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Do NOT take safety lightly, even if you're "just" doing lapping days or HPDEs. I almost learned the hard way this weekend.
To make a long story short, I was at the NASA event at Hallett this weekend with David and Trevor in Honda Challenge. I was just running in HPDE 3/4 since I don't have my license yet. I went out on the first run with no problems. The car was running great, but still pushing a little. I went out on the second run, and everything appeared fine, but after I rounded 9, I smelled gas as I went down the straight. I was going waaay too fast to make it to the pit in, so I decided to make one more pass around the track, and if I still smelled something, I was going to pit in. I came around 10, and headed down the straight with no problems. After I rounded one, and started up hill to 2 (stop sign), I looked at my gauges, then at my rear view mirrors. What I saw scared the daylights out of me. The entire rear of the car was on fire. Fortunately, there was no one behind me, and 2 is a VERY slow turn. I started coasting as I crested the hill. I got on the brakes and slid the car to a stop in front of the corner station at 2. As all this is happening, I'm looking in my rear view mirror, and noticing that the fire is getting much worse. As I come to a stop, the corner worker jumps over the corner station with a fire extinguisher in his hand. He's telling me to get out, but of course, that's what I'm doing!! I'd say in about 7 seconds, I had the steering wheel off, the harness off, and I was out of the car with my helmet on. Probably 20 seconds later, the tow truck driver arrived with a very large extinguisher. They were able to put the fire out in short order.
I'm 100% convinced that if the tow truck driver had not made it out there so quick, the Prelude would have burnt to the ground. The corner station worker's fire extinguisher did a good job, but I think the fire was still going by the time his extinguisher was empty.
I'm okay, and the fire never made it into the passenger compartment, although the interior side of the rear quarter panel is burnt, so fire was in the trunk. The rear bumper is toast, the rear quarter is scorched, and the gas fill tube cover and gas tank cover are melted. Before I got home, I went to a car wash to power wash the residue that I couldn't clean at the track. I noticed the entire underside of the trunk has soot on it from the fire. I think there was a significant amount of fire around the gas tank. If one of the rubber connectors had ruptured, I shutter to think what might have happened, especially with me in the car.
This hasn't detered me from wanting to get my license in November, but the car won't be "pretty" anymore.
The scariest part of it all....I was wearing a t-shirt and shorts with nomex gloves and street shoes (not my driving shoes). If the car had completely caught fire, I would have been in a world of hurt.
No, we don't know what caused it, but David and I have our ideas. We're not 100% sure, but I'm going to have to drop the tank and inspect everything before November. Firebraid will probably be installed on all fuel lines too.
Don't think it can't happen to you!!
I'll have pictures later.
EDIT: We had dropped the trailers and cars off on the front straight, and I guess David was hanging around when he heard me come around 10. He said that I was on fire going down the main straight! Trevor's father was sitting in the stands by 9, and said that it looked like I leaked a bunch of liquid (fuel, obviously) when I came around 9. He jumped out of the stands and asked where he could go for someone to flag me, but by then, the car was on fire.
Interesting part is, the damage doesn't do the fire justice (and that's a good thing). Fortunately, the rear of the bumper, passenger's side quarter, and trunk were undamaged. The driver's side shock also looked perfect, as do all the ball joint boots, ABS sensor lines, suspension bushings, and fuel couplers. The sway bar bushings look a little melted, and a lot of the undercoating that was painted white is obviously scorched. The interior of the trunk where the jack is stored is also black with soot. I'm certain that there was fire in there. Interestingly enough, inside the gas cap is pristine. No damage. The damage to the car is certainly FAR less than what I would have expected given the size of the fire. It did only burn for about 1 minute, though. Probably 30 seconds on the track, and 30 seconds after I pulled over.
On a good note, I only got one clean lap in before this incident, and I was able to run a 1:33.xx. That was before I was even comfortable on the course! I'm so disappointed. I think I could have run a much better time.
I did also notice the car running noticeably rougher now, and it's a little tempermental to start. I don't know if it's a related problem, but I'll tear apart everything next weekend.
Without a doubt the best thing I did was to not panic. I was very calm through the whole ordeal. I knew that if I wasn't calm, I wouldn't be able to get the sternum strap and harness off quickly, I'd be too busy fumbling with the cam lock. If anything happens to you guys out on the track, stay calm, it'll help you get out of trouble more than you think.
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Billy
98 Prelude - a few modifications
