Tonny Renna report to be released today

[rustyfan]

The Indianapolis Star reports;

Signs point to driver error - Data 'could not produce a 100-percent conclusion' in Renna's crash


Tony Renna's fatal accident Oct. 22 at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway occurred when his race car slid sideways through the infield grass and flipped into the spectator fence, according to an Indy Racing League report to be released today.

A copy of the report obtained Thursday by The Star indicated the cause of the third-turn crash was driver error.

Renna apparently lost control of the car, tried to correct the steering wheel and became airborne when he bounced over the uneven sod.

In 1999, CART driver Greg Moore was killed at California Speedway when his car flipped into a barrier after bouncing through the grass.

Renna's crash was different in that the car rotated an additional 30 degrees in the air, causing a rear-first lift. The car then struck a fence support post above the 4-foot-high wall with its bottom, splitting it at the cockpit area. The bottom is the weakest point of most cars as it is the least likely to be struck in a crash.

The impact was so fierce that the front half of the Ganassi Racing G Force/Toyota was caught in the fence when officials arrived at the scene.

Renna, 26, of DeLand, Fla., died of blunt force injuries to his head and chest, according to Marion County coroner John McGoff.

Renna was traveling at a speed of 227 mph, the IRL's report said, and there were no mechanical failures to his car.

That he skipped through the infield explains why there was grass on the track afterward.

There were no other injuries, in part because the crash occurred in the early minutes of a private testing session, when few people were present.

The IRL, which does not have a replay of the crash or a witness who saw it develop, has based its report on computer information from an accident data recorder mounted in the side of Renna's car. The device can record car parameters at 1,000 samples per second.

Renna's car speed was in the normal range of other accidents at the Speedway in recent years, according to the report.

However, the data "could not produce a 100-percent conclusion" as to what happened, the report says.

Absent from the report are the G-Forces absorbed on impact. IRL driver Kenny Brack incurred a mind-boggling 193 Gs when he struck a fence post at Texas Motor Speedway just 10 days before Renna's accident. Brack fractured his lower spine, sternum, right leg and both ankles. He is expected to be out of racing for about six months.

Also absent from the Renna report was a reference to air temperature. The incident occurred at 9:20 a.m., when the temperature wasn't much above 50 degrees, the minimum allowed by the tire manufacturer. Race tires can react unpredictably in cold weather, although Firestone officials were at the track at the time of the crash.

League spokesman John Griffin said the IRL will not show the damage to Renna's car. But league senior vice president Brian Barnhart has insisted since the accident that the Speedway's fence did its job and kept almost all of the debris out of the grandstands.

Joe Renna, the father of the driver, declined to comment Thursday through a family spokesman.

The IRL has made a move to reduce speeds for the 2004 season by cutting engine capacity. The new rule could slow cars at the Speedway by 10 mph.

Renna became the 41st driver and the 67th person overall to lose his life at the Speedway, which opened in 1909. He was only the third to die in testing.

I'm absolutely positive the conspiracy theorists will jump on this one, but personally I believe the IRL has done what it could to try and find the cause of the crash considering the lack of witnesses and video. That Renna apparently went through the infield grass was something I had not read as confirmed before, and now I'm not the least surprised Renna's car was able to go airborne since grass - being bumpy and uneven as it alway is - has a "wonderful" knack of sending cars flying. Michael Andretti during the CART race at Mid-Ohio in 1998 comes to mind, a crash that very easily could have ended much worse than it did.

[GP Racer]

I don't think anyone knew that Renna's car went through the infield grass and then came back across the track. I think most suspected that it hit an outside wall, looking more like Bracks accident.

To be honest, I don't believe there is much anybody can do, driver or manufacturer, to make a car stay down and somewhat controllable, when its moving at such high speed across uneven grass. If you bounce high enough, your going to catch air, no matter how much down-force you have, and no matter what the design of the car is. Even NASCAR's worst looking crashes seem to occur when a car gets out onto the grass. Those cars seem just as apt to fly as any other.

