Thruxton - Kelvin Burt's Porsche shunt.

[mad racer]

live from thruxston porsche jump safty fence and trye wall kelvivin leavese car safe awell sending it by wireless of lappy see if the photo turn out and down load it to you

[ZBOYD]

Huge off that was. Glad Kelvin appears to be fine. But the car is very used now! Leaping the safety fence while rolling too.

[Woolley]

Scary. Expecially the two spectators wandering along completely unaware of what was happening about 100 yards behind them. I haven't been to Thruxton, but the marshals were looking a bit caged in there which would have been frightening. Credit to the cameraman for continuing as the car passed two or three feet in front of him. Happily everyone ok, but a good reminder of why you face the oncoming traffic.

[mod]I've changed the title to make it a little more descriptive[/mod]

[Rockmunky]

Massive crash, glad everyone was okay, i understand it came very close to a marshal?

[Woolley]

In altitude he was well clear, but in direction it looked pretty close to in line. They were surrounded by a lot of fencing, so I'd hope that would have afforded sufficient protection had he been lower. It must have been more than a little attention grabbing, though, and I suspect they may have been able to make use of the new RAC overalls.

The TV pictures picked them up clearly, and it was reassuring to see them all taking sensible avoiding action and with their eyes firmly on the car. Good work, guys.

[TWRv12]

Glad everyone is ok.

What kind of barrier did he clear?

Only about a year since a Porsche did a similar trick at Pukukohe!

[Woolley]

Pretty similar event having seen coverage of both, although I don't think Kelvin actually touched the fencing. Double layer of catch fencing around... 10feet(?) above track level. He passed marginally above the camerman who was on a platform higher than the fencing, so I'm guessing he was about 15 feet up.

[strider]

I've only seen the accident replayed a couple of times on ITV. At first I thought it was at Church, which would have been much worse, although cars have been over the barrier there before. Having seen it again, I believe it was at the exit of the Cobb/Campbell/Segrave complex. I'm so glad Kelvin was okay.

As far as I know, no spectators should have been in that area.

[Woolley]

There were two walking along the pathway, rather than spectating from there. I'm not familiar with the circuit so I assume there's a cut through to somewhere?

[Martin Haven]

was indeed at the complex, Kelvin was to the left (inside) of another car turning left into Cobb and was completely launched (I suspect his front right somehow rode up the front left tyre of the other car like a ramp as they turned and touched)

the car barrel-rolled to the left side (driver's) then dug into the grass and vaulted the fence, landing (eventually - the camera lost it for a moment or two, so not sure whether it was immediately or after hitting roof/topside first) on its wheels (not strictly all still attached but you get the meaning) on the path about 10 ft behind the inner fencing

After being attended by marshals on the spot and the Doc, helmetless Kelvin (he'd taken it off himself) was smiling and joking before they extricated him, strapped him to the stretcher and took him off to the Medical Centre

Still think his Oulton BTCC monster has the edge for violence of impact but it's one that will certainly make the end-of-season loops

[Woolley]

The front of his rear right wheel hit the rear of the other car's front left as they turned into the right hand part of the complex, pitching him over (thanks Sky+ - I watched it ½doz times on stop frame! I'm really not that good as an observer...) I assume that would be immediately after he'd got alongside into the previous corner as you described?

You're right - nowhere near the force of the Oulton shunt. Sudden stops are always worse than multiple impact rollovers, even though they look less spectacular.

[touringlegend]

I noted the two spectators walking along the path and that Ben Edwards was saying at the end there are no spectators allowed in that area.

Several cars have vaulted the barriers in various places at Thruxton over the years haven't they, from the camera angle the BTCC incident between Darren Turner and Matt Allison looked like it could have ended with Allison up against the fence if he had been carrying more speed:
(from BTCC.net)

[strider]

It's definitely a no-go area for spectators, but sometimes you get journos wandering around in places like that. When Bruno Senna was launched at Snetterton last year his car nearly wiped out the combined presence of Autosport and Motorsport News.

[TWRv12]

Originally Posted by strider

It's definitely a no-go area for spectators, but sometimes you get journos wandering around in places like that. When Bruno Senna was launched at Snetterton last year his car nearly wiped out the combined presence of Autosport and Motorsport News.

Hope were are not going to be subjected another dumb MN piece like last time

[Woolley]

Yeah, I was slightly disturbed by the Autosport guy who, I think, put the near miss down as his highlight of the year...

