Check out the link at the bottom of post #1, every single body panel is effed, this car is for sure totaled. I'll get my parts off of it and use them on or to fund my next project: a conservatively built, stock motor'd, daily driven evo. I'm going to drive a few other cars for the heck of it but I really would like to just put all this work I've done and experience I've gained is too awesome to just let go.

 

Holy cow, that's sad...this tread is a real downer. I'm glad that you're OK scheides. Sad to see another EVO go out. Keep us updated on progress to a new ride. Glad to see i'm not the only one that gets attached to my car. I've had stuff like this happen where you want to be able to give it a burial or something...and then lock yourself up in your room to keep it from happening again...but in the end the car and driver is back on the road.

 

Sorry to hear, but thankfully you are ok!!!

Hope you get back on the road with something fun in the near future.

 

I am still alittle sore from the roll over but we were both really lucky we both were able to get out and walk away from it with so cuts and bruises

 

Very sorry to see this, but I am glad that nobody was seriously injured. Cars can be replaced people can't. Time to find another EVO and swap your parts into it.

Dan (drb)

 

Having done something similar in my Evo, but with no rollover and only a torn off front bumper lip, I can empathize with you on how easy it is to lose control. Glad you're ok and sincerely hope that you get another Evo and stick around in the Evo community.

 

It was not a fun sight to see my friend's car laying on its side in the grass. I had driven that same route with Scheides and another friend a week prior and even then I had suspicions about how safe that stretch of road would be. That morning as we set off on our way something didn't feel right, and sure enough my gut feeling was met with a dose of reality. For all the time that Scheides has spent helping me with my car, I only wish I had spent at least half that much helping him with his.

At least I talked him into doing the local autocross novice school. Maybe he'll care more about becoming a better driver now.

 

Wow, that sucks man, get a IX for sure.

 

glad you're OK. cars can always be fixed/replaced...

its never good to monday morning QB, but I can't help but think what would have happened if you kept the wheel straight while braking instead of trying to make the front wheels turn the car and brake at the same time. thats one of the first things they teach you at an HPDE, always brake in a straight line and this is a prime example why.

what probably happened was that while you were braking with the wheel turned, you unknowingly took all the weight off your rear tires, causing the back end to get loose. once that happened your back end would be trying to swap positions with the front end and car would have gone where your momentum was heading, in this case, directly after the apex of the turn... into a ditch.

when you get back on your feet, and have another car to drive, I would suggest spending some time at a driving school to get an understanding of car control. it could just save you from having to go thru this again.

 

Umm, the comments about driving school and car control, you guys can **** off. I've spent plenty of time driving at the limit, there was just no traction and I was going too fast (yup, I made a mistake, like I've said already!). If I would have gone straight, we would likely have taken a nose dive into the ditch and if we didn't violently stop there, we would have likely ended up stopping violently in a small grove of trees right there. Traction was lost mid corner. I was in control until the last few feet. The traction conditions changed drastically and like I think I said in my first post, we were simply passengers at that point. I had it under control and was trying to ease off the brakes to get more traction for turning, but as sandy as it was suddenly zero traction. I had speed nearly under control, so I thought we were going to simply slide off the edge of the road , but with the grade/hill sloping away from the road and the barbed wire fence there, the car tipped, and very slowly I might add. It almost didn't happen. Again note how much glass is in tact in the pics, this was not a violent roll.

I *am* signed up for an autoX novice school for this weekend, but I have been signed up for months and both car and driver were ready for it until this happened. I'm sure I have plenty to learn and that's why I signed up. I planned on spending the summer racing and learning to really really drive this car that I've spent 3.5 years tweaking/perfecting.

I appreciate your comments about leaving the track straight and everything else, but seriously, you weren't there, and like I said, I was simply going too fast for the amount of gravel that happened to be on this corner. I'm no race car driver, but if you weren't in the car or see video of exactly what happened, I would like you to respectfully back off.

 

People keep saying maybe us computer geeks should stick to what we do best but what fun is that? :P

 

I don't want to sound like I'm preaching here, but I highly doubt you spent any time "at the limit" as you call it, if you've never turned a wheel on a track.

now, go back and re-read what I posted. I never mentioned anything about leaving the road straight. I said you should have braked in a straight line. Once your braking is done, then you turn the wheel. If you do that autox novice class they will teach you why this is so. basically, the front wheels can't brake and turn the car at the same time. So asking the front wheels to brake @ 100% while turning at 60% means your 160% out of luck.

you basically took braking ability away from your car by doing what you did. I would explain it in more detail to you now, but I don't think you want to hear it from me. all I'm trying to say is based on your description of how much you slowed the car down, I can't help but think if the wheels were straight, that your braking would have been able to scrub off enough speed to make the turn. I'm not saying this to be mean or anything, seriously, but its little mistakes like what you did that sometimes mean the difference between a close call and what happened to you.

 

Well, you do sound like you're preaching man, so please give me a tiny bit of credit. You're right, you didn't mention leaving the road straight, I elaborated on that point, sorry.

I understand all about tire traction/braking straight, etc, I've had this book for over 10 years:
http://www.amazon.com/Porsche-High-P.../dp/0879388498

I'm sorry I was a bit vague in my description, but I did brake straight, I eased off as I started to get to the turn, but it was too late. I was going too fast and I didn't start braking hard enough soon enough, and umm, again, I said that. I was barely into the corner when I lost traction, so while the points you make are valid, they are generalizations. I can try and describe to you a ton of ways here on this forum, but none would likely convey exactly what happened.

You weren't there, I messed up, paying the consequences, and getting poked at by people on the internet is getting lame. If you wanna drive up here and try and take the corner at the same pace I did, please show me how its done. To get through it, you'd have to be going slower, simple as that, but again, I already said that. Slow is fast, remember?

 

What should have been done, and what happened are in the past now, I'm sure this is chalked up as a "lesson learned"

Glad to hear you and the passenger got out safely, now its time to just go on with the future and figure out whats next.

Good luck to ya man, hope to see another evo!

 

Sorry to hear about the accident! Here's hoping you don't have too much trouble with insurance or tracking down a replacement, and doubly so, that you can track down an VIII or IX instead of jumping ship to an X like everyone seems to be doing lately.

Note to self: if ever riding with scheides, grab on to something if you hear him say, "I think I missed that apex".