Amazingly, only two spectators were injured but not seriously. The driver is in the hospital but also escaped serious injury. Anyone else think something's missing on that track, like a proper barrier? Australian Circuit design?
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I wouldn't moan about the track design, it's just a rare and very unfortunate incident. After all those are speeding tonnes of steel and alloys, propelled by series of explosions. You ALWAYS have to pay attention when watching a rally/race as a spectator.
ReplyDeleteI hate to see safety precautions taking the fans further and further away from the action. I enjoy the proximity of roaring machines while watching them live and all those measures make me prefer the TV broadcasts sometimes. It's sad...
That's a VERY rare accident. There's at least 100meters of runoff before the tire barrier and after it a fence. The car just pole-vaulted over both!!! (it didnt even touched the tire barrier!).
ReplyDeleteIf more space is needed then you could only build tracks in the Mojave (or Abu Dhabi? ). Freak 1/1000000 event. As an spectator you DO have to pay attention to what is going on.
In Monaco, a car can pole-vault in 150 different places and land in someone's bath-tub in the first roll!
There is no doubt that a higher fence / barrier would have prevented this incident, but what happens with the next uncommon incident where the vehicle gets launched even higher, does the fence get built higher again?
ReplyDeleteAt the end of the day if the safety is appropriate for 99% of incidents, and improving the safety to make it appropriate for 99.9% of the incidents means it impacts on the enjoyment of spectators, then it's probably not worth the extra safety.
Finally I think the real question that has to be answered is why did the car roll over from such minor contact? The car rolls over before it even leaves the track, so it's not like it hit an uneven gravel trap and then flipped.
The car rolled over because the driver of the crashed car was squeezed to the edge of the track until there wheels rubbed and his car climbed up her car to the point where it fell over...a racing incident.She should of given him more room, but i'm sure she didn't know what happened was going to happen!!
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