Scary crash at Sebring Test Day

R

rob22

New member
Rob "Peg Leg" Wansley's ITS RX7 was a complete write off after a Friday Test Day incident on the Sebring Long Course in prep for the Turkey Trot.

Wansley and GT-1 National Champ Phil Simms got together in the esses that lead into 16 and on to the back straight. Wansley's car vaulted over the inside retaining wall clearing it by over six feet witnesses said. The car apparently flipped several times. I heard Rob was transported to the hospital for precaution, but is out and ok. He was at the track on Saturday. Simms was OK as well.

Simms' Rocketsports Jag that won the runoffs was severely damaged and will have go back to Rocketsports for a rebuild.

Rob's car was "diamonded", shortened, and flattened with plenty of Jag CF still sticking out of it. I couldn't see really anything on the thing that would be of future use.

There is obvious disagreement about the cause.

Thank God both drivers are ok.

Bosco
 
Any time a GT1 car and an ITS car are involved in a test day incident, something is not right. Unless the IT car was spun and stationary on track in a blind location.

K
 
thats terrible...Rob had a rebuild after Daytona as well (May I think)...I think that is a new tub. I dislike being on the track with the GT stuff...I have marks on my car from the ARRC test day where a few of those things bounced off me trying to win whatever race they had in their heads...
 
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More on the incident later....

Regardless of fault, I would hope that ALL of us would check on the well being of the other person/people involved, especially with an incident as serious as this....

Bosco's description as a "total write off" is the understatement of the day.

Evan, yes, this is the second time he has been gathered up and totalled in just over a year. Missed you there. Ronie did you Acura boys proud.
 
IT cars, spec Miata's and the like just don't belong on the track at the same time as GT cars. Obviously they make their speed in such different ways. I did the same test day last year in my new GT-1 stock car with about 30 spec miatas and various other stuff out there. It was totally useless as a test session. They were in my way and I in theres. Did half of one thirty minute session and parked it and let my more GT experienced partner try it. He agreed. Useless and dangerous.
 
Same thing happened at the ARRC this year with those idiot GT cars. Wasted most of my sessions trying to simply stay away from them while they parked it in the corners and screamed by on the straights.

I'm usually not phased by other cars, but these guys scared the crap out of me. Totally unpredictable, totally idiotic.
 
It's not that they are necessarily idiotic, GT-1, SPO's are point and shoot cars, while IT cars are momentum cars. They just don't co exist on the track well. I have both an ITS and the stock car, most of what I learned driving the Nissans over the years just doesn't apply to a 650 hp stock car on 10 inch tires.

SCCA doesn't put GT-1's with IT's for the obvious reasons, track operators of these independent test days will and I believe they are culpable.
 
Rob, I understand what you're saying, but I find it INCREDIBLY hard to believe that a tube-frame, race-suspension, rear-wheel-drive, 2600(?) pound GT car on 10-inch racing slicks cannot go through a corner faster than a production-based, McPherson-strut, front-wheel-drive, 2530-pound street car on 8.5-inch street radials...

Love to try it some time to be proven wrong, though.
 
Yeah, Greg I think you need to try it to understand. First of all, GT-1 Stock cars are an entirely different animal than full GT-1 Corvettes and the like despite the weight being similar on the late model types.
14" wide rubber on each side, a wing, penske shocks, much wider track, better down force etc make them MUCH easier to drive than the stock car types that are becoming prevalent.

I know you know this, but it bears repeating, that on 10" tires, the traction under braking is so limited in the heavy braking zones that you have to be very smooth, careful and controlled. Same thing going through and off of slow corners with these beasts. With all the torque, if you don't roll into the gas off the corner you will do a donut in a heartbeat. However, they are incredibly fun and rewarding to drive when you do it right.

I did not witness the incident between Simms and Rob, but I do know that both are excellent drivers.

