Would today's drivers ever do this?

[garycat]

Senna stopping to help after Comas has accident.

http://au.youtube.com/watch?v=LuB1f0JMjEM&feat...

In fact, when was the last time any driver stopped their car to help someone else in trouble?


(edited at the request of heightswitch)

Edited by garycat on Friday 26th September 11:11

[RacerMDR]

i think Senna was a genius, and wouldn't normally critcise

but

that wasn't the most sensible thing i've seen. I mean, he parks his race car on the track, where there is loads of smoke, dust, then runs through it!

he was asking to cause another accident or get knocked over - which has happened in the past!

Did you ever see the other chap? I'm not putting his name up cos i wish i'd never been sent the link - but basically he tries in vain to get another driver out of a burning car - repeatedly - and no one would help him.

Heroic.

[garycat]

RacerMDR said:

Did you ever see the other chap? I'm not putting his name up cos i wish i'd never been sent the link - but basically he tries in vain to get another driver out of a burning car - repeatedly - and no one would help him.

Heroic.

Yeah David Purley trying to help Roger Williamson, tragic and heroically brave.

[Altrezia]

Drivers don't need to anymore, since marshalls and ambulance crews and support is better than it used to be.

[megy]

Eddied Irvine did it in the race at Spa a few years back to Luciano Burti, admitedly he span out too, but still put in a lot of effort

[F355GTS]

Not F1 but we saw just such actions at Goodwood on Sunday from Barrie Baxter, I didn't get him actually running back although you can see him pull up at the end of the 1st part of the video but he basically helped save Jochen Mass's life as he couldn't breath whilst trapped under the car

http://www.collinsclan.co.uk/pages/Cars/2008%20rev...

[kusee pee]

The Senna incident was very impressive - particularly as he obviously didn't hesitate to go and help. The David Purley/Roger Williamson clip is the most tragic thing I've ever seen in racing. Awful and heroic at the same time.

[Altrezia]

RacerMDR said:

Did you ever see the other chap? I'm not putting his name up cos i wish i'd never been sent the link - but basically he tries in vain to get another driver out of a burning car - repeatedly - and no one would help him.

Heroic.

I'm not sure what made me do it, but I searched it out.

I really wish I hadn't.

Heroic doesn't cover it. Jesus christ.

[FourWheelDrift]

The race wasn't stopped either and no other drivers stopped because as Jackie Stewart said after, all they saw was one car overturned and what looked like the driver trying to get it back onto it's wheels and out of the way.

[entropy]

When Dario Franchitti had his flip at Michigan last year Sam Hornish Jr got out of his car to make sure Dario was OK.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kQs7oAuYZEY

IIRC Hornish was a lap down or something which is why he jumped out but I can't see more drivers doing that these days. Safety is better than it ever was but will you get sympathy from race control if you jumped out the car and back in again or there's protocols you have to follow?

[FourWheelDrift]

Oh and don't forget Arturo Merzario, Brett Lunger, Guy Edwards and Harald Ertl who all stopped when Niki Lauda had his accident at the German GP in 1977.

[Jungles]

James Winslow rescuing a competitor in Asian F3, at (the crappiest international racing circuit in the world) Sentul, Indonesia:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ecBc05xdrLQ

[Gylen]

garycat said:

RacerMDR said:

Did you ever see the other chap? I'm not putting his name up cos i wish i'd never been sent the link - but basically he tries in vain to get another driver out of a burning car - repeatedly - and no one would help him.

Heroic.

Yeah David Purley trying to help Roger Williamson, tragic and heroically brave.

My God. I just looked that up - what an absolutely awful situation. His body language says it all. Just tragic.

[OJ]

I would if circumstances meant there weren't Marshalls on hand, but they're usually so organised and quick to task that its not really necessary anymore.

I know quite a few of my friends tried to stop when I had a large crash/fire at Spa, but were waved on by the Marshalls. They had the fire out in about 10 seconds flat

[E30M3SE]

OJ said:

I would if circumstances meant there weren't Marshalls on hand, but they're usually so organised and quick to task that its not really necessary anymore.

