Video - Downshifting During Emergency Stop

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GarySheehan
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Video - Downshifting During Emergency Stop

Post by GarySheehan »

I had a little adventure in the 24 Hours of Lemons at Infineon Raceway this weekend. Being able to see the flag status at the turn 7 flag station was tough from the other end of the straight and it was very hard to gauge speed of the cars in front At the beginning of the video (0:08) you can clearly see the pack in front moving very quickly through the kink. I check my rearview at 0:10 to see where everyone is behind me. Cars in front are still moving at 0:14. At 0:15 I see something is up and by the end of 0:15 I am on the brakes. At 0:17 I check my rearview and see the Maxima (you can see him in the right mirror) and start drifting to the right to give those guys behind me more room. At 0:18 I throw in a double-clutch heel-toe downshift and I check my right mirror to make sure I'm clear (I can't see the Maxima at that point as he's so close he's between my mirrors) and continue moving across the track. I was planning on lining up alongside the RX-7 to give everyone as much room as I could behind me.

I remember hearing tires squeeling and thinking, "Uh oh, someone's in trouble." just before coming to a stop. Then POW! As I was frantically steering through the parked cars I remember being upset thinking that I was going to get black flagged for passing under the yellow! I wonder how much speed the Maxima transferred to our little Sentra?



Bump it up to 720p and watch in full screen :)

Gary
Last edited by GarySheehan on Wed Oct 26, 2011 12:39 pm, edited 1 time in total.
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Re: Video - Downshifting During Emergency Stop

Post by RITmusic2k »

Wow, nice job avoiding those other cars after you got bumped :P

I tried to comment on the video but there was a page error.
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Re: Video - Downshifting During Emergency Stop

Post by camera_man »

What ended up being the reason for the slow-down?
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Re: Video - Downshifting During Emergency Stop

Post by AHTOXA »

Gary, just wanted to mention that it's good to see that you are still here on the boards with us.
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GarySheehan
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Re: Video - Downshifting During Emergency Stop

Post by GarySheehan »

camera_man wrote:What ended up being the reason for the slow-down?
Yellow flags cause massive stack-ups in Lemons. Unlike traditional racing where you race up to the yellow flag and the yellow flag rules are enforced between the yellow flag station and the incident, in Lemons the yellow flag rules are enforced from line-of-sight to the yellow flag all the way to the line-of-site to the next flag station once past the incident.

Because there are so many cars and so many drivers with relatively little experience, yellow flags turn into massive traffic jams, but instead of upcoming traffic traveling at 65mph, sometimes the arrival speeds can be closer to 100mph.

Here's a scary incident that happened in a yellow flag zone this past weekend.

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Re: Video - Downshifting During Emergency Stop

Post by GarySheehan »

AHTOXA wrote:Gary, just wanted to mention that it's good to see that you are still here on the boards with us.
Thanks AHTOXA! I stop by every once in awhile when I have something to share, and to make sure JackBauer is under control and not going off terrorizing innocent civilians...

:)
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Re: Video - Downshifting During Emergency Stop

Post by Squint »

What AHTOXA said. I was very impressed that a professional driver did a Q & A here (and visits decently often, too!). In my sometimes-irrational brain, that gave a little more legitimacy to this board.

And that rear-end accident (2nd video you posted) makes me think that driver didn't look up soon enough and though he had a good passing spot when the waters parted. Question though, on yellows, do they have flags they wave all over the course? Or do you have to sometimes almost find the accident to learn there has been a yellow if you don't pass the pits/starting line?
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Re: Video - Downshifting During Emergency Stop

Post by GarySheehan »

Typically a yellow flag will be displayed at a corner station prior to an incident on track. Waving yellow means there is a vehicle on the racing surface while standing yellow means that there is in incident off of the racing surface, or is a heads-up to a waving yellow at the next corner. You are allowed to race each other up to the flagging station showing the yellow, beyond which no passing can occur until past the incident.

With Lemons, there are so many cars that the rules for yellow are no passing once you can see the yellow flag. Unfortunately, sometimes cars back up to the point where they are stopped on track and you still can't see the yellow, which is how that incident started. I noticed the stopped cars, not the yellow, just in time. The guy behind me didn't.

Gary
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