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:
