BGTV8's "Massive Moment" ... Updated
 

We had the final round of our state Championship last weekend, and my right front suspension suffered a RF lower ball joint (is actually a pin through a heim joint in the lower wishbone) failure into T1 and Philip Island, as soon as the compression load came on under braking.

Tore the RF wheel assembly out of the suspension ... and had an "interesting ride" through the gravel trap and out the other side .... finally stopped on a tarmac area just before an earth bank/tyre wall protecting the track as it runs down to T3.

Data says I hit the brakes at 274kph and that car started to spin at 262kph ... character building to say the least.

Car undamaged apart from RF guard and fibreglass flare, but a full suspension rebuild is now the plan.

These pins are a lifed component, due for change after this meeting but I clearly got the life wrong. The re-engineered suspension is going to have modified uprights to reduce load on these pins ...........

Pictures .....

Added another picture ... look at the top of the photo for the wheel - how it did not finish up in the ocean I do not know !!

Oh man! Glad you are ok :tup:

GL with the repairs :tiphat: :driving:

That has gotta be scary.

My pants would not have survived such an incident.

Glad you were able to come out in one piece.
Hope this incident hasn't put any holds for future developments on current projects my friend..

May your angels stick around to keep you safe and watch over you.

No, I already have the budget for the 4-litre set aside, so this fix will be slower than it might otherwise have been

While watching the Moto GP race I was thinking that track requires a larger set of attachments than I currently have available.

According to my wife (SWMBO), it is more a case of absence of brain !!!

I have to tell you that tipping any car into T1 is mega ...... even the Z34 is an interesting ride as it is only a lift, quick shove on the brake (more to get weight onto the front so it turns in cleanly), turn it in and hit the loud-pedal.

In my race car, speeds are +50-55kph and "stuff happens" fairly quickly

In either car, it is a big-time rush thats for sure ... and the MotoGP guys are seriously nuts because they hit it at 320+kph ..... those guys are the ones with big attachments

Glad to see that you're good. How much vinyl did you have to pull out of your asss? I image that you had a pretty good butt vacuum going on.

Butt clench bite out of the seat is HUGE -can laugh about it now, but I sure dodged a bullet ....

Glad to hear you came out of that ok.

That picture of the wheel flying through the air!! :eek: :rofl2:

WOW! Glad you are here to share....simply amazing!