Crashing Like A Pro

[Jamz]

Last night as I stripped my calipers, I was chatting to my Step-Dad about various stuff, as you do, and we got onto the subject of crashes.

He is a former National Champion in the Formula Vee series, is a top mechanic, and generally lives and breathes cars - and more recently, bikes, too. So he's had his fair share of moments!

I was very interested to hear a while back, that he says when he races he often holds his breath for long spells of time! He also told me that he'd found out that Ayrton Senna did the same thing, and allegedly could hold his breath for an entire lap when he needed to put in a really fast one!

Crazy! I wonder how many other racers do this? I wonder if it's a natural thing that you might not even notice? I wonder if it had anything to do with Senna's fatal crash - maybe he pushed that little bit more and blacked out?

His (my Step-Dad) biggest crash was a huge one at Cadwell Park when he was racing in Super Vee. He lost it at Charlies (possibly due to a loss of downforce on the bumps), and the back came around as he hit the grass, then dug in. The car barrel rolled a fair few times, but then started to flip end over end, too!

As I've had a few big offs myself, I can relate entirely to the kind of crazy stuff that goes through your head as you're having a big nasty accident.

He confirmed that it felt like the accident was going on for a hell of a long time. In his words:

"The barrel roll part was ok."
"OK?!?"
"Well yeah - it was pretty. The scenery was changing from grass to sky over and over again. But all the bumps and the bangs started to get a bit scary to listen to as they kept going on..."

He didn't like going end over end at all, though. Not surprisingly, as at some point one of the fasteners for his shoulder harness smashed his shoulderblade. He said that even worse that that was the feeling as the back end of the car with the engine and all the weight went overhead. He could feel the extra inertia every time it happened.

Obviously, he survived the crash but was in a lot of pain from his shoulderblade. And no doubt a million other pains after the adrenalin wore off!

Until you've experienced a huge crash, you probably can't really relate to the amount of information you can take in!

I once had a big high-side, and can remember the jumble of thoughts in my head very clearly.

I knew that I wanted to try and slide on my back, because if I hit the deck and started rolling I might snap my spine as my legs and body rotated at different speeds. I knew I wanted to try and keep my head off the floor so that I didn't damage my helmet. I remember the sound of sliding along the grass. I remember being slammed into the ground.

Perhaps more interestingly in this case, I clearly remember, whilst I was in mid-air, the faces of the two horrified Police Officers in their car coming in the opposite direction!

It's all very calm. All your senses are in overdrive, so that you can take in every sound and smell and the texture of the road before you hit it and everything.

The conversation that I had with my Step-Dad will probably seem absolutely crazy if you've never experienced a good crash. Hell, we were laughing about it, too!

If you have had the pleasure of entering this Twilight Zone - what were the weirdest thoughts that you had?