Audi Motorsport top man's bottom-dwelling behaviour
Discussion
I was not directly involved with the following, and I did not personally witness it, so I cannot guarantee that it happened. An account of it was published this week in the German motor sport press. After I had heard about it, I asked a person who is in a position to know the facts. He confirmed to me the published story:
As some of you know, in a race about 3 weeks ago Marcel Tiemann was very seriously injured whilst driving an Audi R8 GT3. Doctors were forced to put him into an induced coma for a fortnight. He brain swelled to the point where they had to remove a large piece of skull in order to relieve the pressure. At present, AFAIK, there is nothing like a confident prognosis of how much of a recovery is possible, although it is pretty clear that, at best, he is not going to have a normal life anytime soon.
Marcel is quite well-known in Germany and on the Continent, and he is popular with his fellow German drivers, including the most famous ones. He was successful in DTM, he's won the 'ring 24 Hrs 5 times, etc.
For Le Mans this past weekend, Marc Lieb, one of the very best Porsche works drivers, had some stickers made up. The stickers said something like, "Get well soon, Marcel!" All the Porsche drivers (Bergmeister, Lietz, Henzler, etc) put these on their helmets.
Lieb asked Marcel's teammates from previous 'ring 24 victories, Timo Bernhard, Romain Dumas (both of whom ended up winning LM this year) and Mike Rockenfeller if they too would put the stickers on their helmets. They of course agreed. They all were driving factory Audis this year.
Although the Audi drivers agreed, theirs was not the last word. It seems that, upon hearing of this, Audi Motorsport boss Wolfgang Ullrich forbade all Audi drivers from wearing the stickers.
I cannot imagine what would impel a man to forbid his team from showing support for a gravely injured comrade. The only thing that comes to mind - if this story is correct - is simply that Wolfgang Ullrich is a f
king jerk.
As some of you know, in a race about 3 weeks ago Marcel Tiemann was very seriously injured whilst driving an Audi R8 GT3. Doctors were forced to put him into an induced coma for a fortnight. He brain swelled to the point where they had to remove a large piece of skull in order to relieve the pressure. At present, AFAIK, there is nothing like a confident prognosis of how much of a recovery is possible, although it is pretty clear that, at best, he is not going to have a normal life anytime soon.
Marcel is quite well-known in Germany and on the Continent, and he is popular with his fellow German drivers, including the most famous ones. He was successful in DTM, he's won the 'ring 24 Hrs 5 times, etc.
For Le Mans this past weekend, Marc Lieb, one of the very best Porsche works drivers, had some stickers made up. The stickers said something like, "Get well soon, Marcel!" All the Porsche drivers (Bergmeister, Lietz, Henzler, etc) put these on their helmets.
Lieb asked Marcel's teammates from previous 'ring 24 victories, Timo Bernhard, Romain Dumas (both of whom ended up winning LM this year) and Mike Rockenfeller if they too would put the stickers on their helmets. They of course agreed. They all were driving factory Audis this year.
Although the Audi drivers agreed, theirs was not the last word. It seems that, upon hearing of this, Audi Motorsport boss Wolfgang Ullrich forbade all Audi drivers from wearing the stickers.
I cannot imagine what would impel a man to forbid his team from showing support for a gravely injured comrade. The only thing that comes to mind - if this story is correct - is simply that Wolfgang Ullrich is a f
king jerk.moron...i did hear a rumour about this, and was astonished and didnt give it much credit.
now it is conformed as true, that is absolutely shocking. just shows the lack of emotion for the sport, like in the face of a terrible result, the pug project leader went into the audi garage and gave the audi team a round of applause, even with the smug audi bosses stood there, could you imagine the krauts doing that?
now it is conformed as true, that is absolutely shocking. just shows the lack of emotion for the sport, like in the face of a terrible result, the pug project leader went into the audi garage and gave the audi team a round of applause, even with the smug audi bosses stood there, could you imagine the krauts doing that?
I disagree sir. You don't want your drivers thinking about serious injury every time they get into a race car. If Ulrich has a contrary perspective to the situation than you, does it really make him a 'fking jerk'?
Sorry, not up to you usual standard of posting, in my opinion of course.
king jerk'? Sorry, not up to you usual standard of posting, in my opinion of course.
Plug550 said:
I disagree sir. You don't want your drivers thinking about serious injury every time they get into a race car. If Ulrich has a contrary perspective to the situation than you, does it really make him a 'fking jerk'?
Sorry, not up to you usual standard of posting, in my opinion of course.
+1king jerk'? Sorry, not up to you usual standard of posting, in my opinion of course.
Particularly since this still appears to be in the realm of rumour and speculation rather than absolute fact. Although it runs the risk of becoming 'fact' if it does the rounds on the interweb long enough...
Nick M said:
Plug550 said:
I disagree sir. You don't want your drivers thinking about serious injury every time they get into a race car. If Ulrich has a contrary perspective to the situation than you, does it really make him a 'fking jerk'?
