rfields Posted June 2, 2020 Report Share Posted June 2, 2020 After much consternation and internal debate, we decided at the last minute to participate in the first track day of the year at Mid Ohio. The Chin Track Day and Mid Ohio staff were all very professional and enforced social distancing, mask wearing, temperature screening, etc. We brought the red Cardinal (our test mule with a facelift) to drive and test, and the orange Cardinal (a customer car destined for California with some deadly serious air conditioning in it) to show off in the paddock. Day 1 was Memorial Day, and we spent the majority of the day shaking the cobwebs off while giving rides to interested folks at the track. By the afternoon things were settling in and we began tweaking the car. Chin does a "happy hour" session at the end of the day, and we used it as a bit of a stress test to cycle the car between on track abuse and off track sitting. Day 2 was quieter and we handed the keys to some of the Chin instructors to give it a shake in the morning sessions. One of the instructors has been a regular test driver for us, and he provided some excellent setup feedback while laying down some quick data sectors for us to analyze. For the first afternoon session, I jumped in to test out some new tweaks we made based on the data and feedback. The car was doing a substantially better job getting and keeping heat in the old street tires with the changes, and lap times fell pretty dramatically. Things were going great, the car felt awesome, it was a beautiful day... and then suddenly catastrophe! A critical braking system component failed - the driver's raggedy old right shoe! I went to start braking for the carousel and, very unexpectedly, felt the cold of the bare metal brake pedal against my foot! This sensation didn't last very long as my foot slid off the side of the pedal, slicing my sock and foot on the way by. My foot was now trapped behind the brake and gas pedals, and in a panic I smacked it against the back of the pedals twice trying to extract it. Once I finally made a calm, smooth motion to get my foot out and onto the pedal surface, I was out of asphalt. The car's nose got busted up pretty decently and we have some suspension and subframe repair to do, but ultimately everything worked as designed and I got out unscathed. We got a free crash test that we didn't ask for, but the data and detailed analysis of the car will be invaluable. I certainly hope to never learn a more expensive lesson about driving equipment, and the new driving shoes are already in the mail. Looking forward to the next event after a few long nights in the shop this week. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BuckeyeROC Posted June 2, 2020 Report Share Posted June 2, 2020 Wow man, glad you're alright. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
iwashmycar Posted June 2, 2020 Report Share Posted June 2, 2020 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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