Oval racing = high speeds, and that means it's just inherently dangerous. That being said though, it still doesn't make the death of a young driver any easier to take...

[BootsOntheSide]

The fact that the testing was taking palce so early on an COtober day emant that the temperatures were unusually low, and it may be that Renna expected mroe grip than he got. Perhaps he was trying out a fairly low racign line as well, where the surface wasn't as grippy. One way or anotehr, probably a driver error, but GP Racer's final thoughts must be echoed.

[Down F0rce]

Detailed report on thier finding have been posted on indyracing.com

http://www.indyracing.com/indycar/ne...?story_id=2184

[Testure]

It does sound like Tony maybe made a mistake, but, as the IRL say, "it is impossible to completely rule out mechanical failure as a cause of the accident". Either way, that should be no reason to not look at making technical changes. Whether it was driver error not, every effort should be made to make sure the consequences of such an error are never so drastic. So, the engine and chassis modifications that've been announced have to be welcomed and are a good start...

[paul-collins]

My feeling is that if it wasn't mechanical failure, then the inability of a driver to gather up the car points to a flaw inherent in the design (ie too much flat underbody).

Kudos to the IRL to carry out the detailed analysis, make the report public, cut horsepower. All good preliminary moves.

I'd still expect aero changes in the ultimate condition.

[GP Racer]

IMHO, I don't really know if any car can be gathered up at 227 MPH no matter how its designed. That's just plain fast!

I could be mistaken though...

[Testure]

Originally posted by GP Racer
IMHO, I don't really know if any car can be gathered up at 227 MPH no matter how its designed. That's just plain fast!

I could be mistaken though...

Think I agree with at. There's limits to human reflexes! One solution is to make it so that they can't actually travel at 227 MPH. Or behave differently when something goes wrong. Or ...

[Down F0rce]

The new engine sizes should reduce the speed significantly, which is a good start. I think that some areo changes are also needed, and the tires could also be undergoing some changes soon.

but lets see what happens with the new engines first.

[GP Racer]

I think the IRL is in a tough spot.

They know they have to reduce speeds, but they can't bring it down to NASCAR speeds, or else they lose the one important thing that makes them different, which is speed.

I think thats why people watch the IRL.

[Snrub]

The way the article is written it sounds like those who investigated the crash were not given the video. Why shouldn't they get it? I don't know that it should be made public, but certain people should be allowed to see it.

[rustyfan]

Originally posted by Snrub
The way the article is written it sounds like those who investigated the crash were not given the video. Why shouldn't they get it? I don't know that it should be made public, but certain people should be allowed to see it.

What video? It happened during a private test - not even the IMS' own in-house video system was in use, so it wasn't caught on tape.

As for eyewitnesses, there were only a few people who saw the crash - and they only witnessed the end of it, when the car smashed into the fence.

This is one of the reasons - the complete and utter lack of footage in terms of video and photos - the investigators have had such a hard job.

[Down F0rce]

New press release, issused yesterday -

“The Indy Racing League® never mentioned driver error in its press release that reviewed the Tony Renna accident and to see that highlighted as probable has been very disappointing.

“As we noted in our original release, reviews of accidents are critical for the future safety of all drivers. Unfortunately, it is often impossible to pinpoint the exact cause of the accident. If there was an obvious cause for the accident, that would be good because it would help bring some closure for Tony’s family and friends.

“The important thing is for the IRL to continue to learn more about what happens during these crashes so the results of future similar crashes won’t have the same result as Tony’s.

“It is unfortunate that the Renna family has had to deal with this at this time.”

[Marcel ten Caat]

Apparently there were pieces of a dead (sea)gull found next to the wreckage of the car.

This indicates that Renna might have tried to avoid the bird (try to do that at 227mph) or that he had a birdstrike (on either the car or his helmet).

Wouldn't be the first one to crash on the IMS after hitting a bird.

Source: autosport.nl (unfortunately it's a dutch site, no english texts available)