What can you learn from another driver’s mistakes? A lot! Lockton Motorsports is sharing Motorsports Mishaps to help everyone have better days at the track.
How to Walk Away From Brake Failure at 104 MPH
This month’s Mishap hits close to home. Here’s what happened:
Lockton Motorsports’ Practice Leader Ryan Staub and his team were competing in a World Racing League event in their E46 M3 racecar at Road America this May.
During the second stint of the Sunday race, one of Staub’s teammates was driving well and moving up through the field. But as he applied brakes approaching Turn 8, the driver immediately recognized there was a major brake failure.
Fortunately, the driver walked away with only some sore ribs, despite a hard collision with a concrete wall! Check it out!
Video courtesy of Ryan Staub. The video content has been made available for informational and educational purposes only.
4 Lessons to Learn From This Mishap
When Lockton Motorsports’ Ryan Staub isn’t leading our HPDE Insurance program, he’s at the track, where he is a veteran HPDE instructor. Ryan shares what we can learn from this incident:
- Whether you’re participating in a race or an HPDE/Track Day, mechanical failures can occur that can lead to major consequences. Even the best prepared and maintained cars can experience failures.
- This driver made a smart decision to try and apply a lot of steering input to hopefully bleed off some speed before reaching the grass. The sideways slide on the pavement and on the grass definitely slowed the vehicle down. But keep in mind that a sideways slide can lead to a rollover if you’re sliding into a gravel trap.
- While the driver was concerned with making sure the car was in neutral, he would have been better served by first worrying about his own safety. Always remove your hands from the steering wheel before a big impact — the force of the impact can often break wrists.
- Always prioritize investments in safety over investments in speed. This car had a quality halo seat, 6-point harnesses and a center net. The driver utilized a HANS device and a quality helmet. The combination of all this safety equipment definitely played a significant role in the driver walking away from the incident with very minor injuries.
How to Prevent Your Own Motorsports Mishap
Worried about having your own Motorsports Mishap? Make sure your car is protected at your next HPDE or track day event with HPDE Insurance from Lockton Motorsports.