[Closed] Indycar crash

Horrific

😯 i hope everyone's ok

Just saw it on the news. Not nice.

Jeebus H

😯

So was anyone else badly injured?

holy cow.

fingers crossed they are ok

A crash on an oval track can really [i]really[/i] snowball can't it!?!

Yep - nowhere for them to go - just bounce off the safety fence 🙁

3 cars sent airborne over other cars there. They need to look at why it is happening to see if they can prevent it. Unavoidable if hitting the wheels but if some is due to low side pods then they should look into setting minimum heights as it's a situation you really don't want to be in. The 3rd car sent up in the air flew for a long way.

The explosions are like something out of a Hollywood movie

edit: not sure if one of the drivers that got launched into the air is going to make it. 🙁

😯

Scary stuff

Breaking news: apparently Dan Wheldon has died.

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

Just gets worse.

Very sad indeed, an extremely talented lad.

Dreadful

All over twitter

RIP. Hope it was fast and painless

BBC just confirmed he's died, very sad news. Best wishes to his wife and young family.

very sad. Which car was he in?

RIP Dan, one of britians great racers

RIP Dan.

Onboard footage from Will Powers car looks horrific.

Wheldon's car was missing it's roll hoop after the accident. It must have been a hell of an impact

Watched it live over here in the USA. Particularly sad since Wheldon spent much of this season testing the new safer 2012 car (rear impact zones to prevent cars being launched into air in rear end shunts). Sad irony.

I watched the Senna movie on the plane over too. Lots of parallels. Dead at 33. What a waste.

Watched it live on the big screen here at Daytona today,sickening silence when it happened. RIP

Very sad news

That was awful. RIP lad 🙁

🙁 Awful.

Watched him and followed his career through karting inc European and World champs. He was a gifted driver.

Thoughts to his Mrs and two kids.

RIP Danny. 🙁

Is this a stupid question, but why so many cars in flames? Must be four or five of them that are burning!!

I'm guessing that the cars achieve forward motion by means of an engine? Last time I noticed, engines weren't powered by puppies....

Terrible news. I didn't see the crash and frankly I don't want to, but from the descriptions of the accident it sounds like the car has gone into the wall roll hoop first, much like what happened to Greg Moore. Awful, but hopefully quick and painless 😥

Very sad. RIP Danny.

wrightyson - Member

Is this a stupid question, but why so many cars in flames? Must be four or five of them that are burning!!

Broken hydraulic lines + hot brake discs or exhaust.
Can't find any info on the fuel tanks of Indycars but if they're anything like the F1 car design it's unlikely to be fuel tank failure as they're made from puncture proof [url= http://www.f1technical.net/articles/19 ]deformable kevlar[/url].

They are fueled by Bio-ethanol anyway so shouldn't burn with an orange flame. The wheels are magnesium so when they grind along concrete they ignite and brake fluid etc will all burn quite readily.

Really shocking stuff. It looks like the aftermath of a plane crash not a motorsport event.

That in car footage is truly horrific. I'm actually surprised there weren't more fatalaties. RIP Dan Wheldon

Yep, that's bad news about Dan Wheldon.

It looks that the majority of the accident wasn't actually the initial collision, but was in the following pack who bunched up & ploughed into each other.
It does seem like a pretty dangerous form of motorsport, with so many cars going at that speed with little room for manoeuvre if something does go wrong.

Walleater nice sarcasm which was clearly wrong then!! I fully assumed it wasn't fuel but couldn't believe the number of cars in flames!! Can't say I've seen anything like that in an f1 big pile up?

Most of the speed in F1 is scrubbed off by massive runoffs before they hit anything solid. They Indycars were lapping Las Vegas at 225 mph and there's no where to go

There's been some big F1 pile ups but usually at the start and a much slower speed

it was an accident waiting too happen,a contrived race with more than the "normal" number of runners on a small oval with speeds of 225mph.

Can't say I've seen anything like that in an f1 big pile up?

I was thinking the same thing. Not all f1 crashes are low speed due to the "safer" nature of the racing but Its been a long time since I've noticed serious flames in an f1 crash. Different fuel or fuel tank regs?

