Are there any heroes in motorsport anymore ?

[Regional]

It split the fuel tank all over the car behind that just went up with a woosh - it pushed both cars 200 yards up the pit straight.

What sickened me most was the people recording it on there phones whilst the guys were still trapped inside their cars.

[lord summerisle]

woof said:

i guess - drivers still today are better equipped than marshals with regards to protective clothing.

generally, on a circuit, yes.

the typical british marshal is wearing a proban boiler suit & welding gauntlets.

while the driver will probly be wearing a 2 or 3 layer nomex suit plus gloves, boots, balaclava and a helmet. It doesnt give you alot of protection from the heat, but gives you a chance that your suit wont go up immediatly or melt onto your skin, while the proban is gives a little protection, but not much.

its worse when its raining as generally marshals are wearing standard railway maintainance issue high vis which is nylon.

Still said - if your getting warm... your too close.

[Woody]

megy said:

Last time I remember this happening in F1 was when Luciano Burti and Eddie Irvine had a minor coming together at a wet Spa, consequence was that Irvine span and retired just up the road from where Burti had just had a head on crash with the tyre barriers that registered in excess of 140G to stop. The said barrier had ridden up and over Burti's Prost(IIRC) and he was trapped. Irvine ran down from his Jaguar and tried to help Burti, then came the tractor and moved the tyres in seconds.

I was at Spa that day - the grandstands went deathly silent, everyone thought he'd bought it. Remember seeing Irvine trying to get the car out.

That was also the race where Williams left Ralphy on the jacks before the warm up lap

Chris

[Baldylocks]

johnfelstead said:

If they had to, they would, thankfully they dont have to anymore.

Nail. Head. Hit.

This seems a bit of a silly question to me. In the case of F1 (and most other motorsport) it is nowhere near as dangerous anymore. So (thankfully) drivers very rarely have the need to heroicly pull their comrades out of a burning car.

I guess it could be said they are less heroic by default as they take less of a risk every time they sit in the car than drivers did in years gone by (and are massively better paid too!). But I wonder whether the level of danger impacts much on a drivers desire to race?

[hornet]

I can recall a big crash in the Aussie V8s a few years back (at Calder Park I think) when someone went barrel rolling off the track at considerable speed and numerous drivers rushed to the car to help.