All I can say is they looked like speccies. There was a car - possibly a marshal's or the cameraman's - at the foot of the screen, so they may have been been people connected with any of them. There was a clear track on which Kelvin landed and the marshals had a double layer of catch fencing, one either side of them, the rearmost of which looked like it was for protecting spectators. The two people concerned were walking away from the camera with their backs to the traffic, and didn't appear to even react to the car coming down 100ish yards behind them before the picture cut away. Obviously, I'm well aware that tv pictures can give completely misleading information on occasions, and only those there can know who they were, how they came to be there and whether they were supposed to be. On the assumption that they're kosher and the spectator restriction is the reason they were the only ones there, you have to say that the circuit's procedures were correct. That no-one was hurt is partly good fortune, but it can also be said that the primary structures all worked, and one hopes that the fencing in front of the marshals would have performed equally well.

The cameraman, however was extremely exposed and can certainly count himself lucky. On the other hand, accidents like that are rare and to have been involved would have been unlucky in the extreme.

[strider]

Originally Posted by TWRv12

Hope were are not going to be subjected another dumb MN piece like last time

Agreed. That incident was far too serious to be the subject of any piece like that or the comment from the Autosport guy to which Woolley refers.

When incidents like this occur we should be mighty relieved that no-one has been hurt and pleased that all the procedures and safety precautions appear to have worked.

I think Thruxton is great and I wouldn't change it, but it is a scary place because of the speeds involved.

[bella]

there is a full sequence of pictures in existance from the spectator hills near the first chicane, which i believe are now are now in the custody of jakob ebrey, so they should be seen too.

what's equally scary is the state the armco was in at the first corner after a clio hit it, and the fact that it was just covered up by a layer of tyres for the following races, but i suppose that's an entirely different discussion altogether!

[TWRv12]

Just in case anyone doesn't know what happen a the Pukukohe crash.

Dean Fulford Crash (28 images)
http://www.y5k.com.au/car/

Martin plans more GT3 racing
http://www.autotrader.co.nz/car-review/1769306.aspx

tvnz.co.nz reports
http://tvnz.co.nz/view/page/425824/705423

[Cynic]

I haven't seen the footage of Burt's crash, but I was on post for the Turner / Allison accident. I think it was fortunate that the cars hit the tyres fairly head-on - that took a lot of the force out of it. Otherwise I could very well see Allison vaulting the tyre wall.

[Tangoman]

I was in a course car being driven back to my post (14) when we stopped to let the Porche cup man download onboard footage and telemtry.
A Marshal came over to the car and said that there was one Marshal suffering from severe shock.

[Woolley]

I'm not surprised, and perhaps should reconsider the tone of my earlier post. I truly hope that he is OK.

[Nighthawk]

The Marshal was a she,

[danccooke]

I was marshalling post 7 (he hit between 7 and 8)
|Yes there were specatators about, the gates were not shut, and as far as i am aware previoulsy they olnly get shut for Truck racing, I am guessing this might change. I was about 4th/5th on the scene, Driver was being tended to, engine being fire covered. I and other marshals removed all spectators from the vicinity whilst rescue did thier thing, Site security helped also and were fantastic in helping to sterilise the area.
There was one frantic gentleman who was looking for his little boy who had just wandered down there to go to the ice cream van, some of my best apathy and calmness to cool him down as i explained the situation and we managed to get him past everyone doing their jobs and re-unite him with his son. One very relieved father.
Everyone was spot on, both post 7, 8, security and of course rescue.

I have to say I was amazed how calm our observer was as he radio'd through to race control that a car had crashed between 7 and 8 and had cleared the catch fence into a spectator area. No panic, no flustered message just facts.

After any major the observer always says how you did, checks how everyone is makes sure no one is in shock, I had to make a point of also asking him if he was ok, and telling him that I was impressed also.

As for the marshal with shock i can't comment as i know she was being seen too, i believe she is ok but hell it was a violent crash and a porsche flying OVER my head would have shocked me too.

Now to see if i managed to record it on Sky

[Woolley]

Thanks both for the updates.

[Jamie P-E]

When i Heard what had happend i was in shock. I initially was told that he had gone in to the crowd. Where he went off is a walk way and track that link the complex spectator banks and the banking just before noble. . I havent seen the footage but I am intrugied to see what happened