Tim Bell Huge Crash 2014 Continental Tire Sportscar Challange at COTA

Mike

Ice mode? I have never gotten it, so I don't know if it was that or something else.

The drivers comment from facebook:

"Tim Bell ... We think the ABS went into a default mode when it lost the rear brakes the turn before. The pedal went rock hard and the data shows no sign or brake pressure to any of the brakes... It was a complete brake failure unfortunately. But the good thing is the safety barrier worked and our other safety equipment performed perfectly and I walked away"

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NISSAN: 75 280Z / 86 300ZX GLL /87 Sentra SE / 03 350Z / 23 Z
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Mike

This is why I decided to get the cage, seats, harnesses and HANS. At high speed in a stock car, it would really suck hitting that wall.

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NISSAN: 75 280Z / 86 300ZX GLL /87 Sentra SE / 03 350Z / 23 Z
Porsche: 93 968 / 23 Macan GTS / 93 968

JWillis72

That's what it sounds like to me, I would like to know if the race car has the factory ABS. Safety equipment has just moved to the top of my mod list.


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Rusty

Don't know what to say. Crap, that was frightening. Glad to hear that he walked away from it.

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wstar

I don't know, but I doubt they're on the factory ABS. I think the critical part of that message, that I don't fully understand, is "when it lost the rear brakes the turn before". It's hard to know what happened at T12 without knowing whatever he's referring to from T11.

Yup! Especially when you're not even making the big bucks, it's not worth ending up in the hospital (or worse) over some cheap track thrills at a DE. If you're doing a lot of trackdays and getting up there on carrying speed, you really need a cage, good harnesses, and some kind of neck protection. Also don't forget that basic maintenance is an important safety upgrade. Keep that brake fluid fresh and check all wear items, etc!

I re-watched Tim's wreck video like 20 times in a row. Me and my car have spent about 5 track-days going through that exact same braking zone over and over (but ~20mph slower and far less traffic to deal with). It's a pretty heavy braking zone, and suddenly not having brakes there would be scary as hell. He handled it way better than I would have.

I'm really glad he walked away from that pretty much unscathed. Good thing CotA has nice crash barriers.

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Shamu

Would be interesting to hear why he lost rears. MC failure ? Or did calipers and pads get overheated? In pictures looks like gold brembo calipers from 350z.

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Grant

Mbreese

Great that he is ok !!! I would be still cleaning my shorts out still !

Zoren 370

good thing the tire barriers held the car in place and absorbed the impact.

Rid3_FaM0uS

I am no track car guy so I seriously cannot speak with knowledge here but do you guys not run some sort of independent e brake? blew a break line in our family owned cummins once and my first instinct was to float the e brake to get the truck home. while I don't expect it would have slowed the car fully from 130-0 I guess anything slower coming into that barrier would have been better. On a real note though if this is indeed the factory brake system this makes what; the second? high speed brake failure occurrence on a nismo?

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JWillis72

He said they do not have a parking brake on the cars.

Mitco39

Another 370Z related post I saw today. He was flying!

The crash is at 0:24

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LostSol

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Mitco39

Z Meets Wall: We Investigate Why the NISMO Z's Brakes Failed at Lightning Lap - Feature - Car and Driver

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2007 Chevy Duramax - EFILive Tuned By Me
2010 40th W/ Nav - Boosted Performance - UpRev Tuned By Me
The Mrs. Ride -2012 335XI N55 BMW - Cobb Tuned By Me, Built by her
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Mitco39

I didnt see it in the pics and vid section. My bad.

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2007 Chevy Duramax - EFILive Tuned By Me
2010 40th W/ Nav - Boosted Performance - UpRev Tuned By Me
The Mrs. Ride -2012 335XI N55 BMW - Cobb Tuned By Me, Built by her
My Build --> http://www.the370z.com/members-370z-...39s-build.html

Shamu

Not really relevant to this race car losing its brakes. However I have always been suspect to whether that CD crash was pad related. I think it was ice mode.

I have dealt with brake fade with street pads and haven't ever lost braking capability completely. Calipers and pads on NISMO are pretty stout. NISMO with firmer suspension, stickier tires etc is more vulnerable to ice mode. I almost crashed first time I had ice mode in my nismo too. Scary as hell!

The bell racing issue was something differnt I suspect.

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Grant