Though not fun to experience, if you race cars long enough you're likely to have several run-ins with mechanical failures. These usually occur at the worst of moments and you would be thrilled if you can avoid serious damage or injury. So far in a racing career that spans 45 years, I've been lucky not to have been hurt, though I have bent a few race cars. Of all the heart rate increasing moments I’ve had in a racing car, none caught me off guard or scared me as much as my high speed spin entering Riverside’s famous Turn 6.
Just prior to the braking zone for this infamous corner, you’re doing just over 110 mph. If every component of the car does its job, getting slowed to 60 mph is usually a non-event. However, on the day I was driving a Formula-class car with open wheels, single seat, and engine just behind the driver. As I got after the brakes firmly, the car instantly turned around and headed straight for the wall. With the wheels locked up, the car wasn’t slowing at all and I braced for what I knew was going to a nasty impact: Likely survivable by me, but surely not for the car. Just a few feet short of the impact, the car (by none of my doing) spun to the left and stopped inches before the wall.
I had steering, I had brakes, and the engine was still running, so I pulled slowly to the inside of the corner and tried to figure out what the heck had just happened. I was a bit shaken because I had no understanding of why the car just instantly spun the second I nailed the brakes. Turns out that the two side mounted mounted radiators had sprung a leak at the low tube control the water’s direction and as I had hit the brakes all the guild that had gathered onto the floor pan shot instantly in front of the car, wetting all four tires. I had spun in my own fluids! Scared the heck out of me.
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