Hi List,
As some listers and chums know, I've been training as a Scrutineer/Safety
Tech Official for close to 2 years know and get to a lot of race meetings.
From
time to time there are accidents and given that Non-enthusiast car people
don't understand I wanted to share Fridays hill climb meeting at Shelsley Walsh
http://www.shelsley-walsh.co.uk
A busy meeting with lots of cars including some pre-war cars which are pretty
amazing - there was a Delage with fantastic Lever Arm dampers I would love to
have photographed for Peter C, Maserati 250F, and a number of obscure
specials.
British motor sport rules are such that old cars are exempt many modern
safety requirements including roll bar/roll cage and full safety harness.
Normally I get to spend most of the afternoon on the hill but this time it
was too busy for that so it was mid afternoon and I had missed a lot of the
cars
I had wanted to watch - eg the Delage, 250F. Anyway after some 'moderns had
been up the hill a pre-war car had barely come into my view when I saw, quick
as a flash, that the car was sideways and then hit the bank. Usually a car
hits the bank bounces off and stops all bent up. This car being a big wheel
car
took a launch and was airborne and not far off vertical and as high in the
air as I ever seen a car or want to see one again. As the car somersaulted in
mid air I could see the driver was being thrown out of the car. I guess I must
have looked away at this point or maybe didn't see the remaining somersaults
the now driverless car made as it continued through the air before it fell to
the ground, from my vantage point.
The marshalls responded very quickly indeed but there is a long ravine type
bank or drop in thick undergrowth that prevented my seeing either the car or
driver but the engine in the car was still running for some time. I think it
was a blessing that the car didn't catch light and being Methanol fuelled it
would have been very unpleasant though I guess the fuel load would have been
very
small.
After some time the driver was recovered but when they got a blanket out of
the ambulance I thought he must have either been in a very bad way or dead. In
fact I thought that before hand because you simply can't travel at high speed
and fall to ground without injury though maybe the undergrowth helped but
might have impaled just as easily.
Thankfully it turned out the driver survived the accident and was out of
hospital by early evening though I don't know the extent of his injuries. The
car
was so far down the bank recovery had to wait till the meeting had finished
and was tricky because it was so far down. Damage to the vehicle was extensive
- here is a link to how it looked before hand at an earlier race meeting.
http://www.motorsnippets.com/cars/walsh/hardy_special.htm
All your racers take care.
Regards
Daniel1312
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