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Fitzpatrick Crash - Printable Version

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Fitzpatrick Crash - D_Eclipse9916 - 05-26-2017

This past weekend I was in a crash that resulted from a mechanical failure. The Rear Trailing Arm Pocket failed during qualifying.

Youtube Video of crash:
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I am "okay". I still have small head aches and today is the first day I don't "feel" the Hans on my shoulders.

The car is totalled beyond repair (like not even close :lol: ). Which really sucks because the hard hit combined with the roll pretty much took out a good chunk of the car's pricey bits. In the trash: 2x Moton 3-way shocks, Harness, Seat, Cage, Hans, seat brackets, vented fenders, Turner rear lower control arms, Custom spherical front control arm, 4x Apex wheels, rear sphericals, Brooks Wing, carbon fiber trunk, front bumper, carbon fiber riser, and I am sure other things I havent even looked at yet. :finger: And not even sure about the Motor/trans/diff as the Motor was still running while in the air and I can smell gear fluid.

Please remember that this is a dangerous sport. I got lucky in many ways:
1. Visor down (I always keep it down but sometimes forget on the warmup or first lap) Glass shards in the face wouldn't have been fun.
2. I was slower into that braking zone than usual. 108 instead of 116mph because of a slowed car in the previous corner.
3. This is one of the slowest braking zones at VIR, one braking zone later I would have been travelling at 140mph

Just a reminder, at many points of the car, the stock unibody completely failed and was only held back by the cage portion. This is not to scare anyone from coming out to the track, but my own personal rule from now on is I will only drive in caged cars at speed. This also reduces my want for a "fast" street car. I think I will be playing around a bit less on the street.

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Re: Fitzpatrick Crash - SlimKlim - 05-26-2017

The in-car footage makes my palms sweaty knowing you're in there when it's slamming down on the roof. I'm really glad you're ok, I feel like a grandmother but I always worry about you guys a little when you all go to the track.

Looking forward to seeing what you do in the future. I'm sure you already have a bead on your next chassis. :-p

Re: Fitzpatrick Crash - RawrImAMonster - 05-26-2017

Man that's rough. I don't how this typically works for people that race all the time, but do you have any sort of track insurance or are you just out the cost of the car?

It makes me think twice about ever tracking mine. I know it's super unlikely given mine has been street driven it's entire life, but even so, it did have cracks around the subframe mounts before I reinforced that.

The E46 has some serious design flaws in the chassis that are only getting worse as they get older.

Re: Fitzpatrick Crash - WRXtranceformed - 05-26-2017

Damn dude, glad you are alright! That had to have been tough for your wife to watch but good to see the safety equipment did its job. What would be hardest for me is knowing it was a parts failure and not a mistake that was made...It would probably be hard to have a lot of confidence in whatever car I was pushing that hard going forward.

Re: Fitzpatrick Crash - JPolen01 - 05-26-2017

This was insanely scary to hear as I was talking to Maeng in front of your trailer when Zack came over and said it was you who crashed. Glad you are okay! Like you said about only riding in caged cars, I stopped doing ride alongs a couple years ago because it is just too dangerous with the shitty NASA loaner helmets and no hans.

Re: Fitzpatrick Crash - G.Irish - 05-26-2017

Glad you're sharing this DJ, just brings home that you never know when the 'big one' is coming so you have to make sure you made proper investments in safety equipment. Obviously there's always going to be some level of risk but if you do as much as possible the right way, you have a much better chance of walking away.

For me this also highlights the stresses that racecars are subjected to, that can lead to failure of parts that you'd almost never see fail on a street car. You can do everything right and something can still go wrong. Kinda makes me a little leery of crapcan racing where the chassis and components are far less robust.

Re: Fitzpatrick Crash - Jake - 05-26-2017

+1, thank you for sharing this. It's important to keep these videos and photos out in the community, not to scare off new drivers (or those moving through DE to TT/racing) but to ensure everyone is aware of the risks involved and can take appropriate safety precautions.