I tend to think a lot of things come into play when you have such disparate speeds of vehicles. Rob could check his mirrors find nothing there and in a blink have Simms all over him. Gt-1 guys need to realize also that slower cars can't drive looking out the back window all the time and the responsibility to pass cleanly resides mostly with them when they are on the track with cars so much slower.
 
That was a BIG crash, there's no question. The RX7 got hit so hard in the back that there was still a large part of the Jag's hood in the bumper when they carried it away on the front end loader they use for moving the jersey barriers at the track.

It's my understanding that the driver of the Jag made no effort to find out if the other driver was OK, nor to even to come over and shake hands over it. That's the part that "rots" me the most.

Just my $0.02 worth....
 
Same thing happened at the ARRC this year with those idiot GT cars. Wasted most of my sessions trying to simply stay away from them while they parked it in the corners and screamed by on the straights.

I'm usually not phased by other cars, but these guys scared the crap out of me. Totally unpredictable, totally idiotic.
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After reading my earlier blanket agreement with GregA, I must amend this to say the slower end of these fields GT1,SPO,TCC,etc...are the cars we struggle with, or become frustrated with. We must allow patience with these drivers, most newer or inexperianced drivers. My frustration is when a much faster car "straight line handling" over takes before or at entrance to turns, they forget that we have same cornering, and there is another straight just around the corner to pass at.

Many times no choice but to share track with these beasts...gotta get along..

David Spillman
 
I've been racing my SPO stock car for one season. Ran ITS for 5 full seasons. It is absolutely true that you can check your mirrors and see a GT1 car 200 yards behind and the next moment they are blowing by you. I decided to cut an AS car a break going into the chicane at Watkins Glen-figured I'd pass him coming out of the corner where my power would carry me by no problem. The G1 car I saw in my mirrors passed both of us going into the chicane - couldn't believe the closing speed - the guy could drive and his car was a work of art.

If the GT1 car hammered the ITS car in the rear I know what the cops/insurance/DMV would say....

SCCA says something along the lines of "the overtaking car has the responsibility of making a safe pass"...

I don't know either person but it stinks for both of them. Who wants to spend the winter doing repairs instead of improving?
 
I really don't have much to add except a huge thank you to Mike Vansteenburg for building the cage that saved Rob from a terrible fate.

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It's obviously not entirely clear in the pics but it looks like there was some collapse of the roof on the 7. Particularly with those steeply sloped A-pillars, it might be a good idea to consider putting an element in there in compression - from the top of that pillar to the floor at the front mounting pad.

K
 
I really don't have much to add except a huge thank you to Mike Vansteenburg for building the cage that saved Rob from a terrible fate.

I don't know the driver Mark but I have some S5 shells if he needs one to rebuild. Drop me a PM if I can help.
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The car didn't just clear the retaining wall, but also a 12 foot high catch fence. If you saw the fence you could not picture a car being able to clear it under any circumstance. The fence was undamaged. You can imagine the rate of speed the GT1 car had to hit the RX7 from behind to cause this to happen.


It is disturbing that the GT1 driver never checked on the condition of Rob after the crash, especially considering Rob was at the track until Sunday after being released from the hospital on Friday afternoon. If you saw the height of the fence and the condition of the car, you would wonder if the driver survived the crash. My faith in my fellow racers was restored though seeing how many drivers, crew members and spectators checked on Rob after hearing about crash and seeing the car. Many of these people had never met Rob before. The hardest thing any of us will ever do as drivers is make the walk to a fellow racer after being involved in a metal to metal incident that could have been or was your fault. If you can not make that walk then you should not be racing.
 
While I believe Phil should have personally went down to see Rob and check on him and talk it over, it does not mean that he didn't check on his condition. He may have done that through track officials, EMS or some other source. Lets not forget that the Jag also crashed hard and reportedly was close to a write off. (It's alot harder to write off 200K). I am just glad both are physically OK.
 
HOLY SON OF A @#%Q!

How is Rob doing? That is absolutely unreal. I'm with others about the coming and checking in part. Marc, Jim, please tell him I'm thinking about him.
 
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