1 Punt, 1 shower of hay bales

[Conan]

= hot NASA 944spec footage!

LjsRU26awu4

[jstecher]

Ouch...was that a punt or did the dude just lose the backend? Looks like there was space between the cars but then again youtube isn't spectacular. :P

Nice driving man...glad to see you out there beating the beast around! Putnam looks like a lot of fun.

[Conan]

Actually, I was the #05 car that got punted by Eric. The race director came and reviewed the video the next morning and determined Eric should have been much closer to me as well simply trying to pass from a bad position. I was taking a late apex and didn't see Eric since he was so far to the inside.

[jstecher]

SHIT man I thought the incar was you! How much damage to the car?

[Conan]

It wasn't nearly as bad as I thought it was going to be. I'm finding out these cars are built like tanks. They can take a hell-of-a beating and keep on going. Ray's crash at the end of the video would have put a lot of other cars out of commission. But all he did was break his radiator. We replaced it with a spare and he went on to win the Sunday race the next day.

Here's a pic of the damage to my door from Eric punting me.
http://www.maxerboy.net/images/cars/trackEvents/Putnam/ericLeavesHisMark01.jpg

[Eric]

Wow... relatively unscathed. Glad you're all right and damage is contained.

[billy]

Thats good news Conan, happy to see the car come out relatively unscathed. You're hanging in nicely with the guys there until Eric came along.

Eric, you seem to be involved in a lot of rubbing in these races :P What gives?

[Conan]

Thats good news Conan, happy to see the car come out relatively unscathed. Thanks.You're hanging in nicely with the guys there until Eric came along.

Eric, you seem to be involved in a lot of rubbing in these races :P What gives?It's just racing. I don't want to speak for Eric, but I'm sure he was just trying to finish off the good run he had on me coming out of turn 5. As our racing director said, the major mistake he made was actually from trying to be nice. He was trying to give me a lot of room (probably smart around a complete rookie), too much room in fact. The problem with that is two-fold: 1) Being far apart means you can build up speed and smack hard, while being very close means any contact will simply be very very minor; 2) I can't see him because he's not close enough so I have no clue he's trying that. Had he been right along side me, I would not have been able to turn in, he would have had the corner and we could have just gone on our merry way with Eric passing me.

[jstecher]

Some bondo and a new sticker and your ready to roll man. :P

[Conan]

fun with editing:

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[Sterling Doc]

Eric checking in here.

1st let me say that I was predominantly at fault here, and made no arguements being DQ'd here. As the overtaking car, I had the primary responsability to make a clean pass, and the the contact resulted in my gaining position, and Conan leaving the racing surface. It was a poor choice of corners, and poor line in overtaking, and doing this all with a rookie driver (who I should realize is concentrating on line more than situational awareness) resulted in avoidable contact. I have a door for Conan, and he has my apology.

In my (meager) defense, this is the first episode of contact I've had in 2 full regular seasons of racing - 30 + races in all, so I'm not out looking for contact :). I did have a minor rub at Nationals this year, but that's a whole 'nother level & intensity of competition, and I was on the receiving end of that. [It was the same fender that I pranged with Conan, so that worked out for me:)]

I had inverted the grid for fun, and then found Putnam to be a narrow, difficult track to pass on, and went for an aggressive pass. I had a run, and was far enough up to have a right to an inside line, but as Conan mentioned, I made the mistake of trying to leave a lot of room, with all the consequences he mentioned. I was happy that instead of a lecture, we all got a well-taught lesson in passing, controlling a corner, and racecraft by our race director. That's NASA - they'll make a public example of mistakes, but as learning tools, not to berate. The embarrasment that comes with that is punitive enough, most of the time. For me, I have learned that I will have the addded bonus of having that video incorporated into the comp school curriculum, so it'll follow me for years to come. :o

Here's some video from the next day. Being a little timid from the previous day's events, Ray (somehow undauted from his flight the previous day), walked all over me in passing situations with some artful racecraft/defensive driving.

http://vimeo.com/1982874

At least I had my stuff together for the final event Monday at Autobahn :D. More to follow on that - one of the most fun days racing I've had.

[kbrew8991]

you guys better drag those cars out to Nationals next year - looks like fun :)