McNish crash at LeMans

[Norwood]

When the people behind the barrier watch this footage they'll certainly understand what lucky means.

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[NOPANTS-68]

I was watching it as well. I can't believe that car levitated over it's own tire and landed on the track side of that barrier. Scary, scary stuff for sure.

[cheapta]

Same here-those folks are incredibly lucky. That car just floated across the kitty litter and didn't slow down at all.

[Gitter Dun]

The man upstairs saved those people. Thank God.

[Norwood]

That berm between the kitty litter and gravel just about launched the car over the barrier.

Here's the long version:

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[chicane67]

Ya know... I'm really getting tired of 'international motorsports' and the sorry announcers in the past few years.

"That was a little too aggressive"... WTF !??!

The Ferrari turned into McNish because the Ferrari didn't see him and closed the gap... (but and even more likely, not paying attention.) But for the announcers to say "too aggressive"... I think they need to just stick to the American motorsports venue... where everything is polite and somewhat boring.


This is just as bad as last year when the LMP1 car turned into the Corvette... as from their own arrogance and lack of situational awareness. The LMP cars have a deifinite arrogance about them... but this incident... was NOT McNish's fault.

However, the tech used in the chassis construction... is second to none... as it saved McNish's life from sustained injury.

[Gitter Dun]

I agree, McNish was not at fault, just racing hard. Although, you cant blame the Ferrari either, McNish was coming in pretty damn hot. It's just racing.

[Norwood]

Blind crest, fast corner................racing incident. I'd consider it a little aggressive early into a 24 hour event but the Peugeot's appeared to be gapping them so he may have been under team orders. He did appear to be REAL hot which makes you wonder if he would have made the corner without contact. Be nice to see in-car from McNish's perspective, initial he may have not seen the Ferrari.

[chicane67]

Nope... you cant really blame either one.

Considering that you have closure rates as high as they are... and then throw in amateur drivers in slower cars... and its a receipt for disaster.

McNish wasnt driving past his ability, nor the ability of the chassis... but it was a ballsy move inside the first hour of the race.

[NJSPEEDER]

I agree with what they said on one of the broadcasts that there is no way McNish could have known the Ferrari was there and the Ferrari had already started his turn in when the Audi arrived. In the rear view of the Ferrari it would have appeared that the LMP checked up to follow him down the hill and all McNish would have known is that the lead car was moving slowly.

Under normal circumstances that is not an area that one would consider a pass. I was there last year and I can tell you that hill is actually much steeper than it looks on TV. That being said, with the sight lines and the information the drivers involved would have had I would not assess any blame.

-Tim

[chicane67]

The best seat in the house... From the passenger seat (http://stream.speedtv.com/corvette)

[NJSPEEDER]

Rocky just wrecked massively in the #1 Audi :(

Reports are unclear. I just pray he is ok. The car is completely destroyed.

-Tim

[Gitter Dun]

Report confirmed, not sure if he is OK, but he got out of car on his own.

[NJSPEEDER]

Confirmation came in, Rocky got out of the car and jumped over the barrier to get a safe distance from the remains of the car. The few angles and bits they have shown it was an amazing impact.

No good angles so I'm not sure what happened. Looks like a GT Ferrari squeezed him, contact, and at that point Rocky was a passenger on an E-ticket ride he never asked for.

Two massive hits and scary moments. Old Dr Wolfy Ulrich's heart must be going a thousand beats a minute right now.


-Tim

[Gitter Dun]

It surprised me to hear that they allow ameature club racers to participate in this event.

Rocky was flashing his lights as he was approaching the ameature in the Ferrari and the Ferrari still failed to stay to the left. Very annoying!

[NJSPEEDER]

Saying amateur at this level is a little different than you may think. They are all fully licensed and experienced drivers, often guys who race in regional pro and spec series, just not guys who do it for a living. They are obviously not at the level of the guys who run these classes year round, but not some guys off the street with some cash and a few vacation days to burn.

That being said, the video certainly looks like the Ferrari was at fault. That is a broad corner and not the kind of place that much clag and rubber would build off line so he should not have had any fear of staying to the outside and the Audi had clearly placed the car to show he intended to go down the inside of that bend.

