Why you should pay attention at any car event...

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major error

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07 Mazda 3 GTS HB
No amount of Tech check-in can shield you from the unexpected. It's there to weed out the obvious show-stoppers and nothing more.

At our event yesterday, we had an unexpected reminder as to why you never turn your back on a moving car on-course, and why spectators should be a good distance away.

This happened on a 90* right-hander leading into the finish:
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The car slid at least 150 feet in a semi-controlled fashion, and stopped in the runoff area after the finish. The tire bounced towards the Timing & Scoring trailer at about 25-35mph--we usually have a tent set up in front for registration and an impromptu kid-corral. This is where I was sitting, so I had a very uncomfortable front-row seat when the tire smacked the front bumper of the truck that hauls the timing trailer.
Thankfully the kids had moved further away before this happened, so no injuries, only vehicle damage...


This is proof that even a well-maintained car can have something fail catastrophically. The wheel was only about a year old, but it was the point of failure, as all the lugs were properly torqued..
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major error said:
No amount of Tech check-in can shield you from the unexpected. It's there to weed out the obvious show-stoppers and nothing more.

At our event yesterday, we had an unexpected reminder as to why you never turn your back on a moving car on-course, and why spectators should be a good distance away.

This happened on a 90* right-hander leading into the finish:
http://www.noraracing.net/gallery2/...ownloadItem&g2_itemId=21905&g2_serialNumber=1

http://www.noraracing.net/gallery2/...ownloadItem&g2_itemId=21482&g2_serialNumber=1

The car slid at least 150 feet in a semi-controlled fashion, and stopped in the runoff area after the finish. The tire bounced towards the Timing & Scoring trailer at about 25-35mph--we usually have a tent set up in front for registration and an impromptu kid-corral. This is where I was sitting, so I had a very uncomfortable front-row seat when the tire smacked the front bumper of the truck that hauls the timing trailer.
Thankfully the kids had moved further away before this happened, so no injuries, only vehicle damage...


This is proof that even a well-maintained car can have something fail catastrophically. The wheel was only about a year old, but it was the point of failure, as all the lugs were properly torqued..
http://www.noraracing.net/gallery2/...ownloadItem&g2_itemId=21488&g2_serialNumber=1

http://www.noraracing.net/gallery2/...ownloadItem&g2_itemId=21496&g2_serialNumber=1

http://www.noraracing.net/gallery2/...ownloadItem&g2_itemId=21512&g2_serialNumber=1
Click to expand...


That was absolutely nuts man!
 
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crazy! I think that wheel company could be in some big trouble. Luckily there wasnt any serious injuries!
 
I'll say.

As the tire was bouncing in my general direction, I thought about "putting a foot on it" to try to stop it. It looked deceptively slow. It also had a nice wobble to its spin...
It passed 2' in front of me, and about 5' from where I was originally seated.
 
Damn that's crazy as hell. I've seen wheels come off, and I've seen wheels fail, but this one I think takes the cake. Never seen the wheel itself fail in the hub area like that.

GoFast said:
crazy! I think that wheel company could be in some big trouble. Luckily there wasnt any serious injuries!
Click to expand...
Depends... if it's sold for off road use only with no warranty... maybe not.

major error said:
I'll say.

As the tire was bouncing in my general direction, I thought about "putting a foot on it" to try to stop it.
Click to expand...

yeah... never do that. It's a great way to break an ankle or worse. They've got a lot of inertia behind them.
 
I think the problem is the Lotus Elan. At the 2007 Nationals the driver door fell completely off a ASP Elan in the middle of a run. It was duct taped on for the second run.
 
The wheel probably came off because of the completely inappropriate lug nuts used to fasten it. Acorns on a steel wheel? Look closely at the last picture. No mystery why the wheel came off. Does tech not check this?
 
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I don't know what you're looking at, but the wheel's so mangled I can't tell what kind of seat it has. As far as I know they were the right lug nuts. And usually when they're the wrong kind, the nuts back off and the wheel fell off. In this case, it was a total failure of the wheel.
 
If you look very closely at the wheel you can see that it failed. Look at the 4 cracks just outside of each lug nut hole. I have a feeling that wheel has been cracking little by little for a while and it finally let loose. When the first crack got severe enough that it ripped all the way to the stud the other holes couldn't hold and it quickly ripped them all out. I don't believe those cracks would be there if the failure started at the studs. The failure started with the wheel immediately surrounding the part that meets the hub face and ended with the stud holes.
 
It looks to me that the seat angle of the lugs was wrong yielding only a small amount of contact area. The lugs seated just enough to yeild proper torque, but over time the wheel flexed enough to fail. Essentially, the lug nuts wedged themselves through the wheel.
 
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steelies FTL!

I remember a story years ago here that there was a formula ford car that had an axle break and the whole assembly with the tire went rolling across the "track" (parking lot) and over across a major street where a mcdonald's is... luckily there were no cars on the road as the lights were red!
 
kcbhiw said:
It looks to me that the seat angle of the lugs was wrong yielding only a small amount of contact area. The lugs seated just enough to yeild proper torque, but over time the wheel flexed enough to fail. Essentially, the lug nuts wedged themselves through the wheel.
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+1 he used conical/cone/tapered lugs not ball or washer seat lugs like you should use with steel wheels.
 
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Sure, why not? I mean they'll be heavy as hell, but other than that, just make sure you use lugs with the right seat-type to them. But that's with any wheel
 
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Damn, thanks for the information, OP. I'll keep it in mind when I'm out working the course.

brandini said:
+1 he used conical/cone/tapered lugs not ball or washer seat lugs like you should use with steel wheels.
Click to expand...

When you buy steelies from Tire Rack, they'll send you acorns, not ball/round. Guess they're doing it wrong.
 
Another vote for probably having the wrong lugnuts for those wheels. Even if they are flat conical, there are a couple different angles available as well!!!!
 
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