The Wakefield "incident"

[Blitz]

Was it this guy?

http://driftaustralia.com.au/series/teams/driver/Dan/Mackie

There is no chance in hell that Dan Mackie would ever conduct himself the way the offending driver supposedly did.

Dan is very well respected on SAU and has been involved in the club for a number of years so lets be careful before bringing his good name into the discussion please.

[Pezhead]

Since pictures are making their way to facebooks and flickr's anyway here are the pictures of my car and his after the impact.

When you look at these remember that this is the first major incident for SAU:NSW in 9 years of racing and the other car did appear to have a mechanical failure as the root cause. We all know all the mechanical stuff on our cars that can go wrong - so it would appear I was just in the wrong place at the wrong time. Just keep it in perspective.

[whitefd]

Eric, you are a credit to the club the way you are remaining level headed about the incident.

As has been said, legally it was on the track so you are left with the bill. However morally most see it differently. I expect that the other driver was hugely embarrased about wrecking two peoples cars that he didn't know how to react appropriately.

Please let RENEW know what the plans are for fundraising should it be necessary. We supported a member who had a rollover at WP some years back - we all know what goes into getting a car to the track, and hate seeing anyone have their car damaged.

Mal

VP RENEW

[NYTSKY]

DP

[Whoneedstherapy]

What about an SAU fundraising pub crawl?

Either Eric gets what would go into the tip jar, or apply a tax - $1 a drink.

[evil_weevil]

beer is good.

[evohead]

Hiya, I was the guy that Eric and a few others helped to fix the brake issues on the yellow Evo 7 1/2 way through the day. They did it without even thinking about it. They gathered tools and brake fluid and had the brake system working again in no time. Wow. It was great to go out with a bunch or people who help without thinking about. So it is disappointing to see this happen, and more so the attitude of the other driver who blew Eric off and didn't man up to the situation. It is common knowledge that there is no insurance on the racetrack. This is where honour amongst men/women should prevail, where you'd talk and agree to sort out the problem.

Unfortunately, the other driver appeared to have none.

Cheers SAU.

PS thanks for the day, I had a hoot whilst the car was going. Can't wait till next time. In the mean time, back to the shop.

[duff]

I feel for you Eric, as i would not ever want this to happen to me or anyone. AS i am preparing my car for track work, so I am worried this could happen to me. Is there a way of stopping these Hi-po cars getting out on the track with us. i know we are split up in groups according to experience and car types, but im driving a $50k car and there are people out there in $5k cars. Last track day i had a heap of fun but i did see this car (commodore i think that was fully track preped) come out in the beginners session and thought to myself who let him on. I can handle it if i crashed the car myself into a wall/barrier but for someone else would stress me out. anyways hope it all turns out well

[Pezhead]

Duff, as a club I can tell you we are not taking this lightly. I'm sure the subject will come up as a discussion topic at our May AGM. Come along and voice your opinion.

There are other venues for super fast high power cars to go to. Our club events are geared towards guys like you and me - I just want to be able to take a car out for fun at a race track or texi day. I've already had some discussions about possible changes and suggestions. The club executives will be discussing the matter and I'm sure I speak for all of them that our goal is to run fun & SAFE events. Our member's safety is top of mind.

[Pezhead]

THE PLAN

I know a few of you have been wondering what's my game plan. Well, I inspected the damage better the other night. The quarter panel is gone and has buckled the inner wheel arch. That seems to be what is causing the driver's door not to close all the way. The frame rails look ok from the top and bottom but I'm no panel beater.

Does someone have a car trailer they can loan me for a while? I'm in Turramurra on the North shore - so close would be good.

STEP 1 - ensure it is repairable! I need to take the car to a panel beater to see if they can pull the buckle out of the rear inner wheel arch. They should be able to pull exactly from the opposite direction of the impact and hopefully the door frame un-tensions and closes ok. I want to have the panel beater do just that work to straighten the frame and door frame and then bring it back to my place.

STEP 2 - pick up the parts I need to fix it. I've already been in contact with a couple of sources for the parts I need. I even sourced a bumper in the exact same Crystal Blue color, can you believe it? That wasn't a very popular colour. I still haven't found a rear diff or tail lights, but those can wait if necessary for a bit.

One of the sources suggested I just order a new quarter skin out of Japan. Is more expensive, but saves a whole lot of stuffing around trying to cleanly cut the skin free from an existing wreck. Would also look more tidy as a repair.

