So, I crashed my car at 135mph at Watkins Glen. Yep, the car is dead. (I'm back!)

[codyace]

Hey guys! Long time no see. Yes, I am alive. Yes, I'm still (well, back) playing with cars. Yes, I finally have gotten over my funk. Yes, I'm back (unsure if that's good or bad though) It's been a long time, and I'm ready to come back in full time to the land of helping fellow 240 owners out.


Soooo, where have I been? No exotic vacations, no cool war stories, no nothing...shortend of the story is, I needed a break. To say I became 'addicted' to the forums may sound strange, but I had reached a peak and finally (literally) crashed over the other side of it all. The capping moment:

Loosing brakes at 135mph at Watkins Glen into T1, and smashing my car.

Honest to goodness. Lame? Sure. But it is what it is, and maybe someone will read this all and look at it all a little differently, and maybe take some key points to heart over it all.

Bottom line is, I feel as if I'm finally ready to re enter the circus...they've been missing a good clown...




INTRO: I know hardly anyone will read this all, but I had to type it out for my own sake of 'the next step' with these cars. I'm sure it's just nonsense to most, but it's just what I had to do. I literally had a little 'burn out' from the car and just had to put it into text/words somehow to deal with and move on.

I'm not a writer, but maybe some parts of it all can relate to you guys with these cars.





Cliffnotes: At bottom of post 2



If you would have asked me ‘could you burn out’ from being into your car (and the associated forums/facebook/social media) when I first got my 240, ten years ago, I would undoubtedly been confused, but replied ‘no way, I can’t get ENOUGH’. I was totally enamored with my S14. Lightweight, RWD, easy to modify...to me it was the ‘quiet option’ in the car world at that time. Everyone else had Corvettes, WRX’s, or Mustangs, and while I’ll never disagree or not like the commonly chose platforms, I simply wanted something different.

At the point in time, the 240 ‘scene’ was still (for lack of a better term( in it’s infancy. Sure there are the older owners and forums/groups who had have been established, but for the most part they were super common. Sure guys had already been swapping in SR20’s and body parts, but it was at the point in time where you either really knew the stuff, or you didn’t. Looking back on it now, this was at time where I’d say it is safe to say that the majority of current owners/members even could even legally drive a car, let alone own a 240. Either way, I wanted one...and it had to be a kouk and it had to be black. Picky? Sure...but it’s what I wanted. The only thing was, I was in the military and deploying. Good luck finding one in Kirkuk right?

During deployment we luckily had internet ‘access’ -- 56k would have been nice, but just the ability to have access was better than NO access. During the downtime I found/came across. I had begun searching, and in some sort of strange instance of timing managed to find a car that was exactly what I wanted, owned by an adult, somewhat local to me, and just before my leave. Long story short, I emailed the owners, they had a son who was deployed as well, and promised to hold the car until I got in from leave. Nice. The only downfall about this all, is I finally owned the car I wanted, but couldn’t touch it until I cleared the ****box they call Northern Iraq.


Now, you’re thinking, how does this relate to obsession? How can you burn out from the car? What’s it stem from? It’s certainly a multi-faceted problem, but the two main issues are my selfishness and desire for self challenge. I do everything myself, or to the furthest extent I can. Who builds my engines? Me. Who aligns and sets up the car? Me. Who installs everything? Me. I have no reason to really be this way, other than I trust myself (was fortunate to grow up in a family business with a shop), more than anyone else working on my car, and I’m lucky to have (and had) enough friends/resources who could help or lean on to for opinion. Essentially, anything this side of intricate weld work, I do myself.

The other thing with this car, is that I wanted to build it as a product of my ability and hard work. Of course everyone says that with their car, but most people that pump their chest out and claim it the loudest often drive the biggest piles on the road - and I can’t let myself have that issue. I knew from the get go that I was building a car for HPDE/Track Days/Timed Events -- but it had to remain streetable and useable. A huge commitment for sure, but in the same sense of it all, ‘track guys’ figuratively date their ‘track car’, which makes it a little easier to pull off.



Now, when I say that, it’s a bit tongue in cheek; I’m not talking ‘car affection’ in the sense that I treat it like a unspoiled child, busy cleaning their polished lips at the parking lot meets bragging about their stance, or the guys who get off on ‘faking the funk’ with pseudo-race cars who have one lapping day under their belt and then act like they’re Ricky Rudd -- I’m talking about a genuine head over heels commitment to a ‘platform’, and essentially knowing it inside out, progressing it with time, and making it better through track experience. To the common car enthusiast, it’s all the same, but to the real car guy, a true dual purpose car is a hard thing to pull off, as it forces you to not commit certain aspects of the build 100% either way. That’s not to mean it’s a half ass build, but to be to my standard, I couldn’t just gut the the car, cage it and put a halo seat into a car that I drive up and the down the highway with an exhaust dumped behind the front tires.

I needed an interior, I needed it to be sorta quiet, I needed it to be TURN KEY reliable (and it was, my mother had driven my car without any issues more than once). As odd as it may sound, it’s building a car to 80% of it’s ability, with 100% of the focus. My car had air conditioning, but also had full spherical bearings everywhere in the suspension. My car had to fit R compounds, but also had to get 30mpg on the highway. The clutch had to withhold 400hp and track usage, but not chatter when I leave the driveway for work. It was dual purpose in the purest sense of it.

So by now you can probably tell I’m long winded and love my car. Cool. Now’s when it all comes full circle, literally. Fast forward many years.



I’ve poured my life into this POS at this point, and couldn’t really ask for a more fun thing. I loved going to the track (finally had begun instructing!) and had met great track friends who I couldn’t wait to hang out with on and off track. I was super addicted to the sensation of speed, and knowing that my hard work paid off by having a car that was able to hang with cars MUCH more expensive, maintained by much bigger shops, and owned by guys who cared as much as I did.

Track days really are the ‘cherry on top’ the car guys life. Everyone is there enjoying the same thing, and having a blast. However with any sort of competition, there are issues. Engines blow up, people make contact, and regretfully, the biggest issue: accidents still occur. Now, you have to think for a moment: you are at the track - you are not racing up a mountain road, you are not around the general public...you are doing it as safe as you can... but there are still accidents. And with accidents come other potential issues, like damaged property, and most importantly damaged bank accounts. Despite all of this, I never thought it would happen to me. Until it did.

We were up at a three PCA event at Watkins Glen , and couldn’t have asked for a better weekend and event.. Super nice group, perfect weather, and one of the top tracks in the USA...all ready to get abused by my car, which had been running AWESOMELY. The first day went awesome - got some good time in, and smeared the brakes all off. Came in after the best track day I’ve had in a while, changed the breaks, and off to dinner (read: beer) we went. Day two started off just as good. First session was kicking ass. Car was running great. My friends had been bumped up in classing, it was just an awesome start to Day 2.

As the first session went on, the track came ‘up’ and we got going faster and faster. The best part of a 2 day event is that you’re already ‘comfortable’ to a degree on day too. Usually it takes a whole day to really get into it, but on day 2 the jitters are out of the way. So while the time was ticking out on the first session, I found myself really pushing myself, and the car. Keeping speed up, trying to go deeper, trying to use less in some spots… basically focusing on learning the new limit for me. The issue is when you push the limits, you can sometimes have an issue, and I had a huge one. I ran into every track guys biggest fear: losing the brakes.

Yes. No Brakes. No Brakes at 140mph atop of that. Did I mention NO BRAKES?!?!?

