June 22, 2013

Needs to be said about Simonsen's accident...



Note the damaged tree.
Note where these trees are,  only a single layer of Armco between them and the racing surface.

You can't protect everything but this is shameful in our opinion.



UPDATE:  While several commentators seem convinced too much safety ruins the sport,  professional drivers, those who actually put it on the line, feel differently:

Sean Edwards tweeted:



While Dominik Farnbacher on his Facebook page, posted:

"If this tree right behind the guard rail would not be there.. Allan might still be with us!"



33 comments:

  1. “Never was anything great achieved without danger.”
    ― Niccolò Machiavelli

    It's a tragic loss but consider it with a clear head in a couple of months.

    ReplyDelete
  2. Every track can improve, time and time again, safety wise, without compromising any of the racing "purity" or the risk factor or the possibilities of crashing. Just improve the odds of surviving.


    You can improve many things without changing the layout and the track. Like SAFER barriers. No open ARMCO in rally, like the one that almost severed Kubica's hand. And in this case, there is clear room for improvement. I hope Simonsen being killed is a serious enough reason for improvement. I for one sure think so.

    ReplyDelete
  3. Neither me nor I have heard from any of the Pros that they go into the car delighted about facing the risk of dying. What a bunch idiotic comments!!


    The risk we all face and enjoy conquering, is the risk of being able to control the car at the limit, not make mistakes and NOT crash, and make it though faster than ever before. But the only risk / danger we are expecting to assume is a DNF, a big Bill or angry team owner /sponsor.
    If I ever face a competitor who goes into it wanting to face the risk of death, I will NEVER race against him on the same track.

    ReplyDelete
  4. http://blog.parathyroid.com/race-car-deaths-medical-causes-racing-deaths/

    ReplyDelete
  5. Very good piece. Thanks. Gonna steal this ;)

    ReplyDelete
  6. Danger to what degree, death? Quoting out of context doesn't really help get a point across. If the end result of your "danger" is death, then nothing great will ever be achieved.

    ReplyDelete
  7. Danger to what degree, death? Quoting out of context doesnt really help get a point across. I'm sure if the end result of "danger" was death, nothing great would ever be achieved.

    ReplyDelete
  8. I watch all of motorsports and I currently to trackdays and local races on my bike. I was watch the TT last month and a commentator mentioned the painted kerbs have sand mixed in the paint to give adhesion to the tires for the motorcycles. It dawned on me that something as simple as that could have prevented the wheelspin, Simonsen got and lost of control.

    ReplyDelete
  9. Just put some tires in front of the armco. Is that too much to ask?

    ReplyDelete
  10. and here is what Dominik Farnbacher had to say... "If this tree right behind the guard rail would not be there.. Allan might still be with us!"

    ReplyDelete
  11. I think there's a happy medium between 75G against a tree and table tennis...

    ReplyDelete
  12. Well Jacques Villeneuve has certainly said there should be a element of danger in the past as has Guy Martin. The alternative attittude is the banning of truly great motorsport events like the TT and all will be left is endless inconsequential run-off's like the current sanatised state of F1. Hey, if you don't like it there is always table tennis.

    ReplyDelete
  13. the trees are not the problem, the problem is two third of the track is a public road. Cut the trees, make run off and it's a full race track, safe for sure, but not le mans anymore...

    their are death every year in nordschleife, if nobody improve the security it's because it's like kiling the spirit of the track.
    Le mans already lost of his own when they cut the hunaudiere.
    I'm not glad of the death of simonsen but the danger of our sports is what it makes it so special.

    ReplyDelete
  14. armco is not the problem, the trees are...

    ReplyDelete
  15. * not armco the new tire wall we see at monaco

    ReplyDelete
  16. like i said before the armco are dangerous ! we see that at monaco the entire wall move, so no it's not a good solution for the other drivers, but only for the one who bump it.

    the only thing is to make the wall follow the trajectory not the public road at the exit of the tertre rouge.

