Major Incident @ Track

Earlier this evening, I was involved in a major incident with my 330Ci at the race track.

I ended up going to the hospital with second degree burns on my face, right wrist, and left upper arm.

I credit my being able to type this with wearing a full fire suit, fire boots, gloves, full faced helmet, and a fireproof neck brace. Having practiced getting out of my car quickly with all of this gear on, also was of great benefit.

The actual incident started with the engine compartment erupting into flames while I was going somewhere over 90 MPH down the 1/4 mile. The back end of the car got extremely loose, and I shut the ignition and all electronics down as I kept the car going straight while hard on the brakes. By the time I brought the car to a stop off the side of the track, the fire had intensified greatly, and was starting to come into the passenger cabin. I hit the fire supression button, then realized as nothing happened that I had forgotten to arm the system before the run. I undid my 6 point harness and reached over to the controller to arm the system just as the dash burst into flames.

I hit the activation and nothing happened.

At this point I could hear the nitrous lines hissing in the engine compartment so I reached over and shut the valves on both bottles, which in hind sight was a mistake. It wasted over 5 seconds of time.

At that point, the fire seemed to roar into my face, and I dropped the window net and started crawling out of the car. What had happened was that the biker I was running against had stopped and come back to help. The fire had flared up when he opened the door...but he still managed to grab onto me and haul me out onto the ground. All I remember at that point was feeling heat on my legs and the biker was rolling me on the ground saying "your on fire". Then I looked at my legs and the fire was out....

I remember him saying "we've got to get away from the car" so I followed him in a daze.

The next thing I know I'm with a medic 50m away from the car, and the track officials are clearing us back further away from the car as the flames and smoke continued to intensify.

That was the last time I saw my car.....as from there I was taken to the hospital.

Now I'm awake with the incident replaying over and over in my mind as I piece together everything that happened. (The burns are keeping me awake)

I am confident that I've got the exact cause figured out, despite that fact that my laptop and data-logger were burned in the car.

The cause was not the nitrous system, but a number of mistakes that I made while at the track that resulted in the engine being hurt, and then I ignored the symptoms. The end result was an engine that let go about half track, taking the rest of the car with it and nearly the driver as well.

Once I get the remains of the car back to the shop, I'll be tearing what's left of it down to see what exactly happened....but for the moment I'm just happy to be alive.

Back to applying polysporin on stuff,

Adam

WOW glad ur "ok" and alive

Very glad you're alive and sorry to see this happened.

wow, I'm speechless, glad to hear you're alive, man.

!

Glad you made it out in one piece.

holy ****. I'm glad you're alive man.. Your car was an absolute inspiration to me. I hope this doesn't kill your spirit and you can bounce back with as much enthusiasm and dedication as before.

Sorry to hear bout the car bro but am sure glad that you're still alive ... Wish you speedy recovery.

I'm glad you're ok minus the burns. Thank god you were wearing a fire suit and that guy pulled you out of the car

don't know what to say... i'm so sorry man and i'm glad you are ok

holy....

glad your okay man... good thing some one was there to help.

Wow, Adam, I can't believe this happened. Thank God you're alive and in stable condition. My regards and I wish you good health soon.

That is quiet the story! Im Glad u where not killed or hurt more from the burns! what was all done to you Car To Fail so horribly On the the track!? i hope u get better soon, sorry to hear about this 330ci which was obviously an entire nother species of BMW!

wow man, glad your safe, Thank god for all the fireproof equipment. WIsh you a speedy recovery

Wow that's nuts, it's good to see that you made it out relatively OK. I hope you recover quickly and will beable to continue with your project.

You really set the standard around here for private builds, imo. Goodluck man, your build is really inspiring.

thats insane, glad youre ok, the car can always be replaced and rebuilt again from the ground up, this definitely speaks volumes for the need for safety gear at events like these, definitely could have been worse, i wish you a speedy recovery

Sorry to hear. Hope you recover fully and quickly.

I hope you have a quick recovery. Thank goodness for the safety equipment and that you were able to get out of the car.

Thankfully you're ok, to say that biker was a good man is an understatement. I am so sorry to hear about this & wish you a fast recovery, things could have been a lot worse

**** Adam, I'm glad to hear you got out. Did you have an electrical or mechanical fire system? Big props to the bike rider...

Speechless!
Get well soon man, I'm sure all of us here have our hopes with you & your equally impressive vehicle.