[codyace]

Now this wasn’t fade, nor was it overheated. This was honest to goodness NO FLUID/NO BRAKES/NO STOP. Now this is often an issue anywhere in life with cars...lack of brake pedal is a sensation of helpless that you can’t describe -- you’re simply out of control. The thing is on the street you can often make rational decisions in due time...in my situation though, I was at the end of the front stretch, going into T1. Now you ask, “why is this bad?”...it is because I’m going 135-140 mph, and in the brake zone you are doing downhill into a 90(ish) degree right turn. To say there are much better places to be when this happens, is an understatement.

It is amazing how quickly your brain processes these sort of situations - it’s odd spot to be in as you’re really thinking ‘how do I not get ****ed up’...the only other place I can relate to this sort of experience is being overs in convoys in Iraq - you gain this heightened sense of being alive, and your focus is to keep it that way. So here I am going super fast and I need to not hurt myself, nor hurt other people who are ahead of me probably doing 100 after slowing to make the corner.

Your first option you think is to go wide and try to wheel it through the run off. This could have worked, but your brain is so focused on stopping, that you forget about it. The other thing is, if you don’t turn, you’re hitting the armco, head on. Bad.

Second option is to duck it in early in the grass, and hope to slow it down in there. At the glen this is a problem as you A: go faster in grass B: Are now turning into cars and C: The track is banked a bit, and cars FLIP and FLY doing this. Bad. I’m not afraid of flying, but I don’t like bleeding.

Third option is to just try and wheel it around the corner, this leads into the same pitfalls of option two.



So my last option (in which my brain deemed best) was to downshift to slow the car, just miss the car in-front of me by going to his outside/left, and then trying to spin the car/scrub speed off in the paved run off, hopefully not hitting the wall, but at least there are tires here, and not gaurdrail.

So as I downshift the car, the rpms fly up, and with engine brake the car does begin to slow down, but at the same instance the car (thankfully) begins to slowly spin. At this exact moment it all comes together in a strange way: You realize the car is toast, and yell your curse word of choice as loud as you can. You realize you can possibly save the driveline. However you most importantly (and most thankfully) recognize you’re going to impact backwards, into the tires. This was a win, despite the loss. I let go of the wheel, relaxed, and then BANG.

I admittedly closed my eyes, so the moment of impact I won’t ever remember seeing, but a milliscecond later you start going over yourself. I can move my arms. I can move my legs. Sweet. I can see/hear cars on track. Nice. Oh ****, where is my back window. Oh ****, I can’t move my seat backwards. Oh man am I in a bad area? Do I (despite what they say to stay in the car) get your ass out of ‘the kill zone’ (earned from military experience) if you’re in one, and get out of the car? Your mind starts racing. I unhook my belts, ram the seat back (broken/bent sliders) and wait for EMS.

Once I recognize it’s safe to get out, I do. The car isn’t on fire, it’s not leaking fuel, and I’m safe. I’m actually not broken. Wow. I hop in the ambulance (pissed off) and just ignore everything. They were asking questions and I kept saying I was fine. I really was ‘fine’ but I wasn’t ok. Looking out the back of the truck I realized, every minute and dollar I had saved and spent was cashed in right then and there. However to their surprise, I was actually ok. The corner worker came over the radio and even asked how I was doing, as in his words “I’ve never seen one hit this hard in a long time” I guess the silver lining was I crashed it well enough to impress. Yeaaaaa right. Now this (after telling the story) is strange to non car people. Everyone says ‘oh man be glad you’re ok’ and I really was...I lucked out, only some soreness. BUt my car...it was trashed.

(All I can say in regard to this all: This is a perfect example of why you buy safety equipment. I am DAMN glad to have had harness, and seat, and a good helmet and even the autopower back half...as I am confident it would have been much worse with stock/half assed stuff.)

Thankfully I was at the track with two good friends who were able to keep me calm. I of course was pissed, but we were able to load the car on the trailer, cover it up, and I pretty much just hung out in the pits the rest of the day. I’ll admit now - I called home and cried to my parents. You would think at my age, with what I do, and what I’ve been through, that it would be beyond me - but at the same aspect I began to realize how lucky I was. I hit the wall, at over 100mph, and was fine. Maybe I’m just weird, but it was sort of surreal to call my parents in literal tears from being upset, but glad I was ok. I can say that the only other time I ever have really teared up like that in front/with my dad was when I landed back stateside after deployment, so even he was a little taken back by it all. Whatever, chalk me up for loser, but it sucked.