I came up on the scene maybe 10 seconds after the yellow and black flags were thrown. Seeing both immediately out was a "shit this is bad" and I tried to think who was ahead of me as I crested the hill before South Bend. One thought was "don't let it be DJ" followed by a glimpse of the white hood and number (I recognized the font) and "fuck that's DJ". The car looked absolutely pancaked from a distance and it was the biggest relief in the world seeing you make eye contact with me and stick out a thumbs-up. Thank you for doing that for me and every other driver as I think we all realized the magnitude of the crash right away.

I'm already planning on taking my car back to Blockstar to have a few points of the cage re-addressed with more bars in strategic places.

For whoever asked about track insurance: you can purchase it (at a fairly high price) for HPDE and perhaps TT cars. I am not sure about W2W racing. The common attitude is that you have to be prepared for a total write-off and if it's not that bad, you get lucky.

I am so glad to see all of the safety gear worked in tandem to let DJ walk into the ambulance and then into Medical for evaluation in the paddock. Everyone grouses about the cost of building a car, but clearly it's worth doing right. For street cars - this emphasizes the idea of "this is a system" and doing things all at once if you transition to stripping and building the car.

Very curious to see what you'll be in once you are back, even though it'll likely be a little while between Eli, dealing with the white car, and getting the Vette/E36 both sorted out.

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Fitzpatrick Crash - D_Eclipse9916 - 05-26-2017

First thing I did Monday was drop the vette off at the body shop so that I can put it up for sale. Also called Jason and pushed on him a bit to finish his car on my lift. My E36 will stay "as stock" as what I have right now in the garage for it.

Pretty much putting everything together to fund this new build. Alas jess is a sweetheart and we are staying in town for our 2 year anniversary to save some money.


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Re: Fitzpatrick Crash - rherold9 - 05-26-2017

Seriously insane how the car did not fold at all and the cage remained rock solid after rolling at 60+ mph. Man I'm just happy you didn't immediately roll at over 100mph you were going when the part failed. You would've been up on the tire wall in the safety fence if the car hadn't slowed down a little. Amazing how the car landed upright and everything. Someone was definitely making sure you got home safe.

Hoping to see you back out there as soon as it's plausible

My days to get back out on track have increased due to wanting a full cage after seeing this. Thought about it before and just wanted to get back out and drive but definitely going to do it now. I'll be that guy that looks dumb in DE with a cage but at least I'm going to be okay if I have a major part failure.

Re: Fitzpatrick Crash - Jake - 05-26-2017

rherold9 Wrote:I'll be that guy that looks dumb in DE with a cage but at least I'm going to be okay if I have a major part failure.

Nobody will think you're dumb for that.

If nothing else, you'll get a longer return on your investment.

Re: Fitzpatrick Crash - Beej - 05-26-2017

Holy shit man, I'm so pleased to hear you're "okay" (and improving) after that. Wow. I've watched the video a few times now and still can't figure out what's happening during the rollover, it's just chaos. I'm glad to hear you still want to be in the game, too - you're obviously very talented.

I haven't been back out for numerous reasons, but particularly since we had a kid...not going back out without safety stuff.

Also, RTAB pocket failure wasn't even on my radar, yeesh.

Re: Fitzpatrick Crash - BLINGMW - 05-26-2017

That was random! Glad you're ok; yikes that was bad. Pretty quick on the countersteering, but I think you needed to adjust the ailerons at that point. :dunno:

Re: Fitzpatrick Crash - *insertusernamehere* - 05-26-2017

The more i watch this video the more i think i'm never going to track a car. You're brave for wanting to get back out there so readily. Glad you're alright, looking forward to the next racekur.

Re: Fitzpatrick Crash - Senor_Taylor - 05-26-2017

You guys saying this scares you off need to think of the odds of this. This is a failure due to this car being a "real" race car it's entire life and DJ driving the crap out of that car as well. DJ has also driven so many laps, the probability of a freak accident like this happening in your first 100 times on track is crazy low.

