Death at Summit Point at Hyperfest

wstar

Very sad indeed. No matter how safely you try to do things - motorsports is dangerous, and there will always be one-off tragic events.

Generally the HPDE-style organizations I run with are pretty strict with their entry-level rungroups (i.e. super-slow no-helmet session first time out and/or a session with the instructor driving your car, minimal passing and relatively moderate pacing all weekend, focusing on basic lines and finding flag stations, a couple classroom sessions per day, etc). For that matter if someone isn't acting mature and in-control and following instructor orders, you get to leave the event early and perhaps never come back.

You want people to warm up to the speed over a number of weekends and do it safely as they gain skill. You want that first weekend to be mostly a demonstration to the student that they have a lot to learn to transition from what they thought was skilled street driving to actually knowing how to drive on a track near the limit. A lesson in humility. Not a lesson in "see how fast my car can go! whee! I hope my friends are getting pics of me stomping this Mustang!"

I haven't been to a Hyperfest before, but it sounds like maybe they're bringing new drivers onto the track under a much looser system with way less attention to safety and detail. It might make it more-popular in the short term and attract more drivers, but it doesn't sound very safe. I wouldn't go so far as to blame the event (as I said earlier, it could happen anywhere with some very small probability), but perhaps this incident will cause them to re-think safety a bit.

I'm also considering getting into instructing in the long-term, but I'm not quite there yet. Maybe in another year (or more!) I'll feel ready to start working on that. I think sitting in someone's passenger seat and coaching them and watching them grow into a better driver might be almost as rewarding as driving for yourself.

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