http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport1/hi/motorsport/15330202.stm

 

There has been a huge crash in the last race of the season and the reports are saying that British racer Dan Wheldon has sadly passed away as a result of the accident. :(

 

Awful news, not one of the more high profile sportsmen in Britain but definitely one of the most successful and talented. RIP Dan. :(

 

Holy shit that is probably the nastiest crash I have ever seen.

 

 

RIP Dan.

Eery that such a thing has happened when I was discussing Ayrton Senna with Jake (Wild remix) earlier this week.

 

RIP

RIP, an incredibly sad loss and a horrific looking incident.

So so sad. The crash looked unavoidable. Such a loss RIP.

RIP One of our finest drivers in recent years and a sad loss. But this happens all too often in the IRL/CART series. The safety measures just arn't there like in F1. True the cars are faster and less nimble than F1 but they are less liklely to flip or spin on you.

 

To put the death rate in perspective. Since Senna's death in 1994 there have been zero fatalities in an F1 car. In the US series there have been seven.

 

In terms of nastiest crashes Wolfgang Von Tripps' car climbing the embankment and slamming into the crowd is the deadliest and for me I'll never forget the footage of Roger Wiliamson trapped upside down in his car burning alive as fellow driver and close friend David Purley vainly tries to turn the car over. All the while the marshalls do almost nothing to help. Purley was awarded the George Cross for his actions. Utterly heartbreaking.

So incredibly sad. Safety in racing and in cars in general has come a long way in a fairly short space of time, but sometimes it's still unavoidable. When I saw the accident last night it was horrific.

 

R.I.P. :(

I saw the carnage unfold on Sky Sports last night whilst watching the race on lap 11. 15 cars involved in total.

There were concerns beforehand about so many cars (34) racing on this short oval, cars 3 & 4 wide at speeds of over 220mph.

There are many more cars and drivers in the series due to Champ Car folding in 2008 and joining Indycar.

Dario Franchitti now drives the car that Dan Wheldon drove back in 2007 for Target Chip Gnassi - No. 10.

Dario Franchitti who now becomes champion for the 4th time said I don't care, I never want to win neither a race or championship like this all I can think about is Dan. He was such a great driver, a great guy and a great friend. All I can say is I dedicate it to Dan and his family.

 

Our thoughts go out to his wife Susie and his 2 sons (2 year old Sebastian and Oliver born in March this year).

Dan (33), born in Olney Buckinghamshire was a brilliant driver having won the championship in 2005 and the Indy 500 the same year and also again this year.

He had to be extricated from his car and was airlifted to a local hospital with what were described as "serious injuries". He subsequently died of his injuries.

 

Among other injured drivers was Britain's own Pippa Mann who was also taken to hospital with concussion.

 

R.I.P. Dan - you are a legend.

 

Dan after winning this year's Indy 500

http://www.worldcharts.co.uk/images/other/dan.jpg

Edited October 17, 201113 yr by euro music

RIP One of our finest drivers in recent years and a sad loss. But this happens all too often in the IRL/CART series. The safety measures just arn't there like in F1. True the cars are faster and less nimble than F1 but they are less liklely to flip or spin on you.

 

To put the death rate in perspective. Since Senna's death in 1994 there have been zero fatalities in an F1 car. In the US series there have been seven.

 

In terms of nastiest crashes Wolfgang Von Tripps' car climbing the embankment and slamming into the crowd is the deadliest and for me I'll never forget the footage of Roger Wiliamson trapped upside down in his car burning alive as fellow driver and close friend David Purley vainly tries to turn the car over. All the while the marshalls do almost nothing to help. Purley was awarded the George Cross for his actions. Utterly heartbreaking.

 

It takes stuff like this for changes to happen though. Before Senna's death he was campaigning for better safety for F1 drivers because of how many serious accidents there had been. It's a pity it took his death for F1 to seriously look in to increasing the safety of the drivers. I assume it was because it was Senna and he was much a well-known and respected driver that people had to look in to changing the safety of the tracks and the cars.

 

I knew nothing about Indy Cars before last night, but just looking at that small track with the ebnd and 35 cars , it was a death trap waiting to happen. Especially when the walls offer no protection and if you hit the upper wall you're pretty much dead. It was complete madness. It might be exciting to watch, but the safety of the drivers should be put first and there was absolutely none in that circuit.

RIP Dan Wheldon

 

Worst crash I've seen in my life.

 

Surely IndyCar should never go to Las Vegas again unless they make drastic improvements to the track immediately.

 

35 cars racing.

Surely this needs to have a limit of 26?

 

 

RIP Dan Wheldon

 

Worst crash I've seen in my life.

 

Surely IndyCar should never go to Las Vegas again unless they make drastic improvements to the track immediately.

 

35 cars racing.

Surely this needs to have a limit of 26?

 

From what I've been reading there were extra drivers in the case to make it more exciting, cos Dan Wheldon started in last place and if he would have won he'd have won $5m. So basically the organisers made what was a risky track to begin with, even more risky.

Yeah I was watching SSN at lunchtime and it was the biggest race of the season in terms of competitors because the sponsers had given a $5m prize which meant more racers were invited who don't usually race including Dan who'd only raced in one other Indy race this year.

It takes stuff like this for changes to happen though. Before Senna's death he was campaigning for better safety for F1 drivers because of how many serious accidents there had been. It's a pity it took his death for F1 to seriously look in to increasing the safety of the drivers. I assume it was because it was Senna and he was much a well-known and respected driver that people had to look in to changing the safety of the tracks and the cars.

 

I knew nothing about Indy Cars before last night, but just looking at that small track with the ebnd and 35 cars , it was a death trap waiting to happen. Especially when the walls offer no protection and if you hit the upper wall you're pretty much dead. It was complete madness. It might be exciting to watch, but the safety of the drivers should be put first and there was absolutely none in that circuit.

Technically Roland Ratzenberger's death was the original catalyst for safety measures as Senna himself helped in the formation of the Grand Prix Driver's Association (GPDA) on the morning of his his death but undoubtedly his accident gave everything more impetus.

 

The problem with Indycar is they have made the cars faster in order to improve competition but the tracks have seen virtually no improvements to keep pace. Not just the ovals either. You only have to look at the death of Gonzalo Rodrigues whose throttle stuck while entering a series of turns at a relatively slow 140mph. He went strsaight on through the tiny gravel trap hit the wall and flipped over to fall down into a steep drop. There's simply too many cars going too fast with too little safety and too much of a variation in driver skill. The lesser drivers cars are just as fast as the top drivers and it is a recipe for disaster

From what I've been reading there were extra drivers in the case to make it more exciting, cos Dan Wheldon started in last place and if he would have won he'd have won $5m. So basically the organisers made what was a risky track to begin with, even more risky.

I may be wrong but I think that Dan had been offered $2.5m if he won from the back of the grid and he would also win the same amount for someone in the crowd - it does make it unnecessarily competitive to win when there are those sort of rewards and pressures on you and it's awful that a gimmick to attract more publicity ended in such a way. I hope the organisers learn from this and we don't see repeat unnecessary offers next year.

 

 

It's shocking how lacking in safety features Indycar is. The car's just shattered.

 

You'd think they'd at least have the same kind of standards for the actual chassis as F1 and Tyre barriers (or similar) instead of a brick wall. Had Kubica had his crash at Canada a few years back there is no way he'd have lived.

 

Unnecessary loss of life, all because the organisers are too backwards/cheap to put in proper safety features.