So as the weekend went on, I just kept thinking of what I was gonna do - do I build 2.0? Do I get a new chassis? What’s still good...it really was overload at the point in time. Ironic how people have a ton of issues, and I’m caught up with a car. Yikes. Lets just say it was a long drive home. Ironically enough the car started right up when I got home. No noise, no worry. Woot. Only issue was I had to sawzall my fenders to move the car. It’s kinda funny, but I can remember thinking ‘wow the paint on this car really is nice’ as I drove the milwakee torch blade into the quarters. Call me crazy, but for as much as it hurt to cut into the fender, it sort of felt good - closure maybe? Who knows. After hacking the car, I got it off the trailer, and drove it (albeit crookedly) into the garage, and parked it. Took a quick look at the brakes, the fluid was empty. A quick gander at the stuff, and I’m not sure if a bleeder somehow broke/came loose, or if a seal blew. Either way I was disgusted. Shut the door and walked out. The car sat for 4 months before I even touched it again.

Now in that time, I thankfully had other stuff going on. We have a LeMons team, and I focused more on that and other endurance racing (AER, where we got third place at LimeRock). I got focused on catching on crap that I had put off forever it seemed (some travel, friends, getting stuff fixed/cleaned up/et cetc). It’s crazy when I got to thinking about how much stuff I neglected, all in the name of the 240. While the 240 brought my joy, it really put me behind in so many other areas. About the same time, I sort of ‘stopped caring’ about the car. I didn’t go on the facebook groups, I didn’t follow the mailing lists, and I vanished (restricted myself) from the forums. I still had my business going selling parts, but aside from fulfilling orders I was out of it. I figured I was done with 240’s, and thought I was going to sell it all. It was just astonishing how enamored with it all I really was only to get so deflated when it was gone.

Everyone said ‘get an S13, it’ll be better’...and on paper they are - but back to my reference in paragraph one, I wanted something different - I needed that Kouki S14. So my search focused on them….and dealing with the craziness of modern prices, and stuff. I got mine with under 60k, for 5500 bucks. MINT condition. Yea, good luck finding that again lol. Finally after much searching I found a SUITABLE (it’s pretty damn good IMO) replacement for 500 less than I paid for my first one. The car really is worth every penny. Strong engine/good trans/tight car. Black, 5 speed, and had some basic mods but not too crazy. I really lucked out. The second I saw it, I knew it was going to replace mine, and that I was going to be a new project that I could finally do things I never did to the first one, for one reason or another.

So with spring, comes the rebuild. I’m back into the groove again. Having caught up on stuff I had put off, it is now time to start playing with MY car again. I’ve got my crashed one up on jackstands, and I’ve got the new one next to it ready to start the swap. This one will be better than the last (a real cage, a real seat mount, and other intensive work), and I will hope to come back faster/stronger/better than before with it for the track season. IT will be fun to do the car again as there were so many ‘fixes’ I took over the years ‘just to make it to the track’, that I can now properly address and make better. I thought my car was good before, but after 10 years of growing pains, I can now really make the car I’ve always wanted.

I’m slowly getting back to the forums, back to the facebook groups, and have a new outlook on a ton of things, not just car related. Really crazy how it takes a bad accident to get things back in line and operation. I’m back to answering PM’s (Sorry for ignoring, but I had to) and back on the email as well. I have always been selling my AC brackets, Quest brackets, and Manifolds, but now an INTO it again - and most importantly to helping the 240 forums out again as much as I can.

[codyace]

Story cliffnotes: Cars are to be enjoyed, and not consume your life. Place them second, keep yourself first, and remember to enjoy everything the small things in life.

