Check this crash video out!!!

[kary]

http://www.gvc-bmwcca.org/photos/vipercrash.mpeg

Check this viper crash. He lost his brakes, Play it in slow motion after you watch it at regular speed. Quite amazing they did as well as they did.

What would you do in this situation?

[martinreinhardt]

Get a Porsche, these american cars don't turn

[MikeD]

What would you do in this situation?

hold on and pray!

[Tim Comeau]

Pump the brakes, downshift, pull the parking brake lever(don't lock it up).
These things can be done depending on how calm you are and how much time you have. On the freeway....lots of time. On the racetrack.....not so much time since I usually brake just in time to barely stay on the track.
It looks like they finished with the shiny side down. Belts and airbags were hanging.
Big pat on the back for the instructor. "Turn the ignition off!" was ordered, then repeated when compliance wasn't there.
Good man.

[gulf911]

Somebody please explain to me how you lose your brakes in a Viper? Heat? What has to fail for no brakes? Master Cylinder? It doesn't sound like he downshifted at all. I am not entirely certain being faced with that scenario if I would downshift either, but thats what comes to mind first.

[Greg Phillips]

My thoughts also are to pump the brakes , then downshift and try to use the parking brakes then finally try to scub off speed sideways (assuming you are not already spinning from the downshift or parking brake)
As far as why the brakes go away, two likely possiblities are too much heat and boiling fluid or the wrong pads and they have overheated and lost grip. Then there is always some sort of failure with brake lines, MC etc.
I lost the brakes at the Q during a TT a few years ago with Lars Frohm as my instructor. I did not pump my brakes but did finally scrub the speed off sideways in the NE corner of the West lot. It is very difficult to tell your brain to come off the brakes when the car is not stopping . The tendency is to keep pushing harder, but that does not help.
Greg

[MVZ944T]

I could not down load the video a second time to check, but I thought I heard the squeel of brakes. Maybe severe lock up? Been there, done that, luckily with nothing hard in front of me!!!

[kary]

I do not believe that sliding sideways is wise. Anyone see what happens when you leave the track sideways into the dirt or wet grass? I think pumping brakes is a good thing, down shifting is another good thing, but sliding sideways when you know you are leaving the track is not good unless you like to barrel roll wildly at over 100mph

[Tim Comeau]

Yep, you get the brakes too hot and the heat transfers through the caliper to the brake fluid line and you boil the fluid. Air comes out of the fluid and you've got air bubbles that compress when you push the hydraulic fluid through the lines. Instead of moving the fluid and pushing the pads against the rotor, you just compress the air bubbles and move NO fluid! That's why you've got to pump the brakes multiple times. You compress the bubbles to nothing and then you can start moving the brake fluid so that it moves the pads against the rotors. Spooky.
This is why you'll sometimes see me tap the brakes for just a millisecond on long straights..........to make sure they're still there!

[Dan Chambers]

From what I can tell:

1) He might have had brake failure, or missed the peddle, or just didn't brake enough - really over-cooked the corner. You can see the Instructor pointing, indicating, doing something with his hands in what looks like the braking zone. Was the Instructor trying to get the student to hit the brakes?
2) Severe push/understeer! He turns the wheel hard, there's a squeeling protest from the tires, and he continues straight off the course and into the rough/tire wall.
3) Almost looks like the driver "froze" mentally when things went wrong ... then panicked , heaved the wheel toward the turn-in, and just "pushed" right into trouble.
4)I was surprised to see no gloves on the driver's hands! Bare knuckles with that impact could have (probably) resulted in severe lacerations, scrapes, etc., on the hands. Very painful.

Very scary video. Instructor really kept his cool. I was gripping the arm-rails of my office chair so tightly, I think I damaged them! I was stomping on the floor, searching for the brake pedal myself ... I'm sure the guys downstairs thought I was practicing the Texas Two-step.

Personally, I've had brakes fail once ... in a one-ton truck that was overloaded with 2-tons worth of stuff .... down hill .... in Mexico, just outside of La Paz. Pumped the pedal vigorously, down-shifted 4th to 2nd, ..... and changed my pants when the whole thing was over ... twice. If you've driven to La Paz, you might know the hills I drove through. No shoulder or Emergancy Lane, just a narrow strip of asphalt with a white solid line down the middle. Boy, the stupid things we do when we're young .....

Anyway .....Educational video, in a very scary way. Thanks, Kary.

[David J Marguglio]

Dan: 2 tons? Thats a lot of Mexicans in the back of a pickup!