I crashed my bucket at the weekend (calling Andy Fadster)

[Hot Rod Todd]

Was racing at the NZ Nationals here at Fram Autolite Dragway at the weekend and messed up big time. I suspect we broke a rod end in the rear as the car veered to the left lane and wouldnt come back. I hit the wall with the LF wheel and then hit the wall side on and the slicks gripped the concrete and ripped the rear end out, and the rest skidded over the track till it stopped. I have a full skid plate under the trans so we travelled on that and didnt split the trans pan or spill trans fluid over the track.

Now if Andy is around, there was a friendly Pommy bloke who is holidaying down here who knows you. Long curly hair & looked like a 70s rock star. Just came in from Rarotonga with his wife, and came to the track with a top end camera and got pikkys of the crash on his camera. Was going to get his email address on the sunday, but the final day got rained out, so I havent got his contact details.

Andy, do you know who he was, and how I can contact him?

Thanks
Todd

 

[Hot Rod Todd]

And pictures of the crash.

 

[RPM]

I hate to hear that. Hope you are OK.

 

[ford4ever]

OH,that sucks! the car can be replaced, you can't! hope you are well.

 

[benT]

Good to see you are OK - as ford4ever said, the car can be fixed.

By the way, is the track surface really that wonky that it shows in some of the pics? Doesn't seem like too flat a surface, although that just could be a camera thing.

 

[EX JUNK]

I bet that put a racing stripe in the seat of your underwear! LOL

Jim

 

[old round fart]

I think the stripe would pretty much cover the whole rear! LOL

 

[Dino]

Todd glad to see you are ok. Was that a heim joint ( 3/4 ? ) that gave out or what type of end was it.

 

[Hot Rod Todd]

No injuries at all. No blood, no bruises, no marks and no sore bits.

The safety stuff did all it job perfectly, and the perimeter chassis on the car looks to be square still. I would guess that the aluminum rims took the brunt of the hit, along with the rod ends which all broke off, so energy from the crash got disapated before it got to the chassis. Ted will put me right if my phsics is screwed up.

The track is the only dedicated drag strip in New Zealand and was also celebrating its 40th year this weekend. Its built on a peat swamp and it does sink, and then every decade or so, it gets a big rebuild. Our season finishes n about 6 weeks, and then the concrete wall gets removed (they are interlocking 4 ton blocks on the LH side) and the track will get flattened again, at a cost of around $750,000.

The track is IHRA sanctioned, as is our local track in Christchurch. Our local track is actually the back straight of a circuit track.

 

[Joe-405]

glad your ok and that coulda been alot worse.

 

[Mike]

I'm happy to hear you are OK. That is the important part.

 

[kgrimm]

OUCH! Glad to hear you're OK!