Cars will cause you the most headache, and the most love, all at the expense of your hard work, where your family and livelihood can easily be skipped over when they should not be.

Cars should act as a stress relief, not a cause of stress. Going to the track should be enjoyable, not daunting.


Car cliffnotes: Buy good safety equipment before anything else. I’m alive, and not injured because of it.

Crash reasoning: I really think a bleeder came 'sorta' loose. It's the only thing. How it lasted 20 minutes at the Glen with perfect pedal is beyond me. A freakin bleeder. So check your stuff 3x, because 2x isn't enough. Sucks to suck. On to car 2.0!

[bmar19]

Dang man!!!! Glad your back...I spoke to you on Facebook...got your AC bracket...its amazing!!!

[Almighty So]

that was a nice read, albeit about a not so great situation.
welcome back and glad to hear you're doing alright.

all cheesiness aside;
this story is pretty damn inspiring in multiple aspects.
your positivity and perseverance deserve thumbs up.

excited to see whats to come for you and the s14 2.0.

[ProjectPanda13]

Glad to know you came out well, and excited for what you have in stored for future builds. It's hard for some people to even get back to driving after a big wreck, and even more deterring to some to get back into modding. But you shook it off and got right back. Welcome back.
Latez.

[silviasandbeer]

Originally Posted by codyace

It was just astonishing how enamored with it all I really was only to get so deflated when it was gone.

right in the feels

thats one crumpled s14.. glad youre ok because thats.... wow
freaking bleeder

[Loomis112]

While reading this i kept repeating the word "no" at the sight of that broken s14 :/

[ixfxi]

well.

looks like i have something to read tomorrow morning.

glad you werent seriously injured.

[pancakes]

Read every word of it. Glad you were able to walk away from the crash/240s and still make it back.

[koi]

your health more important, than piece of steel

[KiLLeR2001]

Cody you are one of the true 240sx enthusiasts, it would be a shame if you left the game for good. Glad to see you are doing well and ready to build your vision again. While reading your posts I felt like I was reading my own life story. I'm 8 years in with the ownership of my S13 and right now its just a stripped frame getting the full-on overhaul package. Ultimately the goal is to get to the track. Thinking about a crash like the one you had would literally send me into the exact same state of mind. I crashed my first S13 doing stupid 18 year old kid stuff, and I learned from that experience very quickly. Probably why I have such distaste for the current state of the 240sx community with all the hoonigan I <3 haters drift missile fuckbois. But that's a topic I'll save for another day.

These cars have consumed my life since the age of 18 and I have no idea why. Maybe its because of the promise I made to myself a very long time ago; To build a car exactly the way I envisioned it; To put every thought and idea together in a way that makes it not only visually unique, but also captures the essence of the creator/owner. Attention to detail on every aspect of every component, an idea, a thought process carefully and methodically articulated.

It's always funny talking to non-car people about how invested I am into my car; How much of a part of my life it is, and the crazy looks that they give me. In a way, they are absolutely right to think this way. If you really think about it, the amount of time, money, blood, sweat, and tears put into these projects, and to have it all taken away in an instant, or the possibility of it all being taken away in an instant, given the hundreds of different scenarios... is just mind-boggling.

It makes you wonder... It makes you think... Why not just walk away from it all? Like a musician doing a final performance, dropping the mic onto the ground, walking away from the audience never to be seen again. But how can you walk away from something that is literally a part of your being? What would you be into if you weren't into these cars? Or any car for that matter? These are all questions we must ask ourselves.

[OBEEWON]

Glad you aren't dead Ace. First I heard about this!

[S-Verteen]

Welcome back, hope you resurrect another 240!

[KAT-PWR]

Give me hope. Keep on, keepin on!

[Hatemy7]

Damm dude I am glad that you are ok. seriously!

[Javi802]

edit.............

