David’s engine was on fire. He just didn't know it yet.
David Bouvia has been driving high-performance cars at Watkins Glen International for more than 16 years. A left-arm amputee, he’s never let that stop him from enjoying the world of High Performance Driving Events.
“It’s not racing, it’s tracking. There’s a huge difference,” he says. “You have to give and get permission to pass. It’s a gentleman’s sport.”
For his 60th birthday, he bought himself a brand-new mid-engine Corvette Z51 convertible with 495 horsepower and a top speed of 184 mph.
He logged hundreds of laps at various HPDE events. But one day at Watkins Glen, disaster struck.
It started with a check engine light. “I dropped a thousand RPMs and didn’t know why. When I looked in my mirror, black smoke was billowing out of the back of my car,” he recalls.
When he pulled over and opened it up, flames were licking at the engine bay.
“I’d just installed my fire extinguisher three days earlier,” he says. “I wanted one that wouldn’t make a mess if I ever had an incident.”
That extinguisher, an H3R Performance HalGuard, turned out to be the perfect choice.
“I was expecting a fog, but it was more like a squirt. And it put that fire right out. It was sizzling a little, but that’s all. I was very impressed.”
Firefighters arrived less than a minute later, surprised to find the blaze gone and no powder residue anywhere.
“The adjuster was shocked. He called me later and said, ‘Didn’t you tell me you used a fire extinguisher? How come I don’t see any residue?’ I told him, that’s because of my H3R extinguisher.”
A later inspection revealed the culprit: a piston had gone through the engine block, spraying hot oil onto the exhaust resonator.
“They found the wrist pin on the track. That’s what holds the piston to the connecting rod. So the piston had completely exploded,” David says.
He keeps that wrist pin on his desk as a souvenir. “That’s my trophy. I’ve since found other people with C8s where the same thing happened, and they burned to the ground. If I hadn’t had that H3R extinguisher, mine would have been a total loss.”
Today, David’s Corvette is back on the road with a brand-new engine. It was also spared any corrosion or chemical clean-up thanks to the Halguard extinguisher.
He smiles when he talks about the future. “I’m in Florida now, so I’ll probably run Sebring next year. I want to keep it for one year without breaking anything," he says with a wry smile.
Then he turns serious. “You never want to go in thinking your car could catch on fire, but I’ve seen cars crash. I’ve seen them flip. I’ve seen them burst into flames. When you’re driving a car and asking that much of it, things can and do happen.”
"One hundred percent, I would recommend this fire extinguisher. I'm not going on the track without one."
—David Bouvia, Florida
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