Sad video for Jim C, funny for everyone else
 

Wow, this is bizarre. Jim, any ideas, any weird weak points in the RX7 that would cause something like this? Or did the guy just finger tight his track wheels and forget to

http://www.teamjamoto.com/dixeregionpage.htm

It's not that surprising to lose a wheel, but all 4 at the same time? That's unusual.

Found an exlanation

wow, that is comical but sad...

odd that he felt he needed the handbrake.

Since no one got hurt, that was hilarious. My lungs hurt.

why would the tire company be to blame??
usually i would think that they provide the tire, owner provides car,wheels and lugnuts?? no?

It's possible (maybe likely considering the comment) that the tires, wheels and lugnuts were bought as a package.

This is America. We need someone other than ourselves to blame. Always.

wow, you guys should check out some of the sick whips on that page;) (did i say that right?) nothing like a slushbox neon with color coded interior bits to get your blood flowing!

And that's why I always buy Porsche OEM wheels and lug nuts for my car...

-Z-man.

Re: Sad video for Jim C, funny for everyone else
 

I cannot get the page to load. In the 10 or so years I have been around RX7 owners online I can safely say that 99% of the problems they have with their cars are owner related. Your typical RX7 owner is 17-20 years old with a below 80 IQ I am not kidding.


I once bought a 1/4 mile track car from the owner of an RX7 website. All the bigshots on the site had fallen all over each other to work on this "project car" it was the flagship car of the forum and I thought it would be a great car to get my hands on.

The Haltech was wired into it using twisted wire ends and electrical tape. The car was a total POS but to read their ravings online you would have thought it was the best car ever put together.

I quickly turned around and sold it for a lot less than I paid for it. I made sure the buyer knew it was a POS that needed a LOT of fixing. This is your typical RX7 owner.

What I have done to my car and a few others in the motorsports world is a rarity. Most of them are put together with duct tape, electrical tape and clothes hangers.



That person is a liar, there is no way he torqued his lug nuts to 90 Ft. Lbs. and did not notice something wrong. He probably snugged them down and never torqued them.


I had a set of new Kosai K1 rims on my MINI at a track day and the finish on the rim caused my front right wheel to work the lugs loose. I felt it right away and pulled off the track behind a wall.

Now I torque my lugs on all of my cars all day long at a track day. Same goes for Autocross, I drove my 911 110 miles Sunday to AX and when I got there and the car cooled down I checked the lugs.

I agree. He didn't torqued his lug nuts to 90 Ft. Lbs. Threads fit or not. Let's see a picture of the stripped bolts and nuts. :rolleyes:

If they were the correct lug nuts and he just didn't torque them, it's hard to imagine they would have wound off so fast.

IMO, it makes sense that the lug nuts were the wrong ones and pulled off, but it's hard to believe they would have torqued smoothly to 90ft/lbs if they were crossthreaded.

Unless maybe they were the right thread, but too short and only had a few threads of grab.

I've had a wheel loosen up on me at speed, and you know it right away. Stupid lug bolts....... I dunno how anyone could have gone that short a distance and not known his lugs were loose.
Pics of the lugs:
http://i126.photobucket.com/albums/p81/knowcones/2402956247_ORIG.jpg

That was awesome. They should send that video to America's Funniest Videos, they may win enough to fix the car back up.

I finally saw the video. I hate to laugh at someones misfortune but damn... that loked like something out of an 80's comedy.

Just because he passed tech inspection does not mean his lugs were checked. Some clubs check them others do not.

Example: My battery in my 911 would not pass an SCCA inspection but passes the PCA ones no problem. One of my bolts are stripped and the battery can wiggle.

I have never had anyone check the torque on my lugs at any event.

Re: Re: Sad video for Jim C, funny for everyone else
 

I would have to agree. I was remounting wheels on a car I had just worked on and one lug would not tighten, it just kept revolving. I took it off and checked it and it was the wrong thread. It never came close to 90ft/lbs. It would surprise me if it ever made 20ft/lbs.

At least he had cool shoes.

I feel no pity for anyone with shoes like that.

You know, with those shoes, I bet he could drive the wheels off pretty much any car.

I wonder if the owner was the focus of fellow pranksters (cruel), or perhaps the owner didn't want to admit he forgot to thread them more than two threads tight.

I don't buy the incorrect thread theory. As noted, he should have noticed something was amiss if he tightened them. The timing of all 4 wheels separating at about the same time indicates an equal absence of retention.

Wheel launch was similar to rocket booster separation on the Space Shuttle.

