This is why we can’t have nice things
Crashed cars, ignored rules, flags taken as suggestions, and, one whole burned Corvette Z06 marked the first day of Open Car Lapping at Toronto Motorsports Park in Cayuga, Ontario earlier this week (May 20. 2020). It was so bad that, after the event, track management implemented stricter rules for Open Car Lapping. Several photos and videos from key moments during the first day’s fiasco emerged online which I’ve shared below.
Here are the photos and videos, its totality should give you a good idea just how bad it was.
First, here are several photos showing damage suffered and caused by several Open Car Lapping participants. These cars showcase damage consistent with bad passes, treating open car lapping as a race, and having a complete disregard for the rules.
In this video we see a Range Rover Sport SVR driving like a complete loon, misjudging just how fast he should enter a corner, and completely disregarding slower cars already on track. His Range Rover Sport suffered thousands of dollars in body damage.
This video shows cars going three wide before entering a corner. Again, this is supposed to be open car lapping and these people are treating the event like an SCCA Challenge race.
And in this video we see a Subaru BR-Z unnecessarily braking late, almost hitting this red Mercedes.
Here we have video showing a fight between several people involved in his display of bad driving.Fresh from their respective accidents and with thousands of dollars in damage, a trackside discussion wasn’t going to turn out civil. Fighting and getting physical is uncalled for.
Finally, here’s a video and photos of a 2018 Chevrolet Corvette Z06 on fire and burned to a crisp. This burned Corvette is unrelated to the crashes of the day but is a sobering reminder of the risks you take pushing your car on the track. Although it sucks we should take this on-track casualty as a reminder to check our on-board fire extinguishers and shore up any potential fire hazards.
In response to this cluster**** of a track day, Toronto Motorsports park issued this update limiting Open Car Lapping days to 45 cars and implementing a zero tolerance policy to not adhering to the rules.
Open Car Lapping rules are clear and these participants didn’t take the rules seriously.
Driving on a track is a privilege, not a right, and we should respect the on-track rules 100 percent of the time. Not doing so is disrespectful to the track, to other participants, and, should be cause to ban those participants for an indefinite period at surrounding tracks, if not banned at this particular track for life.
Hopefully, people follow the rules the next Open Car Lapping round and Toronto Motorsports Park re-evaluates how they can better enforce said rules.
