25 Pictures of 1 Crash (High Speed Connections Only)

[Jack Olsen]

In mid-November of this year, I signed up for five track days in one week. On the second, at Sears Point in Sonoma, I went into the tire wall at Turn 11 which is a hairpin turn before the main straight. It wasn't all that spectacular, as crashes go, but the photographer (from Sideline Sports Photography) happened to be well positioned to catch it, and fired off about 30 pictures as I bounced off the tires.

The reason for the crash is two-fold, and both are my fault. I was checking out a sticky clutch issue I'd experienced the day before, and momentarily 'lost my place' in the braking zone. Also, it looks like I'd put in more aggressive pads in back than I had in front, completely by accident, which I didn't discover until this week, when I changed the rear pads. I think this contributed to the rear wheels locking up in a braking zone I was already going into too hot.

It had been a great day up until that point. The driver's side of my car looked very nice, in fact:



But during the first session of day two, the bad part happened. The photographer told me he saw my rear wheels lock up first. But the first picture he took shows all four locked up:

[Jack Olsen]

You can see me looking where the car is headed:





It's interesting to me that there's a leading edge of tire smoke that travels ahead of the tires during the slide. Any engineers out there care to explain this?

[Jack Olsen]

Ouch:





At the moment of impact, I remember feeling a cold liquid hitting my face. My first (irrational) thought was that it might be blood. Then I thought maybe gasoline. But it was the water that settles inside the tires after a rain.





My head moves forward during the impact, but the tires absorbed all the energy, and my head didn't snap forward at all. According to my data logger, I'd slowed down from about 110 mph to 30 mph at the point of impact. 'Both feet in' does a good job of slowing a car down.

[Jack Olsen]

No sore neck or shoulder or anything. Which is very lucky, since I (stupidly) hadn't put my Isaac head restraint on for the first session.



Initially, things looked pretty bad:







But with a little help from my friends, we had everything cleaned up and bent back (minus the wing) for my next scheduled session. The trailing arm wasn't bent, and the fiberglass body panels 'remembered' their original shape. As far as I've been able to tell, there was no meaningful damage. The driver's side just isn't as pretty as it used to be.



In fact, the car was able to make the 360 mile drive back to Los Angeles that night -- with some brake cleaner and spraypaint caps substituting for the R tail lights.



The next day I was out at Willow Springs in Rosamond with Open Track Racing, and then the car made the 450-mile trip to Thunderhill that weekend for two days of wheel-to-wheel racing with NCRC/ARC.

[Hugh R]

Wow, very interesting Jack, (notice I didn't say cool). Glad you faired OK.

[84porsche]

Wow. Sorry about the accident but very cool pictures. Amazing how something like this is documented. If their was a way to document accidents out in the real world, it would be quite interesting and quite a business. It seems no one ever really remembers what happens during or after an accident. Glad you weren't banged up too bad.

[island911]

Daaaaymmmn.

If only you had gotten hard on the gas right there.





Awesome pic here.



"It's interesting to me that there's a leading edge of tire smoke that travels ahead of the tires during the slide. Any engineers out there care to explain this?"

There's a lot of heat energy there. . . gases expanding quickly in all directions.

Very cool pict's. Thanks for sharing.

[Jared at Pelican Parts]

Jack, can you tell me where to get some ludes?

you look pretty damn calm there.

[jtratza]

I can't tell by the picture but think you are saying either, "wow dude" or " hmmmmmmm this isn't right." Whatever the look on your face is classic. Thanks for the great shots and sharing. Sorry about the shunt but glad you and your great car survived without too much damage.

[Jack Olsen]

I don't remember what I was thinking.

But in that picture, it looks like I'm having a Jeffrey "The Dude" Lebowski kind of moment.

[Axis11]

Even sliding into a pile of tires that car still looks incredible. (and just the car, no need to feed Jack's ego)
What amazes me is how the quarter panel just popped back.
No cracks or separation?
And those tires, once the grip was gone and the momentum slowed didn't hook up again?



thanks for the share, Jack

[DonDavis]

Jack,
I'm glad the damage was minimal. We all know it could have been tons worse. What strikes me most is your expression in the pics. So 'matter of fact', as if to say (in a whimsical way) "Yup, this stinks. Oh, there's the tire wall. Hope it's not too bad."

[madmmac]

It is that "sick feeling" of everything is happening in slow motion and there's not a damn thing I can do about it look......I know the feeling a few times over, you just hope it's not going to be too bad.

They are some excellent photograpic shots though.

Glad to hear you and the car are both doing fine.

[fhernand]

Jack, glad to hear you shook it off! Get back in there and keep puchin!

[Rodney Nelson]

You are freak'n crazy!!!!!!!!!!

If I had that car I would freak out if a bird looked at it wrong.

Glad you didn't get hurt, and I like the turn signal and brake fix, I think you should replace the passanger side as well.

[slodave]

Originally posted by Jack Olsen
I don't remember what I was thinking.

Almost looks like you are looking at someone and are about to wave to them... Or, you might have been thinking "Did I remember to turn the iron off before I left?"

Nice sequence of pics. Good thing it was only body damage.

Dave

[Jason Cullen]

Jack,

Nice expression, classic!

It looked "Mint" when I saw you on Ventura Bl in Sept.

You are very admired in the P-Car race click!

Will make one of the next Canyon runs in LA.

Jason

[masraum]

D@mn Jack, I don't know if my heart can handle another BB build up. Glad this one turned out to be cosmetic because the pics look pretty rough.

Glad everything turned out OK, since your car is the Pelican Mascot it needs to stick around and so do you.

Keep your head on the game.

[TerryH]

Right here I expected the digi cam to come out the window for a self-portrait. It does look like your posing... lol

Glad it wasn't worse for you or the car.....

[QUOTE]Originally posted by Jack Olsen
[B]

[jtratza]

This ones pretty good too with the water barriers doing their job. Reminds me of my 60's surfing at steamers in Santa Cruz with about the same results.