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Yet another fatality at a Tarmac Rally. Great events; but way too dangerous and there isn't much you can do to make them safer.
They are great events, but the danger factor is pretty much what you make it if it's just a single vehicle situation.. if it's slippery (for example) then slow down (hard to tell someone that during a stage but that's what it may come down to). 2 fatalities in 21 years is pretty darn good going I feel considering the typically competitive nature of the event and the ever increasing speeds in "modern".. It makes an interesting comparison to the official mantra "speed kills" really.. my most recent trip up the Pacific highway, now a bland smooth double separated drone of a trip is plagued with multiple new "average speed" camera gantries.. Officialdom is seemingly convinced that it's unsafe to "let" people drive even modestly faster in a straight line on flat road yet here we have an event that looks suicidal in comparison.. yet "just" 2 fatalities in 21 years.. now I know the "average" entrant takes pride and well versed in car control.. but that in itself speaks volumes in comparing how dumb our standard drivers licence low standards are really.. Anyway.. preaching to the converted? Thoughts and wishes to the competitor's loved ones and family.
I thought there were 2 deaths before this in Targa? Maybe it was one of the other events under the Targa banner. There have also been 4 ? in Classic Adelaide and many more seriously injured over the years. Anyway, great events with safety and minimum competition license standards. My feeling is you cant do much more and the issue is that public roads are not built for such speeds, unlike race tracks. Just the nature of the beast and competitors know that going in I guess. Sad when the inevitable happens though. Why do the authorities have different standards? I guess it's about the dollars in both cases. Massive voluntary taxation with speed cameras, and tourist dollars in the other.
These tarmac rallies simply fnck cars ... yes any sort of racing does but a small off on a tarmac rally usually becomes a very damaged car incident, just like proper rallying. Can't understand why anybody would enter their classic car in the speed part of these events unless they actually hate the fncken thing. Rather race on the track where you only have to worry about other cars and armco (which is many times better to hit than a tree or big drop off a cliff). Pete
Yes I was only counting TT.. exactly right on the ultimate possible speed limit on public roads, pointy end of modern category is getting scarily (too) quick if you're determined in chasing a podium.. I'd rather take it back a decade or so and be competitive within a class, not outright now. Agreed, I'd never enter a much loved "keeper", you'd have to be prepared to write it off, or don't enter, or just pick a modest speed target and don't do something silly.
Targa's outright class was scary fast when I last entered in 1996. Greg Crick said the same thing and quit before I did. Remember that he was good enough to win the event outright. I now watch the youtube videos of the Whites in the Lambo and frankly I find them bloody terrifying. They are essentially driving a factory GT racer and doing circuit racing speeds on public roads. I know the roads pretty well as I still drive them once or twice a year and I can't imagine doing it at those speeds. I did 3 of my 5 Targa's in Ferraris and it didn't do them a hell of a lot of good that's for sure. Worst was $6.5k (in 1994 dollars) of damage to my 328 caused by gravel being fired into the front panels by the "R" rated competition tyres. The 328's have no inner front wheel arches and the top of the guards looked like somebody had fired a shotgun into them.
Targa is an event where you have to be careful not to run on the ragged edge. It is a 5 day event that goes for something like 1500 kms and it's very hard on the crew and machinery. I finished 4 out of 5 events and every time we would creep up the standings as the days went by, purely through the opposition crashing or breaking down. It really is a race of attrition as well as speed.
I am a circuit person too, but I like the idea of regularity where you can still have a bit of fun legally, but not drive on the edge.
Tarmac rallying is perceived by a lot of people as being easier to get into than circuit racing or forest rallying. For a lot of entrants, they can use a road registered car (the 911 in today's accident looks to me like a current model) and drive it to and from the event. I know several suburban dads who do it who are intimidated by other forms of motorsport. The sad reality is that tarmac events are massively more dangerous than circuit or forest, so it's a false economy in many ways. No trees to hit on a circuit and much lower speeds on gravel. I saw some horrible accidents in 3 years of Rally Tasmania, 1 of them fatal. I also people drivers who obviously lacked the necessary skill and the organisers seemed little concerned by that. Circuit and forest require specific observed CAMS licences and driving standards are (somewhat unevenly) enforced. The hassle of buying, storing and transporting a trailer-only car is a minor matter compared to hitting a tree at 250kmh. If it killed Brock, what chance does an amateur have?
the problem I have with regularity is the people who strut around in their red driving suits and red booties all day, "look at me, I'm a race driver", then go out for their event doing 2.20's, in cars that often have little to do with historic racing, apart from being old. You are too good for regularity Brett.
Very sorry to hear The first TT fatality in '96 was a car in my class so I had spent some time with them and it happened just a few minutes in front of me... Before the actual racing preparing a car for TT degrades a nice car significantly... Then the red mist descends... The car in the '96 incident had been pushing too hard... they had an off the day before but that clearly didn't trigger any caution True - we won our class through consistency rather than outright speed
Thank you Ian, , I was referring to the regularity in rally's in relation to todays tragic news. I like the idea of being able to drive fast on the road, but not silly fast. I'll have a go at circuit racing again one day. Edit. :- I always drive on the edge on a track whether it be a sprint day or regularity or club day. (and edit 2, and I do have a red driving suit and red shoes, they are faster, )
Having completed 10 TT and many other Tarmac rallies over the years along with circuit I found TT one of the greatest adrenalin pumping Motorsport challenges. Over the years of this type of rallying I have been in events where around 10 people in total have died. At the end of the day it is one of the most dangerous of motorsports. Most circuit guys who try it think we are f'n mad. It was not until I lost a close friend in Classic Adelaide did it really hit home along with the fear we put our loved ones through. Consequently I completed the entries for that year and retired in one piece with lots of great memories and some very sad ones. John M who died today was a great guy who loved his motorsport. The Cayman was a recent addition for him. Whilst we reconcile with the thought he was doing something he loved, at the end of the day he is gone and this is very sad for his family and friends. We do enter these events knowing the risks, and that is part of the challenge. But it does not make these outcomes any easier. RIP JM.
[ame=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sBngfmXsihc]Donnie Williams - 1st run http://www.NTMSC.com - YouTube[/ame]
