Well, I wasn't going to tell anyone......

Dean Lampe · 05-03-08, 08:45 PM

But I had an embarrassing thing happen at the track the other day. Maybe if I talk about it, I will be able to move on!

OK, I'm only going to say this once. Make sure your rear bonnet is latched before you take off in your GT40!

I was just pulling onto the front straight, passed an instructor in a trick 911, shifted to 4th and at a little north of 150 mph the rear half of my car decided it no longer wanted to be part of the team and took its own path. After I was black flagged, I pulled into the pits still unaware of what had happened. Needless to saw I was quite surprised to see that I was missing a rather significant part of my car. I spoke with the instructor in the 911 afterwords and he told me " As you were coming around me I said to my student "wow, that car is fast!" Then I saw the bonnet go 30 feet into the air and I was forced to test my reaction time!" The crazy thing is that I didn't even know it was gone. The car is so powerful that it didn't slow it down at all.

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The pieces are already back in one piece and the new paint goes on next week. Needless to say, LESSON LEARNED.

My wife so casually reminded me that it would be cheaper to hit a few golf balls into the woods!

Pantera1889 · 05-03-08, 08:54 PM

OMFG Dean!!! Did you just forget to latch it ?????

chuck smith · 05-03-08, 09:00 PM

I have such a fear of just that. In fact I have pulled over on the highway to check the latch even though I was sure I had closed it. It will look like new soon Dean and I bet it never happens again. when I was at the Mitty last year with Johan, he took extra time to tape every seam in the Lola where the rear clip joined the body in addition to latching it. He also was concerned of it coming off at speed and causing a crash.

Dean Lampe · 05-03-08, 09:02 PM

Yeah, that about it! You know what it is like at a track day. There are always a dozen guys standing around your car asking questions and I was trying to do some tuning in the middle of the chaos. I loaned my helmet to a friend and by the time he got back to the pits, my group was leaving the grid for the warm-up lap. I just got in a hurry and forgot.

I was totally embarrassed. Even a veteran driver can still make stupid mistakes!

It is already in primer and ready for the new paint. Ray Maserang with the Gulf RCR in St. Louis did the surgery. He is a fiberglass master!

MReid · 05-03-08, 09:34 PM

Dean, I am so sorry to hear that! It is also amazing that at 150 mph, there is enough of it left to be completely repaired. Glad to hear you are moving on and will have it back soon. Damn!

Jac Mac · 05-03-08, 10:30 PM

Deane, you must have a 'Hot Line' to the big fella upstairs, could have been ugly, I know all about the rush rush hurry bit, ask me sometime how a simple stray shoelace nearly finished my walking days.

Big-Foot · 05-03-08, 10:43 PM

One of the beauties of fiberglass car is when you crash it you can just about always glue them back together again if you recover all the big pieces.
I pieced together the whole front end of one of our A-Production Corvettes years ago. I bet there was 20 pieces that front end was busted up in...

You're not the only one it's happened to either Dean..
Glad that you're okay - the car can be fixed and it will never happen again...

Bill D · 05-03-08, 10:58 PM

OMG!! That really sucks!! I'm glad you aren't hurt and that the car can be repaired.

Mark Charlton · 05-03-08, 11:12 PM

Dean,

As bad as it was, you were VERY lucky! A testament to the stability of the RCR as other cars have had disastrous results in similar circumstances.

I'm glad you and everyone else on the tack were relatively unscathed by the misfortune. Some lessons are harder learned than others. I wish I could rig an ignition interlock that would prevent starting if the latches are not secured, such is my fear of doing the same thing.

Good luck with the repairs,

Mark

John · 05-04-08, 01:19 AM

Dean, mate welcome to the world of motor racing, youd be suprised at the number of people that have done the very same thing, me included, with forgetting to check the bonnet on my seven and loose it at around 120mph, turned into a UFB,[ unidentified flying bonnet] went god knows how high and glided down as gentle as you please on the grass infeild and not a mark on it, considering its only a formed alloy sheet i was very lucky
the only thing i can say is it usualy only ever happens once, thank god
pleased to se it back together ok
Cheers John

Cliff Beer · 05-04-08, 06:57 AM

That reminds me of the time I went windsurfing with my older brother. After we had a nice sail we loaded the boards onto the top of the staitionwagon and took off home. I just happened to look in the side mirror in time to see one of the boards take flight, imitate a "flying wing" and soar over the road and land on somone's porch. Nobody was home fortunately although I've often wondered what they thought of the 1/2" divot in the house siding when they came home.

I guess he thought I was supposed to tie them down....

Glad to hear everything is OK Dean and nobody got hurt.

