Radio 1 newsbeat, reporting Hammonds "Accident"

Radio 1 newsbeat, reporting Hammonds "Accident"

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Graham

16,368 posts

283 months

Tuesday 11th September 2007
quotequote all
Simon Mason said:
The only issue is simply that complete novices are aloud to race in the 24hr at all.
I was quite surprised the first year when novices were allowed, when thing like the Birkett dont.

I though Hammond had had a full licence for a while and only May and Clarky were novices..

G

Graham

16,368 posts

283 months

Tuesday 11th September 2007
quotequote all
Simon Mason said:
thrown into the deapest end of a very deep swimming pool with a pair of undersized speedos.
Thanks for that I'm now desperately trying to get the image of clarkson in tight speedos out of my head hurl

Simon Mason

579 posts

268 months

Tuesday 11th September 2007
quotequote all
Graham said:
Simon Mason said:
thrown into the deapest end of a very deep swimming pool with a pair of undersized speedos.
Thanks for that I'm now desperately trying to get the image of clarkson in tight speedos out of my head hurl
Think of our grid girls in the speedos, that should do it smokin

Scuffers

20,887 posts

273 months

Tuesday 11th September 2007
quotequote all
TuckerJr said:
Marc W said:
TuckerJr said:
Scuffers said:
Personally, I think the writeup on TopGears own website is a disgrace...

to name and blame without a shed of evedence to back up the claim is very bad news IMHO.....
Where on the top gear website?
Here;

http://www.topgear.com/content/news/stories/2204/
I can't see any naming and blaming there though? It might be my eyesight and I think you are right that there WAS some there but it seems to have gone?
it's been edited since Am today... as I understand it, Chad were less than impressed and were taking steps....

Thorney

408 posts

259 months

Wednesday 12th September 2007
quotequote all
I saw the footage on the in car cameras (front and rear facing) and Richard moved accross to the left by about 3 feet just as another faster car was coming past, this narrowed the gap (the Mosler was coming in between the two) to the point that the Mosler hit the near side of the TG car. The camera shots are a bit grainy and at night obviously so its pretty hard to really see how much he moved accross but it certainly wasn't a weave or an extensive change of line, more of a slight drift. From the brief look I got I put it down to Richard's inexperience in moving off line line at all (he was clearly very concious of the other overtaking car) and a keen manoever on the part of the Mosler (going in between two cars when one is very slow, the other overtaking would need a second thought IMO) so a racing incident (if there is such a thing) with an element of blame on both sides.

The damage to the TG car was pretty extensive, wing ripped, door ripped, wheel and disk knackered, bottom arm, top arm and track rod end all replaced.

As regards TG even being there, I made great pains with anyone who'd listen that they should spend 3/4 of their time looking in the mirrors as regardless of what skill they had they would be overtaken at a massive rate of knots, to stick on the racing line as the quicker drivers would find their way past as deviation from lines is what makes it hard to predict what a driver will do. When turning into a corner to take an extra long look to the inside as thats exactly where they'd be 'done' by the quicker cars. On balance I think they did pretty well, they took it seriously and what incidents that were reported to me (a couple it has to be said) all came down to lack of observation. IMO, I can't think of a harder race for a novice to enter and certainly if I'd had any involvement (I didn't) on the planning I'd have got them into a club race of somekind just to get the experience of being overtaken.

TV land is a World of its own sometimes and I've no doubt there will be some angle to make all this dramatic (TG is entertainment after all, not a news program) but from my dealings with all the presenters they were all genuinely nice, the reticence from them I'd put down to sheer nerves, to a greater or lesser degree they were crapping it at various times and I challenge anyone to be congenial when you're scared out of your mind!

phatgixer

4,988 posts

248 months

Wednesday 12th September 2007
quotequote all
Apparently hamster went wide in chapel, and got on the grass on the exit. He then had a bit of swerve, re-joined the track and hit the Mosler that was in the process of passing a Marcos onto the hangar... The description I was given was certainly more than a 3ft twitch...

kenthardy

143 posts

204 months

Wednesday 12th September 2007
quotequote all
Thorney said:
I got I put it down to Richard's inexperience in moving off line line at all
Precisely! They just shouldn't have used a serious race to make their debuts like this - how many times have drivers briefings contained the instruction to the slower drivers - " hold your line leave the quicker lapping cars to find their way past" ?

I'm with Chad on this


fastfreddy

8,577 posts

236 months

Thursday 13th September 2007
quotequote all
Thorney said:
...if I'd had any involvement (I didn't) on the planning I'd have got them into a club race of somekind just to get the experience of being overtaken.
What was your involvement then? Sounds like you were involved in some way if you were advising on what they should and shouldn't do in traffic

Edited by fastfreddy on Thursday 13th September 00:05

Pawsher

60 posts

227 months

Thursday 13th September 2007
quotequote all
Quote " A BBC spokesman said this weekend's incident was not comparable to last year's accident.

The race, he said, was "a public event any amateur could enter".

"Normal safety procedures were in place," he added. "

A public event any amateur could enter I know what I think to that coment what do you think?

Simon Mason

579 posts

268 months

Thursday 13th September 2007
quotequote all
The thing that makes me laugh is they officially valued the car at £100K... You gotta love PR people. It was a shed smash


fastfreddy

8,577 posts

236 months

Thursday 13th September 2007
quotequote all
Simon Mason said:
The thing that makes me laugh is they officially valued the car at £100K... You gotta love PR people. It was a shed smash
Maybe that included £15K of onboard cameras and £80K of life insurance for the talent biggrin

Scuffers

20,887 posts

273 months

Thursday 13th September 2007
quotequote all
whist it would be harsh to bann novices from this race, I think there is a case for vetting entries...

the 24H is not like anything else, the skills required are different to a normal 10 lap sprint race, then throw in the dark too.

