Wow .Was this today and is he alright?? They should surface every piece of grass on every corner to prevent stuff like this from happening.
Looks like the sports car world should take a tip from NASCAR and add flaps to prevent aerobatics when going sideways. And this guy was lucky he hit bottom first on the guard rail.
The guy is the Audi was probably 1 second away from being decapitated, lucky man. I wish the other guy a full recovery. That was a pretty bad crash.
Wow. While that was a really violent and dramatic crash, it is not the sort that results in really high G-loads. Never made really hard contact with anything. I wouldn't be surprised to hear he was released from hospital, shaken but not broken... Now lets hope I'm right! Really scary crash none the less.
Broken ankle! http://www.autosport.com/news/report.php/id/66987 According to this article... to be released from hosptital tonight!
I had to watch that four of five times. Just shows you how fast these cars are, and that was at a braking point.
No, doesn't work on cars like this. The regulations have already made them change several aspects of the vehicles for this reason. Raising the sides of the floor was one of the changes that has helped.
While it looks like a horrible crash, everyone shouldn't be so surprised that he wasn't seriously injured. As Simon already pointed out the most spectacular looking crashes are the safer kind to be in. The forces are decreased with all the energy lost from the flipping and sliding before he impacts an immovable barrier. I'm more worried about guys that go straight into walls like HK did this morning.
Heikki's issue this morning was very very disturbing. I am not so much concerned with the ability of these cars to take potential trauma, it is the curent condition of many of the racing circuits in the world. This vidoe ws an example. They are not up to today's safety standards. Kubica's accident last year, showed a wall that should not have existed in its current location. NASCAR, and IRL circuits exceed the current standards of F1 and LeMans circuits, except for Sebring, which is crap anyway. This needs to change very quickly. I do not agree that a method to prevent a sportscar from going airborne when going sideways is not feasible in sports car road racing. Hire a NASCAR tech guy, they will figure it out.
+1 to the above. The cars have gotten to a point where they are among the safest places to be in the world, however the circuits have now become the dangerous aspect in racing. The runoff areas are not as long as they need to be, the walls are hard, and the grass sections are not always flat leading to many cars going airborne in recent memory (Glock at Australia rings a bell). The soft walls that NASCAR has seem like a very good option for F1. Even though the NASCAR/IRL tracks are safer, I still believe F1 is much safer.
Only soft hits in the whole sequence, like Michael Andretti at mid ohio years ago, bith very lucky, it could easily have ben an Alboreto or Krossnof ending for Ortelli, for that Audi driver and the other Audi driver in the OTHER big crash of the day where it neraly rolled and was repaired..
As said before, that crash is spectacular (with all the parts flying away), but more some kind of a rollercoaster ride. Nice to see that the fence stayed intact when the car hit it (at 0:28).
It reminds me of the issue that Mercedes had at lemans a few years ago. Once they get air borne anything can happen
Quite the incident and thank god he didn't hit Allan. We just got home a little bit ago, have chores to do and will try to post photos later this evening. Didn't get photos of the Oreca incident but did get photos of the #14 Creation that Jamie-Cambell Walter was driving on Saturday. We were at the Second Variante and he never made the chicane - just went straight. After seeing the photos in the papers in Amsterdam this morning, this was worse than Heikki's at Barcelona. Thankfully, after a bit of work, he walked away with a little assistance. Word had it that he suffered pulled muscles in his back....the sound at impact was extremely loud. Fantastic race and congrats to Rik and Team Modena for a WELL DESERVED GT1 win - right down to the checkered flag. Good to see you guys again. GT2 was most exciting also. The Danish team won P2 with their Spyder; Verstappen and group took second and Horag took third - all podium finishers were Spyders. Some extremely agressive driving on the part of Peugeot in the closing minutes after the safety car went back in resulted in a Vette being "pushed" off to the side with at least 3 wide at Ascari and Audi #2 with a cut tire and just losing first place. The race took just over 5 hours to do the 173 laps or 1000 Km. Spent part of Saturday wandering the track, walking the banking, taking photos of qualifying - a lovely track that can only be best appreciated at an LMS race where EVERYTHING is open - Friday cost 5 per person; Saturday & Sunday was 20 per person; pit walk was 25 per person. more later . . . Carol
Yes I walked the banking and the whole lenght of the track there in September 06 and the sense of history you get there is truly awe inspiring...I kept a small piece of the banking that had come loose!
Ortelli was going sideways at over 170 mph which doesn't help while air got under the MB CLR at Le Mans in 1999. Stéphane Ortelli, in the # 5 Courage-Oreca LC70 Judd, had a bad crash in the 1,000 km of Monza but came away with bruises and a minor fracture of his lower leg. (Le Mans Series race) YouTube - STEPHANE ORTELLI Faced Fear Unique view: YouTube - 1000km Monza 2008- Ortelli Crash Reports from Monza, Italy: Le Mans Series 1,000 km of Monza Update on Ortelli: Stéphane Ortelli - Les archives - Les 1000 km de Monza le Mans Series bilan santé à Monaco Oreca helped with the winning Mazda from the 1991 24 Hours of Le Mans and also developed the dominating Viper GTS-R. Oreca purchased Courage Competition (supplied LC75s for the four Acura LMP2 teams in ALMS) last September. COURAGE COMPETITION - site officiel - the official website Le Mans Series Courage-Oreca LC70 with Judd V-10 Oreca's Chairman Hughes de Chaunac on the left with Ortelli at Monza http://orecacompetition.havassports.net/multimedia/medias/LMS%20Monza%20steph%20&%20hugues.jpg # 5 car ImageShack - Hosting :: guest600yv1qi2.jpg
I got a PM from Jamie regarding his incident in qualifying - he said he was 229 kph when he went into the barrier (144 mph). He's at home, will miss Spa (obviously since it's this weekend) and Le Mans, should be back for Nurburgring in August. He has 3 broken vertebra and a 4th that's cracked. Carol