    ReplyDelete
  17. I have a solution, it's called an FIA tire wall. Single armco against the trees on a corner exit is essentially useless. But don't take my word for it, I only race on a small scale at amateur level, let's ask Sean Edwards for example http://twitter.com/SeanEdwardsR/statuses/348729242919526400

    ReplyDelete
  18. the french make the safest track on earth, the paul ricard ! and think only a second it was on a public road, how can you imagine create a run off here?! And Tire yeah great joke, if someone crash on it the tire wall blow off and the car behind hit them ! great idea too ! and dont talk about the wall in monaco we see their efficacity when maldonado hit it. it's maybe safer for the pilot who crash but more dangerous for the others ! Tertre rouge is the entry section off the hunaudiere the speed are too high to put that ! think a second before blaming the organisation.


    If we do what you do the nurburgring became lame ! It's motorsport it's dangerous le mans is safer year after year but it's never enough for you.

    Great to judge bad to think for solution.

    ReplyDelete
  19. Such an unfortunate thing to happen. I hope they take a close look at that corner next year. In addition I hope perhaps like so many other motorsports tragedies we can learn something and IMPROVE safety.

    ReplyDelete
  20. Spoken as someone who does not participate in motorsport I presume?

    ReplyDelete
  21. Motorsport is far too safe these days. Risk should be a major component of the sport. What next, armco the entire routes of the WRC?

    ReplyDelete
  22. Obviously, everything that could go wrong in this crash, did. Simonsen hit passenger side but likely right where a tree was rather than between. This multiplied the force of the impact. (check out how bent the whole frame looks in the picture). What I find absurd is that, given there had been an identical crash in 2007, nobody thought of protecting those trees with a tire wall.

    ReplyDelete
  23. Could a nearer and parallel barrier to the track be useful? I mean, if the car could hit something before gaining inertia toward the left, without all that empty space till the trees, there wouldn't had been a front crash. It would be more like the Rebellion crash (https://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_detailpage&v=b39V0qk3Qt0#t=23s), it hits much more softly and keeps going along the track.

    ReplyDelete
  24. Speed and Radio le Mans both did the same thing. The first thing they did to acknowledge was to read the official ACO statement. At the time, I was asking the same question. I think waiting for the official notice to be the broadcast-responsible solution.

    ReplyDelete
  25. Its the French. What do you expect? The overwhelming majority of racing deaths are caused by poor circuit safety design. It was a really odd place to crash. All the automotive motion was going forward to run parallel to the barrier. Granted he put the power down, got up too high on the paint, it kicked the back of the car out, he over corrected and went head on into the barrier. Ideally, there should have been 50 yards of runoff and three or four rows of tires. The guy would still be alive. This guys accident really bummed me out though. LeMans is no fun this year. RIP.

    ReplyDelete
  26. I agree...very strange place to crash and everything. I can see changes being made for next year to have tires or the barriers from the Monaco F1 GP on an portion of the track that doesn't have run off. Unfortunately it is too late to prevent a death this weekend but it helps them learn and do better next year.

    ReplyDelete
  27. I heard the family told everyone not to talk about it to much

    ReplyDelete
  28. This is tragic. Did anyone else find the lack of commentary about it borderline rude on the SPEED coverage? They mentioned it once during a commercial break briefly and then ignored it for about four hours before they mentioned it again. And when they do mention it, they just coldly mention "that's racing."

    ReplyDelete
  29. Well, there was a nice piece by Sam Posey later. but you know, show must go on...

    ReplyDelete
  30. I totally agree, how much effort would it take to put a tyre wall in front of the barrier on the outside of a high speed corner with a row of substantial trees in front of it? Seems whoever signed off safety at Le Mans really needs to take responsibility for this. For a current GT race car to hit a solid object next to the track with all 4 wheels on the ground is totally unacceptable in this day and age. Tyre walls work, you only have to look at Anthony Davidson's horrendous accident last year, the tyre wall did its job even though his car was airborne at high speed. And that wasn't in front of a row of trees that even a 1100kg GT car travelling at over 100mph barely made a dent in. The more you look at what wasn't done to protect the drivers in the greatest endurance track race in the world, the more shocking and shameful this incident becomes. RIP Allan Simonsen....

    ReplyDelete

nRelate Posts Only