Crash @ SSCC Supersprint: Eastern Creek, 18th April 2010

Well, Sunday was certainly a memorable one, but not for the right reasons. I had a mishap in the early afternoon and am now without a car.

Up until lunch time, things were going well. I was getting more comfortable with the layout, and enjoying the improved braking performance. I improved my pb by over a second down to a 1:56.9 but In the first session after lunch, the day got a lot worse.

Turn one is the fastest corner on the circuit, and also my favourite. If you get it right, it feels great and you can make up a good amount of time. If you get it wrong, the speeds are high so it can be unforgiving. The incident unfolded pretty quickly, but in short, I should have braked a little more after the straight and carried a little less speed into turn one. Becuase I was travelling too fast, I ran wide on the exit of turn one, which put my right rear wheel on the grass. This unsettled the car a lot, and I suddenly found myself spearing toward the inside of the track.

In an attempt to recover, I countersteered back toward the track but it was too late at the speed, and the rear end flicked around, and the car speared off the track backward. After that, it felt like forever before I hit the wall. I remember checking my left rear view mirror and seeing the wall approaching.

Then, finally, the hit. Rear left first, then front left. In an eerie twist, the old owner sent me a video - he had a similar mishap on the same corner. Up until the point he recovers, the incident is almost identical:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AapVJcxgS5k

As you could imagine, the car is worse for wear. I would love to get straight back "on the wagon" so to speak, but this is an expensive hobby and it might take a little longer than that. I've had amazing support from club members and mates, offering to help with repairs, so we shall see. Thank you again to all of you.

I've already considered a few options and the most likely is to transfer the undamaged parts to a new shell in an attempt to get something roadworthy in the shortest possible time. It will not be as pretty or as fast as Silvia Mk3, but if it keeps me out there, I will be absolutely chuffed. I'll be sure to write plenty about the build up process for Silvia Mk4 (or should I say, 3.5?), so stay tuned.