I'm just a spectator, not a racer, but I never miss a vintage event at Road America. Thanks for putting on a spectacular show for us guys. We love the passion vintage racers bring to motorsports. 👍
When I went to Skip Barber racing school at RA, we only used the back half of the track, and had to come to a complete stop at the Kink, because it is such a dangerous bit of the track. Later on during my vintage racing days, I always lifted a little at the kink, as did virtually everyone I raced with. “Do you lift at the kink?” That was a question of how fearless a driver you were. I don’t know anyone in vintage racing then who didn’t lift a little, or lied about it! . More drivers killed at that corner than anywhere else at Road America
the trick is to make your speed correction before entering the kink and applying throttle through the curve. lifting during a high speed curve is never a good idea as you want to plant the rear of the car and not make it lighter through the bend.
You just need to LIFT. Bravery is rewarded but stupidity isn’t 😀. Everyone that runs the kink wants to take it flat but the reasonable part of the brain on most people usually tell them to lift. The kink and the short bridge just before you turn left always gets crashes every year. The bridge you brake hard as you pass it and the kink you lift. Those are the notable dangerous turns in RA.
That late entry... and he probably has to release the break in order not to spin. You can see the car twitch a bit when he starts cutting across. Good save in a way. Could have gone worse. The speed at which the other cars pass by the ambulance is stupid though.
The kink is very deceptive. It looks like you can take it flat out except you cannot and if you do and not lift you will end up in the grass = the wall 😀 Sometimes they have a run off just before the kink on some DE events but I think it ruins the experience. The kink rewards you for bravery and iron ball but if you get it wrong you will pay a huge price 😀. RA would not be RA without the kink. 😎
Fortunately I don’t believe he was injured. It ended up not being too hard of a hit. He did miss his apex by several feet which makes exiting that corner nearly impossible.
