Kubica Injured in Rally Crash

[rpn453]

It sounded like a relatively minor crash when I first heard about it, and the car didn't look that bad, but he may have suffered serious tendon, blood vessel, and nerve damage to his forearm and hand. Let's hope for a full recovery.

http://www.theglobeandmail.com/globe-dri...article1897232/

 

[Quattro Pete]

Yeah, that happened last weekend. Looks like he's out of the F1 racing this season.

Most F1 teams prohibit their drivers from participating in other racing events to avoid unnecessary risk. But Kubica is a stubborn guy... I guess he had it his way.

 

[IndyIan]

I hope he can race F1 again, he's always been a driver to get the best out of the car he's got and I'm sure he'll do the same with his hand.
F1 cars have power steering these days so I imagine they can turn up the assistance a touch and away he'll go.

 

[F23A4]

The Globe article says the barrier sliced through his car as shown in this photo:

http://wheels.blogs.nytimes.com/2011/02/...r-crash/?src=mv

Both he and his co-driver are lucky to be alive.

 

[Bottom_Feeder]

Computer animation of what happened:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fhRDKrNiWP0&feature=player_embedded

As bad as it was, it could have been much worse!

 

[Quattro Pete]

Originally Posted By: Bottom_Feeder
Computer animation of what happened:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fhRDKrNiWP0&feature=player_embedded

 

[Johnny]

Holy smokes!! I wish him and his co-driver well.

 

[Pesca]

The co-driver is fine and strangely suffered no injury (strangely as in they are usually the ones who are hurt the most in a crash).

It would have been a normal crash if this guard rail did not go through the car: He has right ankle, right femur, right hand, right elbow and right shoulder broken. He needs another two operations in the next few days to correct the leg and the upper part of the arm. They just worked hard (more than 7 hours operation with two doctors teams) on his hand in order to save it.
Basically, the guard rail entered the car through the engine bay in the middle of the car (the animation is a little wrong because of that), and scrapped his whole body from bottom to top. Few inches more to the left, he would be dead, few inches more to the right, he would have been not hurt like his co-driver, with just a guard rail separating the two.

Nasty crash, I hope he will be able to drive again (he already has titanium bolts in his left hand).

 

[rpn453]

Thanks for the pic and the simulation. It makes more sense now. Quite a freak accident.

 

[dailydriver]

Yes, the woods, forests, and open roads of Europe/England do not know from the devout and strict safety regs of an FIA sanctioned/certifed F1 course.

One cannot regulate away trees, boulders, and 'road furniture' (in tarmac events), etc., and require big runoff areas/gravel pits in rallying, sadly enough for ol' Robert.

 

[Shannow]

Originally Posted By: Pesca
The co-driver is fine and strangely suffered no injury (strangely as in they are usually the ones who are hurt the most in a crash).


Did a rally school a few years ago, and the instructor explained that the Navigator was usually the one who cops it worst.

When he was explaining adrenaline, car control, the last few seconds and human nature, it all made sense.