I know quite a few of my friends tried to stop when I had a large crash/fire at Spa, but were waved on by the Marshalls. They had the fire out in about 10 seconds flat

Think that is the answer to the Op's question, Marshalls and Fire Stewards are greater in number, more orgainised and better trained to deal with situations, so by the time another driver stopped and got out of their car a marshall would probably be on the scene doing his/her thing.

[RacerMDR]

good point OJ - i was there as you know - and i would 100% have stopped if you had still been in the car, not just cos its you - but for anyone in that situation.

Luckily for me by the time i got there you were out - car was out.......

So i think yes - todays drivers would do this, fortunately we don't have to - because due to the incidents listed above (and others, Ratzenberger, Senna etc) - safety has been improved massively.

as an aside - i didn't list that link to the above incident because i thought i'd leave up to a persons choice whether they look it up or not. Its not easy to watch

[Le TVR]

This is one I never forget

http://au.youtube.com/watch?v=S1r0Kwt5s_Y

[minghis]

megy said:

Eddied Irvine did it in the race at Spa a few years back to Luciano Burti, admitedly he span out too, but still put in a lot of effort

I believe some of the blame for Burti's high speed exit could have been attributed to Irvine, so if I recall he went back to Burti's car (which was buried under the tyre wall) to help because he felt kind of responsible...

[lord summerisle]

entropy said:

Safety is better than it ever was but will you get sympathy from race control if you jumped out the car and back in again or there's protocols you have to follow?

on a rally, at least i believe at UK club level - it is part of the regluations, that if you see a crashed, or stopped competitors car and you can't see the OK board, or you see the SOS board - then you are required to stop and provide assisstance.

Those that stop will get a nominal time in that stage, so they are not penalised for stopping - but on a rally stage where marshals are more spread out/radio coverage can be more problematic than on a circuit, then it could cut rescue times and save a life.

E30M3SE said:

Think that is the answer to the Op's question, Marshals and Fire Stewards are greater in number, more orgainised and better trained to deal with situations, so by the time another driver stopped and got out of their car a marshall would probably be on the scene doing his/her thing.

i wouldnt say we are greater in number thesedays... as numbers of marshals have been descreasing over the years, and the average age of marshals is getting older...

Certainly we have benifited from the years of experiance - and the help that gives in training up new marshals - the biggest thing for us in fire fighting is the improvements in fire safety in the cars, and better driver protection, but also the big improvements in how effective fire bottles are these days - tho many lament the banning of Halon extingusishers.

Also - Race Control are less reluctant to deploy a safety car, or stop the race when a serious accident occours than they where back then. heck, i picked a book published in about 1964 - as a collaboration between the British Motor Racing Marshals Club, and i think the BDRC - intended to bring a unified way of marshalling and running a race meeting to the world.

with such snippets as -
Advice to an Observer:
if theres an accident in which the driver is lying injured in the track and he can not be protected by his car. then place a marshal - preferably a flag marshal, with a yellow flag infront of the driver and marshals attending him to divert the circulating cars around the scene.

no mention of asking for the race to be stopped.

[dpbird90]

Nope no F1 driver would do this for fear of being slapped with a huge penalty for contravening health and safety rules. I have never seen a video of an F1 driver in a fatal crash and never intend to. This one may scare you though:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wS2k0JbOpDQ

And you would never believe that the driver of the 355, Tetsuya Ota, survived! HE had to have reconstructive plastic surgery all over his face after this accident as the helmet visor melted onto his face. You can see that the marshals are reluctant to go anywhere near the burning Ferrari, they thought he was a gonner and that they would probably get hurt or die themselves in any rescue attempt, but the driver of the RX7 clearly has huge balls to just stop out of the blue to help his competitor, without giving two hoots about his own safety. I have never seen any driver do something as brave as this, but I have never seen the Roger Williamson crash, which I expect shows a similarly huge display of bravery.