2 nasty crashes at the Goodwood Members Meeting Today

This was the first

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=021GVfHJ_YE

The second was in the Bruce McLaren Trophy Race for Can Am cars when the driver Michiel Smits went straight on at the end of the Lavant straight at circa 130mph hitting the barrier very hard in front of us. We feared the worst went they put screens up round the crash scene - the car was a right mess but the driver got out and made it to the ambulance on foot. His condition must have deteriorated though as he was airlifted to hospital.

That first one looked brutal, almost 'Hollywood' - was the driver ok? Hope there were no nasty injuries.

Struth, that first crash was a shocker!

That's horrific. Looks like the car landed the right way up?

It’s a reminder of how exposed drivers used to be - it was the luck of the draw that the car didn’t land on the track or the barrier with the driver as the first point of contact.

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Originally Posted by Kirk280

That first one looked brutal, almost 'Hollywood' - was the driver ok? Hope there were no nasty injuries.

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Broken collar bone I understand - very lucky escape

Alonso in the F1 today

http://www.formula1.com/content/fom-...ustralia.html/

:hororr:

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Originally Posted by bigbaddes

Alonso in the F1 today

http://www.formula1.com/content/fom-...ustralia.html/

:hororr:

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Huge crash for Alonso but at least he had the benefit of modern crash technology. The crash linked below was not only huge, but also in a vintage car with none of that. Amazing that the driver survived with such little injury.

Thankfully there were no serious injuries throughout the outstanding weekend. It was cold though!!

I'm off there for a track day in a couple of weeks. A timely reminder that motorsport is dangerous, and I'll have the grandson in the passenger seat. I'll keep the red mist in check..

Cheers,

Plug

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Originally Posted by Kirk280

That first one looked brutal, almost 'Hollywood' - was the driver ok? Hope there were no nasty injuries.

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I was standing about 50 yards away on that bank to the left when that happened. I saw the Cooper go wide out of the chicane and then come back on track. I didn't see the Lotus cartwheeling but, a few minutes later, saw it upside down in the pedestrian tunnel.

It was very nearly the end of this sort of racing at the MM and Revival. Thank heavens above that the tunnel was empty at the time and that the loose wheel didn't hit anyone. I've stood in that tunnel in the past with queues going both ways. It could have turned out very differently today.

But on a lighter note, the ground effect F1 cars were simply awesome. Oh, if only modern F1 was still like that.

as much as I care for the well being of the said drivers, I just cant get my head around this racing mentality, you go fast in a car, with other cars, taking risks on every corner, for the win etc.

then someone crashes, possibly dies and we call this fun? its like boxing to me, senseless .

Moto GP is another scale of madness altogether.

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Originally Posted by soundood

as much as I care for the well being of the said drivers, I just cant get my head around this racing mentality, you go fast in a car, with other cars, taking risks on every corner, for the win etc.

then someone crashes, possibly dies and we call this fun? its like boxing to me, senseless .

Moto GP is another scale of madness altogether.

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Horse Racing, Ski Racing, Boxing, Rugby, American Football, Darts (OK, you're most likely to die of heart disease here), etc - Many sports have inherent risks associated with them.

Chess is reasonably safe, I believe...

M

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Originally Posted by snowman

Horse Racing, Ski Racing, Boxing, Rugby, American Football, Darts (OK, you're most likely to die of heart disease here), etc - Many sports have inherent risks associated with them.

Chess is reasonably safe, I believe...

M

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yes, and I seriously dont get any of the above with the exception of darts, football although risky is OK, any full contact sport like Ice Hockey etc. should be banned, and in the distant future I believe it will be, we are just not ready for it yet.

We could just live in a small box - not do anything and then die ?

That sounds like fun.

Life is a risk.. how much risk you fancy is upto you...

Imagine if we all drove at 80mph, three abreast, yards apart jostling for position with 40ft lorries, coaches and loons in repmobiles trying to get to their next sale; separated by a flimsy metal barrier with the same coming in the opposite direction!

Now that would be madness; imagine how many would die in a year if we let this happen.

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Originally Posted by soundood

yes, and I seriously dont get any of the above with the exception of darts, football although risky is OK, any full contact sport like Ice Hockey etc. should be banned, and in the distant future I believe it will be, we are just not ready for it yet.

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Not sure if you're serious... :winkskull:

M

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Originally Posted by Go Big

Imagine if we all drove at 80mph, three abreast, yards apart jostling for position with 40ft lorries, coaches and loons in repmobiles trying to get to their next sale; separated by a flimsy metal barrier with the same coming in the opposite direction!

Now that would be madness; imagine how many would die in a year if we let this happen.

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I agree ,
Racing is controlled and marshalled. First aid on site......crash on the m1 (a lot more likely) and your on your own for quite a while,

wow, how lucky was that?! Hope they both get well soon and shake it off asap..

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Originally Posted by mattleicester

I agree ,
Racing is controlled and marshalled. First aid on site......crash on the m1 (a lot more likely) and your on your own for quite a while,

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Over here (in Spain) a stunningly high number of 33 deaths in traffic accidents over 2015 Easter alone because of a great many extra displacements to see religious processions: Just a footnote in Monday's newspaper, never mind a collective international 'I am motorist' mourning protests...

