Viper Loses Brakes During Turn

[ewave]

Several years ago I remember seeing a video of a viper losing its brakes entering a turn in 4th gear. The viper ends up rolling 5 times. I seem to remember that the passenger was a quite well known instructor. The video was removed. The explanation I heard for removing the video had to with insurance claim issues.

Well, the video has resurfaced at the following link

http://www.break.com/index/viper_loses_brakes_during_turn.html

And, while I haven't read all the 300+ comment on the video, it seems that most viewers who have taken time to comment have now idea of what really happened- Many are claiming that there was no brake failure.

Check it out for your selves.

Also, was the release of this really authorized, AND if so, why didn't the releaser put a better explanation to go with the video?

 

[ViperGTS]

The car does not roll.

And as far I can remember: the brakes failed.

 

[Chuck 98 RT/10]

That is turn two at Moroso. It appears the brakes faded. I don't hear any tire squealing.

 

[Janni]

No - that's at CMP - the infamous crash.....

 

[Chuck 98 RT/10]

No - that's at CMP - the infamous crash.....

Hey, it was 7:30 am when I wrote that.

 

[Janni]

You only get slack if you were still up from the night before.

 

[slaughterj]

Hey Paul, been a while (since rooming back at VOI7!)! How's the car?

 

[CitySnake]

If I recall correctly, the instructor was Sean Roe.

 

[Leslie]

That is turn two at Moroso. It appears the brakes faded. I don't hear any tire squealing.

yeh, that's how it looks to me too. you can see he's on the line, entering the apex and even shifted and turned the wheel. if he heel/toe shifts, he would have had to have been applying the brake during the shift and I didn't see the car respond.

 

[Vic]

Maybe he had a brain freeze and forgot to brake. Right after Sean motions for a downshift, the driver grabs the shifter. During this instant, he may have taken his eyes off the road, or maybe his newbie brain may have been distracted contemplating a heel-toe manuever. Whatever the case, he turned in late, the car totally understeered, hitting the tires. Just before he hits the first tire wall, you can hear his tires squeeling, thats because the car is understeering hard. Some time ago, someone reported that he intentionally hit the wall straight on, in order to reduce the sideways G injuries, and let the air bags and belts arrest the energy. If that was true, then the tires would not have been squeeling, but they were, because the car was in hard understeer. So he wasn't "trying" to hit the wall(s) straight on, thats just the way it turned out.

I didn't see any desperate pedal pumping, like you would do if the brakes were fading. When I had brake fade at Thunderhill, it was a gradual thing, getting worse corner by corner, the pedal going further down to the floor each time. Very predictable, not a sudden, total loss of braking ability. It would have been more plausible to say that there was a total loss of brake fluid, or something similar, rather than to attribute it to brake fade.

 

[patgilm]

I actually talked to an instructor at a recent SRT track experience event that was at that event and he had watched the whole thing. Unfortunately, I cannot remember what the reason for the accident was. What I do remember is that he said the car did in fact flip and land upside down after the crash. If you look at the video, you can see the way the cord and the seat belt hang when he undoes it that supports this.

 

[slaughterj]

If I recall correctly, the instructor was Sean Roe.

If it's that video, wasn't it Sam from South Carolina driving?

 

[SEASNAKE]

My poor memory was that this happened at Kershaw, SC and that it was due to a poor installation of brake lines. Another added bonus was the removal of the e-brake during the "performance" brake system installation. I think you can see Sean reaching for the e-brake to no avail.

 

[Wendy]

In this case the owner should have not worked on his own car.......