The driver walked away and is doing fine.
Bad wreck at the 24 Hours of Le Mans
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100% fault of the Ferrari. Speed interviewed him and he thought otherwise, but it is the job of a GT car to move over for the Prototypes.
I agree. The GT cars have been doing that all race long.
Tires are soft (comparably) and those things are built to explode upon impact for energy-reduction. That wasn't that violent for sure.
Sincerely,
Posting on an Internet forum as an expert on the topic
Sincerely,
Posting on an Internet forum as an expert on the topic
Velocity channel is running a documentary on the tragic 1955 Le Mans crash that killed over 80 people when parts of an airborne car including it's engine, went into the grandstands by the pit area. At the time the pits were next to the main grandstand and were not separated from the track by a wall. All that changed after 1955.
Moron Ferrari driver.
Probably some mental fatigue involved to pull a bonehead move like that. It happens.
Wow, regardless of how violent that may or may not have been, just imagine driving the blue & white car (sorry, I have no idea what kind of cars these are) and watching everything fly around you while your car is in the air, just to come down on to the road and go head on into the barricade... crazy. Glad everyone is ok.
Audi wins. Average speed 238.5. I assume kilometers.
Amazing.
Amazing.
BTW Davidson has a broken back according to his twitter feed.
Scary part about that shunt was the Toyota looked like it went in without scrubbing off any speed. The interview with the Ferrari driver after made me want to punch him. He acted like it was the Toyota's fault for passing him.
Scary part about that shunt was the Toyota looked like it went in without scrubbing off any speed. The interview with the Ferrari driver after made me want to punch him. He acted like it was the Toyota's fault for passing him.
Originally Posted By: bdcardinal
BTW Davidson has a broken back according to his twitter feed.
Scary part about that shunt was the Toyota looked like it went in without scrubbing off any speed. The interview with the Ferrari driver after made me want to punch him. He acted like it was the Toyota's fault for passing him.
Yeah, two cracked vertebrae. I'd call that one a bad wreck. I thought it was at the first Mulsanne chicane when I saw that clip, but realized it's at the Mulsanne corner. They couldn't have been too far below 200 mph when contact was made.
That does seem like a dangerous place for a pass. I can understand how a shaken-up amateur driver would be a little shocked that someone tried to pass at that moment. I'm pretty sure it was Mark Webber who said it may be the most difficult corner in auto racing. Is it common to enter that corner two wide? If it's anything like the Gran Turismo 5 simulation, that is a very difficult and unforgiving braking zone. You can't see your final turn in point behind the rise from such a low position and you have to start scrubbing speed at around 200 mph while cornering so you'll have enough room to slow when you get on the brakes hard as the road straightens out.
I'm not arguing that he's not at fault. I haven't followed Le Mans closely enough to know how common it is to pass there and the announcers agreed it was the fault of the Ferrari driver. But I can understand why he felt the way he did at that moment. All his hopes and efforts for the race were ruined in the crash too. He was probably dedicating every bit of concentration to his own line well before turn-in.
BTW Davidson has a broken back according to his twitter feed.
Scary part about that shunt was the Toyota looked like it went in without scrubbing off any speed. The interview with the Ferrari driver after made me want to punch him. He acted like it was the Toyota's fault for passing him.
Yeah, two cracked vertebrae. I'd call that one a bad wreck. I thought it was at the first Mulsanne chicane when I saw that clip, but realized it's at the Mulsanne corner. They couldn't have been too far below 200 mph when contact was made.
That does seem like a dangerous place for a pass. I can understand how a shaken-up amateur driver would be a little shocked that someone tried to pass at that moment. I'm pretty sure it was Mark Webber who said it may be the most difficult corner in auto racing. Is it common to enter that corner two wide? If it's anything like the Gran Turismo 5 simulation, that is a very difficult and unforgiving braking zone. You can't see your final turn in point behind the rise from such a low position and you have to start scrubbing speed at around 200 mph while cornering so you'll have enough room to slow when you get on the brakes hard as the road straightens out.
I'm not arguing that he's not at fault. I haven't followed Le Mans closely enough to know how common it is to pass there and the announcers agreed it was the fault of the Ferrari driver. But I can understand why he felt the way he did at that moment. All his hopes and efforts for the race were ruined in the crash too. He was probably dedicating every bit of concentration to his own line well before turn-in.