Only thing I can think of is that the Ferrari driver didn't realize he wasn't leaving enough room. There is not good lighting on the Mulsanne and there is a good chance that without a lot of laps on the circuit that he just lost his place on the land. Not an excuse, just a possible explanation.

-Tim

[chicane67]

Ferrari... should be a dead horse after this round of Du Mon. They need to be taken out back and shot in the head to put everyone out of their induced misery. Simply pathetic driving or arrogance... you make the call.

They have taken out two of the Audi's... and nearly had taken out the third and final Audi.


And let's not talk about Magnuson either... ..."Hey Yan, there is good reason why they put curbs there... and if you don't know why... it's so you don't cut the corner for an advantage. It's there to discourage just that."

[E30M30]

Not the first time Mcnish has a bit of luck
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=k_YtzTyRn-A

[protour73]

Watch the person in the blue shirt in the foreground at the 21 sec. mark!!!! THAT person should go to church and thank the man upstairs!!! WOW, the tire/wheel combo with some suspension still attached just misses him/her and didn't even flinch!!! Unbelievable............

[chicane67]

Winna winna chicken dinna.... Corvette... the 2011 24 Heuers Du Mans GT Pro Class winners !!

[Samckitt]

I'm thinking those photographers all had their guardian angels watching over them that day. I can't believe that car fell back on the track side of the barrier.

[Off Duty]

...I think they need to just stick to the American motorsports venue... where everything is polite and somewhat boring...

Haven't watched much NASCAR lately have you?
I'm not a fan, nor do I waste a lot of time watching it, but I'd call it anything but "polite."
Boring, well, maybe. I prefer more left/right turns, but not for most.


I agree, McNish was not at fault, just racing hard. Although, you cant blame the Ferrari either, McNish was coming in pretty damn hot. It's just racing.

That's what it looked like.
Chit happens in racing.
If it were safe, it's be chess.

My question.
Are the spectators track officials, team members and press, or can anyone get that close to the action?
Seems pretty irresponsible to me to have unnecessary people that close to the venue with speeds that high.

Somebody please school me.

Thanks.

[Twentyover]

Can't speak to FIM, but I have worked at the Long Beach Grand Prix for the last couple of decades. In general, corner workers, security, credentialed photographers (signed waiver and wearing a numbered vest so we can identify who they are when they do something stupid, and they do), and sanctioning body hard cards can get trackside. Pit lane is a higher level credential. Alcohol pits generally have a tighter constraints than gasoline pits, and alcohol race pits are a unique level of security- at Long Beach a special credential (which is only disclosed to pit sweeps about 30 minutes before the race) is required.

[Pagani]

I did make a blog update about the le mans 24 hours 2011 race
http://paganiproductions.blogspot.com/2011/06/some-new-videos-i-made-march-and-april_11.html

[Off Duty]

Can't speak to FIM, but I have worked at the Long Beach Grand Prix for the last couple of decades. In general, corner workers, security, credentialed photographers (signed waiver and wearing a numbered vest so we can identify who they are when they do something stupid, and they do), and sanctioning body hard cards can get trackside. Pit lane is a higher level credential. Alcohol pits generally have a tighter constraints than gasoline pits, and alcohol race pits are a unique level of security- at Long Beach a special credential (which is only disclosed to pit sweeps about 30 minutes before the race) is required.


Thanks for the education.

I've read where people have gotten into the pit area at Sebring with special permissions. Required all sorts of safety gear, etc.

Thanks for the info.

[chicane67]

Haven't watched much NASCAR lately have you?
I'm not a fan, nor do I waste a lot of time watching it, but I'd call it anything but "polite."
Boring, well, maybe. I prefer more left/right turns, but not for most.

Nope... I was actually talking about 'professional' racing. ALMS and Rolex type...



I watched the entire 24 from the passenger seat of the 74 car... uncut... unedited... seat of the pants. Thank you speedtv.com

[Off Duty]

Nope... I was actually talking about 'professional' racing. ALMS and Rolex type...

LOL- so NASCAR drivers are not "professional":lol:
(this could get good in the right places:box2:)

[chicane67]

Well... ... ...ok. Maybe one or two of them.

As long as they have spent time in a 'professional' race car.

That narrows it down a bunch... huh ?

