Mini Challenge Crash at QLD Raceway - Spectator Safety

[Chatters]

***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?

[Pro Racer]

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.

[marcus]

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

[smokinJ]

"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

[STEALTHY]

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).

[samoaair707]

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.

[TSR]

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.

[bortall]

Motorsport is dangerous and that accidents causing harm can and do happen and may happen to you.

Amongst other conditions of entry

[STEALTHY]

Originally Posted by TSR

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.

My words to chatters earlier

'I go to clipsal every year expecting to be hit by a flying car, every year it doesn't happen is a good year'
Every motorsport fan should have this approach.

[davyboy]

Originally Posted by TSR

MOTORSPORT IS A DANGEROUS SPORT, AT YOUR OWN RISK.

Wording might have changed over the years.

That wording's an advisory and is legally unenforceable in most jurisdictions.

To prevent cars getting into spectator enclosures you need the type of fencing they use on the super speedways in the US.

[HSVDT]

The problem with Queensland Raceway is the track is quite bumpy from turn 1 through to turn 4 and with those mini's been such a lightweight car they were looking rather unstable at some parts of the track.

I hope VESA don't return to this venue, can you imagine had that been an actual V8 at over 200km that barrel rolled over the fence and as for Mr Tetley his safety record just got shot down.

Hopefully all the injured parties and the driver recover quickly.

[inpitlane]

Sadly this incident will hasten the trend to put full FIA catch fencing around the all Australian circuits.
It was a feature at Hampton Downs in NZ which has full FIA level 2 standards.
It was very safe but really hard to watch and almost impossible to film at without scaffolding.
We though as a sport are extremely lucky that there was no one killed in this incident today. Remember Le Mans in 1955, racing is still banned in Switzerland to this very day after that incident.

[Pro Racer]

Originally Posted by STEALTHY

My words to chatters earlier

'I go to clipsal every year expecting to be hit by a flying car, every year it doesn't happen is a good year'
Every motorsport fan should have this approach.

i could walk out my front door and be killed in some way or another. if your times up it's up.

as i said earlier safety is paramount and most things are made as safe as humanly possible but as safe as we try to make things, it can still go wrong. motorsport is dangerous and things can go wrong.

[dsg]

Originally Posted by Pro Racer

i could walk out my front door and be killed in some way or another.

.

But I imagine you do take some precautions like looking before you cross the road, not walking down the middle of the freeway, etc.

Originally Posted by Pro Racer

if your times up it's up.

Keep thinking that way and it will be.

[Purist]

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.

[davyboy]

Originally Posted by Purist

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.

Life is not free of danger, that's perfectly true. Problems emerge however, when 'reasonable precautions' to protect spectator safety haven't been taken. As an example, if there was inadequate spectator fencing present at that corner because more effective fencing would have been too expensive to install.

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.

[broadrun96]

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.

[peckstar]

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

[bortall]

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.

[STEALTHY]

Originally Posted by davyboy

Life is not free of danger, that's perfectly true. Problems emerge however, when 'reasonable precautions' to protect spectator safety haven't been taken. As an example, if there was inadequate spectator fencing present at that corner because more effective fencing would have been too expensive to install.

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.

Its a freak accident and nothing more. Theres no need to ruin tracks (although i'll be quite happy to remove this ****ty track from the V8s calendar). Had the car bounced 3mm to a different side on the first roll, it would have come to rest on the tyre wall.....and this wouldn't even be a discussion.

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.

[Gaz170]

Originally Posted by STEALTHY

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.

But promoters and track owners need to protect themselves from litigation. Now that its happened once, something will have to be done here to prevent it happening again. Not a knee-jerk reaction, but a solid thought-out solution.

[STEALTHY]

Originally Posted by Gaz170

But promoters and track owners need to protect themselves from litigation. Now that its happened once, something will have to be done here to prevent it happening again. Not a knee-jerk reaction, but a solid thought-out solution.

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.....

[chavez]

Originally Posted by inpitlane

We though as a sport are extremely lucky that there was no one killed in this incident today. Remember Le Mans in 1955, racing is still banned in Switzerland to this very day after that incident.

Agreed, the results could have been very different.

P.S. the motor racing ban in Switzerland was lifted 3 years ago.

[Rachel Richards]

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.






.

[sizzle]

At the risk of upsetting the Nannies. Some times you have to take responsibility for your own actions. There is a reason those spectators chose that area to spectate. Something to do with lots of action in the last corner. Now action usually has cosequences, as it did in this case. Sure there could have been better protection in place, but those spectators CHOSE to be there for a reason. Mark Webber was right. The sooner the doo gooders are banished from the system and people take responsibility for their actions the better.