Mt. Baker trip - Safety issues - What do you think?

[RONSXTC]

Mt. Baker trip - Safety issues (& Pictures) - What do you think?

I am the proud new owner of a '92 Silver/Black NSX. For me the Mt. Baker trip was a great opportunity to meet fellow sports car enthusiasts and admire some truly remarkable equipment.

But I am ashamed of myself for participating in the reckless speeds much of the group traveled at on parts of the trip. Ownership of a beautiful sports car does not exempt me from the exercise of common sense and respect for the law. As a novice greenhorn I was in way over my head. I was a danger to myself, other drivers in the group and unsuspecting drivers and bystanders along the way. Why I did not pull out and trail along behind is an illustration of how one of these cars plus group dynamics can tempt and blind an otherwise disciplined and respectful driver. This aspect of the outing was a severe disappointment to me and a blot on my conscience.

There is another aspect that troubles me. My reputation as a sports car owner is at stake. My participation was an unspoken signal to others in the group as well as the community at large that I approve and support that kind of driving on public highways. Nothing could be further from the truth.

And I am seriously troubled by the impact on our group's reputation in the general community. Had these cars come tearing through my neighborhood I would have been enraged, cursing sports car owners in general and NSX/S2k owners specifically.

That being said I want to give a huge vote of thanks to Dean for arranging the use of the Mt. Baker Lodge facilities and to both Dean (NSXs) and Ananda's (S2ks) superbly thorough and detailed planning. Thanks a bunch guys.

As a statistics kind of guy I noted that we had 29 cars and 35 to 40 participants. There were 9 NSXs, 12 S2ks, 4 Suburus, 2 'Vettes, 1 Mercedes and 1 Honda sedan. Here's a slide show with some hopefully humorous comments in the Owner's Gallery. http://www.nsxprime.com/photopost/showphoto.php?photo=2284&password=&sort=7&cat=500

Caveats aside, I loved this trip and hope we can do it again soon and even make it an annual event. My hope is that we can conduct it in such a way that it is truly safe for participants and bystanders alike and builds a reputation for us, our cars and our organizations that we can truly be proud of.

 

[gene '96 #178]

email sent.......

 

[Optikal]

Thank you for your concerns Ron, I have duly noted them and hope to create a better environment for all drivers on the next drive.

Dean and I were trying to come up with some ideas in order to temper excessive speeds on public roads. One of them is to build an autocross course at the Mt. Baker Lodge. The parking lot is big enough and the Chukanut Sports Car Club has sponsored auto-x's there before.

This would certainly offer a diplomatic solution for everyone as well as provide a degree of safety.

 

[RONSXTC]

Autocross at Mt. Baker.

Optikal,

Your comment about possibly including an autocross event at Mt. Baker sent me scurrying to the "search" button to find out what the heck it is. I'm not kidding when I say I'm a greenhorn.

What a fantastic idea! I vote yes. Especially if we can include an open skid pad and throttle-steer area for guys like me who would like to learn and practice some of the most elementary stuff. Who knows. After riding shotgun a couple times with someone who knows what they're doing I might even get brave enough to take my pride and joy out on the course and embarrass myself.

I think this would produce an absolute best of both worlds event. We could have a wonderfully relaxed country drive that showcases our cars and impresses the heck out of all the friendly folks along the way. Then at Mt. Baker we could kick out the stops and have some serious "safe and sane" fun with these magnificent machines.

Let's see: helmet, entry fee (we have to cover costs), a set of "sticky" tires, protective covering for the rear body panels - yup, it's time to rework the old "Gotta Have It" budget.

It'll take a lot of time and effort to put something like this together. I'm just an extra left thumb but count me in as Volunteer Number 1.

 

[Keith in Seattle]

My take...

Ron-

I am also a new NSX owner in the Seattle area, and was I very much looking forward to the Mt. Baker drive as my first contact with the local NSX crowd. I am still hoping to make that contact. But a combination of lousy weather on Saturday and a track day with the local BMW club on Sunday were enough for me to decide to stay home. And after reading the thread about the event on the S2K board, I'm glad I did. I posted a note to that effect on the PacNW NSX board, and there is also a thread on my "other" board. Your comments just confirmed my impressions of what the drive was like, although others have said that it was not as wild as billed. Just thought you might like to know that there are like-minded prople out there. Hell, let's get together for a beer!

Keith
The "other" board...

 

[nsxtasy]

The NSX Club of America had similar problems in the past. NSXPO originally featured a "spirited drive" which many people enjoyed, but some others found uncomfortable and/or unsafe. Beginning with NSXPO 2001, the club changed the nature of the group drives that are part of the event, so that a group leader was assigned to each group of 10-12 cars, with explicit instructions to drive at normal highway speeds similar to other traffic, and avoid any unsafe behavior whatsoever.

Frankly, the change in policy by the club was forced in part by concerns over liability in the event that anyone got hurt (club members, other drivers on the road, pedestrians, etc), and liability should certainly be a concern for anyone else in charge of a similar group activity. However, the fact that we had some members who felt uncomfortable and/or unsafe was also a factor, and probably would have resulted in the same change, even without the liability issue.

 

[Optikal]

Sounds good Ron,

I'll add your comment as a yes for an autocross course. It sounds like you are a perfect candidate for the autocross virus. I contracted it a year ago and have not been able to stop it since!

If you are interested, check out www.nwr-scca.org for the Solo program. They are a very close community and offers driving schools as well as monthly events.

You can email me if you want more information... I would be happy to take you out on course as a passenger if you want to see what it is like first.

But, I would also like to re-itterate that we had two driving groups. The first group was controlled by Dean and the last group was for those who did not want to break the speed limit. We gave people a choice for this last ride as we did not want to pressure anyone to drive beyond their comfort level.

However, we are realizing that controlling a large group of cars using that process is not sufficient and will probably adopt NSXTASY's policies.

 

[NSXDreamer2]

And after reading the thread about the event on the S2K board, I'm glad I did. I posted a note to that effect on the PacNW NSX board,

Keith, HOW many times I have to tell you.. WE ARE NOT GOING THAT FAST!!!

seriously, the accidents happened on the way home with the fellow S2000 gangs. As far as I remembered, they have no lead cars and they are going faster than the original pace since they they are more familiar the road...

Anada, on our next meet, if you would like to organize the group a little better, I don't mind helping out and trying to make everyone had a happy trip...

 

[polar]

I don't mind helping out and trying to make everyone had a happy trip...

Great! we'll assign you to lead the slowest group, such as the silver accord driver jk

 

[Optikal]

Anada, on our next meet, if you would like to organize the group a little better, I don't mind helping out and trying to make everyone had a happy trip...

I appreciate the offer! I'll take you up on that. Maybe we can use you as a group leader, of course I would follow a NSX anyday