Motorsport can be Dangerous

[Thmsshaun]

Video

 

[Deleted member 2227]

Ouch............Arghhhhhhhhhh

 

[wallingd]

Flip!

 

[Howard]

Jeez !!!

I was watching it and the first Porsche crashed and i thought 'thats not a bad accident, just a couple of wheels come off ....'

Then......... BOOM !!

Cars don't just explode like that do they ?

Was it Jim Morrison that said ' No one gets out of here alive ....'

 

[pammy]

OMG - that was truly awful. The conditions looked attrocious looked very tragic

 

[SEM]

Holy Moley! was not expecting the second bit

 

[Madferrit]

almost thought that a 3rd crash was about to happen

 

[PJH]

Made me jump !

 

[glojo]

Ouch............Arghhhhhhhhhh

Double Ouch, that looked terrible. I hope the drivers survived?

John

 

[Thmsshaun]

Just watched that again at home with sound. I knew what to expect and in made me jump

 

[Sp!ke]

I am afraid to say the driver did not survive.... it took far too long for any of the safety crew to get to the car.

They shouldnt have run the race in those conditions. No-one had a chance of seeing the warning flags.

 

[glojo]

I am afraid to say the driver did not survive.... it took far too long for any of the safety crew to get to the car.

They shouldnt have run the race in those conditions. No-one had a chance of seeing the warning flags.

Totally agree. Nicki Lauda showed real strength of character when he refused to race in conditions that did not look as bad as those.

I hope the Clerk of the Course was made to answer for allowing that race to take place?

John

 

[mobeyone]

Shocking - I agree there is no way i would race in those conditions which leads me to one of my pet hates, idiots who speed and tailgate in poor weather.

 

[Brett]

Shocking - I agree there is no way i would race in those conditions which leads me to one of my pet hates, idiots who speed and tailgate in poor weather.

Why does poor weather have to be a factor?

 

[bolide]

Race conditions

I hope the Clerk of the Course was made to answer for allowing that race to take place?

When you go out on a racetrack you go out to race. Rain & bad conditions are part of it and it's the responsibility of the driver to drive within the limits as he sees them and to drive within himself

The CoC makes his decision based on his experience and you and I shouldn't second-guess him or attempt to blame him for the outcome

I've been at Snetterton when the Clerk of the Course came down to the prizegiving after the race and publicly congratulated the drivers for their driving behaviour in diabolical conditions. Had they done otherwise he'd have roasted them just as efficiently and just as publicly

The CoC bears responsibility for his decision to start and stop a race, and to deploy the safety car - as in this case. The accident appeared to occur under safety car conditions and isn't something "he should be made to answer for"

Nor should the (unpaid, voluntary) marshals "be made to answer for" not getting to the car in time to save the drivers life - whilst risking their own

It's racing, it's the driver's responsibility and no-one else's


Nick Froome
BMW 2002 car #73 Groovy Baby series
www.w124.co.uk

 

[SG CL500]

I thought he did survive (and sue the management of the race course) - I have seen the next 'bit' where the marshalls faff about around the ferrari pretty ineffectually and the driver gets out, falls over and is generally ignored. Will post a link if i find it again.

http://www.liveartists.com/modules.php?name=News&file=article&sid=267

 

[mobeyone]

Why does poor weather have to be a factor?

Why indeed

 

[pammy]

Why indeed

Because if visibilty is as poor as it was on this day then it's almost suicide to go out surely. If you can't see the warning flags then it is a tragedy waiting to happen, and the fact that many of the bystanders are their from choice, be they marshalls or paying spectators, does not absolve the course officials of their duty of care to those people.

Racing is a dangerous sport at the best of times and imho there are acceptable and unacceptable limits to the level of risk and danger that drivers should be expected to go out in and not. Saftey and protection of human life surely has to be the overiding factor.

If "we" are saying that weather and conditions then should never feature in whether to run a race or not, in my mind, it begs the question just what are people going to watch - is it the macabre element wanting to see a tragedy rather than a race well driven?

 

[glojo]

The CoC bears responsibility for his decision to start and stop a race, and to deploy the safety car - as in this case. The accident appeared to occur under safety car conditions and isn't something "he should be made to answer for"

Nor should the (unpaid, voluntary) marshals "be made to answer for" not getting to the car in time to save the drivers life - whilst risking their own

Hi Nick,
I am not one of these left wing meely mouse spoil sports that want to ruin anyone's fun. BUT............ In a competitive sport that is highly dangerous there must be some sort of restraint, control and responsibility from outside the cockpit.

You state the safety car was out?? I have absolutely no knowledge of this incident and am always inclined to believe what other, more knowledgeable members have written. However even if the safety car was out, there was not enough time for it to collect all the cars and get them to slow down?? Just watch the marshall on the gantry with his flags and see what ones he waves. However I feel the safety car issue is irrelevant in this isolated circumstance.

I say the race should either have not started IF the conditions were similar to those we witnessed? Or if it slowly deteriorated then before the visibility became non existant, fetch out the safety car and hope the rain quickly passes, but to allow racing in those conditions is NOT racing it is simply a Darwinian exercise in getting rid of reckless drivers who have no respect for human life. If you were leading the race would you have slowed because of restricted visibility?? would you allow a faster travelling car to overtake?? (No warning flags are being displayed)

I certainly never mentioned the voluntary marshalls who do an excellent job, I picked on the Clerk of the Course who in my humble opinion is their to protect not only the drivers, but the marshall's, track officials, public and anyone else's safety at the circuit.

To condone actually racing in those conditions beggars belief, and to talk about restraint is in itself a contradiction. Racing is all about winning, and unfortunately driver safety, crowd safety is secondary, I would cite Kimi Raikkonen as an example. If he wanted points he would not have driven a car that was clearly in a dangerous condition, (when a front tyre had flat spotted and was clearly way out of balance) he like any other driver wanted to win...... (I understand his reasons and no doubt would have done EXACTLY the same thing)

In rain like we witnessed in that short video clip there would be NO visibilty when closing on the car in front, no awareness of slower travelling vehicles, no awareness of crashed vehicles on the track, no awareness of marshall's attempting to rescue trapped drivers..... The incident we witnessed was always going to happen.

I have watched motor bike racing where the lead rider deemed that conditions were getting dangerous and actually slowed, he was engulfed by the persuing pack, and lost the race. To leave any type of decision to the driver\rider would always be open to abuse, there must be an independant official responsible for making these type of decisions.

Sorry to disagree with you as I am an ardent motor sport fan but I enjoy the racing and not the carnage.

Take care,
John

 

[graeme73s]

The clerk of the course will only call a halt to the racing if the track conditions are such that it would be impossible for people to compete. This would be only happen if there are rivers of water pouring accross the circuit where even full wet tyres will not cope or snow and ice. I've raced in the wet many times and the reality is unless you are the guy in front you can't see bu**er all. I remember racing at snetterton in 1996 where it started to rain as we were on the grid. We were on dry tyres and by the start of the race it was pouring down. You could only see where you were going by looking out of the drivers window at the side of the track. But you still had your foot in the floor and changing gear just off the rev limiter. Complete madness, but in these conditions you just have to hope that now one has spun in front of you. At the end of the day I suppose it soughts the men from the boys after all you ain't going to get a note from your mum.