The Mid-Ohio Melee May 2019 video we posted June 19 has been trending like mad. When Thunder Roadster racer Tom Byrns saw the video, he sent in another with a few different views of the incident, and it’s equally painful.
The Mid-Ohio Melee May 2019 video we posted June 19 has been trending like mad. When Thunder Roadster racer Tom Byrns saw the video, he sent in another with a few different views of the incident, and it’s equally painful.
Did anyone get hurt?
Nope, all thanks to modern safety gear.
Needed a corner marshal on the outside of the turn, where your eyes are before you start the corner.
That blind corner made things very scary. Glad everyone walked away
It is not a blind corner if you are looking at the corner worker. The one waving the yellow, meaning that there is something on-line that must be avoided ahead. Where the corner worker is placed can be due to the logistics of the track and ensuring safe run-off areas. They won’t alway be in your line of sight, but you need to make sure you find them, especially if you can’t see through the other half of a turn. I have not driven this track, but it does not look like the field did much slowing, if any, driving into a blind turn with a waiving yellow. I have seen this at other races as well. If I lift for a turn with a yellow the field leaves me for dead. This past weekend at an SCCA event an off track stopped car, at a corner displaying yellow, was hit. That yellow means something, be prepared to avoid danger ahead and don’t get caught up in it.
I was a Lake Erie Communication flagger for 25 years and Mid-Ohio was my home track. I worked what was flag station 11 now I think turn 8 many times. It is a tough corner to flag because of the layout of the track. Where the actual flags needs to be to inform the driver’s is in front of the crest, so we have a worker at the top of the hill watching from the crest up to the left hander before the carousel. The problem you have is by the time a incident happens on the down side of that crest, that worker reacts to signal the flagger if there is a gaggle of cars some get thru before the yellow flag can be displayed. As far as placing a flagger on drivers left that really doesn’t work either because your eyes are fixed on the Apex of the turn and not looking off to your left. So unfortunately it is something that really can have any more done as the layout of the track is.