I had a similar event happen with a LF tire many years ago. Someone tried to steal the Fuchs and quit after removing 5 lug nuts. I feel bad for the owner even if it was his fault. I would rather not list the stupid things I've done in the name of wrench twisting.

Sherwood

I've bolted on a lot of wheels in my service station days, I don't think I could duplicate that timing with a hundred different Mazda's. What's the trick?
Jim

That's the amazing part, that all 4 went at once. I've driven with loose lugnuts a couple of times before on one or more wheels. I always heard an issue before something happened. I've driven 10-25 miles on wheels before they started making noise and I fixed my predicament.

I'm guessing that the stresses of racing, being different than regular driving, could have kept him from hearing/noticing until it was too late.

http://www.pelicanparts.com/support/smileys/wat6.gifhttp://www.pelicanparts.com/support/smileys/wat3.gifhttp://www.pelicanparts.com/support/smileys/clap.gif http://www.pelicanparts.com/support/smileys/lol2.gif I'm sorry, but I'm still laughing!! That was just funny as he11!! If I would've been there, I would've had to excuse myself so I could collapse and roll around laughing may a$$ off.

"m guessing that the stresses of racing, being different than regular driving, could have kept him from hearing/noticing until it was too late."

Not to pile it on, but this appeared to be an autocross. He must have traveled maybe 60 feet from the start line before ejeculation occurred. However, helmet on, adrenaline racing, engine revving, it's understandable he was focused on other events.

Sherwood

where was ashton kutcher ?

Hmm the current rumor is english nuts on metric studs.

Yeah, but how could you properly and successfully torque them on if that were the case? I've made that mistake, but was never able to torque them down. Ruined a few studs that way.

I'm betting he showed up with new "track wheels/tires" for the first time, took off the old ones, put on the new ones, finger tightened them, got side tracked with something (drivers meeting, etc), came back and forgot he hadn't tightened them, and never went through proper tech with them.

Now, I could be totally wrong, as I've seen stranger things happen. For that matter, that almost DID happen to me when I had my BBS's refinished, and that refinishing also included them mistakenly painting the lug nut flanges, which came loose after some heat got into them (first DE after they were refinished). They were properly torqued, but the paint un-bonded(?) from the wheel, and the lug nuts didn't hold.

Almost lost all 4 wheels going down a highway... pulled over, and they were all finger tight at best. Ended up getting it flat-bedded to the dealer to get the flanges properly cleaned up.

that can't possibly hold the wheel on as long as it did
english is reverse thread... they would fall outafter 5 meter , even when creeping up to the start line

sounds like elton john's wet dream

"english is reverse thread."

Actually, right hand SAE threads are like right hand Metric threads, but different OD and threads/inch or mm, or whatever. English threads are usually referred to as British Whitworth, another British invention alongside electricity by Lucas.

My attempts to thread metric to SAE and vice-versa result in maybe 1 1/2 threads of intimate contact before coming to a halt, that is unless one attempts to go past 1.5 with an impact gun, the results of which create the ultimate lock nut, or thread remover, whichever comes first.

Sherwood

The use of the handbrake on a car without wheels indicates an IQ below 80, which obviously had something to do with the wheels failure.

Aurel

I can actually see and understand why he'd do the hand-brake thing though... when you're in shock (like ANYONE would be when they see 2 or more wheels of their car go bouncing away and the whole car settling to the pavement) the body kicks in with learned/repetitive behaviour.

His brain was still probably trying to process what had just happened and subconsciously did the "park and get out of the car" routine.

Still makes for a great pic though. ;)

I never apply my handbrake at a motorsports event. I leave my car in gear with the engine off but I never apply my handbrake unless I am looking for warped rear rotors that weekend.

I am with Aurel on this one, 80 is a gift.

And he's got the shirt;

Straights are for fast cars.
Curves are for fast drivers.

Maybe he needs a "lug nut are lame" shirt.

Nice!
http://forums.pelicanparts.com/uploa...1182047870.jpg

The shirt;
http://forums.pelicanparts.com/uploa...1182047894.jpg

That's the funniest thing I've read all day, you just made me snort my pizza. :)

(djmcmath @ 10:39am)
"That's the funniest thing I've read all day, you just made me snort my pizza."

I would have felt more appreciative of your comments if you hadn't just awoken at 10:24am. Oh well, that might have been my 15 minutes of fame. :)

And why are you eating pizza for breakfast?

Have a nice day,
Sherwood

I actually hadn't just awoken -- I had been up for long enough that pizza was lunch. ;)