Chap in the 1st vid is one of my best mate's Dad's. I've known him for 20 years.

He has more injuries than just a broken collar bone.

Poor chap was just minding his business when he got side swiped by the other car and almost killed.

A few pro driver folks who have reviewed the video, said it is a miracle he wasn't killed, given that any landing or roll onto the top of the car would have taken his head off.

If you watch the video again now, knowing that the car has zero head protection for the occupant, you realise just how lucky he was.

Just as a layman watching the video, I agree it was a miracle he wasn't killed.
That was a VERY nasty crash.

It does demonstrate just how far motor racing has come in terms of safety, even since the 70's/80's, let alone when these cars were produced.

I take my hat off to the drivers who still race these cars to their full potential. They must have (huge) balls made of steel!

I hope the driver makes a full recovery.

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Originally Posted by soundood

yes, and I seriously dont get any of the above with the exception of darts, football although risky is OK, any full contact sport like Ice Hockey etc. should be banned, and in the distant future I believe it will be, we are just not ready for it yet.

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Yes and we should all wrap ourselves in bubble wrap just to be on the safe side........as for me, I'm off to the TT for some real excitement..

In 24 years of competing in motorsport my worst injury was getting jagged badly on some gorse bushes after rolling my car on the Galloway Hills Rally. I believe that fishing is the sport that registers the most deaths....

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Originally Posted by mr noble

A few pro driver folks who have reviewed the video, said it is a miracle he wasn't killed, given that any landing or roll onto the top of the car would have taken his head off.

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Originally Posted by Maysie

Just as a layman watching the video, I agree it was a miracle he wasn't killed.

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It's equally a 'miracle' that there wasn't anybody in the pedestrian tunnel at the time (or that nobody got hit by the flying wheel).

This was the first race of the day. If the same crash had happened during one of the later races (when many more people had arrived at the circuit), the outcome could have been far more horrific. Thankfully it wasn't.

It's good that both drivers escaped relatively lightly, and that no spectators were injured, or worse. The car that finished up in the tunnel brought back memories of Alan McNish's crash at Donnington when he was in F3000, and parts of his car, including the engine, finished in the pedestrian tunnel after a collision, killing a spectator. Goodwood must be breathing a very heavy sigh of relief.

Motor racing is dangerous, and Goodwood is a very fast circuit - it's highly unlikely that any crash at Goodwood will be a small one.
Goodwood has become the pre-eminent circuit in the world for Historic racing, to the extent that many of the cars that now race there at the Revival and now the Members' Meeting, are "Goodwood Specials" and can produce lap times that the drivers who raced them there back in "the day" wouldn't recognise. They may all have the requisite FIA papers and be eligible for the classes in which they compete, but some of them are rather more equal than others, to paraphrase George Orwell.

A car which has achieved good results at Goodwood is often far more valuable than one which is, shall we say, rather more authentic but finishes sixth in class. As always, modern suspension components, brake materials and tyres will make a difference, but so will other, more specialist preparation.

I love Goodwood, and historic racing. When the sun is shining and the air is filled with the heady aromas of Castrol R and hot brakes there's no finer place to be. But the racing has started to become rather less than authentic, and has become more about spending vast amounts of money to achieve results which the cars may not have been capable of in period.

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Originally Posted by Backward point

It's good that both drivers escaped relatively lightly, and that no spectators were injured, or worse. The car that finished up in the tunnel brought back memories of Alan McNish's crash at Donnington when he was in F3000, and parts of his car, including the engine, finished in the pedestrian tunnel after a collision, killing a spectator. Goodwood must be breathing a very heavy sigh of relief.

Motor racing is dangerous, and Goodwood is a very fast circuit - it's highly unlikely that any crash at Goodwood will be a small one.
Goodwood has become the pre-eminent circuit in the world for Historic racing, to the extent that many of the cars that now race there at the Revival and now the Members' Meeting, are "Goodwood Specials" and can produce lap times that the drivers who raced them there back in "the day" wouldn't recognise. They may all have the requisite FIA papers and be eligible for the classes in which they compete, but some of them are rather more equal than others, to paraphrase George Orwell.

A car which has achieved good results at Goodwood is often far more valuable than one which is, shall we say, rather more authentic but finishes sixth in class. As always, modern suspension components, brake materials and tyres will make a difference, but so will other, more specialist preparation.

I love Goodwood, and historic racing. When the sun is shining and the air is filled with the heady aromas of Castrol R and hot brakes there's no finer place to be. But the racing has started to become rather less than authentic, and has become more about spending vast amounts of money to achieve results which the cars may not have been capable of in period.

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I do agree with you a lot with what you say...
I used to live down the road and I did my ARDS race licence there
(actually first laps I ever did there were in a rep junior F1 car at 8 years old)

and it is indeed deceptively fast...
It's very evocative but yes those cars really are almost silhouette category now.... There's no way some of them have the pace they should have... I know of one Mini Cooper where the engine cost £25k to build and the car cost another £25k ...
it's not really in the spirit of what it was supposed to be...

Horrible.

I was at the 73 MM and that wheel headed straight into where I was with a relative in the disabled area. Very very lucky no-one was hurt, I'll bet there's catch-fencing there next year.

That final chicane seems to catch plenty out, there were two spinners there in the F1 GTR high-speed demo last year alone.