Olympus Crash video

Its not a huge wreck, but it ended our day....and it was a good test of our budget in-car video setup. Sometimes, you just can't win.

So you fly off the road at 50 miles per hour after blowing a corner

check it out:

quicktime clip

For the quicktime impaired here is a much crappier you-tube version:




youtube link

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-Tom
DemonRallyTeam | Fine Tuning | CTS Turbo & RP Turbos | RalleyTuned | JRM | Meister Autowerks
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Lucky fucker. Where's the trees?

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Grant Hughes

`I wish there would have been trees there, then I would have seen the corner coming up and been able to slow down in time....oh well. little bit of body work to do...

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-Tom
DemonRallyTeam | Fine Tuning | CTS Turbo & RP Turbos | RalleyTuned | JRM | Meister Autowerks
Spitfire EFI | Product Apparel | JVAB Imports | NLS | AP Tuning | USRT

Add us on Facebook | Next Event: 2013 Olympus Rally June 22-23 Olympia, WA

Whatever bodywork you do, don't lose the flying tigers artwork. That like fully rawks. I really wanted to do that with my car but I couldn't get it to work with the lack of room 'tween bumper and fender...

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Jay Woodward
Snohomish, WA
'90 Mazdog Frankenprotege
Chronologically, 46...

I think these are going to stick with us as long as possible

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-Tom
DemonRallyTeam | Fine Tuning | CTS Turbo & RP Turbos | RalleyTuned | JRM | Meister Autowerks
Spitfire EFI | Product Apparel | JVAB Imports | NLS | AP Tuning | USRT

Add us on Facebook | Next Event: 2013 Olympus Rally June 22-23 Olympia, WA

Sucky... reminds me of several similar mistakes that I've made.

It is such a fine line between hauling ass and in the ditch--I think the difference is experience. I think that with a few more events under your belt you probably would have been able to save this one. Perhaps not, because you were really flying, but maybe.

I'll tell you what I mean: Your instincts (indeed mine and everyone with half a brain and decent motor skills) when confronted with taking a corner too fast and experiencing severe understeer is to: 1) slow the car down and 2) dial in more steering. Which is what happened (watching hands and tach).

Adding more steering makes the car understeer even worse, as does getting off the throttle. So the only way to save it is to do the insane thing, which is to dial in less steering, look where you want to go, step on it, and hope for the best.

It took me well more than a full season of events before I was able to train my brain to do that on a consistent basis.

yep, I bailed on making the corner as I entered it...got surprised when it came up so quick...I was able to get the car going a little bit slower, but I didn't want to roll it by dumping on the throttle and trying to make something out of nothing. I think if I would've been able to drop a gear before the corner we probably would've been fine, but I didn't see the corner until just before the marker....with no tress around it was pretty hard to read that road, and the odometer was insanely far off at that point in the stage. I was starting to get out of my groove as this was about the 20 mile mark in the 26 mile stage, found myself thinking of things other than driving the car while we were at speed--weird...

oh well, lil bit of body work and a little more experience...mo money mo money mo money

PANIC...excuses..meh, we're getting there, this is the learner car. Time to build the rotisserie for the next car

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-Tom
DemonRallyTeam | Fine Tuning | CTS Turbo & RP Turbos | RalleyTuned | JRM | Meister Autowerks
Spitfire EFI | Product Apparel | JVAB Imports | NLS | AP Tuning | USRT

Add us on Facebook | Next Event: 2013 Olympus Rally June 22-23 Olympia, WA

Totally. I've done the exact same thing.

What surprises me, and this somewhat rarely, is that despite all odds, we sometimes get it right. One particular time I recall from 100AW this last year. Screaming over a crest, and there is a hard left at the bottom of the crest, and we're just going to fast. Looks like we're going to launch off the road, pinball off a few trees and roll the car down the farmer's field that was below the road. I'm thinking "This is the one! Going to be a total write-off and be lucky to walk away from this one". Rather than hit the brakes, which would have been the end of us, turned the wheel, lifted slightly then got right back on the throttle, turning more as getting grip, and the damn car pulled out of it. Sheer terror, and you couldn't pay me to do it again, but we probably took the corner better/faster than any of the other cars out there.

Afterwards, I got to thinking that it is probably how Derek drives all the time.

For every one that we did it right (usually the more recent rallies), I can recall one where we didn't (usually the earlier ones).

Yeah, nothing worse than freezing up and fucking it up.

I had a similar situation going into a 90 left at Rally Tennessee. We were in a RWD car. I was pushing something fierce into trees on the outside of the turn, and made the conscious decision (really reaction, I don't know where it came from, but I know that my brain told me it was the right thing to do), to get off of the brakes and get on the gas while wrenching the wheel to the left. It worked, running us into the right ditch, and then over the crown into the left ditch with the oversteer, and then we gunned it out of the ditch.

I didn't want to stuff the car on my maiden voyage with it. Probably was more fun than taking the freeze with no reaction way out.

So when in doubt, gun it. And in your car, get on the brake when you are doing that to get the car to rotate.

Wilson

Tom B Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> yep, I bailed on making the corner as I entered
> it...got surprised when it came up so quick...I
> was able to get the car going a little bit slower,
> but I didn't want to roll it by dumping on the
> throttle and trying to make something out of
> nothing. I think if I would've been able to drop
> a gear before the corner we probably would've been
> fine, but I didn't see the corner until just
> before the marker....with no tress around it was
> pretty hard to read that road, and the odometer
> was insanely far off at that point in the stage.
> I was starting to get out of my groove as this was
> about the 20 mile mark in the 26 mile stage, found
> myself thinking of things other than driving the
> car while we were at speed--weird...
>
> oh well, lil bit of body work and a little more
> experience...mo money mo money mo money
>
> PANIC...excuses..meh, we're getting there, this is
> the learner car. Time to build the rotisserie for
> the next car
>
> Dr. Dick | Fine Tuning | demonrally

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"Talk about drugs. Driving a car like that, going that fast, it’s like all the drugs at once." - Tommy Byrne

"Now, Pinky, if by any chance you are captured during this mission, remember you are Gunther Heindriksen from Appenzell. You moved to Grindelwald to drive the cog train to Murren. Can you repeat that?" - The Brain

Getting it right is something I seem to have only fleeting moments of. Although they are getting more frequent I am enjoying the learning curve. A What I am not enjoying is the money that is flowing out to fix things after all of those little " I will never do that again" moments. I am thinking that if for once I actually had a car to drive between rallies I could practice and get better, Instead of alway having something to fix. Maybe that is all anyone does but I think I should be able to drive a little when I am not on stage.

Does anyone have roads they practice on? Not that I want to drive on your roads, I just want to know if that sort of thing actually happens.

Yes. A number of them.

Dead end roads with some buds and good radios can be a lot of fun, as exist on both public and county lands around here.

Mike Hooper, part of our crew, used to take his Corolla Twin cam, run up a dead end road that he knew to check for traffic and people, come back down doing the same, and if it was clear, he knew he could head back up at speed.

> Does anyone have roads they practice on? Not that
> I want to drive on your roads, I just want to know
> if that sort of thing actually happens.

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"Talk about drugs. Driving a car like that, going that fast, it’s like all the drugs at once." - Tommy Byrne

"Now, Pinky, if by any chance you are captured during this mission, remember you are Gunther Heindriksen from Appenzell. You moved to Grindelwald to drive the cog train to Murren. Can you repeat that?" - The Brain

Perhaps the double caution might have been a good indicator Looks like you locked up the brakes, though it also looked like you were looking ahead to where you wanted to go.

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George Bush...the one man who makes me think my toaster is pretty smart.