After the Mini went off, it got me wondering. What happens from a legal standpoint when one car causes damage to another during lapping/Time Attack?
If he had ended up 3 feet into the back of another car instead of 50 feet into the grass, would the rules of the road apply as regards to taking responsibility? Or does ARMS/AMP have different rules stated somewhere?

Obviously during a race things are different, as it can be expected that paint will occasionally be exchanged

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Money ---> Heat and Noise

MMSC #12/ASP

Chances are that auto insurance will not cover the damage of either parties, considering it's a race track.

If an incident was undoubtedly the fault of one party while the other was an innocent victim, then the gentlemanly thing to do would be for the guilty party to pay for the others damages out-of-pocket (as happened to me at the EVO school). But legally? I suspect you're SOL.

Realistically, you shouldn't put your car on the track unless you can afford to write-it-off completely. The chances of it happening are relatively low, but sh!t happen.

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1997 Talon TSi AWD
2008 EVO X MR

I know that insurance would never pay for damages, but I would still expect that the guilty party would be legally responsible to pay out of pocket for any repairs
Has it never happened before?
I figured that since AMP has been around for so long, there would be some sort of official policy

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Money ---> Heat and Noise

MMSC #12/ASP

You're at the racetrack at your own risk, that's the policy. You can legally go after someone for damages but there's no hard and fast rule about it. As Scott indicated, most folks in our region would do the right thing in that situation, but if you get wiped out due to something you believe wasn't your fault there's no guarantee you'll be compensated for it.

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2005 Forester XT (Daily/B2Tuned), 2000 Subaru Impreza 2.5RS P4WD Class Rally Car, 2006 WRX RallyCross Car (Sponsors: Rally-Tech, Great North Performance, ISI Automotive)
Check out: Rally East, The Ledwidge Lookoff Rally

The rules governing our sports are competition rules, not legal documents. Even if the rules had a section pertaining to vehicular damages & financial responsibilities, it would not hold up in court.

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1997 Talon TSi AWD
2008 EVO X MR

Makes sense
I'll make sure to watch my 6 just in case

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Money ---> Heat and Noise

MMSC #12/ASP

This is an FIA standard sign/message. (Which we really should have displayed prominently at all our events)

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2005 Forester XT (Daily/B2Tuned), 2000 Subaru Impreza 2.5RS P4WD Class Rally Car, 2006 WRX RallyCross Car (Sponsors: Rally-Tech, Great North Performance, ISI Automotive)
Check out: Rally East, The Ledwidge Lookoff Rally

Here is a somewhat related incident that happened to a friend of mine in Ontario, about 7 years ago. A retired guy in his late 50's early 60's had a relatively stock Mustang with basic mods for doing lapping days. He has never done a timed event in his life just schools and lapping at various tracks around Canada and the US. He had his car and trailer insured for 3 or 4 years with the same company.

One day he goes to where he keeps his trailer and realizes it was broken into and 3 sets of mounted tires are missing and some tools. He figures about $7000 is missing and files a claim for the items. The insurance company inquires why he has so many tires for his car? He's honest and gives them the description for each, as R-compound or track tires he has for lapping days. As soon as they heard the word track, they immediately associated it with race. He latter received a letter in the mail with a denial of claim, refund of his policy monies and immediate cancellation of coverage. Stating that he did not have the appropriate insurance coverage and that they do not cover race vehicles or related incidents.

So make sure you have the appropriate coverage or disclosure upfront before obtaining a policy or making a claim because the coverage you believe you have will likely be challenged and may not be worth anything. Then try getting coverage after receiving a denial of insurance notice. I think it took him almost a month to find coverage at significant cost. So he was out the $7000 and a slightly less amount to get a new policy for his car. It was regularily driven on the street. Needless to say that ended his lapping days as he wasn't the kind of person who would normally take that much risk.

Most of us realize that although we have street coverage whatever happens at the track stays at the track. I previously had a GSXR 1000 that I did track days with. My last time at Mosport, on a bike, I was going up the back straight off the rev limiter in 5th, grab sixth, then pop up from below the windshield going over the crest and what do I find a vintage bike on my normal line. A vintage bike that was not wide open in sixth, oh crap, I go to the inside instead of through him. Start to grab a seroius amount of front brake enough that I'm lifting the rear wheel off the ground and starting to back the bike into the corner. Which is ok, except that I'm now offline and not heading in the right direction. Oh well time to hit the eject buttom, gravel trap, and I come to a stop a few feet from the wall. Bike is in middle of gravel trap mostly intact with a twist here and there. They cart me away back to the paddock. Eventually they drop off my bike and we tralier it back home. Never with a thought a making a claim for insurance because I knew it would cause more harm then good. Caulk it up as another life experience. Which is typically awesome until the point at which it all goes wrong! Lol.

FYI, the gentamen driving the vintage bike came over later and asked why I was going so fast? I could have killed him. I told him that yes he was correct I was going wide open and went to the inside to avoid killing him and/or myself and then he walked away. No thank you or sorry about that just walked away. I think he went back to the novice group after that.

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2001 Porsche 911 Turbo, ASP
2003 Mustang SVT Cobra, ESP, SGT2

Crazy things happen - good that you could still walk away, Craig

I just wanted to make sure that common sense (for the most part part) prevails

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Money ---> Heat and Noise

MMSC #12/ASP

In Edmonton most people taped over their license plates before auto-X or lapping events - apparently insurance companies had been there in the past taking pictures and threatening to pull policies from people. I was actually a bit surprised when I arrived here and no one did it. We also laid it out in the driver's meeting at every event that if you wrecked and tried to make a claim that it happened on the street you would be banned from future events.

Just after I left Alberta a mint S2000 was written off at an auto-X (due to a poorly designed course) and the guy just cancelled his insurance policy when he got home and took the hit.

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You can't make a race car out of a pig, but you can make a pretty fast pig.
The pigs - '95 Firebird, '09 G8 Gt

In a one car accident, that's the only option... you need to take the financial hit
Definitely not a poor person's sport

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Money ---> Heat and Noise

MMSC #12/ASP

It's far cheaper to purchase a dedicated race car and take it to the track then it is to put a foot wrong and write your car and maybe someone elses off in the process...and maybe ,if your race car has a roll cage it will be safer in the end.

The couple of incidents I had at AMP and at Slemon cost me the same amount as a good race car would have in the beginning !!!

I'm not sure there is a "rule" that governs what happens or who's at fault if your daily driven vehicle is involved with another vehicle while on a dedicated race track...??

That sign should be at the gate when you enter AMP or any event when the hosting club is fully aware of any past instances where such a an event has lead to damage to competitors vehicles...just good business practise.

All just an opinion really!!