Rollover - how to prevent it?

MikeWhitney · **Joined:** Wed Aug 20, 2003 9:15 pm **Posts:** 4724

I'm concerned that the rollover that happened at the rallycross school may be making some people nervous about this sport and I wanted to have a discussion about this.

I'd like to hear from some of the "experts" out there about rolling a car. How did this happen? How can it be prevented? Once it starts, how should it be handled?

As Carl put it in the meeting last week, "this was a rookie mistake". Most of us are rookies, so let's learn

Here is my take on the matter - A slow speed roll like the one that happened last weekend, or any that has ever occured during an off at track or even at an autocross follows the same pattern:

1. Driver is going too fast in a slow turn
2. Car slides sideways into a soft or rutted section
3. Tires dig in, driver does not turn into the tip
4. Car gets on 2 wheels and driver continues to try to turn the car through the turn instead of into the tip
5. Car rolls over

I'd say that even if #1 occurs (happens to us all), the driver still has the choice during #2, #3, and #4 to bail out of the corner and keep the shiny side up. (Am I naive in my optimism?)

If you think the car is going to tip, turn into it!

Kevin Allen · **Joined:** Thu Aug 28, 2003 6:42 pm **Posts:** 3479

How about training wheels?

Not much you can do, besides drive within your abilities. And remember, people - hitting a rut sideways with speed is kinda like hitting a curb on the street. (Not a good thing.)

It's EXTREMELY hard to roll a car in our field - I've done some crazy shit out there, and never even got up on two wheels. But I always give the ruts & bumps lots of respect. Just watch out for those ruts & keep the speed at a reasonable level when settling into them, and you'll be okay.

Vincent Keene · **Posted:** Mon May 17, 2004 3:18 pm

I agree with Kevin. Watching yourself in the ruts will prevent 99% of the chances for a roll-over.

This form of motorsport, like any other can't be made fool-proof. Drive like a fool and you'll get the proof. :roll:

AndersGreen · **Posted:** Mon May 17, 2004 4:46 pm

First, I'd like to recuse myself from being considered any kind of an expert in this area. I've never come close to rolling at under 40 mph, much less at 15 mph.

So all I can only do two things:

1) Mike's stuff sounds good.
2) Second Carl's earlier comment. (Carl said, on the subject of this quote: "There's those who have rolled, and those who will roll" that the quote applies to rally drivers, not rallycross drivers. Rallycross drivers should not roll.)

Anders

Carl Fisher · **Posted:** Mon May 17, 2004 10:04 pm

My one roll at a rally occurred at low speed at a rally school. It was a hairpin around a haybale, and I initiated my slide a bit too early. As I approached the bale, I could see that I would hit it on its far edge, but I figured I'd punch right through it. It's just hay, right? Unfortunately, with the outside tires digging into the soft and rutted dirt, the unweighting that I got from hitting it with the inside wheels was too much. Foolishly (of course, in hindsight) I then did not change my game plan to "abort" until I was on my roof. :oops:

Things I could have done to absolutely prevent the roll:

On realizing I'd misjudged my entry, open the wheel to reposition myself.
On realizing I was going to be unweighting my inside wheels, open the wheel to avoid the roll hazard.
On realizing I was bicycling, immediately countersteer to stop the roll.

It probably also would have helped if I wasn't hung over at the time. :roll:

Charlie Guthrie · **Joined:** Thu Aug 28, 2003 8:14 pm **Posts:** 832

Regarding sterring out of the ruts. I know that I would definitely try to steer out of a skid and definitely out of a roll, but so would almost anyone in the club. That having been said, how easy is it to get fully loaded tires that are in a deep rut to climb out of the rut when steering out of the skid? The ruts that had developed were almost axel deep with soft sides, will the tire exit at a shallow angle? I know that the ruts can be crossed, because one student broke the tire bead doing that, but I'm wondering about the ability to climb out. Any firmly held opinions out there?
Charlie Guthrie

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Rollover - how to prevent it?

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