What happened to this car?

[pdisme]

Normally when you here talk of a "four wheel off" at the track it means the person is road racing and went completely off track; this one is a little different. :) Any guesses?

http://jalopnik.com/cars/question-of-the-day/what-the-hell-happened-to-this-mazda-rx+7-268186.php

[Mikey]

I think someone really hates him...

[pdisme]

I was thinking he forgot the lug nuts but then they were there on the ground...

[zzzzdoc]

Nice tech inspection.

Destined to be a classic car video.

[zzzzdoc]

This just got posted on NASIOC by someone who was there:
http://forums.nasioc.com/forums/showpost.php?p=18374879&po... (http://forums.nasioc.com/forums/showpost.php?p=18374879&postcount=13)
Hello all,
I was at the event and know the guy who owns the car. (No it wasn't me)
I was in the paddock area next to him changing wheels at the same time as him. I watched him torque all of them. I even borrowed his torque wrench to tighten mine (I always forget something after I get on the road).
He went to a wheel/tire business and asked for spline drive lug nuts for his particular make/model/year car for the Enkeis, and that's what they gave him. He did not purchase the tires or wheels from them, just the lug nuts.
The lug nuts where sheared off the studs. Several members lifted a corner of the car to slide a jack underneath it. With a few more jacks, blocks of wood, etc, they were able to mount the stock wheels and stock lugs nuts (at least 3 per wheel) back on, torque them and drive the car off course. The design of the car, possilbly for aerodynamics, tucks all mechanicals on the underside a little higher than the body line, or lowest part of the brake rotors. Not even the exhaust was really scratched.
I'm not a mechanic, but the mechanics theories there was that the lug nuts where the incorrect size, but they were just small enough to grip the outer edge of the threads (as I mentioned, they torqued to 75-80 ft/lbs without complaint).
Hopefully, the only damage is to the body and brakes.

[pdisme]

This just got posted on NASIOC by someone who was there:
http://forums.nasioc.com/forums/showpost.php?p=18374879&po... (http://forums.nasioc.com/forums/showpost.php?p=18374879&postcount=13)

Hopefully, the only damage is to the body and brakes.

I truly don't know if any man could ever recover from having that happen, particularly on camera and broadcast out across the internet; he's going to need therapy for years. :lol2: :lol2: