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1 May 2010, 07:19 (Ref:2682565) | #1 | ||
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Mini Challenge Crash at QLD Raceway - Spectator Safety
***Please be warned, this video may distress some viewers***
I think the cause for this accident has to be because a track like Ipswich, as well as Winton, is (relatively) flat. Other tracks the spectators are elevated higher then the track and I think the closest we have seen to something else like this happened was Simon Wills at Sandown, and one of the Mini's a couple of years later. Is there anything that could have, should have, or can be done to prevent this from happening in the future? |
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"A lot of people go through life doing things badly. Racing’s important to men who do it well. When you’re racing, it... it’s life. Anything that happens before or after... is just waiting." - Steve McQueen |
1 May 2010, 07:32 (Ref:2682567) | #2 | ||
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well it would be 1 in a million that the car went in like that and hence got flung into the crowd. probably most you could do is the American oval style safety fences and people still get hurt. IMO while safety is paramount there is minimal that can be done and unlikely something like that would happen again and nor do we want it too.
motorsport is dangerous not only for the driver's and teams but as this case proves spectators in some cases and we are lucky that injuries were only to a few and nothing worse. |
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3 May 2010, 01:19 (Ref:2683541) | #3 | |||
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Will Power (i think) over the wall and Calder... then followed by lowndes the next day.. There was that Porche that Tripped at the ripple strip at QR a couple of years ago.. then followed by Jason Richards (with some help from paul morris). As for the spectators getting hit.... well I bet they sat in that pariticular spot in the hope that a car would plough off into the dirt and/ or barrier in front of them... that's how I pick my seat at any track.. gotta maximise the opportunity to see a good "off" Those guys definatly got good value for money.. |
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Cheers Dave Only Milk and Juice should come in 2 litres... ;) |
3 May 2010, 01:46 (Ref:2683550) | #4 | |||
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3 May 2010, 02:11 (Ref:2683557) | #5 | ||
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There will be a lot of conjecture about this incident. I was there. I wont go into all the details, suffice to say, the reports were handed to race control, footage, and investigation, they will decide what is required to avoid this again. Also, another mini twice left the track and struck the barrier at turn six on friday and agian on sunday. So, with the reports, footage, mechanical inspection of the cars, they should come up with an appropiate resulution.
The best news is the two spectators who received injuries are ok, physically,but , Like the rest of us there, it still in our heads. |
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3 May 2010, 02:26 (Ref:2683560) | #6 | ||||
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Quote:
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To get to the fence the car had to get through a large gravel trap and past the concrete wall. |
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3 May 2010, 06:52 (Ref:2683613) | #7 | ||
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sorry PVDA i meant the type of fencing in the states that i was quoting someone else mentioning. wasn't referring to the QR fence
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3 May 2010, 07:23 (Ref:2683617) | #8 | ||
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Fencing
I am staggered to see the extremely poor quality fencing that they are able to get away with, and even more so when you consider they are running V8 S/cars on the same track. That fencing would not be allowable on a track in New Zealand. The organisers are very lucky with the limited amount of injurys (as are the spectators).
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1 May 2010, 07:48 (Ref:2682572) | #9 | ||
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safer barriers would not have helped in this particular crash as the car cleared the barriers. I guess the only thing is high catch fencing like on the US ovals but then again the mini was going straight at the "hypothetical" fence and probably would have went straight through it.
A freak accident for sure and I wish the injured poeple a speedy recovery |
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In Loving memory of Peter Brock I hate it when im driving in a straight line & Seb Vettel runs into me GO THE MIGHTY HAWKS !!!! |
1 May 2010, 08:04 (Ref:2682577) | #10 | ||
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"said a man, 60, suffered head lacerations and a suspected fractured shoulder, a man, 59, had facial cuts and a man, 22, believed to be Magro, had neck pain."
from the tiser |
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if only Valiants had brakes |
1 May 2010, 08:20 (Ref:2682579) | #11 | ||
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Marcus, i rekon those high catch fences would be fine to stop a car in this instance. The fence it went over was just a standard chainlink fence by the looks.
Although, i'm not sure it would be needed all the way around the track. So many circuits are ruined by freak accidents that never have a repeat (on the flip side, i'm a firm believer that if one car can get there, any car can get there). |
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V8Supercars - Race cars using road car headlights, for decades ;) 'You holden VT drivers better look out, because the Ford AU is coming to get you' Glenn Seton - 1999 (The original egg on face disclaimer) :roflmao: |
1 May 2010, 09:07 (Ref:2682595) | #12 | ||
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I was there today and must say I felt sick being there and watching that happen.I tell you what,bet someone was looking over everyones shoulder on that mound today.
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1 May 2010, 09:18 (Ref:2682598) | #13 | ||
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Going to motorsport event for over 30 years, on the back of the ticket it states in bold....... MOTORSPORT IS A DANGEROUS SPORT, AT YOUR OWN RISK.
