued to slowly sink. The skiers nearby came over and took anything I could hand them before the car went down. Thank god they weren't running when I entered the water. Someone definately would have been dead or seriously injured. Finally somebody told me I should just get out and walk to shore. The water where I stepped in was somewhere around 4-4.5 feet deep. I walked up, went back under the fence and started looking for my father. When I found him, we embraced and I told him "I can't believe this just happened. I can't believe I just destroyed your car." He was traumatized as well. Enduring watching what happened was just as bad for him.
I don't know how much better a Divisional or National caliber driver would have done with car after I upset it and started the slide. I'd imagine they never would have gotten into the trouble I was in in the first place. I thank God that I went in straight and didn't go out on an angle possibly inducing the car to flip and land upside down. With the soft floor on bottom, I could have been stuck, in an ICU now, or dead. 3 days later, I still can't close my eyes without seeing that fence. I have spoken to other drivers who've been through similar experiences and my state of trauma or shock is normal, but still very difficult. I can't sleep well, don't have an appetite, and can't relax for more than 30 minutes at a time before my pulse jumps and I start sweating, thinking about everything all over again. I'm very lucky as well to have an understanding boss who'll let my productivity slide for a bit.
My father is happy I'm alive and also glad I didn't go in sideways, he's had nightmares since about 'what if it were worse'. The rest of our weekend was very tense. We had the car towed to a local area shop, not thinking because we were both in severe shock. We bought a shop vac, and started getting as much moisture out as possible. 2 hours into working on it, he realized the best place for the car would 50 miles away at home. We called another wrecker and brought the car home at $3/mile. Our plans for the next day were cancelled as we spent all available time before I had to leave on removing moisture and cleaning off/out dirt. While he put on his best face, saying he was just happy to still have me here, I knew he was devastated and our relationship would not be the same for some time. "I'm sorry" just doesn't cut it after dunkinmg a $20K car. To try better emphathise with him, I'd sent the email the following Monday when I was back home starting the research process about what to do with the car:
"I felt so bad this morning, I was nauseous. It brings me to tears
everytime I think about it. I can't stop second guessing myself. I know
I had the clutch in my foot on the brake, but I can't remember if I was
pressing very hard or if the ABS was pulsing. Not knowing whether I did all
I could or just paniced and froze is killing me. I'm looking into making
an appointment with a hypnotist to see if I can recall more details of
what happened. Either way, it won't effect how badly I feel, but I need
to know.
You've had that car for 10 years. And although it was just a 'thing'
compared to my life, I realize from all the stories you've told about it
how much you've enjoyed owning it, driving it, and showing it to other
people. I've greatly enjoyed sharing experiences with you and it. I feel
very helpless in that I don't have the resourced to immediately put that
car back in your garage in it's state from before I arrived. I will do
everything I can to make this right."
With that, things got a little better between us and we waited for the local dealer to look at the car.
Progress on the car can be read about here:
http://www.zr1netregistry.com/forum...hread.php?t=728
For those of you who still think I'm an unskilled idiot who had no business being in the car, I won't argue with you. My only rebuttal would be that I'm taking this whole thing far from lightly. This experience for me has been anything but saying "Oops! Oh well, it's just a car." While others have gotten friendly with that fence and posts before, I'm the first to go under it and into the water. You could call it a case of someone with enough skill to get the car going fast, and not enough to pull it down when he got into trouble. I find no fault in the course design, or the people who put on the event. To accomplish what I did required making a mistake of astronomical odds. Never in a million years would I have guessed after walking the course 3 times, and driving it 12 that my 13th would end the way it did. I sincerely hope that my mistake will not jeopardize any future events at that site.
As I'm still working through this to put everything that happened back together in my head, I would welcome discussing this with anyone who was there. PM me your phone number and times you can be reached, and I will contact you.
As mentioned, I am seeking hypnotherapy to recall the experience. It is pertinent to me to find out some key details that are hazy, so that should I ever be in a similar situation in the future, I might have better presence of mind to try to do more. While there were 4 black streaks leading a good distance up to the fence, I still am not sure that was our car or someone else from another time.
As for the car. If anyone knows someone or a shop on the east coast, or within 1000 miles of NJ that could replace the electronics and, make an effort to prevent corrosion, and get the car back on the road for less the $70/hr, please email or PM me. We really would like to keep the car, but I'm 1000 miles away with less mechanical than driving skill (I heard much worse already), and my father has little mechanical skills and little spare time. If we can't find someone who can get it back on the road, we'll then look into selling it whole or parting it out. I'm already in touch with South Ga Corvettes as a very interested buyer, but he said if someone is willing to offer more than him, we should do that. If the car goes to parts, we really want to see it help keep other ZR1's running. I feel horrible that I've possibly destroyed such a significant car in Corvette history.
That's about all I have. If anyone has questions, I'll answer them as best I can.
Chris