[NJSPEEDER]

My question.
Are the spectators track officials, team members and press, or can anyone get that close to the action?
Seems pretty irresponsible to me to have unnecessary people that close to the venue with speeds that high.

Somebody please school me.

Thanks.

The people you saw were not "close to the action". That set of Armco, photographers pit, and the spectator fence behind are probably 175-200 meters away from the track surface. It is also a 4ft tall barrier that he hit at the end.

The facility is very safe but once again, as racing often proves, there is always a worse case scenario than you can ever plan for. Thankfully this lesson was learned without anyone getting hurt.

McNish had a nasty wreck and in the interview he said is speaking to the Ferrari driver the guy said he didn't see that there were 2 Audi's behind him. So as was discuss earlier it was just a matter of site lines and driving to the information available. Racing deal, a big ****ty one, but a racing deal none the less.

-Tim

[Gitter Dun]

Winna winna chicken dinna.... Corvette... the 2011 24 Heuers Du Mans GT Pro Class winners !!

Fricken Awesome!! I couldn't hold out and fell asleep at 4:30 a.m., lol. How did Audi do?

[Off Duty]

The people you saw were not "close to the action". That set of Armco, photographers pit, and the spectator fence behind are probably 175-200 meters away from the track surface. It is also a 4ft tall barrier that he hit at the end.

At those speeds, they're close.
Granted, it's not like NASCAR, Dirt track and the like where there's a fence between you and whatever debris is flying through the air, but still close. Didn't take that ride long to cover the distance and still have enough energy left to do what it did...and scatter parts all over the people.


The facility is very safe but once again, as racing often proves, there is always a worse case scenario than you can ever plan for. Thankfully this lesson was learned without anyone getting hurt.

I'm sorry, I wasn't implying that it wasn't.
Just wondered who, how and why.
You all have answered my questions, Thank you kindly.
And you're correct. You can't plan for everything. Do the best you humanly can+some and hope for the best.


McNish had a nasty wreck and in the interview he said is speaking to the Ferrari driver the guy said he didn't see that there were 2 Audi's behind him. So as was discuss earlier it was just a matter of site lines and driving to the information available. Racing deal, a big ****ty one, but a racing deal none the less.

Thanks Tim.

Fortunately, everyone walked away from it:)

[NJSPEEDER]

When I was there last year I would bet we saw 20+ cars go off there between practice and the race and I don't think anyone even going at speed made it halfway to the fence. Gotta figure out what exactly happened that allowed the Audi to skip so freely across gravel that is plowed in about foot deep rows parallel to the edge of the track. Logic would dictate that it would have dug in at some point.

I have heard talk that some tracks are actually using pits that are dug deeper/piled higher between the rows as you get further from the track surface. Maybe something like that would have made a difference. Then again, that is 20/20 hindsight and I am not going to fault anyone for not knowing something that had never even come close to happening previously would jump up so dramatically.

I would say one thing to anyone who has considered saving up and taking the trip over, DO IT!!!! The French people were fantastic, the town of Le Sarthe is very nice, mass transit in the area is easy to understand. Price are a bit much, basically erase your standard dollar sign and replace it with a Euro mark with the understanding that 1 euro = about 1.60. I am hoping to get back there next year. This year's European adventure is the British GP in a month (Yes, I am bragging :))

-Tim

[Trevon]

LOL- so NASCAR drivers are not "professional":lol:
(this could get good in the right places:box2:)

I would definitely say not...hah its not even NASCAR...nothing about it is NASCAR... national association of STOCK CAR auto racing. If I had the money and legal aptitude I would love to make a REAL nascar, like it used to be. Competitors must take a car off the showroom floor and do anything to its drive line but must use the stock car. Today's NASCAR is disgusting pieces of limited metal garbage going around a track, nothing in it interests me; its not racing. Any day of the week I'd rather watch lower class or open wheel racing.

[NJSPEEDER]

If it wasn't for the fan base many of the manufacturers would be gone. GM stated years ago that NASCAR held exactly zero engineering value. Carb'ed small blocks trapped inside a 1960's truck chassis and running bodywork that has nothing to do with anything is useless as anything other than a rolling billboard.

If they went to using the cars in a way that related to how they were built or even mildly looked like a stock body maybe they could make some claim of having any technological value.

-Tim