scoobysnacks

carl

I was shocked when I read this

Hope he pulls through (I was going to write "Hope he is OK" but he is obviously not going to be )

overthelimit

A truly sad day,
He was (is) a great racer, my thoughts are with him
There by the grace of god goes all of us who race cars

ScoobyDoo555

Just heard - Alex has had both legs amputated and has lost alot of blood. All from an accident coming out of the pits......

Apparently, according to Sky sports, he's "stable".......

Perhaps they don't have the same safety regulations as the FIA...


Hope he recovers.

Dan

johnfelstead

I just saw the crash on TV and it is the most horific car crash i have ever seen. Such terrible news.

I hope Alex survives this, he is a lovely man.

I drove at Rockingham a couple of months ago in my Westfield just after the circuit opened and i found it quite daunting at times. Driving turn one and trying to push the car was very uncomfortable because if you make one mistake you have nowhere to go. You either hit the outside wall or you hit the pit lane entrance/wall. I didnt like it one bit.

Oval races can be impresive, its lost a lot of its apeal to me in CART after the introduction of the new aero package as they are constantly passing each other on each straight due to the huge drag of the new rear wing. It's boring knowing someone will pass, it's more interesting when they had to use real racecraft to win.

The speeds are just too high now. 230MPH plus average is just too much. The forces at those speeds are horendous. On top of that you have very heavy cars which make matters worse, not better because they cary more momentum and intrinsic force.

F1 have got it pretty well right now with light cars and 200MPH top speeds. I think CART need a complete rethink on there technical rules. We have lost too many good people to injury or death in the last few years. I wont ever forget seeing Greg Moore die, i knew immediately he was dead. It seems to me nothing has been learned from that.

What a dreadfull week.

carl

He spun and was broadsided (T-boned) by Tagliani at close on 200 mph. I don't think an F1 car would have withstood that either.

You may or may not want to see this clip:

overthelimit

When you get hit in the side at over 200 mph
there is no escape, the car hit him just forward of the cockpit just about
thigh area,
No car or safety systems would have stopped this.
CART is very safe just look at the accident a few week a go
with Mimo Guidley, hit a bridge near head on.
lets just hope Alex recovers and has the strength to continue with his life.
We are thinking of you Alex

Carlos The Jackel

I can't believe this has happened - how many other things can go t1ts up in one week!! I hope alex pulls through. Although i find cart more exciting but i don't think safety is anywere near as good F1.

johnfelstead

I disagree, CART is not very safe. The cars are no where near as strong as F1 cars and cary far more momentum to cause damage.

I agree that if an F1 car was in the same crash then similar damage would have occured but the masses would have been much lower.

They need to rethink this. they do 250MPH on some tracks now, the cars are 30% heavier and are made to lower safety standards than F1.

It's questionable also as to why spinning on a pit exit road would allow you directly into the path of cars running 230MPH. Why have you spin straight onto grass which gives you no chance to recover or stop your momentum, its insane! There should be a wall on pit exit where the angle of the pit road would spin you into the track. Very bad circuit design! As all Oval track pit exits are.

andymac

I remember seeing the Greg Moore crash live. They only showed it once. I think they knew straight away - I certainly did. Having now seen the Zanardi clip, I'm surprised he survived as well, although there's been other smashes similar in Cart, I don't think I've seen one with such a high speed differential.
When I was young, it was the crashes that got me into watching motorsport (naive I guess) - now, being a fan rather than just an obvserver, things like that make you take a deep breath and wonder if it's going to turn out ok.

Andy

rr_ww

I would like to make a couple of points,

1) Champ Cars are built in the UK and to suggest that they are built to a lesser standard than F1 is insulting. They amount of high speed accidents we've had over the last few years, and the G loading involved(up to 112g!!) is a good indicator or the strength of these cars. The number of serious accidents are thankfully very low. Motorsport is Dangerous all the participants know that.

2) Cart have made mandatory HANS devices (Head and Neck restraint shoulder pads) to reduce the loading through the neck. F1 hasn't because the drivers feel they're too cumbersome.(Should they really have a choice on safety?) CART are in constant contact with the FIA and people like Professor Sid Watkins, to help reduce any risks.

(Unlike NASCAR re: Dale Ernhardnt investigation )


These are my opinions and I'm not forcing them on anyone else.