Originally Posted By: fdcg27
When I first saw your post, I thought of a fatal or mutiple fatal event.
An accident everyone walks away from is not a bad wreck.
The damage to the armco is amazing.
A hard hit that would not have been survivable in the cars of yore.
Whatever, self appointed grand master of classifications. A wreck where a car flips 360 degrees, slams into a tire barrier, and by your own words left a race car with "amazing damage", is a bad wreck by most people's standards.
Really, did you even need to make a post?
When I first saw your post, I thought of a fatal or mutiple fatal event.
An accident everyone walks away from is not a bad wreck.
The damage to the armco is amazing.
A hard hit that would not have been survivable in the cars of yore.
Whatever, self appointed grand master of classifications. A wreck where a car flips 360 degrees, slams into a tire barrier, and by your own words left a race car with "amazing damage", is a bad wreck by most people's standards.
Really, did you even need to make a post?
Anthony tweeted a picture of one of the wing mirrors that all the mechanics signed, they said it was the only working part left on the car.
Originally Posted By: Drew99GT
A wreck where a car flips 360 degrees, slams into a tire barrier,
Come on, give the Toyota more credit than that: It did a 360-degree backflip, and a 360 twist before coming back down on the ground and spearing into the tire barrier. I give it top marks on the degree of difficulty, but Davidson was very lucky it came back down on its wheels. It could have been much worse. I thought that McNish's crash last year looked worse, but he wasn't hurt as bad.
A wreck where a car flips 360 degrees, slams into a tire barrier,
Come on, give the Toyota more credit than that: It did a 360-degree backflip, and a 360 twist before coming back down on the ground and spearing into the tire barrier. I give it top marks on the degree of difficulty, but Davidson was very lucky it came back down on its wheels. It could have been much worse. I thought that McNish's crash last year looked worse, but he wasn't hurt as bad.
What I can't understand is the Toyota was 3/4 of the way along side of the GT car on the INSIDE of the corner. How the [censored] could the GT driver miss the Toyota that far along side of him when he should have been looking that way around the corner anyways! Regardless, it is the slower car's responsibilty to see the faster cars coming up from behind and hold their line no matter what until the faster cars passes. To make matters worse, this was fairly early in the event and it was still daylight, taking away the excuses of fatigue and darkness.
I have heard it said before that it is easier to be in the fastest car in a race than the slowest. A driver in a slow car must drive 3/4 of the race looking in his mirrors and execute immediate decisions on whether or not that car closing on him by 50 mph is going to make a move to the inside on this turn or wait for the next. But from the only angle which I've seen the crash, it does look like the Ferrari driver was more at fault, since he turned in on the Toyota. What I haven't seen that may go in the Ferrari driver's favor is what did the Toyota driver do as they were running up to the turn? Did he act indecisively about diving in to make the pass and make his decision too late?
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I know on the Speed coverage someone mentioned that in the drives meeting the GT drivers were instructed to use the blinker for the direction they were going to move over when a LMP car approached. I guess in past years they were supposed to indicate what direction the LMP car should pass. They said there had been some confusion among all the drivers as to what would be used.
Are the LMPs required to flash their headlights when overtaking slower traffic as well (to get their attention/let them know they're rolling up on them-FAST)??
Originally Posted By: dailydriver
Are the LMPs required to flash their headlights when overtaking slower traffic as well (to get their attention/let them know they're rolling up on them-FAST)??
Not sure if they are required, but I know most of them do. It seems like McNish is addicted to that button.
Although seeing when that accident occured, it may not have helped much.
As far as fatigue, since that happened in the 5th hour the Ferrari driver should not have been driving for long, they can only drive 4 hours at a time max.
Are the LMPs required to flash their headlights when overtaking slower traffic as well (to get their attention/let them know they're rolling up on them-FAST)??
Not sure if they are required, but I know most of them do. It seems like McNish is addicted to that button.
Although seeing when that accident occured, it may not have helped much.
As far as fatigue, since that happened in the 5th hour the Ferrari driver should not have been driving for long, they can only drive 4 hours at a time max.
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