Arkansas 1m wreck

[ozinaldo]

Originally Posted by Slats

My daily driver is an E36 M3 with custom ground camshafts, forged racing pistons, ported and polished head, oversize valves and injectors, headers and some other stuff I am forgetting at the moment. It goes like hell, but still can't match the wet-your-pants acceleration coupled with the intuitive handling of my 1M.

By the way, none of us knows what really happened with this guy, other than he died a tragic death in an accident. For all we know, he could have been swerving to miss someone or something, could have gotten run off the road by another car, etc. A lot of this talk sounds like so much moralizing, sort of like saying, "That would never happen to me, and here's why."

Well, it can, and here's how. Perhaps none of you are as immature as me (indeed, there is a strong argument that a 65 year old guy like me who drives a 1M is prima facie immature). But the other day, while I was coming into town, cruising along in four lanes of traffic on I-70 doing a relaxed 60 mph, there was this moron in front of me, texting away, wandering in and out of his lane. So I did what any impulsive kid with 370 foot pounds of torque at his toe would do - I blasted around him in a self-righteous huff. The radar cop clocked me at 85 mph.

Was that a stupid thing for me to do? You bet it was. Tell me none of you would ever do it, though. If we were all so judicious and mature, we wouldn't be driving a car like this one, now would we?

Great post

[Robert]

We should celebrate it instead of feeling sad. Guy owned a M for passion of driving and he died doing what he loves

[MDORPHN]

I imagine that many of us celebrate driving hooligan cars -- and the 1M is certainly one!

Turn off the nannies and put your foot in it and you play on the edge challenging and improving each others skills.

Relative to my 1M's worthy predecessor (a twin-screw supercharged '99 M Coupe), the 1M is a much easier car to drive fast.

I should add that my aggressive driving -- admittedly a passion for this long-time, about-to-be 60-yr old enthusiast -- is rarely in Mexico but regularly at HPDE and time trial events on closed road courses.

Neil

[m3kerry]

Have won big and lost big in the car.

I have respect for it on street tires on the street but have put the car up for 2014 as it has no class in scca that allow me to fix the bmw camber issues.

So, take anything i post as a pretty frustrated owner that does not have a class to run the car in.


The original post was basically, respect the car on the street running street tires.

I am a pilot and the 1m is a v tail doc killer.....

[m3kerry]

Tuis is how i feel a lot of the time about the car.

[Redadair]

There is always the option of selling your 1M to someone who may want it more. Usually people have made money on selling their cars.

I know I wouldn't own a car that I don't like and can't make do what I want for me.

[m3kerry]

Cant sell it my elderly mother spent 3 weeks in Europe with me picking it up, so this is part of the family.

I will come back to the car and sort it in 2015 for something. Maybe nasa time trials.

[sergeremi]

Apologies for going off topic, especially given the OP subject matter... but...

Just so I'm clear, m3kerry, your frustration is because you couldn't turn this into a proper race car (for you)? You couldn't take what the BMW M engineers slapped together and create your perfect track car? Is that correct?

[m3kerry]

Originally Posted by sergeremi

Apologies for going off topic, especially given the OP subject matter... but...

Just so I'm clear, m3kerry, your frustration is because you couldn't turn this into a proper race car (for you)? You couldn't take what the BMW M engineers slapped together and create your perfect track car? Is that correct?

Not without more money and time. The other thing is classing in scca.

My main point from the post was be careful on the street on street tires. This car will break free and more here are not track fay or auotx folk, which means they have never been to the edge with the car or their doing it on the street, which can yield bad results.

That side tracked into race car setup talk.....


I am going to start a different thread on setup, this one is way off topic at this point.

[Artemis]

Track use or street use: so many things are different. Preparation (car setup), mindset (more focused/aware driving and anticipation), environment (more controlled situation: other road users are supposed to care + road surface with less adverse surprises such as potholes and objects lying around or crossing + less distractions on board and outside).

Street use: a momentary lapse of reason, used tires losing grip, a conversation with a passenger, a phone-call, fiddling with audio, a nasty pothole, a treacherous road surface part, an animal crossing, etc. can be enough to get you into trouble in a split second. If you deliberately sent the nannies away, you're inevitably left to your own devices - out there on your own. If you kept the nannies by your side, they will help you at once (however within the limits of what's still feasible).

If you care, keeping all nannies active is the smarter choice for street use. If you crash with DSC off, the thought that DSC might have kept you safe from harm will be haunting you (regardless whether it would have definitely recovered you and the car from the mishap).

[Redadair]

^ Yep

Track use is a bit ridiculous to say the car can't do what you want it to. Driver is the most important issue in track use. Auto Cross is such a specific setup for any car. The best setups for this use don't allow the car to drive well for daily use.

High HP cars are always harder to control on Auto Cross tracks where speed is limited to ~60 mph. It's near impossible to not overdrive a high hp car on these tight tracks. I would suggest you get a Mazda MX5 or mini, Honda civic. these cars can be run flat out with amazing times without the hp to overdrive on a tight track.

[mattm]

Lots for a simple thread.

The very first autocross I ran in the car, I had only owned it for a month. First run, I spun it. Even got much closer to a light pole than I wanted (no contact). Fast forward to the spring (2012) and it's first event on Hoosiers. More better and a lot more fun.

In September of that year at Nationals, I was on fresh Hoosier A6 stickers. At about the third turn I loop the thing (god damnit!). Well I figured the tires weren't warmed up yet. I put it into first and "light 'em up" and get going on the course again (rumor is the spectators liked the tire smoke ). Those are about the only times I've ever spun the 1M. They were all controlled environments. On the street I leave everything on rather than risk my poor excuse for driving on the health of my car.

I do run my autocross setup all the time save for softening the shocks out of season.

Unless Kerry finds out more info on the accident, we can only speculate. A driver and make a mistake and have tragic results. Stuff happens.

[LukeM3]

I wonder if this is the same car as the one currently on IAAI

https://m.iaai.com/VehicleDetEnc.asp...VehicleResults

[smq42]

Originally Posted by LukeM3

I wonder if this is the same car as the one currently on IAAI

https://m.iaai.com/VehicleDetEnc.asp...VehicleResults

Wow. That's a horrific image.

May the original driver rest in peace.

[Certified Amateur]

That's it for sure.
Here are more pics. no steering wheel airbag deployment which is so strange that I can barely understand it.

Interesting that this car has been at IAA since the 1st of the year and has not been assigned a sale date. Estate has apparently not settled with State Farm (the seller).

[bdaddylo]

It was a side impact, so the steering wheel air bag isn't going to deploy. Hope no one was in the passenger seat.

[vantagesc]

Originally Posted by Redadair

Don't drive like Jeremy Clarkson learn how to drive more like the stig..

Even the Stig damaged the front end of the 1M in an off-track excursion, if you recall the episode the 1M was featured.

[mattm]

I'm pretty sure that'll buff right out.

[M3 Adjuster]

Originally Posted by bdaddylo

It was a side impact, so the steering wheel air bag isn't going to deploy. Hope no one was in the passenger seat.

100 percent correct.

Front airbags are designed to deploy when the forces of impact are centered on the front of the vehicle. The angle of departure from the centerline would have to be under 30 -45 degrees to the right or to the left of the centerline of the hood.


Looks to me like the vehicle struck a guardrail on the right side front and the front end was shifted to the left. ( aka as sidesway ) with damage extending down the side of the vehicle as it slid. Since the impact was on the right side front corner , then the front airbags would not deploy as they are designed to catch occupants moving directly forward in the vehicle. A side impact would cause bodies to shift sideways (at an angle in the case of a RF impact) and a front airbag deploying in this fashion could cause injury to the occupants. The side door airbag doesn't appear to have deployed as well (no direct side impact.. but instead an impact going down the side of the vehicle) but the head curtain airbags did on both sides. I would imagine the head curtain airbags deployed due to the vehicle going over a curb of some sort or across rough terrain tearing off the wheels and damaging the suspension immediately prior to the right side impact.

[smq42]

Do the front airbags deploy if the seat belts are not fastened? I remember reading somewhere that there's an increased risk of injury for an unrestrained driver when airbags deploy.

Looks like the driver was ejected from the damage to the windscreen. Ejection is possible even with a belted driver but much more likely if the driver was not belted.

[M3 Adjuster]

Originally Posted by smq42

Do the front airbags deploy if the seat belts are not fastened? I remember reading somewhere that there's an increased risk of injury for an unrestrained driver when airbags deploy.

Looks like the driver was ejected from the damage to the windscreen. Ejection is possible even with a belted driver but much more likely if the driver was not belted.

Airbags are named and designed as SRS (Supplemental Restraint System). As the name implies, They are designed for use in conjunction with a seatbelt!!!!!!!

You are correct, An *unbelted passenger * will indeed have a greater risk of injuries from the SRS system that is actually intended to help them.

My understanding is that yes the airbags still deploy if the passenger is not belted, ( better to be injured by the airbag and not dead) but SRS systems are being updated all the time. For example second generation SRS systems included slower deployment of the airbag combined with detectors in the seats for vehicle occupants. Third generation SRS systems included making the seat detectors capable of determine the * weight* of the occupant in the seat in the determination of when to deploy or not. ( seat occupants should be over 60 lbs and of course this is a primary reason Young children should be in the rear seats ) , etc... ..perhaps someone in auto manufacturing can confirm your question about the belt being buckled in current day.

[Certified Amateur]

This coffin sells on Wed, Mar 11, 9:30 AM CDT. As of 9:17 PM Mon, Mar 9, 2015 pre-bid is $2075. Its selling with an Arkansas parts-only title which means it will never be street-legal again! State Farm lists it as having an estimated repair cost of $48,525. Retract that previous statement. Car is not a coffin, driver was ejected from vehicle, there are no biohazard stickers on the car. Seems to me like a serious gamble that the engine is not broked.