My Thoughts are with Zanardi, his family and friends.

FRP

I was lucky enough to have been driven around Silverstone by Alex a number of years ago, on a charity day. He came across as a really nice guy, taking time to talk to me and my mother, who was also in the car. After this, he has had a place in our hearts.
This is trully a very sad day.
May he get well soon.

johnfelstead

no probs rr_ww. You wont find a bigger motorsports fan than me. I am very knowledgable about the design and rules in place right now. Seeing what happened to Alex makes me mad because it was avoidable.

Why are there no walls to stop drivers exiting the pits spinning into the path of 230MPH cars on ovals? This has happened before but without the consequencies. Simple vector calculations show that if a car losses it it will spin into the track.

Why is there grass to spin onto? Zero retardation. Grippy tarmac would be a huge help.

When i saw Greg Moore's crash i questioned grass infields on ovals as that did 2 things. First it gave zero retardation, second it flipped him over sideways as he transitioned from grass over tarmac and back to grass as he passed over an infield access road. That caused his car to hit the wall cockpit top first. Thats why he died. He would have survived a side on impact. Grass looks nice though doesnt it.

CART have their head up their asses right now. I know motorsport is dangerous. I have been round it all my adult life. It angers me when i see avoidable injuries though, especially when its to someone like Alex who is a fantastic guy.

Slippy Diff

They have changed the run off at Eau Rouge to Tarmac . Doesn't make it any less daunting though. They have done the same at Blanchimont. No race car can ever be 100% safe and nobody forces us to drive them.

BOB.T

As some one else said, I used to almost enjoy seeing crashes at races but after seeing a rider killed right in front of me at Cadwell I now have an entirely different view.

It seems there's a lot of thoughts going to a lot of people this week

Bob

Mike Tuckwood

This is an awful and depressing incident, my thoughts are with Alex (& Tagliani)and their families.
Let's hope that changes are made to stop it from happening again?

Mike.

ChrisB

Goes to show, that even for the $$$ these guys earn, it's still a dangerous place to be.



ChrisB.

johnfelstead

<BLOCKQUOTE><font size="1" face="Verdana, Arial">quote:<HR>Champ Cars are built in the UK and to suggest that they are built to a lesser standard than F1 is insulting<HR></BLOCKQUOTE>

I know they are! You are missing the point.
They are built to a set of rules and regulations that specify what materials are used where. It's the rules that need changing, not the people who manufacture them.

I am a huge fan of Alex, have been since the early 90's when i saw him race the works Esprit GT car at Donington before he was famous. He made that car dance. My thoughts are with him now.

Carlos The Jackel

I don't know how safe the cars are, i can only make assumptioms from what i see. To my eyes from the pit-stops to the sand-traps(or lack of)makes cart more dangerous. F1 has virtually custom circuits where-as cart uses from airfields to streets.

rr_ww

John

Yeah, sorry mate, I misunderstood where you were coming from. But i get annoyed at uninformed people & the media (NO NAMES ,NO STRESS) going on about how unsafe CART is. As if its some backward series which places convienence above the drivers safety. Obviously safety can always be improved and maybe its time CART had a rethink.

To Carlos

Gravel traps aren't always a good answer, witness how cars skip along the top of them before coming to rest with their speed relatively unabaited. They're only good when a car is spinning. I believe they changed the run offs at Eau Rouge this year to grippy tarmac because of this?

astraboy

Blimey, Can things get any sh1tter this year?
I am also a huge fan of Alex. I will never forget when he was wiping the floor with everyone in CART that one year and every victory was celebrated by a phat smokin donut session.
A man after my own heart. I'm saddened by the fact that he will never race again.
astraboy.
P.S. Without wanting to argue about the saftey aspects of F1 and CART, All I will say is that if I was racing, I would prefer a runoff and gravel to no runoff and a concrete wall.

igratton

I really feal for Alex...I can't honestly thing of anything that hasn't already been said.

I was fortunate to watch some indycar racing whilst I lived in america...we visited Nazareth Raceway (in PA not for from Philadelphia) and its shocking the speed those cars go... I think John is maybe right...the do not seem to withstand the same sort of impacts that a formula one car would. I saw two guys put cars into the wall its just frightening....there really is nowhere to go.

Lets all be safe

Ian.

johnfelstead

If you would like to send Alex a message you can use zanardi@cart.com