[feito]

Glad you're OK. Welcome back! The site is now over ran with a new generation called "hoonigans", a generation that goes by the saying "aint care", and the "scene" is now controlled by a group calling themselves "hagard garage". Not to worry thou, for them this is just a trend thing and they'll get bored and be gone soon, lets just hope some 240's survive their "because race car" carnage....

[Javi802]

[IMG][/IMG]

Lol. Jk man, glad you're ok!

[bmaddock]

Thanks for the insight, read every word. Glad to hear you're ok and still committed to rejoining the community. Now more than ever do we need real enthusiasts for inspiration. I think anyone who's had a bout of bad luck with a car can relate to this, so don't feel alone.

[!Zar!]

Nice read.

The car held up surprisingly well for sustaining such a crash.

Congrats on finding a new car.

[zombiewolf513]

Damn that sucks. Did you try slowing yourself with the ebrake?

I get what you mean by being somewhat burnt out. I felt the same way after crashing my unicorn s13. Its hard to move on and get back into it, just dont try to force it. Like you said its something to be enjoyed, and only after youve got your own shit worked out.

[simmode1]

Whoa. Glad you're ok. Cody, you're one of the greats in this community and that extends beyond Zilvia, because I know you were active at sharing your knowledge on multiple forums. I'm glad we didn't lose you. It's great to have you back. And on a side note... Look at how that S14 handled that crash! I guess it's added chassis ridgidity over the S13 is a real thing.

[Ronald_Mcdonald]

Glad to see that you're back, man.

It's good that you got caught back up on life, but cars will always be in the back of our minds, as real car enthusiasts.

I have the same love for the s13 chassis, that you have for the s14 chassis. I was out of the "game" for the past 5-6 years, but I picked up a clean coupe last year, and have been slowly building it up to the car I've always wanted to build.

Can't wait to see the progress on version 2.0!

[silviaks2nr]

That really sucks man. I've held on to my kouki for 11 years and couldn't imagine this happening. At least you were really enjoying the car when it got taken out and you walked away.

[FeArZ]

Damn man. Glad your ok

[ixfxi]

OK. Morning read is done. Again, glad to hear you are A-OK.

I agree with a lot of your points. I think cars and builds are over-rated. There are much more enjoyable things to do with your time (and money) than throw it all into a car. However, I still very much enjoy building and creating. You just need to pace yourself.

I've attended a few track events but honestly, I've always enjoyed the street more than anything. You obviously cannot hit the same limits, but thats fine with me. You need to have some margin of safety regardless if you are on a street or on a track. I still recall my last track event where my girlfriend (now wife) was yelling "faster faster!" and my response was "shit, you better take it easy. This isnt Magic Mountain. One mistake and we could easily be in deep shit."

A lot of people underestimate the importance of pacing yourself and driving with limits.

So, no idea where all that brake fluid went, eh? You must have been using that new water based fluid, it tends to evaporate under certain conditions. :P

[delado]

Cody ever since I got into s-chassis (back in 08) I always looked up to you. Sorry this happened but life goes on! Cheers!

[rbpwrd240]

Originally Posted by Javi802

[IMG][/IMG]

Lol. Jk man, glad you're ok!

This^^^^

Glad your okay, these cars are tuff. I hit a parked car and a fence at 20mph and was suprised how well our cars hold up but the problem is they munch alot of stuff and kiss your skin good bye. By skin I mean outer fenders etc.

Dont let it slow you down just try to learn some positive lessons and mvoe on.

Now about that front lip and those rims.....

[new2240s]

Glad to hear you are ok and getting back into it. I have thoroughly enjoyed your threads and the knowledge that you have shared with the community. I can understand the crushing feeling you had but enjoy this next build.

I have had my 240 for about 8 years now and am still slowly getting it ready for the track. It has taken forever due to marriage, law school and purchasing a house. Hopefully it will finally be turboed in the next year or so since I have been driving with a fully built bottom end for the last 3 years but no other engine mods.