22 seconds in and you can see the speed3 getting AIRBORN.
TAKEN FROM MAZDA3FORUMS.com "Shot by a RX-7 tt two cars back
I totaled my Mazdaspeed3 at the track on 9/13. At the end of a long straight at a very high rate of speed, I hit the brakes and the pedal went to the floor. I pumped - nothing. I skidded off the track and hit a tire wall on the passenger side at somewhere between 100 - 110 mph. I am the luckiest guy I know - X-Rays and MRI of my neck tell me I will heal up OK in the near future. My neck is still sore as hell.
Why did the brakes fail? Because I made an assumption.
I did not check the thickness of the inner pad and I ran out of pad! I assumed there was as much on the inner pad as the 1/2 thickness I saw on the outer pad.
Then something else happened - Under heavy braking, from what I have learned from talking to auto engineer types, this ABS system sensed braking on the LF wheel and not on the padless RF wheel, thought it was on ice, then dumped brake pressure in an attempt to drop down to braking threshold friction levels on ice. Every time I pumped the brakes, the same thing happened…Crash!
So at this point it looks like my mistake caused the problem initially, and Mazda’s design of the ABS ice software routine made it catastrophic. Bad combo.
Morals:
Never assume because you examined the pad thickness of the outside pad that you know the thickness of both pads! Check them both.
Never let your front pads get close to the backing plate on this car.
One last word - this car did a hell of a good job protecting me in the crash."
thats why brake checks involve removing a wheel for inspection so you look at the inner. inner wears faster on just about everything. something so simple and it could have been avoided.
Too many times I’ve gone over a bump during braking (although I try not to, I’ll usually let off the brakes for the bump), and the abs will take over and it seems like braking force is cut in half.
It REALLY sucks that insurance most likely wont cover it… So he is out some $
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Probably depends on what kind of track day it was. If there was timing equipment he’s probably fucked. If there were instructors and it was a “driver improvement” type thing he might be covered.
Hell, that guy from Rochester who sent his blazer to the bottom of the bay driving out on the ice got it covered by insurance.
This is the biggest thing keeping me from running bigger tracks than Dunnville with the GTO. Speeds aren’t that high at Dunnville and at the two fastest spots you’ve got a lot of runoff room.
