Macau big shunt

That makes a lot more sense. If the original accident took out her braking system.....she was in an uncontrollable situation at 171 mph nearing the end of the straight. She, the other drivers and the spectators were all very lucky.

 

It would be interesting to see the data trace of the crash and try to determine what part of the crash caused the back fractures. It could have been the vertical impact of hitting the sausage curb or the rearward horizontal impact into the catch fence/camera bunker. It seems that she is lucky to have been launched as the fence and camera bunker spread out the time of the deceleration. Had she hit the tire barrier/wall, I would believe that the G loading of the driver would have been higher and for a shorter duration.

 

Jeff Krosnoff and Hitoshi Ogawa were less lucky...not even mentioning Dan Wheldon or Robert Wickens...

In formula Ford at Silverstone in spring 1988 during lap 1 of an Esso series race I tried to pass a guy on the outside of Becketts as I was close to the lead pack and wanted to catch them but he either did not see me or was ruthless and moved left I took off over him -like Ralf Schumacher at the start of the Australian GP a few years ago- I was at 200kph/125mph spun in mid air and glanced the wooden barrier hard backwards tearing off 2 or 3 wheels...but when you fly you are in the lap of the Gods...all the best to her.

 

The danger of open wheels racing.

 

At some point, like with any crash... even Bianchi’s... you have to be brutally honest and assess things... what happened, what went wrong, why, how, who’s fault and all the other awkward but pertinent questions that seem somewhat disrespectful to even ask.

For me, I wonder if 17 is too young to be in that situation... or really what I mean is... what and who assesses a teenager’s ability to be there. I’m sure some can but most cannot. Who makes that call and I hope daddy’s bank account isn’t playing a heavy role in that equation. I’m left wonderingly if she terribly misjudged something which led to all that and if so, that’s where my question comes in... who decides that these kids can be in that situation because I’m sure it’s only a rare few that can and should be. I’m not saying she shouldn’t, I’ve never heard of her before this and don’t know her skill and background bi the hard questions need to be asked because looking at that in shock and horror, I think we all thought they would be pulling dead bodies from the carnage.

 

I think MadMax has proven teenagers in general are not mature or smart enough to handle high performance cars. He's made pretty dumb decisions in F1 and I wouldn't be surprised if more info comes out with this accident and it not being mechanical failure. It's part of life and learning along the away, but I sometimes wonder too how young is too young to drive 170+ mph.

 

Macau is unique on several levels. It's not just another track. If you look at the winners over the years, a lot of them become F1 or other top drivers. It's the Monaco of its series and the pressure to perform there is intense.

It's a huge deal in Macau. The cycle races are truly INSANE as are the amateur groups.

 

My lord did her throttle get stuck?

 

I’m still struggling to figure out how it appears she has lost none of the 270kph (even with a loss of wheels and no brakes) she has further up the straight. Was the car ‘skating’ on the inside curb?

 

She lost 2 wheels in the impact and lost all brakes. Then turned around and hit berm in the road which launched her airborn. No time to scrub off much speed.

 

OFFICIAL UPDATE SOPHIA FLÖRSCH





Van Amersfoort Racing
1 hr ·
OFFICIAL UPDATE SOPHIA FLÖRSCH

First of all we would like to extend our sincere appreciation for all the worldwide support messages we have received since Sophia’s horrific accident in Macau last Sunday.

As already spread in the news, Sophia came out of her surgery yesterday. It took a team of specialists over nine hours to repair her fractured vertebra and remove a bone splinter, which was sitting dangerously close to her spinal cord. Nerve monitoring shows that her vital nerve functions react well, therefore the initial signs give a positive outlook towards her recovery


Sidenote: I read the photographers and marshalls are all okay and should be out of hospital in 9 days.

 

Sophia Floersch
2 hrs ·


I survived the operation which took 11 hours well. Hope from now on it only gets better. I have to stay a few more days in Macau until I’m transportable. I want to thank all of my fans for every single get-well wishes, which I now start reading. This really motivates me and gives me courage. My thoughts are also with everyone who was involved in the accident. I hope everybody is healthy. At the accident were really nice people, which I still have in my mind. Thank you for all the encouraging, calming words in these tough minutes in my car. A real big thanks to the medical staff here in Macau for the friendly and professional treatment. A huge thank you to the local @FIA rescue-team, Mercedes-AMG Petronas Motorsport, HWA AG, the FIA organisation and their medical team in the background and the Macau Organisation, who support me in the best way. Also a special thank to Dr. Riccardo Ceccarelli and last but not least my Team Van Amersfoort Racing, Facu and Ferdinand, who all suffer with me - you are phenomenal. I’m going to come back! btw. Dallara built a very good chassis

 

This video shows how the crash began and why she went in at such speed.....

 

Really need to see a few seconds before the start of that video, as the two cars clipped wheels, but what lead to that?

Bloody scary stuff and good to hear she is on the road to recovery.

 

It was stated that the driver of the other car (Daruvala) got on the brakes earlier than she expected. seems she had planned to go down the inside and was moving out from slip stream, but was still overlapped when he started braking and she took the left side off. As soon as the wheels and brakes were gone, she was a passenger..... She launched off the backside of the sausage curb and again off the car that had turned in, cleared the wall, went through the fence and hit the camera bunker seemingly with the top side of the car..... She was incredibly lucky.

This shows the moments after coming together, but not the lead up....

 

The car she hit didn't seem to be moving off the line he was on. Looks like she cut across and misjudged the move she move made.

 

These sausage kerbs because necessary on some circuits to enforce track limits.

I thought it was a good idea, but their use will be questioned in future.

At Macao, that kerb launched the car in the air big time,, although it had reached the corner at unabated speed, so hitting the tyre wall would have been painful all the same.

 

I'm glad that she is out of danger and her spine cord is intact.

That being said, she is another very bad driver.

 

Is it necessary to voice such an opinion when someone has spinal injuries? Rather thoughtless post in my opinion. Do you follow her career, or have any actual factual insights into her driving?

 

Come on, she just got caugh by another driver braking earlier than expected.
She swerved to avoid ramming the car, but too late to avoid contac that took 2 wheels on one side, leaving her with no brakes.
From then on she was just a passenger in a car at unabated speed.
The kerb launched her car in the air.

She was just the victim of circumstances, and the accident is no stain on her driving.
That could happen to anyone, IMO.

 

Yep, Melbourne 2016 Alonso/Gutierrez. I'm not comparing the drivers, just the incident.

 

A timely reminder that motor racing is STILL f*****g dangerous.

I have been upside down in a single seater and unconscious on a couple of occasions,very luckily with nothing broken.

Hope she can make a full recovery.

 

As have been reported, she had broken vertebrae but no spinal core injury.

A driver I know raced against her at F4 so I kinda watched some of her races.

I'm not saying she is bad driver because of this specific accident.

 

So, as you ‘kinda’ watched some of her races whilst concentrating on your friend, what did she do that made her a bad driver?

 

That would explain it. The original footage seemed to show her overtaking but not by enough; obviously. If the car in front braked a bit earlier than she anticipated that would explain when it looked the way it did and she hit is rear tyre.

Most fixed tracks she would have just ended in the gravel or rear ending a tyre wall (at least the best way to hit one). I guess this was unique to street circuits and just a really incredible sequence of events. I'm guessing the FIA will be looking at this closely as could you imagine if that was an F1 car and the increase in speed and thus energy in the collision!