RIP

 

What a shame. I don't watch too much of the WRC, but I watch it enough to know who people are.

My question is, don't those cars have reinforcing bars in the doors and sides of the vehicle to prevent this sort of thing when a car crashes? One would think the cars would be built to take any kind of beating that can be thrown at them with the courses they run at the speeds they get up to.

It blows my mind, that a NASCAR car can hit a wall at 190mph or an Indy car can smack a wall at 200 mph and the driver can walk away unscathed, but a WRC car spins out and hits a tree and a guy dies on impact.

 

Yeah, the shell of the car is custom-built welded tube with side support. The article says they went off at top speed... maybe 150 mph. You can't compare a uniform wall in NASCAR to sliding sideways into a tree. The point of impact and force is much more directed. Oh and the driver DID walk away uninjured per the article.

Tragic in any case. Rally is definitely risky and not for the faint of heart.

 

Yeah, the shell of the car is custom-built welded tube with side support. The article says they went off at top speed... maybe 150 mph. You can't compare a uniform wall in NASCAR to sliding sideways into a tree. The point of impact and force is much more directed. Oh and the driver DID walk away uninjured per the article.

Tragic in any case. Rally is definitely risky and not for the faint of heart.

I know the DRIVER walked away unscathed. The impact wasn't on the driver's side of the car. I'm just trying to figure out why the safety frame and roll cage didn't prevent this.

 

In NASCAR you don't just slam straight into the walls, they are next to you. So even if you are going 200 mph it's not a 200 mph collision, your lateral movement isn't anywhere near 200mph. With this, the road curves suddenly and you keep going straight and boom you hit a solid tree at 100mph.

 

In NASCAR you don't just slam straight into the walls, they are next to you. So even if you are going 200 mph it's not a 200 mph collision, your lateral movement isn't anywhere near 200mph. With this, the road curves suddenly and you keep going straight and boom you hit a solid tree at 100mph.

and its not like NASCAR doesn't have injuries and deaths too.

 

i never said they didn't. but he was comparing someone sideswiping a wall versus someone plummeting straight on into a tree

 

Sounds to me like the need to build the WRC cars better so they can absorb this type of impact without injuring, or in this case killing someone.

 

i never said they didn't. but he was comparing someone sideswiping a wall versus someone plummeting straight on into a tree

psst...i was agreeing with you.

 

They are already hella protective to begin with. You can't make a 100% safe car, if that's the case then maybe car manufacturers should be making passenger cars that will fully protect us at 100 mph collisions, because we are all fully capable of driving headlong into a wall at 100 mph in our vehicles.

 

Sounds to me like the need to build the WRC cars better so they can absorb this type of impact without injuring, or in this case killing someone.

This just in...racing is dangerous, and nailing a tree at over 100 mph can kill you.

Sorry to hear about Park. Wonder what/how well Markko will do, having been with him for so long.

 

Anyone have apic or clip showing how bad is the accident?
kinda hard to believe that u can still die with those kinda protection..

RIP..

 

wow that sucks i doubt they will even air it on TV in the US next week because of what happened

 

Noooo!
That soo didn't make my day. I love Rally Races and I hate it when someone gets dead or injured.

 

OMG people its simple physics. No matter how much protection you have if you hit something that is stationary and sturdy while you are going 80 mph you've got quite a lot of mass to stop in like zero feet.

 

They're race cars people, they need to be light as well as safe. Sure he could have driven a car with 2 foot thick walls in the race, but i'll tell you what, He'd have lost. Very little is going to save you when you experience the acceleration of hitting a non-moving object head-on at high speed. RIP Michael Park.

 

RIP that sucks to hear, Rally drivers and co-drivers for that matter are some of the greatest racers in my opinion and its a tragedy to see one go.

 

I give mad props to Marcus Gronholm and Sebastian Loeb for their sportsmanship in this situation. I wish all athletes were as considerate as these two were considering the situation.....

 

even after they left ford, i've been rooting for markko & michael. they always seemed like kind of an odd couple, but i suppose it might be tough to find a co-driver who speaks estonian.

rest in peace, michael park. and god bless his wife & children.

 

Very sad news indeed.

 

Sounds to me like the need to build the WRC cars better so they can absorb this type of impact without injuring, or in this case killing someone.

Rally racing is intrinsically much more dangerous than NASCAR and IndyCar. It isn't the cars but rather the obstacle-filled courses. This is part of the reason WRC hasn't been big here in America, as we are much tighter about such things.

But you have a point. They do need to continuously improve safety for all types of racing.

 

Sounds to me like the need to build the WRC cars better so they can absorb this type of impact without injuring, or in this case killing someone.

You obviously never watch WRC.

I belive it was last year.

one of the subaru's in Germany went off

after hitting a hinklestein.

which is a like 20 TON stone, placed into the ground, back during WW2 to prevent tanks fro getting through.

well, one of the subbies clipped it at full speed in teh rain.

he rolled it don teh hill.

the cage of teh car was so crumpled from teh rollsing

but the crew area stayed basically intact, except teh one bar that crushed in.

both driver and co-driver walked away...the car was destroyed beyond recognition, but it protected teh drivers.

how abotu you build a cage...drive 150mph, and slide into a tree and report back to us on what sort of forces u felt.

the WRC cars have some of the most advanced safety features you can build. the cages are far superior to almost every motorports except for an F1 car, but that's not really a cage so much as a breakaway car.

-----

RIP Martin Park. You will be missed.

 

A tremendous tragedy for the man affectionately known as "Beef". Godspeed Michael.

 

Indeed a sad day and condolences to Park's family.

Like mentioned above, the cars are build to be as safe as possible but no car can be built to withstand every crash. F1 cars and WRC cars are some of the safest vehicles in motorsport but racing is a dangerous sport and the drivers/co-drivers accept that everytime they get in their car.

 

This just sucks.
RIP