IndyCar 15 Vehicle pile-up claims life of Dan Wheldon

LazyLion

LazyLion

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Sucks that he died. I should mention that part of the reason I watch motorsports is waiting in anticipation of the crashes but I would never wish for a person to die.
 
Very sad. Watched him win the Indy 500. IIRC he was very emotional as he'd been through a tough a season
 
This ruined my Sunday. Started the day watching F1 in Korea, then watched Casey win the MotoGP title in Australia (on his birthday), then Carlos win 15 in a season and Yamaha bow out of SBK with a 1-2 as well as Sheridan getting a podium in Super Stock at Portimao and then this...
 
[video=youtube;Ee2k5jx-O_8]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ee2k5jx-O_8[/video]

There were complaints about the safety of this track from drivers before this race.
 
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IT was horrible. Was watching on ESPN. It looked like something out of a action movie. They showed his onboard camera :(.
I stayed awake for an hour after the incident and they still had no word on his condition.
Very sad.
 
I know I've been guilty of it myself, but you tend to forget about the soft, squishy thing you strap into that indestructible tub when you go racing. You just assume it'll all be okay 'cos you're wrapped up in all that carbon fibre goodness... *sigh*
 
Picard said:
Grand Prix has been quite safe these last number of years.
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Indy car is not nearly as safe as F1, indy car is one of the most dangerous motor sports i reckon. If you get something wrong you slam into a solid concrete wall. In F1 you have many many safety measures that absorb the impact. Indy racing needs to make a tyre wall i reckon and not solid concrete.

Also they catch on fire very easy which is not an issues those fire suites offer some serious protection. I think slamming into a solid concrete wall is the real issue.

You never see a F1 car explode into flames these days because of the safety measures.
 
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killadoob said:
You never see a F1 car explode into flames these days because of the safety measures.
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The most dangerous part of an F1 race is the start, because the cars are all bunched together. Indy 500 cars are bunched together for the whole race so the entiure race is dangerous. TBH I'm surprised this doesn't happen every year.
 
The_Assimilator said:
The most dangerous part of an F1 race is the start, because the cars are all bunched together. Indy 500 cars are bunched together for the whole race so the entiure race is dangerous. TBH I'm surprised this doesn't happen every year.
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Well the spectacular crashes do happen every year. Last year fellow Brit Mike Conway ended up in a back brace for 3 months after a crash

[video=youtube;Dau_Itbv0ek]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Dau_Itbv0ek[/video]

Note the commentator refer to "Dan Wheldon's crash". That one was in 2003.

This years title winner Dario Franchitti has had a massive crash too

[video=youtube;gk4isl03KgM]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gk4isl03KgM[/video]

In 2007 Kenny Brack broke almost every major bone in his body

[video=youtube;aVpux5JxqEk]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aVpux5JxqEk[/video]

F1 is go carts in comparison to Indy Cars
 
I recall an apt description of F1 racing. Indianapolis racing is similar.

Round and round and round and round and round and round and round and round and round and round and round and round and round and round and round <crash>. Round and round and round and round and round and round and round and round and round and round and round <pitstop>. Round and round and round and round and round and round and round and round and round and round and round <crash>. Round and round and round and round and round and round <pitstop>.

Rally driving is more interesting (and safer – people don’t die). The cars don’t cost millions so independent entrants can compete (still gotta be rich though). The technology is close enough to production cars, so that improvements filter down to the street. They don’t simply go round and round and round and round and round. Bad roads, a changing environment and different countries are the rule.
 
In any form of motorsport racing, there is always a possibility of crashing and dying. That's what gives it more appeal.
 
F1 is the safest since it's the most over-engineered. From there on downwards its probably Touring Cars, Le Mans series, Nascar, Rallying, Indy and the least being MotoGP. Don't think I have left too many of the main codes out. Something like Dakar doesn't really feature as a main code as its a different sort of race with many different types of cars (and trucks, and bikes) and teams (and individuals) travelling through truly stupid conditions.
 
JungleBoy said:
In any form of motorsport racing, there is always a possibility of crashing and dying. That's what gives it more appeal.
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Maybe back in 1960 but with today's knowledge deaths should not happen. Look at how far F1 has come just purely by putting measures in place to ensure the maximum amount of safety. They will stop a GP is one of those features is damaged and cannot be repaired even if the chance of the exact same thing happening again is remote.
 
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