Marussia car crashed during testing

Skeeter said:
Sounds like she was returning to what would be the makeshift 'pit's area where a transporter was parked and she drove into the tailgate.
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Gonzo0 said:
I'm assuming she was coming off the track to pull back into the pits when suddenly the throttle jammed open and launched the car forward.


Only speculating here.
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Cheers guys. How sickening. Freak accident!
 
The BBC had a local news crew on site during the testing and reported the following “BBC Cambridgeshire presenter Chris Mann, who witnessed the crash, said the car had completed a circuit when it “suddenly accelerated” into the back of the lorry. From where I was standing it looked like the helmet took the brunt of the impact,” he said. “Strangely, the car suddenly accelerated into the lorry and the car went careering into the side of the loading board.”

This sounds very much like the cars anti stall system engaged at the end of the run. Inexperienced drivers having their first runs in a F1 car can be caught out by this. As they slow to stop the car or make a low speed turn (for example into a garage) they lift off the throttle and let the revs drop. The ECU senses this and sets throttle to around 50% with the car still in first gear resulting in a sudden acceleration such as the one described.
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"From where I was standing it looked like the helmet took the brunt of the impact,"

+

"Strangely, the car suddenly accelerated into the lorry and the car went careering into the side of the loading board."

= Nasty

Wonder why the car suddenly accelerated..
 
Yes what Mr Men has just quoted would make sense.

When the car thinks it will stall it opens the throttle to keep the engine running as stalling in F1 would be disastorous.

The car will suddenly lurch forward....remember watching Richard Hammond trying to pull off in a Renault F1 and the car whent into Anti Stall about 6 times in a row...each time the car lurched forward.
 
Taken from the BBC article:

Emergency medical charity Magpas, which helped to treat Villota at the scene, said she had suffered "facial and head injuries" and was in a stable condition on her arrival at hospital.
 
Gonzo0 said:
The car would still lurch forward though, would it not?
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Not really. When driver get in a tizz with the Anti Stall they only seem to lurch a few feet, and thats more of a coast than a powered drive forward. Definitely not enough force to power her towards and then into a truck.
 
She was motionless for 15 mins after impact but moved her hands after before being taken to hospital.
 
Mr Men said:
This sounds very much like the cars anti stall system engaged at the end of the run. Inexperienced drivers having their first runs in a F1 car can be caught out by this. As they slow to stop the car or make a low speed turn (for example into a garage) they lift off the throttle and let the revs drop. The ECU senses this and sets throttle to around 50% with the car still in first gear resulting in a sudden acceleration such as the one described.
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Very strange. I thought simply pulling the clutch in would suffice an Anti-Stall mechanism. I cannot think of any advantage to increasing revs without driver input via the pedal. What happens in an accident?
 
The anti stall is a combination of increased revs and disengaging the clutch. It does not simply increase the revs and leave the car in gear.
 
+1 i wouldnt of thought it would lurch forward enough to course this? Maybe its just the skeptic in me, but i think something mechanical actually went wrong. Could be a faulty anti stall?
 
Latest update is that she's suffered life-threatening injuries as a result of head and facial injuries.

Not good - this is really serious sounding.

Also, re: the anti-stall, surely that just operates the clutch? Can't imagine it'd apply throttle whilst in-gear.
 
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