Deadly crash at Buttonwillow Yesterday

[ACR Steve]

Unfortunately I see more track accidents then probably anyone in the country .I post this only to make people realize that this great sport should not be taken lightly. Proper safety devices such as 6 point belts and Hans should always be worn when on track. Our cars are some of the fastest if not the fastest production cars ever made. The learning curve is insanely steep drive them with huge respect .

http://www.bakersfieldnow.com/news/l....html?mobile

There is a GoFundMe set up for his family

For those that want to help his family: https://www.gofundme.com/renner

We are all family in this great sport

[ViperTony]

http://www.bakersfieldnow.com/news/local/1-dead-in-crash-at-Buttonwillow-Raceway-Park-360825871.html

[City]

Wow. What a tragedy. And it was on a club practice day!

[C.J]

Very sad. Rest in peace, Ivo.

[AZTVR]

RIP. It appears that this guy was pretty experienced, and carrying a lot of speed to result in impacting where he did. It goes to show that it can happen to anyone. It just takes a small misjudgement or mechanical failure. I track my S2000 there as an intermediate driver and feel like I am fully in control (not a 10-10ths guy); but, you never know.

[RedTanRT/10]

Steve, thanks for posting and the reminder about safety. I've see a few serious wrecks on those esses at BW. Great reminder to me to use my Hans there.

[FLATOUT]

Thanks for posting Steve, very sad :(

[100]

Unfortunately I see more track accidents then probably anyone in the country .I post this only to make people realize that this great sport should not be taken lightly. Proper safety devices such as 6 point belts and Hans should always be worn when on track. Our cars are some of the fastest if not the fastest production cars ever made. The learning curve is insanely steep drive them with huge respect .

http://www.bakersfieldnow.com/news/l....html?mobile

There is a GoFundMe set up for his family

For those that want to help his family: https://www.gofundme.com/renner

We are all family in this great sport
Thanks for letting us know Steve.

[J TNT]

Very sad and unfortunate .
My prayer's go out to his family .

[Vprbite]

Heartbreaking. Obviously, car wrecks hit a little close to home for me. It doesn't sound like he was some over confident kid who didn't know what he was doing. Sometimes, everything comes together in just such a way that the outcome is awful, I really feel his family. Words can't express their loss.

[schulmann]

BMW guys are talking about this accident, that was a side impact on an M3. I don't know what seat the car had but side impacts are the worst even at low speed.
The guy was in his 40s, when we get older the muscles become stiffer. The neck is the weakest point of the human body :(

We also lost a very nice gentlman 2 yrs ago, side impact on a 911. The guy did't have the right seat but was using a 6pnt harness.
6points harness is a killer in the wrong seat: The only thing absorbing the shock is the head and the neck.

I have seen a guy rolling over 8 times with a GEN2 Viper just with the regular seat belt and survived it. He was 32 thouht and it was not a side impact.

This is a very sad accident and it makes question always what rules we should follow when lapping.
Our word is : stick to the street setup: no slicks no half racing seats.

[Vprbite]

BMW guys are talking about this accident, that was a side impact on an M3. I don't know what seat the car had but side impacts are the worst even at low speed.
The guy was in his 40s, when we get older the muscles become stiffer. The neck is the weakest point of the human body :(

We also lost a very nice gentlman 2 yrs ago, side impact on a 911. The guy did't have the right seat but was using a 6pnt harness.
6points harness is a killer in the wrong seat: The only thing absorbing the shock is the head and the neck.

I have seen a guy rolling over 8 times with a GEN2 Viper just with the regular seat belt and survived it. He was 32 thouht and it was not a side impact.

This is a very sad accident and it makes question always what rules we should follow when lapping.
Our word is : stick to the street setup: no slicks no half racing seats.

Im quite familiar with how bad a side impact is. Had I hit head on, I probably would have gotten out of the car and said "well that sucks." Side impacts are brutal. I do think this is sad so im hoping some good can come of it like people taking the extra step to protect their safety that they may not have before or something like that. I feel for his family. I can only imagine the loss they are feeling.

[AZTVR]

BMW guys are talking about this accident, that was a side impact on an M3. I don't know what seat the car had but side impacts are the worst even at low speed..
In the TRACKHQ thread on this subject, a post was made with a copy of a facebook post from supposedly a first responder at the scene. It said that the car had FIA race seats but no Halo head protection.

Last year, at one of the club HPDE events that I frequent, the day after a fatality in a private event at that track, the organizer lamented that the level of speed has been increasing tremendously at HPDE events as the horsepower wars have continued to ramp up. The result is that very fast cars are easily available to a wide range of driver experience levels. In this case, it appears that even a substantial level of experience was not enough safety margin. This can happen to anyone, I think. I'm betting that most of the red group Viper guys would be traveling through that area at similar speeds.

[schulmann]

This is from 2014 when we had that accident with the 911:

This is seat with 4,5,6 point harness is one way ticket to hell, the mine is in the garden shed now:
14340

14341

Prefered seat for all track events:

14342

[ViperTony]

This is from 2014 when we had that accident with the 911:

This is seat with 4,5,6 point harness is one way ticket to hell, the mine is in the garden shed now:
14340

14341

Prefered seat for all track events:

14342

Aren't you the guy from Canada that bolted a baby seat on the center console of your GenII and drove to NY with your son in it? Was it one the seats listed above? Do they make one for infants?

[schulmann]

Yep, Sparco makes the right one, all parents should consider this one, even in their Prius:

14351

[ViperTony]

Yep, Sparco makes the right one, all parents should consider this one, even in their Prius:

14351

Thanks. Sorry to hijack the thread but you reminded me of this and a local owner was asking about this. ;)

[ACR Steve]

why is the second seat ok its 2 piece? Porsche is the only one ever to get a 2 piece race seat approved as far as I know

[TrackAire]

why is the second seat ok its 2 piece? Porsche is the only one ever to get a 2 piece race seat approved as far as I know

Exactly what I was going to ask....not sure what I'm missing regarding that second seat listed as "OK"

If using a quality harness, even the halo seat is useless without some sort of HANS device.

[ACR Steve]

Yes personally I think you are better with stock belts and airbags then a 5/6 point harness and no Hans. Bottom line is the sport can bite back and if you have a harness make the investment for a hans

[TowDawg]

After some of the wrecks I've seen/been involved in since I started racing, I don't know how comfortable I'd be in a street car anymore.
Of course, I'd dial it back if it was just a track day in a street car, but you're still talking high speeds and something like a mechanical failure could send you the wrong place really fast.
At the very least, I'd have harnesses, roll bar, HANS.
It's amazing some of the nasty crashes I've seen and the driver walk away unscathed due to having all the right safety equipment (halo seat, full cage, HANS, suit, arm restraints, halon, etc).
Then at the same time, I've seen someone die on track during an HPDE session driving a 2000's Mustang with nothing but a helmet. His was a mechanical failure cresting the hill into the braking zone for 10A at RA. Hit the outside wall hard, and had massive internal trauma and broke his neck.

Anything can happen and it's not always your fault. Take every precaution you can.

[lmcgrew79]

Simpson owns both hans and the hybrid, the hybrid has side support where a hans dont. A quick call and they will recommend a hybrid if you dont have a winged seat.