Huge formula ford crash from Brands Hatch today

[mattsayle]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6DzysOZpfDA

Needs a pilot license, not a race one!! Jesus..

[heightswitch]

mattsayle said:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6DzysOZpfDA

Needs a pilot license, not a race one!! Jesus..

Have we confirmation that the driver was OK after this accident. I hope so since I would hate to see this posting if the driver was injured if I was family or relative!

N.

[chevronb37]

Crikey - that is nasty. Would be nice to hear the driver is OK. Brands seems to be having a bit of bad luck at the moment in terms of accidents. Must confess the last FFord race I saw there in September was pretty fierce with wheels interlocking quite a bit.

[CAD Monkey]

The driver was Robert Wolk, and he walked away, there were a few more off's during the day, but every one was ok. It was a good festival, and my hat goes off the marshalls and saftey services who were doing a cracking job all day.

[LocoBlade]

Crikey, the head / cockpit area of the car was very close to the tyre wall on initial impact then the whole car seemed to bounce off that area again towards the end of the crash, and finally looks like his head hit the gravel as he landed, very scary and very lucky.

Edited by LocoBlade on Sunday 17th October 21:45

[mattsayle]

I wouldnt have posted the link if the driver was injured or worse

[groomi]

Interesting comprisons to an F1 car in a similar crash, where you'd expect the engine to be ripped off and dissipate a lot of the energy to slow down the cartwheeling.

Looked like a nasty landing on his head too. Glad he walked away.

[kiteless]

Ruddy hell, that was a nasty looking shunt.

It just goes to show that one doesn't have to be in / on the fastest machine to have a near death experience, and reinforces my admiration for regular motorsport competitors.

[Rude-boy]

kiteless said:

...
It just goes to show that one doesn't have to be in / on the fastest machine...

It never ceases to amaze me the lack of appreciation of the forces actually involved by many of the watching public and often those actually involved other than on a engineering level.

Those cars all look wonderfully benign going round on that wide strip of tarmac 200 meters, a gravel trap, tyre wall and fence away. One of the major factors behind my dislike of the type of driving exhibited in the BTCC which a non motorsport fan friend of mine was describing as awesome the other night...

[Logie]

Car held up well there, dug in a few times, landed on the wall. Seemed to only loose 1 wheel

[ShadownINja]

Wowsers. Lucky driver. And to have Alan Partridge as a commentator.

[TheArchitect]

Extremely Lucky! seeing how close his helmet gets at several points to the barriers is quite scary!

[nonplussed]

ShadownINja said:

And to have Alan Partridge as a commentator.

Uncanny isn't. Lucky guy.

[DangerousMike]

i remember seeing a very similar crash in formula renault from the top of the paddock grandstand when i went to watch CART at brands some time ago.

[Riff Raff]

What happened to launch the car in the first place? When he got into camera shot he was already well off the ground!

[GravelBen]

Ouch! Bit more protection when you do it with a touring car...

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KC8oSFNj9XQ

[kambites]

Riff Raff said:

What happened to launch the car in the first place? When he got into camera shot he was already well off the ground!

Looks like he hit the rear wheel of the car in front. That's the problem with open wheelers - wheel to wheel contact tends to result in that sort of thing.

He was pretty lucky to walk away from that. If he'd hit the barrier at a different angle, that could have been very nasty.

[xr287]

If your going to come off at high speed that's the best kind of crash to have, very dramatic looking and bits flying off the car but it's dissapating all the energy fairly gradually. It's the less dramatic sudden stops that do damage to you in general.

Reminds me a bit of Danny Watts at Oulton, http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XQ9FTyOB93o

[Rude-boy]

DangerousMike said:

i remember seeing a very similar crash in formula renault from the top of the paddock grandstand when i went to watch CART at brands some time ago.

I must see at least one a year like that at Paddock Hill.

There is more protection in the BTCC car than a single seater but there is also added mass.

As a rule, the ones where people barrel roll and bits are flying off are far less likely to result in anything serious than the ones where they just stop due to how that uncontrolled energy is released.

[Dave_ITR]

Very lucky chap indeed.