Another death at Spa

Quartz · 1 Jul 2023 at 14:24

Just up from where Hubert died too, by the looks of it.

Dutch driver Van ‘t Hoff, 18, dies in crash at Spa

Dutch racing driver Dilano van 't Hoff dies after a crash at the Formula Regional European Championship by Alpine.

www.bbc.co.uk

RIP young man.

imtoooldforthis · 1 Jul 2023 at 14:27

They changed the run off area a year back as well didnt they to try and limit similar accidents to Hubert etc

Quartz · 1 Jul 2023 at 14:38

He got t-boned.

throwaway4372 · 1 Jul 2023 at 14:49

zero visibility, shouldn't have even been racing

Flibster · 1 Jul 2023 at 14:54

It's Spa, so the weather is pretty terrible and almost no visability. Looks like there was a collision with another car and he was sliding along the track sideways while another was shedding parts while on the grass alongside the track, then when he pretty much stopped in the middle of the track, t-boned at speed. :eek:

Seen the accident, hefty impact.

R.I.P.

Mr Jack · 1 Jul 2023 at 16:26

Horrible accident. RIP Young Man.

Was anyone else injured in the incident?

chrismscotland · 1 Jul 2023 at 16:28

Looking at the visibility I don't think F1 would have run in those conditions nowadays, however unless you totally neuter race track's there's always going to be an element of danger.

imtoooldforthis · 1 Jul 2023 at 18:05

Meanwhile in Indycar

https://twitter.com/i/web/status/1675143705961943040

MissChief · 1 Jul 2023 at 18:25

Mr Jack said:
Horrible accident. RIP Young Man.

Was anyone else injured in the incident?

Yes, another driver in hospital with multiple broken bones but expected to make a full recovery. As said, from what I've heard visibility was terrible, like a proper 'pea souper', they should never have been racing but no doubt the organisers were pushing for it. With normal visibility avoiding it likely would've been easy.

Ok, having seen a fan video from the stands it wasn't foggy but it was very wet with the visibility for anyone following another car as good as non-existent. A car went off at the right kink after Eau Rouge and no one could see what was there due to the heavy spray and the car was T-boned. Not a damned thing anyone could do about it but they shouldn't have been racing IMO, the spray was so heavy it cut visibility down to a few metres.

cuke2u · 1 Jul 2023 at 19:26

I think the interview with Stroll, who wasn't interested in talking about his race on Sky, said a lot for the feelings of many drivers today. Yet, so called, fans complain when a race is started behind a safety car or the erring on the side of safety as happened in 2021.
Organisers can't win sometimes..

chrismscotland · 1 Jul 2023 at 20:50

imtoooldforthis said:
Meanwhile in Indycar

https://twitter.com/i/web/status/1675143705961943040

Wow, incredible the increase in safety in Indycar in recent years

cuke2u · 1 Jul 2023 at 20:53

It needed to be, however the circuits they drive on remain questionable for both drivers and spectators alike..

chrismscotland · 2 Jul 2023 at 00:36

cuke2u said:
It needed to be, however the circuits they drive on remain questionable for both drivers and spectators alike..

This is true, I watch most of the Indy races and I'm pretty staggered they're allowed to race on some, especially some of the street tracks which seem frankly "amateurish" compared to F1.`

Emlyn_Dewar · 2 Jul 2023 at 03:19

cuke2u said:
Yet, so called, fans complain when a race is started behind a safety car or the erring on the side of safety as happened in 2021.

If you're going to start behind a safety car. Just don't start it.
Of course this accident is a tragedy, but it absolutely doesn't justify cotton-wool wrapped motorsport. Guess what. Driving cars really fast is dangerous.

StarShock · 2 Jul 2023 at 06:51

Emlyn_Dewar said:
If you're going to start behind a safety car. Just don't start it.
Of course this accident is a tragedy, but it absolutely doesn't justify cotton-wool wrapped motorsport. Guess what. Driving cars really fast is dangerous.

They do need to be smart about it though. Theirs 2 big issues withnthis accident. If you have an accident on that part of spa the car tends to get bounced back onto the track. And with the way modern race cars are built its almost always a 2nd impact that does the damage. So they need to try stop that from happening. And when you have that much water on track the spray makes it almost impossible for anyone to see whats going on. Not just the drivers who are taking their life in their hands but also the spectators and tv cameras. So that needs to be fixed.

Pitelli have said their new full wet f1 tire from this year throws less stray out behind the car, so thats one step to improvement, but I suspect the way the aero works on these things its never going to be great.

cuke2u · 2 Jul 2023 at 11:00

Emlyn_Dewar said:
If you're going to start behind a safety car. Just don't start it.
Of course this accident is a tragedy, but it absolutely doesn't justify cotton-wool wrapped motorsport. Guess what. Driving cars really fast is dangerous.

Well yes, but the the other 50% of fans will complain about no cars being on the track when they could be running around displacing the water.
I'd heard a rumour that rear wheel guards are going to be tested at Silverstone.

Bubo · 3 Jul 2023 at 11:02

chrismscotland said:
This is true, I watch most of the Indy races and I'm pretty staggered they're allowed to race on some, especially some of the street tracks which seem frankly "amateurish" compared to F1.`

Amateurish is how I would describe Indycar in general. Seems like the IndyCar non-oval/non-street circuits are allergic to gravel traps, and the off track grass/terrain seems purposely arranged to launch cars airborne as was in this case. There was one corner at the Road America track last week which which basically a launch ramp if you went off at just the wrong place, which several did. Plus a not inconsiderable proportion of the drivers treat it as if it was bumper cars from what I can see. And the chaos in the pit lane, I am amazed people are not routinely run over every week.

Bubo · 3 Jul 2023 at 11:06

cuke2u said:
It needed to be, however the circuits they drive on remain questionable for both drivers and spectators alike..

I guess you saw the Indy 500 the other week with the wheel that came off, flew over the fence, over the stand and landed on a car in the car park? Incredible that didn't end up as a fatality.

Edit: Correction, the loose wheel didn't actually fly over the stand, it miraculously went through an approx. 20 yard wide gap between one main stand and a neighbouring stand, at a height about 3/4 the way up the stand. So if it had missed the gap it would have planted direct into the crowd. That really was a miracle.

MissChief · 3 Jul 2023 at 12:56

Bubo said:
I guess you saw the Indy 500 the other week with the wheel that came off, flew over the fence, over the stand and landed on a car in the car park? Incredible that didn't end up as a fatality.

And yet Pagenaud’s washing machine spin cycle crash this weekend all four wheels stayed on. You’ll never be able to mitigate every risk until the cars are racing in a tunnel.

MissChief · 3 Jul 2023 at 12:57

cuke2u said:
Well yes, but the the other 50% of fans will complain about no cars being on the track when they could be running around displacing the water.
I'd heard a rumour that rear wheel guards are going to be tested at Silverstone.

They are. I hope it’s wet, or they wet the track on purpose.