Jack · 05-04-08, 08:22 AM

Don't feel alone!! It happened to me 2 days ago, I forgot to latch it down and at 35 it popped up like a speed brake, then it pulled the struts out and dragged the payment. Thank God it didn't come of and hit someone! The people behind me must have crapped there pants.

I am going to use the latch as a switch, it will ground a relay which will have a light on the dash that will flash DUMB ASS when its not latched.

Funny our cars are the same color Dean, must be a curse.

Ron Earp · 05-04-08, 08:48 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Dlampe

Yeah, that about it! You know what it is like at a track day. There are always a dozen guys standing around your car asking questions

This has caused me more than a few issues on the race track. I was just discussing it with my race mates last weekend. It never fails - when we are working on the car sorting through an issue someone pops over and says something like:

"Hey fellows, nice car, saw you out there and was wondering......"

So a 20 minute conversation starts and it is hard to remember where you left off in your work. Happens ALL the time.

I don't want to be anti-social at the track, but when work is going on don't bother the folks doing the work - it leads to stuff like this that is 100% avoidable. I seriously wanted a sign in our paddock area last weekend at Roebling that said something like "Shhhhhhh, work in progress" while we were sorting through issues on the TR8 and Z car.

Our latest tactic has been to use one of our crew as the sacrificial mouthpiece and engage the offending party in conversation, maintaining social civility, while the other two continue work. Seems to be about the only way.....

We need to come up with a name for this phenomenon and start a help group. Then we need to get the offending parties to sign up for the help group. Some tips should be "Never approach a working paddock without a tool in hand or some item to help the crew" and so on.

Sorry to read about that issue Dean. Seems quite common as I've heard that story many times over the years from lots of GT40 owners! Good luck getting her back together!

Dean Lampe · 05-04-08, 09:15 AM

Thanks for not calling me a dumb ass or other appropriate adjectives. I just felt so damn stupid after that happened. I really wanted to see a broken latch, not the pins resting comfortably on the back of my trailer.

Jack, I like your idea. That might be a possibility.

Mark Charlton · 05-04-08, 09:43 AM

Quote:

Funny our cars are the same color Dean, must be a curse.

Geez, you may be right...

Howard · 05-04-08, 09:48 AM

Dean,

That's sad, I was just admiring your car last evening in Kit Car Mag with my brother. I am glad it ended without injuries.

My 76 year old pilot buddy Rod carries (as all pilots do) a pilots check list. He visually and physically goes through the entire list for every flight. He says that's why he's still flying at 76. Amazingly he's a talker too, but he never skips the check list. I guess Rod's got a lesson for all of us GT40 guys.

I believe Mario Andretti and Lucien Bianchi pulled a similar stunt in a GT40 MKIV at Le Mans in 1967. I guess you have good (bad?) company with the big guys. (Huhhh!)Must be an age old condition.

Golf is okay, but just doesn't do the same for ya...
and all of us need therapy or a help group (as Ron mentioned) for something... Isn't that some of the reason why we log into GT40s.com daily for head food and repair?

Good luck on the repairs. I'm sure when Ray's finished you'll just have a bad memory as scar tissue.

Cheers,
Howard
_______________________________________________
RCR 40 in the oven.

Steve Briscoe · 05-04-08, 10:47 AM

I forgot to put the bolt in a removable tongue on my boat trailer due to lots going on as I was hooking up to leave. Pulled away and went about a quarter mile before, much to my horror, there was loud bang and the boat nose was right up against the rear windshield. A 5,500 pound 20 foot boat getting up close and personal is a little unnerving. Fortunately, no damage other than a scuffed frame tongue. I now go through my checklist by handling every aspect of the tongue, safety chains, hitch, lights, etc. That stuff happens to all of us when a lot is going on.

Have a good day-
Steve

chuck smith · 05-04-08, 10:49 AM

I have started putting the pin by the shifter when I remove it, so I will see it before I take off, the mind is not as sharp as it once was.

Ron Earp · 05-04-08, 10:57 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by 60-61

I forgot to put the bolt in a removable tongue on my boat trailer due to lots going on as I was hooking up to leave. Pulled away and went about a quarter mile before, much to my horror, there was loud bang

Did a similar bozo move couple years back. I hooked up the open trailer to the car and didn't secure the hitch. I stood ON the front of the trailer while Jeff went to pull the TR8 up on the trailer. Well he drives up sort of fast, hits the trailer, trailer pops off the ball and acts like a lever to send me flying. Nice one, that one was.....

I've had many more over the years - trailer pops up and puts dent in truck tailgate, trailer door falls open and puts dent in hood of car....I hate trailers.....