405Z

that's ******* sick...yet I couldn't stop looking

Egil A64.2s - S6

Should be mandatory viewing for all new drivers!

Chernaudi

But then again, they died in racing cars. Pryce died in South Africa in 1977 during the F1 race at Kylami that year when he struck and killed that track worker. And Phillips was killed at Charlotte/Lowe's Motor Speedway in '95 in an NASCAR Sportsman race.

I'd recommend looking up the accidents on Motorsport Memorial rather than looking them up on You Tube unless you're sure that you can stomach seeing footage of fatal accidents.

I've also read(and know) that the accidents that Francois Cevert and Helmut Koinigg died from at Watkins Glen in '73 and '74 were very nasty as both involved their cars going through the armco guardrails at high speed.

And I have a question about Michele Alboreto and his accident. I've heard that his R8 rolled over at nearly 200 mph and the rollover bar collapsed. It seems to remind me of Greg Moore's accident. I don't want to sound morbid, but is that the case, as from what little I know, the accidents seem to be similar, and unsurvable no matter what.

Chernaudi

and what's been done about it.

I mean, the accidents that claimed Roger Williamson, Tom Pryce, and Elio de Angelis were stupid, becuase of what caused them, or what happened in the aftermath.

I mean, in Pryce's accident, a saftey car period, or at least a local yellow would've helped prevent it, as the marshalls crossed beyond a blind brow near what was then the fastest part of the circuit at Kylami.

Williamson's death was caused by poorly trained marshalls and the lack of a FCC(Full course caution) preventing a fire truck from moving the 100 years against the flow of the race traffic that it had to have gone to get there quickly. And of course, the marshalls not helping/dicouraging Williamson's fellow driver/close friend David Purley(who won the George Medal for his attempt to save Roger) and the other drivers confusing him for Williamson didn't help. And Williamson, though not seriously injured nor badly burned, suffocated before he could be removed from the car.

And de Angelis died in a similar fasion-suffocated on smoke and toxic fumes from his burning Brabbham at Paul Ricard. Elio only had minor burns and a broken collar bone elsewise. The marshalls can't be faulted here, as there weren't really there-it was a private test session set up by then Brabbham owner Bernie Eccostone-who, ironically, now owns Paul Ricard.

Some people credit Jean-Marie Balestre for creating the start of the saftey revolution on F1/motorsports in general in the '80s, and to be fair, he set up the first crash standards for F1 cars and the like, but in reality, Balestre was an ideot. He only started to focus on saftey only after:

1)the accident in the Portugal WRC event where 3 spectators died and 30 were injured, and...

2)the fallout after de Angelis-one of F1's most popular drivers at the time-died.

If any good comes out of Max Mosley being FIA president, it is that auto racing-and cars period, as safety innovations used in racecars trickle down to road cars-safer.

Bruno_S4

I made it 1/2 way.... I thought I wasn't that much of a ***** but I am. On TV I laugh it off....

Bruno_S4

Wow, you really have done your homework.

Pizzicato

Elio's Death was caused by Massive Brain and Chest injuries<ul><li><a href="http://www.geocities.com/chasey_uk/may14.htm">Elio</a></li></ul>

April

and wear their seatbelts!

Chernaudi

The massive head and chest injuries referred to were lung damage(smoke/toxic fume inhalation, including the chemicals from the fire extinglishers) and crainal axphixiation(carbon monoxide poisoning/chemical fumes/smoke inhalation ultimately leaving Elio brain dead).

To quote the article(" will indicate the major points of interest):

The marshalling shambles that followed was nothing short of a scandal, as "Elio remained trapped upside down in the cockpit for as long as 10 minutes whilst the car started to slowly catch fire". The first person in attandance was Alan Jones, who later commented that "There was nothing I could do, I just stood there with my hands in the air. Bloody dreadful". Jones was soon joined by fellow F1 drivers Alain Prost and Nigel Mansell as they attempted to right the car, but found that they could not get near it due to the heat and crackling. "Eventually they were joined by a marshal wearing nothing but shorts and a tee shirt as he attempted to put the fire out. However, as Alan Jones noted "most of the powder went into the cockpit rather than on the engine fire. Apart from anything else, the powder would have done Elio no good..."."

"After around 10 mins trapped inside the car, Elio was finally extracted. However, as the circuit had no helicopter another 30 mins elapsed before one could be flown in from nearby Marseille and Elio finally could get taken to nearby Marseille hospital."

Despite the massive impact, the Brabham BT55 had stood up well to the accident, a tribute to the build quality of chief designer Gordon Murray. "This was proved when the full extent of Elio's injuries became apparent - a broken collar bone and light burns to his back." "What became clear however, was that the ensuing fire in the cockpit had almost certainly deprived Elio of oxygen and in any case this proved fatal. On the night of Elio's accident, Syd Watkins was called by a surgeon at the Marseilles hospital and was informed that Elio had suffered massive brain damage and the situation was hopeless for him." It was perhaps a blessing when Elio died the following day, the official cause being "serious head and chest injuries".