Maybe people should have done at least a couple of britcar type rounds first before getting an entry? (just thinking out loud)

Top gear were not the only ones out there that seemed out of their deapth...

Thorney

408 posts

259 months

Thursday 13th September 2007
quotequote all
Oh our involvement was purely on the car, the guys they had prep it had no experience on BMW's and a combination of the wiring loom getting melted in the cage install and the removal of a few key bits they needed someone with BMW control systems experience to get the car to function. We rebuilt up the electronics and then were on hand to diagnose and fix any problems that occured, BMW were on hand too so we worked with them. I had no formal role other than to help keep the car going, which we did.

As regards driver advice, I was simply being well meaning. AFAIK the only other person in the pit crew with driving experience was the Stig and he was standing around looking mean and moody for the cameras (as he's told to do), I know all the guys had been given instruction on what to do in briefings and ARDS etc but I personally knew quite a few drivers out there and I wanted to do was make sure that whatever happened on the track it was safe for everyone. The gus were clearly nervous so I wanted to just calm that and re-inforce the concept that observation was key. There are only three ways you can get in trouble in racing, 1 - mechanical (which sometimes there is little the driver can do), 2 - Driving outside of your abilities and 3 - Lack of observation leading to "where did he come from" moments.

On the mechanical side we advised what to do in the event of a failure etc etc, I couldn't do much on the driver training side save for the usual track advice but observation all I said was that if they kept their eyes open and on the mirrors there was no reason at all that they would be in trouble.

The video I saw (granted it was 3am and hardly the clearest screen) really didn't show a massive move off line, it certainly wasn't a swerve of any kind and we measured the light patten on the track and it looked to be about 3 feet so I did split the blame (if there is such a measure you can apply) between both parties.

All the incidents I was aware of all occured in low visibility (dark or fog or both) so I don't think the race itself is dangerous for inexeperienced drivers as all the TG guys were incident free in normal daylight (afaik) but night driving is a different kettle of fish I guess so that (IMO) would need a bit of practice I'd say.

djfirehawk

31 posts

202 months

Saturday 15th September 2007
quotequote all
Simon Mason said:
The thing that makes me laugh is they officially valued the car at £100K... You gotta love PR people. It was a shed smash
I would not of said it was a shed!!

but your right no where near £100K

car was bought second hand 53 plate, roll cage added engine remapped, exhaust added decent suspension and brakes ans a rear wing (on loan) hrdly adds up to £100K probably £30k at a push!!



kenthardy

143 posts

204 months

Sunday 16th September 2007
quotequote all
It may be OK to have Britcar races as national A/B usually but perhaps the 24 hrs should be Int C licences to keep out people who are just too inexperienced to deal with the speed differentials and the night racing and so on.

There's just too much at stake for some teams who are spending money (rightly) to enter quality cars and drivers and generally drive up the quality of the event as a whole and having amateurs/novices after cheap publicity stunts is only going to drive these people away.

Big picture is quality - theres still a long way to go to reach the Spa or Ring 24H (Le Mans is not comparable really) but Britcar 24H is moving in the right direction.

The publicity from TG won't have done any harm as the great unwashed probably dont know we have any 24H races in the UK (eventhe 2CV) and to get a few more punters will also be step forward - then maybe Silverstone may make a bigger effort and give their security men something to secure!! (see other threads ad nauseum!)

if that's the case no need to have TG back...........lol

Scuffers

20,887 posts

273 months

Sunday 16th September 2007
quotequote all
kenthardy said:
It may be OK to have Britcar races as national A/B usually but perhaps the 24 hrs should be Int C licences to keep out people who are just too inexperienced to deal with the speed differentials and the night racing and so on.
not sure licence grade means jack s**t these days (when you consider some of the donkeys with Int C's out there).

I would be happier to see people haveing to have done a few Britcar (or equivalent endurance) races...

steaming2uk

76 posts

215 months

Sunday 16th September 2007
quotequote all
kenthardy said:
It may be OK to have Britcar races as national A/B usually but perhaps the 24 hrs should be Int C licences to keep out people who are just too inexperienced to deal with the speed differentials and the night racing and so on.
The Britcar 24 hrs. is about Britcar endurance racing. If others are allowed to/want to race then THEY, the occasional Britcar drivers,should be fully aware what racing they are entering.

Britcar is safe because the drivers are sensible and appreciate their fellow drivers abilities. No 'cotton wool' padding please for any glory hunters!

Marki

15,763 posts

269 months

Monday 17th September 2007
quotequote all
So i see the Dwarf has sold his story to the Sun or News of the world or somesuch this weekend scratchchin i wonder if he donated his big fat payment to the appeal

scottishmarshal

15 posts

209 months

Thursday 20th September 2007
quotequote all
I opened up the quality Sun newspaper on the Tuesday to see the photo of the car and something looked familier, on checking my digi-camera I had the exact same photo???, I know I had sleep deprivation after 24hrs flag waving / light flicking but I could not recall sending pictures to any sleazy paper (If i did i want my money). Then I recalled a couple standing beside me taking what was obviosuly the pic in the Sun!!! Wonder how much they got for it?.

Scuffers

20,887 posts

273 months

Friday 21st September 2007
quotequote all
scottishmarshal said:
I opened up the quality Sun newspaper on the Tuesday to see the photo of the car and something looked familier, on checking my digi-camera I had the exact same photo???, I know I had sleep deprivation after 24hrs flag waving / light flicking but I could not recall sending pictures to any sleazy paper (If i did i want my money). Then I recalled a couple standing beside me taking what was obviosuly the pic in the Sun!!! Wonder how much they got for it?.
care to share the pic?