STEP 3 - Drop the suspension parts that are keeping the car from rolling freely on it's own. The rear wheel really flops around since the suspension's bent and rear hub is broken. I plan to replace the whole rear cradle in case the lower a-arm bent it out of shape. At this point the car should be driveable - I hope, I hope!

STEP 4 - On to the body work. I will need to cut the old skin off the car and cut out the pieces that are beyond repair. I do have a number of tools for a job like this, compressor & air tools, wire feed welder, etc. I wouldn't consider myself a body man, but I can bang out a dent as well as any other backyard mechanic. I'm not sure if I will re-spray it on my own or have a shop do it. I've sprayed cars before (about 15 years ago!) but my garage is just dusty and narrow for that kind of work. Of course the MX5 is HEAPS narrower than the GTR. So probably depends on the budget at this point.

I figure if each of these steps were about 1 to 1.5 weeks I could have the car sorted before we go on holiday over Easter - that would be a huge accomplishment.

[benm]

Personally i'd be getting 3 quotes from local smash repair shops then drop it off when you have enough cash to get it done.

If you ever try to sell it in the future and a potential buyer notices that its been repaired and then asks for receipts only to find out you did it yourself it will never sell. Sure collect the suspension and rear end parts but leave the body work to an expert.

Lets get the ball rolling, takes all of 2mins and it's free:

www.Chipin.com

PS. As for whether cars like this 300zx should be allowed at our type of trackdays, it was 10th fastest on the day, does that mean the 9 cars faster should not be allowed either? I've been going to trackdays for nearly 10yrs now and its the first car to car contact i've ever seen, it was a mechanical fault that caused a freak accident. Nobody deliberately goes out on the track to hit someone else.

[Neil]

Eric,,,My wife works at John Newell Mazda so if you need any help with parts,,,please ask.

chunkylover69,,,nice detective work,,,NOT!!!.

I have some history with that "racecar" when Dan drove it years ago. Basically it's piece of crap and I should know I spun spanners on it. The last time I saw it,,,it broke an o/s/f lower control arm and expired at the fish hook. That's just one incident,,,,there were more.

It's a pity that 2 of our drivers stopped and put out the fire,,,should have let it burn to the ground.

Cheers

Neil.

[hamiltonau]

yeah what are his chip in account details?

[JimmyRickard]

As for the fire extinguishers, I would have thought there would be a fire Marshall at the track, or at least some bloke with a fire extinguisher in the back of a ute who can dash out when need be. Is this not a standard thing for track days?

[N1GTR]

Lets get the ball rolling, takes all of 2mins and it's free:

www.Chipin.com

PS. As for whether cars like this 300zx should be allowed at our type of trackdays, it was 10th fastest on the day, does that mean the 9 cars faster should not be allowed either? I've been going to trackdays for nearly 10yrs now and its the first car to car contact i've ever seen, it was a mechanical fault that caused a freak accident. Nobody deliberately goes out on the track to hit someone else.

That chipin thing looks great, Eric set it up and lets spread it around as many forums as possible.

Also Ben, well put on that last part.

[N1GTR]

As for the fire extinguishers, I would have thought there would be a fire Marshall at the track, or at least some bloke with a fire extinguisher in the back of a ute who can dash out when need be. Is this not a standard thing for track days?

As soon as the accident happened the truck with the extinguishers was dispatched and raced over there. He was there before some drivers even knew what was going on.

[hamiltonau]

oh yeah my flatmate works at a mazda dealer too, lead sales rep.

not sure how it will help re parts but you never know.

[Pezhead]

Ben thanks for the tip on Chipin. I've been struggling with Paypal trying to set up a separate account for this but this is way better.

http://fixwifiesmx5.chipin.com/help-me-fix-wifies-mx5

I also do agree. The incident seems to be mechanical. Wouldn't have mattered if it was a race car or not, a car without brakes has to find a way to stop and well... there we were.

[JimmyRickard]

Oh ok its just that I recall someone was asking over the PA for people to run over to the car with a fire extinguisher. Didn't notice the truck

[N1GTR]

Oh ok its just that I recall someone was asking over the PA for people to run over to the car with a fire extinguisher. Didn't notice the truck

That was me on the PA, with me on pit lane I couldnt see the severity of the accident (the timing tower could though) so I thought more extinguishers and people on hand wouldnt hurt and made the announcement. Better to be safe than sorry