The Motorsport Thread 2011

We shall see when it's all said and done but yes, I was thinking this could rival Schumi's 02 season, maybe even surpass it since it'd be over 19 races.
Of course you can't compare decades and all that but he is on pace for one the statistically best seasons ever.

Wow. That is a surprise.

Wow! Some great dicing between Hami and Webber though that was odd...clearly quicker than Hami who was going to pit in a lap, why on Earth did Mark go with him? unless  something we couldn't know, his pace seemed fine and would've easily stayed ahead, instead stuck behind him again and need to duke it out...also probably setting him so far behind there's no chance to eat in Vettel's lead. Weird.


I'll be passing out when the race is done, but will say now: Am curious to see the post race interview assuming positions maintain. I know Hami has been "off the pace" though just for himself...not really doing poorly at all but has fallen to #2 behind button and supposedly he's been  very quiet and sullen, not even congratulating or really talking to the team after the pole. Maybe just down due to being a bit off pace? Perhaps actual strain developing with the team? I'd imagine not, and hope not, it'd be kinda sad...I know how much he's loved the team and vice versa, would be a shame if something seriously developed.

I think just stress though, F1 has taken a mental toll on quite a few drivers.


Edited by JJLehto - October 16 2011 at 02:24

A massive accident in the Indycar race at Las Vegas. Many drivers severe hurt. I hope everybody will be OK. The pictures are gruesome. 15 cars involved. Several of them upside down while flying high above the other cars.

Racing Indycars on a 1.5 miles oval like that is Russian Roulette. The Indycar series has had many lucky escapes so far. But this time, the bullet was in the chamber.

Edit: Youtube video removed from the post as it shows a fatal crash.

Dan Wheldon R.I.P

 

The winner of this year's Indy 500 has been taken from us in this horrible Las Vegas crash. This is tragic beyond belief.

Edited by toroddfuglesteg - October 16 2011 at 17:26

When I drove online Indycar computer game races, we were told to hold our lines and not drive like loonies. What I saw in the laps before Dan Wheldon perished was loony driving with chopping and changing lines like this was a computer game. Dario Franchitti, Danica Patrick and other experienced drivers pulled back from the pack because of this loony driving.

It was sheer madness like it has been in a lot of oval races now. Dan Wheldon was innocent in this accident and got killed. Two small boys are now being told that their father has gone to heaven and their mother is now a widow. 

Sorry, but I am really angry at an avoidable loss of life like this. Really angry. 

sh*t...I've not seen a death on the track, during an actual race, since that 2001 Daytona 500 
As amazingly safe as these things are considering what they do, death really can happen at any time.

Indy Champion, 2 time Indy 500 winner, and most importantly a husband and father.
RIP Dan Wheldon


Edited by JJLehto - October 16 2011 at 21:44

Hearing now that supposedly numerous drivers expressed concern before hand, that there were more cars on track than usual and were reaching in the 220-230 mph range in the turns.

Reminds me of how Senna and Dale Earnhardt both expressed concern about safety...

Add to it former open wheel oval drivers saying that, even for racing, it's insanely dangerous (which it is)...wonder if its the end of US open wheel racing, at least for ovals.

I have had some hours sleep and this does not feel any better at all. I feel shocked and I am shocked.

Watching people die on TV is never fun. Watching people die a needless, preventable death is infuriating. Some drivers were driving like drunks out on the track on the preceding laps. Changing lanes and blocking each others in more than 300 km/h is insanity. Dan Wheldon, Danica Patrick and other more experienced drivers held back from the madness on the previous laps. I guess most of them were scared witless. And then all hell broke loose and Dan Wheldon perished.

One of the contributing factors was the old cars in the field. Some of them from 2003. The same goes for suspension parts and other vital parts. There has been some strange accidents this year with breakage of cars. Add to this the car owners scraping by, race by race, on insignificant budgets and with drivers who should never be on an oval. Last race, one of them retired due to driver fatigue after 78 laps !! Take a field of 34 cars which creates a heck of a lot turbulence (this is how Greg Moore perished in 1999) and with driving standards even unacceptable on your local 3 lanes motorway in 50 km/h. 

Dan Wheldon's death and the whole 15 cars pileup was preventable. I think his family has a good case in the courts. 

The new cars will not really solve the problem we have now. Which is rent-a-mob drivers which is driving like headless chickens and believing this is a computer game. Yes, the parts failures will be solved. But watching 25-34 cars on ovals like Texas and Las Vegas is some of the most scary thing you can ever watch. I do appreciate that motorsport have to be dangerous. But this was/is far beyond dangerous. This is Russian Roulette.  

I am shocked and this will take me some time to shake off. 

 

Edited by toroddfuglesteg - October 17 2011 at 03:16

I don't know anything about IndyCar safety but I was surprised to see some cars catch fire.  In F1, you rarely see cars catching fire after a crash.  Of course, F1 hasn't had a huge incident like this in recent years and the tracks are not banked and as dangerous, so that might have something to do with it too.  Safety in F1 though is concentrated on highly.

It looks like IndyCar may have to have a major overhaul if it wants to continue.

James wrote: I don't know anything about IndyCar safety but I was surprised to see some cars catch fire.  In F1, you rarely see cars catching fire after a crash.  Of course, F1 hasn't had a huge incident like this in recent years and the tracks are not banked and as dangerous, so that might have something to do with it too.  Safety in F1 though is concentrated on highly. It looks like IndyCar may have to have a major overhaul if it wants to continue.

I think it has something to do with the fuel, plus in a crash like that when a car hits the catch fencing it gets shredded.