Sorry, not up to you usual standard of posting, in my opinion of course.
+1king jerk'? Sorry, not up to you usual standard of posting, in my opinion of course.
Particularly since this still appears to be in the realm of rumour and speculation rather than absolute fact. Although it runs the risk of becoming 'fact' if it does the rounds on the interweb long enough...
When Alex Zanardi lost his legs at the Lautzitzring, the other drivers in the series all had a pineapple sticker put on their cars for the next race at Rockingham to show they were thinking of him. It didn't stop the racing being good or the drivers taking risks.
Just to clarify, my "+1" comment was really because we a) don't know if the ban was imposed by Dr. Ullrich, and b) if it was, what his reasons for doing so were.
Clearly *something* has triggered this rumour, but the precise root of it is still unknown as far as I can see.
The danger is that the truth becomes overwhelmed by the perception and, by virtue of doing the rounds on the interweb, the rumour is assumed to be fact and is then repeated as such.
People disagree with each other all the time - it doesn't necessarily make one or the other right or wrong. But when emotions come into the equation it can very quickly degenerate into unnecessary slanging matches and name-calling, which simply serves to cloud the issue still further.
Plenty of people wore black armbands in the footy matches when a footballer dies...so I think that is a pretty lame answer to say that he didn't want it to distract the minds of the drivers. We dont
As a fellow driver it always brings it home that this could happen to anyone of us. But yet we continue to do the thing we love to do, as it is part of us. I do hope a speedy recovery to your friend.
As a fellow driver it always brings it home that this could happen to anyone of us. But yet we continue to do the thing we love to do, as it is part of us. I do hope a speedy recovery to your friend.
JontyR said:
Plenty of people wore black armbands in the footy matches when a footballer dies...so I think that is a pretty lame answer to say that he didn't want it to distract the minds of the drivers. We dont
That comment was merely speculation, or even a guess, about a possible reason for why it might have happened....If indeed it did....
Which we don't know....
Not for certain....
JontyR said:
Plenty of people wore black armbands in the footy matches when a footballer dies...so I think that is a pretty lame answer to say that he didn't want it to distract the minds of the drivers.
'cause footballers rarely die playing football, fool. It's hardly a dangerous sport now is it, or has the nanny state got "football can be dangerous" printed on the tickets now? I don't know I've never been to a match and I have no intention of going to a match or even watching one on TV.MKnight702 said:
JontyR said:
Plenty of people wore black armbands in the footy matches when a footballer dies...so I think that is a pretty lame answer to say that he didn't want it to distract the minds of the drivers.
'cause footballers rarely die playing football, fool. It's hardly a dangerous sport now is it, or has the nanny state got "football can be dangerous" printed on the tickets now? I don't know I've never been to a match and I have no intention of going to a match or even watching one on TV.All I was saying was that other sports recognise fallen comrades, and so using an excuse that it would serve as a distraction was a lame one.
And unless you are Mr T it is rude to call people a fool!
My view would be that having a message like that on the Audi drivers helmets would remind the viewing public that an Audi driver had been seriously hurt.
Therefore refusing to put the message on is more of a PR thing (to avoid mentioning nasty things) rather than to prevent the drivers 'being distracted' by the thought of a crash.
Therefore refusing to put the message on is more of a PR thing (to avoid mentioning nasty things) rather than to prevent the drivers 'being distracted' by the thought of a crash.
mrmr96 said:
My view would be that having a message like that on the Audi drivers helmets would remind the viewing public that an Audi driver had been seriously hurt.
Therefore refusing to put the message on is more of a PR thing (to avoid mentioning nasty things) rather than to prevent the drivers 'being distracted' by the thought of a crash.
That's certainly a more reasonable explanation.Therefore refusing to put the message on is more of a PR thing (to avoid mentioning nasty things) rather than to prevent the drivers 'being distracted' by the thought of a crash.
Although, it seems PR can come back and bite in unexpected ways, if that was indeed what happened and the reason behind it. Or even if it didn't happen at all.
Drivers know there is a risk of serious injury every time they get in the car. That is the sport. They accept that and are not so stupid as to believe that there is no risk of injury. So now they are looking to make a statement to support a fellow driver, and who can blame them.
Frankly, Audi may as well just say "we are w****rs, please don't buy our cars" because that is the message as I view the OP.
Frankly, Audi may as well just say "we are w****rs, please don't buy our cars" because that is the message as I view the OP.
Jasandjules said:
Frankly, Audi may as well just say "we are w****rs, please don't buy our cars" because that is the message as I view the OP.
If indeed it happened that way, or at all.And this is my point - at the moment it appears to be little more than a rumour, but it is seemingly gaining momentum and credibility with every new person who reads the original posting.
Perhaps because of who made the post it has been given added gravitas, I don't know, but it's interesting to watch it develop.
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