Paul Bailey's 918 Spyder involved in crash at motor show

[AOK]

Can't find confirmation whether it's actually Pauls car... Why would it be in Malta?

Anyway, heart goes out to the casualties. Hope the injuries are minor.

http://gtspirit.com/2015/10/04/10-injured-after-po...

[TonyTony]

It was his and him driving I think.

The crash http://www.tvm.com.mt/mt/news/esklussiv-l-ewwel-fi...

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jsS-6Smmklc

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-europe-34439151

Apparently the little girl has died .

Edited by TonyTony on Sunday 4th October 17:55

[AOK]

Latest report 21 injured. And it's confirmed that Paul was driving

Edited by AOK on Sunday 4th October 18:24

[pidsy]

Not a pleasant video to watch.

Thoughts with all involved.

[Hewbie]

Who has confirmed it was Paul driving?

Sad to hear anyway the driver was critical according to reports so quite a shock!

[TonyTony]

Hewbie said:

Who has confirmed it was Paul driving?

Sad to hear anyway the driver was critical according to reports so quite a shock!

Watch the youtube video above, apparently that's the run before the crash and he's driving.

[Hewbie]

Watching the aftermath video he can be seen with bandages round his head so I'm assuming it was him driving , tragic never the less of the girl has lost her life

[thelondoncarguy]

[thelondoncarguy]

The image was from GT Spirit.

[thelondoncarguy]

Terrible for all involved.

[TonyTony]

Hewbie said:

Watching the aftermath video he can be seen with bandages round his head so I'm assuming it was him driving , tragic never the less of the girl has lost her life

Yea I spotted that as well, other report's say the driver was one of the people who were critical though.

Also you can see a hole on windscreen on the drivers side, it looks like some fence has lanced through it or something.

[dudleybloke]

[Pork]

I hope the reports of a young girl being killed are wrong. Thoughts go out to all involved.

[carphotographer]

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-3259754/Tw...

Sad day.

[Petrus1983]

Pork said:

I hope the reports of a young girl being killed are wrong. Thoughts go out to all involved.

Agreed. I've checked various new sources and can't see it being corroborated - hopefully it will stay that way. Awful, awful incident.

[mattf93]

Tragic tragic circumstances. I really hope paul, his passenger and all those injured are ok and recover asap.

However a few things from watching a few videos
1) The layout of the plastic cones/barriers that paul was weaving through before the public display straight looked a bit odd and tight (which would explain why he clipped the grass)

2) How an earth did the organisers get away with a flimsy fence/safety so close to the track/runways etc? I know this is a freak accident but I don't understand with the event being so high profile in Malta that the safety was so Lax?

I know this is a freak and tragic accident but did anyone else notice the above points?

[davepoth]

Chances are that the track was specifically set up that way to try to keep speeds low.

[Pommygranite]

If no one else was driving and the car had no mechanical faults there can be no other determination but that it was his fault.

I'm sure he's lovely guy and one of us with an amazing collection but he seems to have simply been going too fast and lost control and blame lay with him. Very sad for all those involved.

[birdcage]

It's tragic that for sure. Its a bit like an old rally accident. Everyones having a great day until they aren't

I don'r think time will tell he was being irresponsible just a terrible culmination of events

[Esceptico]

Pommygranite said:

If no one else was driving and the car had no mechanical faults there can be no other determination but that it was his fault.

I'm sure he's lovely guy and one of us with an amazing collection but he seems to have simply been going too fast and lost control and blame lay with him. Very sad for all those involved.

I think that is too simplistic. Drivers make mistakes. The organisers of such events need to anticipate the consequences of the most likely mistakes and try to ensure that the public are protected. Having only briefly looked at the video it seems that thr plastic barriers were to make a course and presumably to keep the speed down. Forcing the driver to drive around an obstacle near the grass does not seem that sensible. Nor does having the car travelling at high speed so close to the crowd - at least without some proper barriers (why didn't they have concrete barriers to protect the crowd?) Clearly the organisers did not plan for this to happen but I'm not sure they did enough planning to make sure it didn't happen either.

One point to be established is whether Mr Bailey had switched off traction and stability controls (and whether that had been discussed with the organisers).