Desperately sad. The only positive is that it happens so rarely now it is so news worthy. If this was the 70's fatal motorsport accidents were much more common.

The Daily Hate has some still photos of Wheldon mid crash. Not going to embed them though

[url= http://www.****/news/article-2049949/Dan-Wheldon-crash-video-IndyCar-champion-dead-15-car-pile-Las-Vegas.html ]Here[/url]

Another major difference (I would have thought) is that this type of Indycar track, being oval, means that there are more cars on a shorter lap (meaning more chance of them bunching) and going at a much faster average speed - basically any accident at any point could be potentially very serious, whereas on an F1 circuit the accidents would be more likely to happen at the start (ie first corner) or during the race on a corner when speeds are naturally much lower.

this is very reminiscent of the bad old [url= http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1954483/ ]days of f1[/url]

Big field, short track, no run-off & 220mph+ leaves little room for error. The cars are set up specifically for the track so it's impossible to change direction quickly or scrub off a load of speed without it getting horribly 'busy'. More common to have incidents like that in Nascar but they're 2 ton+ tanks so the end result is a lot less severe.

RIP Danny, your drive at Goodwood this year was a real highlight for me and I'm glad I had the opportunity to see it.

Another major difference (I would have thought) is that this type of Indycar track, being oval, means that there are more cars on a shorter lap (meaning more chance of them bunching) and going at a much faster average speed - basically any accident at any point could be potentially very serious, whereas on an F1 circuit the accidents would be more likely to happen at the start (ie first corner) or during the race on a corner when speeds are naturally much lower.

Agreed.

One of the reasons I don't watch IndyCar is that it's inherently too dangerous. In F1, if a car crashes out it usually leaves the circuit, scrubbing off speed until hitting tyre barriers. Cars rarely flip over (I’ve seen it only a couple of times in the last 20 years) and even if there’s a direct hit into a solid object, the crash structures are so strong that there’s rarely a problem. There's often some debris remaining on the track, but it's less likely to be big stuff; you do tend to get punctures, but then again again, these rarely cause huge accidents

In oval racing (all types, not just IndyCar), if someone crashes high into the wall, the debris remains on the track, bounced back into the path of the oncoming cars. There’s solid stuff to hit, not just tyres to damage. Added to that, there’s a significant difference between open-wheeled cars versus NASCAR, trucks etc in that that there's just far less protection if the vehicle rolls, which, with the speed of IndyCars (225mph) and the constant lateral loads, is far more likely in IndyCar than F1. Add to this the fact that it was a small oval and that there were a very large number of cars, and the crash and resulting fatality is not a surprise.

Ask an open-wheel racer what they fear the most (other than losing a sponsor) and they’ll tell you that flipping the car is right up there.

RIP Dan

One of the reasons I don't watch IndyCar is that it's inherently too dangerous

Isn't it also a bit well, boring too? Never really understood the appeal in either indycar or stock car of the oval circuit. Might be my lack of understanding/education as I could say the same about other US sports like basketball, baseball and ice hockey which also seem a bit monotonous.

Isn't it also a bit well, boring too?

I was thinking that but then the F1 was truly awful this year! Perhaps a shorter F1 course with high speed banked corners and a similar number of starters would be good?

Sad to see yesterdays carnage! He was a handsome chap as well as a very skilled driver!

OK, I don't watch IndyCar on ovals because despite being hugely dull, it's also massively dangerous, and you're waiting for the inevitable next crash. All of the risk, none of the reward.

Good on the street circuits though

Firstly it was a hell of a shock to wake-up and hear this news. Dan was a great driver and like Dario Franchitti should have had a chance in an F1 car. My thoughts go out to his wife and children.

Secondly - if you think Indy oval racing is dull then you haven't watched enough of it! There can be some brilliant racing all down the field.

[i]Secondly - if you think Indy oval racing is dull then you haven't watched enough of it! There can be some brilliant racing all down the field.[/i]

How much do you have to watch though? I mean I've been told fishing is exciting to watch if you watch enough of it.

Not his first nasty crash in thew Indy series either...

http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport1/hi/motorsport/2938558.stm

..... and there was his Texas one too