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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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1 May 2010, 07:48 (Ref:2682572) | #3 | ||
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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) | #4 | ||
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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) | #5 | ||
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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) | #6 | ||
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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) | #7 | ||
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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) | #8 | |||
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1 May 2010, 09:34 (Ref:2682603) | #9 | |||
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'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. |
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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, 09:40 (Ref:2682604) | #10 | ||
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To prevent cars getting into spectator enclosures you need the type of fencing they use on the super speedways in the US. |
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1 May 2010, 12:10 (Ref:2682669) | #11 | ||
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axe Queensland Raceway
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. |
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1 May 2010, 13:38 (Ref:2682700) | #12 | ||
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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. |
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IN PIT LANE |
1 May 2010, 13:53 (Ref:2682709) | #13 | |||
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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. |
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1 May 2010, 15:24 (Ref:2682739) | #14 | |||
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But I imagine you do take some precautions like looking before you cross the road, not walking down the middle of the freeway, etc. Keep thinking that way and it will be. |
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ยินดีที่ได้รู้จัก |
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, 19:12 (Ref:2682830) | #17 | |
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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) | #18 | |
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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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1 May 2010, 21:54 (Ref:2682894) | #19 | ||
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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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1 May 2010, 22:37 (Ref:2682904) | #20 | |||
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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) | #21 | |||
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What if there were no hypothetical questions? |
1 May 2010, 22:45 (Ref:2682908) | #22 | ||
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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: |
2 May 2010, 00:07 (Ref:2682922) | #23 | |||
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P.S. the motor racing ban in Switzerland was lifted 3 years ago. |
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2 May 2010, 00:22 (Ref:2682926) | #24 | ||
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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...) |
2 May 2010, 00:32 (Ref:2682932) | #25 | ||
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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.
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