Badass, I'd love to try this one day.

 

Thanks for sharing Tom. I have a question. Did you slide into him or did he turn into you? If he turned into you, how is that your fault?

 

ooops sorry! if it isn't you that's taking someone else out, or someone else taking you out. that's racing these days.

thanks for sharing. looking forward to your next race!

 

Looks like a fun series. Any links to more video from such events? Whats the name of the series?

 

Tom, You learn as you go man... For the other guys who thought it was the ferrari driver's fault, here's how it works... If you are the over-taking car, you have to anticipate what the other driver is doing, and his line. You must be able to pass the other driver "cleanly" without contact on your part. If the other driver had left the door wide open (not the case here) and then hit Tom (say about 2/10ths later) it would have been the other driver's fault.
Tom was the over-taking car and got a little anxious!

Tom, You're a standup guy and it takes a lot of stones to post that video and then explain what you did... And buying that Ferrari driver a replacement wheel is the thing to do...

The guy BLKMGK refers to is a good friend and I orchestrated his fund raising activities to get his car put back together after the August 2007 crash at Pocano that destroyed his T1 Corvette. We raised $10K to get Joe's car put back together, and in the end, after much "guilt", the offending driver, a guy in a Chevy Cobalt who was "racing" back to the pits to get tire temps and had his brakes fail, finally kicked in an extra $2500 to help. Strangely enough that driver refused to accept any blame, which is normally the case in some racing classes... You are fortunate that you are racing with other people who have the financial means to play with exotic cars and who are obviously gentlemen... And you clearly fit right in man, congrats!

Now be prepared for them to treat you like a reckless rookie for a while!

Mike

 

I really appreciate you posting the video. For one, I love seeing that there are people like you out there racing the Pcars. Secondly, it definitely helps to see from a driver standpoint what went wrong. Thank you again, and better luck in your next race.

 

very well said.

And add to this that if in a big money race you may have cost the other guy the race, which means sponsorships, and ultimately food on the table. It is nice to race with people who have cars that they do not wish to damage, they have something to loose as well. But if you are going to put your 100k+ machine on the same track as chevy cobalts, lancers, etc. you might be asking for it.

 

You guys are both ok, minor race scratchs I hope. Nice video. Amazing sportsmanship sir!

I hope to watch you at Sebring and/or PBIR someday.

Jeff

 

Thanks for the explanation Mike, that makes sense.

 

What camera did you use? Is it self mounted? Thx...TC

 

The most important thing is that you learn from a bad experience.

Nice driving otherwise, and keep it up man, that was great!

 

Just picked up on this... unlucky Tom.

Part of racing I'm afraid... TBH I'm sure there will be a few more incidents along the way (knock on wood not severe) all a learning curve... your on it and that's what counts Tom.

Oh, keep that wallet well stacked

 

As everyone has said, you are quite a guy! Personally, I didnt think you were being OVERLY aggressive and the ferrari driver should have checked his/your line before making a turn in. That doesnt matter though.

In the end, it take a certain type of person to admit a mistake, then go above and beyond and pay for part of it. Props go to you. I think I have given you rep points a little while ago, so i dont think I can give you anymore for some time, but you'll get them . I hope I get a chance to meet you in the future. The contact seemed pretty minor and I'm sure youll get back out there soon. Btw, there were some parts in the video where I was AMAZED to see how fast the F-cars pulled on you - I was not expecting that at all!

 

Again I would like to thank all of you that took the time to look at the vid and post. The gracious comments are overwelming and it is nice to be on my home court and I appreciate all the support.

my car had about 10k worth of damage. it is almost race ready as we speak. it will be on the track in sevral weeks again.

hopefully I will post some less exciting race vids.

the Ferrari's and Challenge Vipers in my class are all fast. the Vipers have massive hp and the Ferrari's have mid engine and paddle shifters. I am a very lucky guy to be on the track with such amazing machines and drivers, not to mention the new 997 Cup car out there as well as one DP car and several radicals. makes for some real exciting racing.

again thanks all for the support, really nice of you guys when you could have just said what a douch I was and a crappy driver.

little bit more on my frame of mind may help. the car wouldnt start in the am of the race. I missed race practice (never drove the car since the race conversion ever!!) found a bad fuel pump relay and fixed it with a few minutes left in qualifying. at that point I had maybe time for one or two laps. it was raining and I had slicks on.

I hurried out to get a qualifying time as any time would put me up in the grid above the lower hp cars and would be a big help. I qualified in the rain on the first warm up lap with a time 2 seconds off my PR. So was lucky. So when the race started I had a total of two laps in with this car and was a little too jacked up at this point. Had I been calmer and patient I would have potentially had a great race. so that is the take home message as always dont try to win the race on the first lap and never try to pass two Ferrari's at one time coming in hot to the brake zone with cold pads.
all very amateurish mistakes that I would have been very critical of another for doing the same.

all my experience went out the window on this one and lucky no one was hurt.

not sure if I mentioned the Ferrari I hit went on to get a new wheel and finished the race first in class and fourth overall. he was turely a great driver in a great car. I look forward to racing him in the near future and I am sure he probably doesnt feel the same about me. But I will try to earn respect in the next race.

tom

 

Tom,

Was that triple black 360 being driven by Rich from the Tampa/Clearwater area?