Wsid Wed 9th Aug?

[NXTIME]

:D

Where you there Charlie? Thought I saw your face around?

Yes l was. First time in months. Quite a few Skylines out tonight

Ben is a lucky man.

[d00dz]

Yes l was. First time in months. Quite a few Skylines out tonight

Ben is a lucky man.

Yes alot of lines there tonite.. One comment I heard "Ive never seen so many skylines in one place!" <---LOL

[benm]

Nothing like a nite out at the WSID for some entertainment!

First run was a 12.5sec @ 110mph which went smoothly (although slow).

Second run, light went green and before I was even thrown back into the seat I hear the loudest bang i've ever heard in my life and come to a stop 40m up the track. I knew straight away what had happened and was just thankful that both legs were still intact.

Appears the flywheel has had a major heart attack and shattered into a million pieces revealing the entire driver side of the gearbox/bellhousing lucky all the chunks of metal burried themself in the dragstrip and then shot out the passenger side. It bounced off my frontpipes up through the firewall behind the rear turbo taking out all my AC lines and everything in its path then through the inner guard behind the suspension tower and exited the car next to the blinker meaning that now my front guard is more pumped than my rear guard. I have bits of metal and twisted bolts all through my engine bay, no idea if the engine is damaged. Had afew people tell me that they had bits of metal land near them in the grandstand.

I don't have any decent pics of the car yet because my camera phone sucks in bad lighting but below are some pics of the leftover bits n pieces (Thanks 2rismo).

Oh well that's racing!

[B-Man]

HOLY CRAP !

[2rismo]

You're a very very VERY lucky man.

As I said on the phone I'm glad you're okay. People have lost legs from this same failure.

Balistic blanket requirements don't start till you're quicker than you are now though it doesn't seem to be such a bad idea to have one fitted now...

Adrian

[Majanal]

HOLLY CRAP... as B-man said!!!!

was it a lightened flywheel?

that is amazing.

Glad to hear your ok though mate.

[N1GTR]

Nothing like a nite out at the WSID for some entertainment!

First run was a 12.5sec @ 110mph which went smoothly (although slow).

Second run, light went green and before I was even thrown back into the seat I hear the loudest bang i've ever heard in my life and come to a stop 40m up the track. I knew straight away what had happened and was just thankful that both legs were still intact.

Appears the flywheel has had a major heart attack and shattered into a million pieces revealing the entire driver side of the gearbox/bellhousing lucky all the chunks of metal burried themself in the dragstrip and then shot out the passenger side. It bounced off my frontpipes up through the firewall behind the rear turbo taking out all my AC lines and everything in its path then through the inner guard behind the suspension tower and exited the car next to the blinker meaning that now my front guard is more pumped than my rear guard. I have bits of metal and twisted bolts all through my engine bay, no idea if the engine is damaged. Had afew people tell me that they had bits of metal land near them in the grandstand.

I don't have any decent pics of the car yet because my camera phone sucks in bad lighting but below are some pics of the leftover bits n pieces (Thanks 2rismo).

Oh well that's racing!

Bad luck mate

[d00dz]

See!!! So my comments about installing a clutch/flywheel...

"Dont let it fly away" are true.!

Poor ben At least your allright!

[ECR033]

Shite!

Glad to hear you're ok Ben - really sorry to hear about the damage to the car though.

I've never seen anything like that happen before...

So, what time do you actually need to run before it supposedly becomes a requirement to get a ballistic blanket and/or tailshaft loop???

After seeing this, I'm starting to think that getting this safety equipment, regardless of whether its a requirement or not, is becoming a bloody good idea at the moment.

[Wink]

Holy crap ben glad to see you are okay.

[Moanie]

like everyones said - HOLY CRAP!!!!!!!!!!! Just glad you're ok! hope there isn't any more serious damage than what you already know!

[mr 32]

like i said last night its a good thing you werent hurt.

p.s i still have one of your flywheel bolts if you want it

[sh@un]

.......

[2rismo]

like i said last night its a good thing you werent hurt.

p.s i still have one of your flywheel bolts if you want it

Put that shit on ebay!

[GoldZilla]

Woah! Good to hear no harm came to you, Ben - the car can be fixed or replaced, but your legs won't be so easy to live without...

[Blitz]

Jesus christ what a mess! Glad to hear you werent injured Ben, hopefully the resulting damage to the car is not toooo severe.

[Beer Baron]

glad to hear you are fine mate. A very similar thing happend to a friend of mine circuit racing not so long ago. and I've heard of it many times.

I'm not sure what type of clutch you were running but I can tell you one thing about it. It was running a lightened standard flywheel. who made the clutch/machined/lightened the flywheel?

I could be wrong. either way you are so lucky, and for the repair I'd advice a billet alloy flywheel NOT a lightened (weakened) steel one.

[Abo Bob]

And another holy crap! from me. Sheesh!!

[benm]

Couple of pics I took last nite

[N1GTR]

That is INCREDIBLE!

If i can help you out fixing it, let me know