Wording might have changed over the years. |
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2015 V8Supercar Champion #5 PDA Mark Frosty Winterbottom To Finish First, First you must Finish |
1 May 2010, 09:31 (Ref:2682602) | #14 | |||
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1 May 2010, 15:42 (Ref:2682743) | #15 | ||
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Of course, just because you look before crossing doesn't mean someone won't run the red. My brother lost a friend back in middle school when that happened.
You take some basic, reasonable precautions, but don't have any illusions about there being guarantees on a lot of these things in life. |
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The only certainty is that nothing is certain. |
1 May 2010, 16:50 (Ref:2682767) | #16 | ||
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Let's be thankful that nobody was seriously injured here and if any lessons need to be learned, let's take them on board and look from the perspective that a high price didn't need to be paid for them... this time. |
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1 May 2010, 22:37 (Ref:2682904) | #17 | |||
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People need to take responsibility for their actions. You attended a motorsport event, and its dangerous. Everything was done to try and prevent such things from happening, but cars can STILL clear high catch fencing, so it would be pointless ruining tracks because of this incident. |
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V8Supercars - Race cars using road car headlights, for decades ;) 'You holden VT drivers better look out, because the Ford AU is coming to get you' Glenn Seton - 1999 (The original egg on face disclaimer) :roflmao: |
1 May 2010, 22:42 (Ref:2682906) | #18 | |||
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What if there were no hypothetical questions? |
1 May 2010, 22:45 (Ref:2682908) | #19 | ||
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And whatever they do to change the track, a car can still make it over in freak circumstances. So its pointless.....the only way you can make it 100% safe for the fans is to have 100 feet high concrete all the way around the track. That'll make for great spectator base.....
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V8Supercars - Race cars using road car headlights, for decades ;) 'You holden VT drivers better look out, because the Ford AU is coming to get you' Glenn Seton - 1999 (The original egg on face disclaimer) :roflmao: |
1 May 2010, 19:12 (Ref:2682830) | #20 | |
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I have to say the most surprising thing to me was the fence itself. Seemed really short and close to the gravel trap to be so lightweight. However, building fences to stop that kind of freak occurrence would end up with tracks everywhere looking like our oval here, and that's just no good for road courses. Also, I couldn't tell if he managed a weird bounce over the short tires wall of if it didn't extend that far. Have they made any knee-jerk reactions to a single event or has restraint and common sense managed to win out down under? I dread to think the press coverage and calls for the heads of the series/track owners here in the US.
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1 May 2010, 21:52 (Ref:2682893) | #21 | |
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Trying to remember the last time a car rolled into the crowd at a street course. even though the crowd are often closer to the action.
Surely there is a reason for this |
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2 May 2010, 00:52 (Ref:2682937) | #22 | ||
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Street circuits generally don't have the run off area, or the change in surface to cause the car to roll, and for it to get enough distance to get the vertical attitude AND have the horizontal speed. The If a car rolls on a street circuit, then generally they'll have hit a hard, movable wall with a 90 degree face on it, which absorbs a huge amount of the energy, really minimising the forces that then continue to allow the car to keep rolling. |
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2 May 2010, 01:57 (Ref:2682954) | #23 | ||
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V8Supercars - Race cars using road car headlights, for decades ;) 'You holden VT drivers better look out, because the Ford AU is coming to get you' Glenn Seton - 1999 (The original egg on face disclaimer) :roflmao: |
1 May 2010, 21:54 (Ref:2682894) | #24 | ||
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If they go down the catch fence route, hopefully only in selected places, at the end of straights usually, like the end of the back straight at Sandown, a place with a proven record.
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2 May 2010, 00:22 (Ref:2682926) | #25 | ||
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whilst all the comments above point to the potential of the end outcome, maybe there is a need to contempate the root cause.
The driver, whilst reportedly having his first start in a Mini, is reported to be a speedway state champion, and F/Ford racer, and if you go to the 48 second mark of this footage SEE HERE i think the root cause might have just been established !!! (note to self, cars with mudguards still ride wheels) Now I do agree that the incident was unusual, in that the car slid, and rolled so much (& travelled such a distance from point of impact) and that the hop-skip-jump over the fence was, to a degree unlikely to be predicted, but if we start to build/modify circuits to prevent every possible aspect of what could go wrong, the only people making money will be Readymix. (so they still exist?) And the only spectators left with a decent view,will either be the corporates, or those that own helicopters, or scaffold companies Beretta said in the news story "The Sport's Controlling Body has lauched a full Investigation". I'm sure that we, as the motorsport public can clearly be reassured that the results of same will be publicly available, as will a comprehensive program of circuit re-inspections, with definitive safety improvments reccomended, and of course those reports will be published and made available on the CAM$ website..... Sorry, I think I just heard a snifter of Brandy go crashing to the floor, somewhere in Malvern. . |
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Bring on the Endurance season, and some big name DNF's... (I'd love to see the V8 Chumpionship decided @ Winton, thus making the El Grande Finale the flop it deserves to be...) |
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