Nemadji Trail Rally 3A and 3B: Ziptie rally car rolls

July 27, 200916 yr

Had another rally yesterday. in the Nemadji state forest again. 1st 2 events there went very well. Even took 3rd overall at the last one.

But, some overconfidence, and a couple other mistakes meant that carl went into a corner way too hot, less than a mile into the first stage of the event, and rolled the car 3 times. you could see, clear as day, the indents where the tires hit each time. our Crew chief paced off the distance from the last tracks to where the car landed (the car was definitely not on the ground at the time....grass wasn't even pushed over), and it was about 30 feet :shock:

Thankfully, the car is equipped with 10s of thousands of dollars worth of safety equipment (full FIA-legal cage, harnesses, HANS devices, helmets, etc. etc.), and they walked away with minimal injuries. both the driver and co-driver are a little sore, and the co-driver got a little scraped up by some shattered glass, but nothing even remotely severe!.

At the time, we had 2 video cameras recording. one suction-cupped to the driver's door (we had a string tied from it to the door handle, just in case. you'll notice in the video when the suction cup fails and it starts flying around on the string). the other mounted to the roll cage, and plugged into the intercom. the sound on the external cam sucks, so turn down the volume until the footage from the other camera starts.

most of the damage was cosmetic. will need lots of body panels. but the roll cage wasn't even touched, the pillars supported the weight entirely. frame rails are in-tact, suspension is straight. we got lucky!

a good friend of ours, Mark Utecht, also rolled his mustang. similar problems. just came in too hot, little co-driver mistake, etc. and rolled. Mark was not as lucky, he landed upside-down, crushed the body of the car onto the cage, which left him trapped in the car. his car is not worth repairing.