If I got struck by lightning tomorrow, I'd hope it not scare you off from going outside. Instead, I'd hope you'd learn to not play in the rain during a storm. Thank you DJ for sharing and I'm very glad you're okay. Being in Timing and knowing it was you but not being able to see it or know what was going on was very nerve racking. All the best in getting back out there. This is a great eye opener for a lot of people to do things the right way.

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Re: Fitzpatrick Crash - ScottyB - 05-26-2017

DJ - already mentioned it on social media but man, so glad you're alright. that is the last part i'd expect to fail and you are a smart man to have all your safety gear in place without corner cutting. i'm sure Jess and Eli thank you for that. you truly got lucky with a failure in that part of the track and not while coming off the back straight at God knows what speed. did the car feel squirrely before it let go? i'd be interested to see how and what part of the pocket failed or if it just completely ripped out of the chassis.

sorry to hear it sped up the dumping of the vette but hopefully this is just a recalibration of larger racing goals vs having street toys. you mentioned the unibody on the E46 was borked from the roll, would you go to the length of stitch welding the next shell you get?

RawrImAMonster Wrote:It makes me think twice about ever tracking mine.

the first rule of tracking applies now and always will; never track a car you're not willing to push off a cliff, at a moment's notice. now, that applies much more to hardcore track weekends as your main hobby vs. the occassional HPDE1 and 2, but still. its a risk, and for most of us, is never more than a bent fender or ripped up splitter here and there. i do not regret tracking my DD for a minute, but i go a lot slower than most modern cars that are out there now.

rherold9 Wrote:I'll be that guy that looks dumb in DE with a cage but at least I'm going to be okay if I have a major part failure.

if anything, most instructors and experienced guys will likely respect you more for it. its not the same as like, showing up for your HPDE1 in a track suit or some poser nonsense.

Re: Fitzpatrick Crash - D_Eclipse9916 - 05-27-2017

Scott,

Whole pocket ripped out of chassis
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Funny you mention counter-steering. I have had a number of racers comment how quickly I countersteered and was trying to "save" the car...in the air. They thought it was kind of funny cause I was totally fucked but instincts take over.

Guess what? shit happens. I have been doing this for over 10 years now and had lots of random failures. This happens to be by far the worst results. When you start pushing chassis' way more than they were ever meant to be, you find these issues. All the more reason to run a spec car?

Re: Fitzpatrick Crash - rherold9 - 05-27-2017

Senor_Taylor Wrote:You guys saying this scares you off need to think of the odds of this. This is a failure due to this car being a "real" race car it's entire life and DJ driving the crap out of that car as well. DJ has also driven so many laps, the probability of a freak accident like this happening in your first 100 times on track is crazy low.

If I got struck by lightning tomorrow, I'd hope it not scare you off from going outside. Instead, I'd hope you'd learn to not play in the rain during a storm. Thank you DJ for sharing and I'm very glad you're okay. Being in Timing and knowing it was you but not being able to see it or know what was going on was very nerve racking. All the best in getting back out there. This is a great eye opener for a lot of people to do things the right way.

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Sure it was definitely because of the long standing race chassis it was and the limits he pushed it. Doesn't mean a part failure can't happen to a non race chassis and lead to similar results. I know for a fact I won't be out there unless I'm in a hans, harness, and at the minimum a roll bar.

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Re: Fitzpatrick Crash - Mike - 06-08-2017

F man... Glad to see you're okay. Cars can be rebuilt, your health cannot. Best of luck getting back out there and :thumbup: for having all the safety gear.

Re: Fitzpatrick Crash - JPolen01 - 06-08-2017

So what's next?

Re: Fitzpatrick Crash - rherold9 - 06-09-2017

E46 330i is my guess. Gives options of better ST ratio but can also be in GTS and SE46. If not then SM but I think it may be a little too soon for him to build an SM car yet

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