Bananaman Posted July 4, 2010 Share Posted July 4, 2010 Fook! looks like you were a luck boy? Makes you think plumbed in fire system is a great idea! Glad you & car are OK Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
pistonbroke Posted July 4, 2010 Share Posted July 4, 2010 Lucky man problay to busy getting out to have the presence of mind to kill the electrics before evacuating, would have shut off the fuel pumpand "may" have killed the flames I see the marshal did it eventually but I would have expected it to be a priority for those guys Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
polly_x Posted July 4, 2010 Author Share Posted July 4, 2010 Its got a full plumbed in system already. The fuel pump cuts off automatically so that probably saved a lot more damage. The last thing on my mind was to activate the system and cut the electrics!! Strange but I guess until these things happen you are just not prepared. I just wanted out!!! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RedditchJay Posted July 4, 2010 Share Posted July 4, 2010 very, very lucky to not loose the whole car Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
matt_c Posted July 4, 2010 Share Posted July 4, 2010 Glad to hear you are ok and the car has 'minimal' damage. Matt Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
lippydave Posted July 4, 2010 Share Posted July 4, 2010 Think you should serve penance by whistling the theme tune to "The Great Escape" for the next couple of days. Glad to see yer luvverly Westie survived relatively unscathed..... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Norman Verona Posted July 5, 2010 Share Posted July 5, 2010 Stuart, good to see you're OK. The first marshall was on the job within 2 or 3 seconds,. His prompt action may well have saved the car and in other circumstances saved you. So lets hear it for the hard working and largely unsung heroes - The British Marshall. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dombanks Posted July 5, 2010 Share Posted July 5, 2010 glad to see its cleaned up well. is there any way you can have an automatic system? in the fumehoods in my labs we have a system where there are a couple of break points that are desinged to pop when they get fire on them (ish) and then they relese the fire supressant. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Nick Algar - Competition Secretary Posted July 5, 2010 Share Posted July 5, 2010 Pleased you are OK, as you say, right place ot have that happen, on track and it would have been a different story. As Norman says big for the Marshall's/ Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Darren B Posted July 5, 2010 Share Posted July 5, 2010 Glad you got out OK and the car is not too badly damaged after all the effort you have put in. I do have one question; had you taken your gloves off or do you not wear any? Having seen how intense that intial burst of flames was I think you would be poorly placed trying to undo a harness if the flames had washed over the cockpit area. I know that sounds a bit paranoid, but as a racer having the use of your hands is the only thing that will get you out of your harness in a hurry and everyone has burnt themselves on something hot to know that exposing your hands to flame is going to make undoing that harness buckle very difficult. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
polly_x Posted July 5, 2010 Author Share Posted July 5, 2010 Glad you got out OK and the car is not too badly damaged after all the effort you have put in. I do have one question; had you taken your gloves off or do you not wear any? Having seen how intense that intial burst of flames was I think you would be poorly placed trying to undo a harness if the flames had washed over the cockpit area. I know that sounds a bit paranoid, but as a racer having the use of your hands is the only thing that will get you out of your harness in a hurry and everyone has burnt themselves on something hot to know that exposing your hands to flame is going to make undoing that harness buckle very difficult. Yes, I do. Full fireproof suit, boots, gloves etc. I had just finished a cool down lap and had taken them off! Agree with everything you say and will certainly take safety even more seriously than I normally do from now on! Finished the bulk of the cleanup tonight. There is actually very little damage at all. Some wiring and the air filter is all thats really going to need replacing so an easy fix! She is almost concours again already! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Norman Verona Posted July 6, 2010 Share Posted July 6, 2010 Many years ago (1970s) I was running a garage near the Post Office Tower. We had a contract to maintain the pool cars for a large civil engineering company. Part of the schedule was to wash the engine and bay down each service. The "lad" had a 1 gallon oil tin with the side cut out and a very worn paint brush to do this. He would mix parrafin with gunk. The brush had about 1/2" of bristle left. Washing an engine compartment of a Singer Vogue he shorted the metal band around the brush between the positive battery terminal and the battery carrier frame. The brush, acting as a wick, burst into flames. The poor lad, Dimitri from Cyprus, panicked and threw the brush away from himself - right onto the parrafinn soaked engine. Screaming FIRE, FIRE he departed the work bay and run across the forecourt. I came out the office and sprinted (I could do sprinting then) to the work bay where the engine was belching out thick black smoke. I pulled a tryco extinguisher from the wall but it was like peeing in the ocean. A local bus inspector ran in with a water extinguisher and we both spent valuable seconds reading the instructions. (Why put "invert extinguisher" insted of "turn it upside down" considering it may be read in a panic situation.) I got the thing working and put the fire out in a second or two. However, by now one of the hundreds of office workers hanging out the windows of Mathhew Halls building had phoned the fire brigade, this was a petrol station as well as a workshop. 3 fire engines arrived. The engine bay looked a mess but in fact only had burnt wiring and hoses. Fireman soaked it in several hundred gallons of water, filled the petrol tank with water and then wound a window down 6" inches, inserted a hose and filled the car with water. The fire had only done slight damage to the engine loom and hoses. The fire brigades efforts wrote the car off. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Cleggy the Spyder Man Posted July 6, 2010 Share Posted July 6, 2010 serious brown trouser moment - glad you and the car got away with it Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
FW500 Posted July 8, 2010 Share Posted July 8, 2010 Wow! Stu I'm SO SO glad to see you got away with this one - consider yourself another one of you nine lives down! Imagine that happening at the top of avon or going through folly - it just doesn't bear thinking about! Also glad you got that mess cleaned up quickly - I left it to the next day when I had a fire once and that stuff corrodes quicker than you can imagine. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
John Loudon - Sponsorship Liaison Posted July 8, 2010 Share Posted July 8, 2010 OMG - top marks to the marshal chappie. Glad all is on the mend without too much issue Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Recommended Posts
Join the conversation
You can post now and register later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.