Bad launch, or crazy burnout?

[CRUZTAKER]

A friend sent this to me.

Wow.:eek:

http://www.mercurymarauder.net/showcase/files/6/2/7/track-crash.jpg

[DEFYANT]

I'll take "a bad launch" for 300 please.

[shakes_26]

oh my, thats going to be expensive.... not to mention he'll forever be known as 'that guy who mowed down the tree"

[MERCMAN]

oh my, thats going to be expensive.... not to mention he'll forever be known as 'that guy who mowed down the tree"

"I'm a lumberjack and I'm OK"

[merc6]

yeah he really jumped the tree that time ;)

[Joe Walsh]

yeah he really jumped the tree that time ;)


DEFINITELY REDLIGHTED!:o

[Shankin]

I got a broken axle for 500 alex!lol

[Mike Poore]

Look, he's still in the car, frozen like a zombe. :eek:

First time I ever saw anyone take out the tree. :shake:

Q: What's that smell?
A: I think he shat his pants!

[frdwrnch]

I'll take broken left axle for $250...

[Breadfan]

Might as well change the oil while he's got it jacked up...

[MarauderMarc]

wow! I bet that was fun!!!

[spiders]

wow! I bet that was fun!!!
<!-- / message --><!-- sig --> __________________

well, momentarily anyway! heh heh

[TooManyFords]

Wonder where the left rear tire went!

John

[SID210SA]

Better watch out for the dude it the shorts, he's gonna push it on top ot the guy under the car......

[Dragcity]

I'll bet it was one heck of a wheel stand !!!

[SergntMac]

Wonder where the left rear tire went! John

Enter stage right, just behind a bent knee.

[Blackened300a]

he'll forever be known as 'that guy who mowed down the tree"

:laugh: "Mowed down the tree guy" has me cracking up here!


Now I have seen some dumb moves on the track, such as a Girl Driving her Boyfriends new Mustang Cobra, Losing traction, Panic, and pulling the emergency brake only to have the front of the stang end up in the retaining wall. But NEVER EVER Seen someone run the tree down. If he was Staging, his front end would have been a lot closer to the tree and wouldn't have had enough speed to damage his front end, so I shall rule out that possibility.

So Ill take Flying Axle Burnout for $1000 Alex

[fastblackmerc]

Alex, I'll take "INSTANT DISQUALIFICATION" for $1000....

[Hotrauder]

I'll stick with the Marauder! Would have flattened that dam tree and run a 12! Don't you think? Tell that clown to get a real ride! That Mustang didn't even break any lights. Merry Christmas my butt. Dennis:beer:

[gpfarrell]

With my luck, I'd have been the car behind them forced to wait while they cut up the old tree.

Come to think of it, sad to see a Christmas tree in such bad shape this close to the holiday!

[merc6]

Come to think of it, sad to see a Christmas tree in such bad shape this close to the holiday!
"The grinch that ran over christmas"

[TripleTransAm]

When I saw that pic, I thought I was in that thread about "wow this frame is STIFF!".

I almost did something similar in 1996 with my GTA, although I wouldn't have hung myself on the tree this bad.

After having a great time beating the snot out of a rented Lincoln Mark VIII at the Ennis Texas dragstrip in September 1995 (and beating the C&D best time by 2 tenths, at 15.2 @ 90-ish MPH), I was all gung ho about trying my GTA at our local track, must have been sometime in 1996 when I was getting all hung up on car shows with that car.

I arrived, paid up, dropped off my GF (now wife) at the stands, and lined up. The memories of flogging the Mark VIII came flooding back, and launching that car was similar to the Marauder... get a good strong launch and you've got a great run. So with that in mind, I slipped the shifter back into manual-1st and torqued it up lightly against the converter while waiting for my light. The rear tires began breaking loose so I backed off completely, and torqued it up once again but with less throttle. Now, this SHOULD have set off warning bells in my head...

Note that on this kind of 'street night', there was little track prepwork...

Anyway, oblivious to what lay ahead I waited for my light. When the time came, I released the brake as quick as possible and NAILED the throttle. I mean, I wanted to see some wrinkles in my firewall, I hit it that hard! That was mistake number 1.

GM's Tuned Port Injected small block V8s have VERY little in common, torque-wise, with a 4.6l DOHC Ford V8 at low RPMs. I forgot this completely. What happened afterwards happened pretty quickly, but it felt like forever behind the wheel.

The car did a momentary dig and immediately lost the back end. It swung around to my right, pointing me left at about a 30-40 degree angle while the tires spun like mad. I immediately corrected (the look of terror and surprise on my face must have been priceless) and kept my foot in it. Mistake #2.

I was fairly used to sideways launches on the street and was pretty confident I could ride it out... what the heck, I'd do better my second time around, and this must look really cool to the folks in the stands. What I didn't remember was that my shifter was held in first, whereas on the street my transmission would have almost immediately shifted to 2nd or maybe even 3rd if it was really bad tire spin. So in a split second there I was, heading slowly for the tree slightly sideways with tires spinning madly and my motor yowling 500 RPM past redline (5500). Funny that I do have a very vivid recollection of spotting the LCD tach deep past the redline (much like the image in my sig) and thinking to myself "gee, I've never had it THAT high before".

Mistake #3 was being a doorknob and not reacting by taking my freaking foot OFF the damned pedal completely... was I thinking I could actually make something of this run? Whatever, I backed off a bit, the rear tires bit (which scared the crap out of me, because I was still pointed at the tree) and because I was still over-correcting, the car immediately swung the back end out in the opposite direction and my rear driver's fender must have come a hair's width from dragging the tree along with me.

I think I must have wised up and slapped the shifter up into D or OD by now, because I didn't have any trouble getting it straight again. All this crap must have happened halfway to the 100ft mark. At this point, I think I did the rest of the run in 3rd or 4th at 40 mph or possibly even slower, as I pulled upholstery from my butt cheeks.

I didn't even bother to take the return road all the way to the printer's booth, cutting into the pits through the scales area. I picked up my GF, and discretely exited the track and didn't have the balls to return until mid 1998 for the second of a total of three track visits with this car (the last one got me my 15.6, which is good enough for that stock powertrain in a heavy car).

[FastMerc]

The guy in the car,is it over what just happened:D

[twolow]

Needless to say he just ruined everyones night at the strip.

[CBT]

That's better than finding a Mustang UNDER the tree!

[drobin]

Drug test definitely in order without question.


drobin

[whoskal]

That had to be a Bad launch................looks like someone may have "Jumped" the gun a little:nono: