Major Setbacks - On Track Fire

So, excuse this post as being a bit out of order, but you probably already know what happened through social media.

With a very fresh and untested flat floor/diffuser setup, I was ready for the next Ongrid PNW event, being held at Portland International Raceway.

I hadn’t had a chance to test the new floor, so I was a bit nervous parts of it would fly off at speed. Portland is a big horsepower track with two long straightaways. I had never been there, but practiced quite a bit on my at-home-simulator so I at least knew the general track layout and what gears to be in.

The weeks before I had a goal of 1:23. We only had three timed sessions and then a fun session at the end of the day. With rain threatening the forecast, I had to reset my expectations a bit. The night before the event it rained HARD. So I knew the track would be green and damp all morning before times could really come down.

With the rest of the livery removed, she was looking pretty mean. I decided to go out the first session on the street tires (A052). No use putting a heat cycle into the Hoosiers if the track wasn’t ideal and the driver new.

First flyer lap had a car go off track, so I knew to take my time ramping up pace. A few laps in I got one uncomfortable flyer in (understeer due to slippery track), and conservatively attacking the brake zones and apexes. It came in at 1:26.8. I was settling in and finding pace… when disaster struck.

On the back straight I was almost to a critical brake zone when I lost all power and immediately saw flames in my rear view mirror. I didn’t want to pull off on grass and have the fire spread so I found an access road.

The video kind of explains my experience better than typing it out. It was a real life nightmare watching my car burn like that. I was saved by Dustins’ quick thinking and the Portland safety crew. If you do the math my car was one fire for about 80-90 seconds before they showed up. Considering they had to circle about 80% of the track to get to me that’s pretty impressive.

The damage… is bad.

Once the ambulance cleared me (I hadn’t inhaled any smoke really), the tow truck arrived and hooked up to tow the car off back to the pits. I at least got a ride in the truck. Here’s the coolest trailer I’ve ever seen.

Once back in the pits everyone offered me condolences and obviously were relieved I was OK. All of my amazing track friends helped push my car back onto the trailer and I took a few more pics before packing up.

The whole way home I didn’t really know what caused my fire yet. I still had the under engine panel and flat floor on the car, which was a gift and a curse. The gift was it stopped fresh air flow coming up through the bottom stoking the fire and helped contain all the oil from getting on track. The curse of course was the oil was pooled up below the engine and kept burning and burning. The trail of oil you see on the trailer is gearbox oil (it stinks like sulphur) so I knew my transmission cooler lines had popped in the fire.

Once home I washed the fire extinguisher powder off my car and looked around with a flashlight.

Yup, big ol hole in the block. At least on the rear bank. Likely the engine failed, rod exited the engine, and sprayed oil all over a very hot header. My family and I are moving to a new house this week so the car has had to live under a cover on the trailer until I can get it to its’ new home and do a proper post mortem.

The engine bay doesn’t look THAT bad considering how long things were on fire. Oil fires typically burn much cooler than a gasoline fire would. The rear polycarbonate window is toast, as are all the rubber hoses, coolant lines, and wiring. A lot of the fire was near the front bank right near where the fuel tank lines are. In my mind during the fire I was thinking the car could REALLY go up any second if the fuel lines caught.

And this is just how lucky I was. Thats the main fuel line. All bubbled up and probably seconds away from complete disaster.

I do think the chassis is savable! Once I can get settled in our new house, I will get the engine out and really see what needs to be replaced.

So what did we learn? That a dinky 2.5 lb fire extinguisher is about useless in a scenario like this, which is a likely scenario on the track or even hard backroad driving. We really need a proper extinguisher like Dustin gave me at the very least. So I do plan to install a legitimate motorsport fire suppression system, and probably a extinguisher as back up.

The amount of support and positive vibes I’ve seen from everyone regarding this has been uplifting. I know I wasn’t ready for this, but at least I had practiced a fire drill a few times (with my helmet on) at home. I really hope everyone takes my video seriously, and takes a real hard look at their fire safety equipment on these older cars. I don’t wish that on anyone.

Long time supporter of the build, sponsor, and friend Alex at Wilhelm Raceworks reached out when he heard the news. He wanted to setup an account with Lifeline fire systems and is generously donating the profits from every sale towards helping get my car back on the track.

Thank you so much Alex, what a classy move by one of the best vendors in the MR2 world.

If you want to help outfit your car for fire, and support the rebuild, check out what he’s offering here: https://wilhelmraceworks.com/fire-suppression

So a day later I was stunned to find out I had actually placed Third in race class among seven or so entries. I couldn’t believe it. I definitely had a chance at a class win if I had all the sessions…. oh well, that’s racing.

I also got one more on track action shot. She looks so good back in black.

Stay tuned, I have a few backlogged posts queued up soon, and obviously we gotta rebuild!

Go buy yourself a damn fire extinguisher or suppression system! Don’t do it for me, do it for you.