Ferrari Mailing List: Re: fire extinguishers for in car DE events ??

[Britt2Asa (Britt2Asa]

When my 328GTS went backwards into the barrier a few years ago the fire was started by the rear lamps shorting out; quickly flames spread as did the smoke. I was still in the car recovering when the guy in the Ferrari behind me stopped, leapt out and used HIS extinguisher on the fire. The fire never touched the engine.  I would ALWAYS have a fire extinguisher in an old car such as these. It is not just the engine that can catch fire if you are in a collision.

 

Regards

 

Britt

 

BR in the UK
1986 328GTS (LHD 89,940km) Died August 19, 2006 Shrewsbury UK
1980 400i (RHD 74,000 miles)
Searching for the right 512TR
1997 Fiat Barchetta
1985 Bertone X1/9
2003 BMW 530d
1991 Alfa Spider S4 LHD
1993 Alfa Spider S4 LHD
2010 BMW 320d

 

In a message dated 11/03/2011 00:17:35 GMT Standard Time, pokiebaron [at] gmail.com writes:

I'm thinking of installing an extinguisher in my old 911, even though I only use it for road use now.  There are no oil or fuel leaks at all, but she is getting to be an older girl now.  Better to play it on the safe side.

Ed
911SC

On 10 March 2011 17:48, Mike Fleischer <themightytoe [at] gmail.com> wrote:

Hmm

Its been a bit since I did a DE but I recall the general advice was all race-prepped cars should have an extinguisher, street cars it was optional.  Neither was a requirement unless it was a race event.  If you did have a system there were clear rules on mounting, size, and accessibility to set off the system. 

That said I know of several instances where cars caught on fire at various DE's.  Typically some oil getting loose on the manifolds, and in all cases it was a 911 variant of some type that ended up with black smoke pouring out of its rear...  RMS failure maybe on some, Turbo failure on a few definitely...  911's catching fire was always preferable (provided no one was hurt) to them leaving the oil on half the track though probably not the owner's favorite way to go.  I could see some Ferrari's doing this too but so few actually show at a DE typically.  I don't remember seeing any other type of car actually catch on fire except a really old 240Z with a Chevy V8...

Only other fires where brush fires from some cars that OTE'd into the dry brush grass and stopped, hot exhaust lit the grass...  Driving back to the track is often the best option there :)

In all cases the track corner workers were present with extinguishers pretty quickly, though some of those brush fires would get pretty decently sized.

BR,