Jim,
Small world. I worked corners at VIR in the late 60's. We probably crossed
paths there.
I was working the corner at the end of the back straight (don't remember
numbers) and watched as John Kelly, lost brakes at the end of the straight
and took the Group 44 Spitfire off track, and rode the tree tops down over
the hill about 50 yards. Car looked good when they drug it out, but the
underneath was wiped clean.
I was back to VIR in 2005, boy is that a nice facility now. Remembering the
lack of back in the early days.
Jeff Kelly (No relation to John)
----- Original Message -----
From: "Jim Seippel" <aseippel at austin.rr.com>
To: <spridgets at autox.team.net>
Sent: Tuesday, May 17, 2011 11:22 PM
Subject: Re: [Spridgets] Front Springs
> This reminds me of another place and time about 45 years ago. I was
> working
> a flag station at a driver's school at VIR (Virginia International
> Raceway).
> It was the last practice race on Sunday on the last lap. The last place
> driver in a Spitfire was a good thirty to sixty seconds behind all the
> other
> cars.
>
> In our minds the race was over. All of the corner workers were starting to
> pack up and were thinking about the drive home. I was the only one looking
> at the track when the Spitfire lost it in the turn and flipped. There is a
> lesson there about the race not being over until the last car finishes.
>
> Anyway, I ran over with a fire extinguisher got the driver clear of the
> car
> and put out a small engine fire. We looked at the car and the rear axle
> was
> broken off which explained the rollover. However, the trunk lid was bent
> double and there was about a hundred pound slab of concrete lying in the
> middle of the track. It took a while to figure out what happened.
>
> This was a completely stock Spitfire. The owner was a college student. He
> drove the car to the track. He was having handling problems and the
> instructor suggested he needed something to hold the rear down. The
> instructor was obviously thinking about a rear sway bar. The driver's
> solution was the concrete block. The block was just lying loose in the
> trunk. Can you imagine the handling problems caused by the weight transfer
> of 100 pounds in the corners when the concrete slid back and forth?
>
> The end result was that the college student had to find a way to get 100
> miles back to college with a totaled car and no other transportation. I
> would have liked to have seen him explain to mom and dad how he totaled
> his
> car.
>
> Jim
>
> -----Original Message-----
> From: spridgets-bounces at autox.team.net
> [mailto:spridgets-bounces at autox.team.net] On Behalf Of Frankie Clarici 4th
> Sent: Tuesday, May 17, 2011 9:21 PM
> To: spridgets at autox.team.net
> Subject: Re: [Spridgets] Front Springs
>
> 50lb cement bag in the back.
>
> We used to do this for winter sprite driving.
>
> Seriously if you have a spring shop nearby they can setup the spring to
> lower the car.
>
> Frankie
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