Franchittis amazing escape

acquiescefc

Was watching this live last night and have to say I thought the worst. COuldnt believe him walking away, it looked horrible. HImslef and Dan Wheldon touched wheels and he went airborne and landed on two cars.

He was flying tho, excuse the pun, had a slip up in the pits and ended up in last place, within about 7 laps he was back in front. Some amazing racing on Michigans wide oval.

Hopefully he wins the championship as he deserves it.


http://ie.youtube.com/watch?v=TRbI5V2SyC4

gs39t

Watched it live myself, and im sure everyone else who did thought the worst aswell. Scott Dixon was incredibly lucky aswell, it was lucky that Franchitti's car snagged the wheel of Dixons car and tumbled over the top. My heart stopped, and i was shaking for a while even after he climbed out.

Ironically, it's Helio who's walking on crutches this week after his tangle with Miera, though the fact that he was walking back to the pits throwing a hissy fit tells me he probably kicked something too hard on the way

endplate

Mmm I'd say it was frightening been in the car but looking at the slow mo bits there was no major impact moments just a lot of sliding and the occasional thud when hitting the ground and other cars. the car came to a stop slowly. The accident was lucky IMO his chances of survival were pretty good

acquiescefc

Maybe it wasnt a bad landing etc but they were both doing 220 down the straight and he took off. I saw it in real time and when someone bounces upside down like that fear the worst.
Sennas crash didnt look that bad, i know safetys changed since then but I tell you if i was flying upside down at that speed id need new undies.

BrianD3

Yep, I'd agree that the crash consisted mainly of floating and sliding, also the rollover protection in these cars is very strong and the driver is well down in the cockpit. And rolling over onto a track is preferable to rolling onto grass or gravel (due to less digging in) In saying that it had the potential to be an awful crash had he flown into the debris fence or slammed down hard on top of another car or been collected hard while upside down.

It just goes to show what can happen when open wheel cars touch at high speed. I'll never forget the horrible crash that killed Jeff Krosnoff in 1996. Again a wheel touching incidnent with the car flying up in the air. In that case though it happened on a street circuit with Krosnoff's car flying along a debris fence and slamming into a tree and pole with the top of the cockpit. Terrible crash which also killed a marshall.

Other wheel touching incidents which resulted in deaths include G. Villeneuve crash, Marco Campos at Magny Cours and that poor guy in Japanese F3 who flew into a bridge over the track.

trendkill

But seriously, most fans know motorsport is extremely dangerous, even being a spectator, or a marshall. Youtube is filled with some fair amount of disturbing videos, and not many warnings about how graphic they are.

I.e:http://www.youtube.com/results?search_query=tom+pryce&search=Search

Choose whchever vid you wanna watch.

Dont click on it if you dont wanna be shocked.

Allan McNish's crash in donnington in 93... horrible.

Another one: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eBGlBe2DW0s&mode=related&search=

Ghost Train

In any high speed crash if anything goes wrong, or the driver is unlucky it can be bad news. In this case being upside down and getting hit by another car could have been nasty. I do like seeing the crashes but also like knowing when everyone walks away unhurt.

acquiescefc

BrianD3 wrote:

It just goes to show what can happen when open wheel cars touch at high speed. I'll never forget the horrible crash that killed Jeff Krosnoff in 1996. Again a wheel touching incidnent with the car flying up in the air. In that case though it happened on a street circuit with Krosnoff's car flying along a debris fence and slamming into a tree and pole with the top of the cockpit. Terrible crash which also killed a marshall.

I remember that one, a few laps before the end i think it was, race ended under yellow, the cameras actually followed the engine as the cockpit was so small it was barely recognisable.

Was thinking of the guy, also in champ cars that was killed going straight on at the corkscrew at Laguna, looked harmless enough but he landed upside down in soft stuff i think.

Glad its much safer anyways

gs39t

acquiescefc wrote:

Was thinking of the guy, also in champ cars that was killed going straight on at the corkscrew at Laguna, looked harmless enough but he landed upside down in soft stuff i think.

Gonzalo Rodriguez, who was driving for Penske at the time. I believe that was 1999, just 2 weeks after Greg Moore was killed at Fontana.

oneofakind32

This might be getting a little bit tasteless but...
Gilles Vellleneuve thrown across the track
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CzW3fqD93Hk

Edwardius

Hmmm, there's many more

Gordon Smiley:
http://ie.youtube.com/watch?v=tjXN1SC0UEw
This is one of the worst I've seen but at least it was instantaneous

Roger williamson:
http://ie.youtube.com/watch?v=39yGEap1K-8
Terrible marshalling, the worst thing about the above one is that it should never have happened and could easily have been avoided. Apparently he was still alive and screaming when the car burst into flames. Not much respect for drivers' lives back then...

Errr, graphic.

acquiescefc

Wow. Dario does it again in Kentucky. The Flying Scotsman doesnt spot the checkered flag, runs straight into Matsuura, who is slowing down, at full speed and flips 360 over him and into the wall. Nice landing but couldve been a lot worse.

GUess itll be on youtube later.

gs39t

acquiescefc wrote:

Wow. Dario does it again in Kentucky. The Flying Scotsman doesnt spot the checkered flag, runs straight into Matsuura, who is slowing down, at full speed and flips 360 over him and into the wall. Nice landing but couldve been a lot worse.

GUess itll be on youtube later.

I am just so utterly shocked. You dont know if thats good luck or bad luck - it happened, twice, and he's perfectly fine.

Danica also had a lucky escape with the safety truck. Bizzare race :eek:

Ghost Train

Yep another very dramatic crash for him

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JeEY-_n1tJY

acquiescefc

Anyone watch the final race from Chi-town?

Unbelievable finish. Championship win for Franchitti well deserved, if a little lucky.

triple h

acquiescefc wrote:

Anyone watch the final race from Chi-town?

Unbelievable finish. Championship win for Franchitti well deserved, if a little lucky.

Great race last night ( sunday 9th september) The last 20 laps were fecking amazing. I was on the edge of my seat. Fantastic stuff.

Michael was annoyed ( i think) with Danica at one stage for passing Dario out on the track, but she had no choice, they were bunched so close that if she lifted she would have lost spots on the track. She would have given the place back to him again anyway. But i think the real reason he was upset was because like the rest of us he really really wanted Dario to win the title.

I am happy for Dario. I wanted him to win the title.

I remember the year he drew with Montoya on points, so i was glad he won a title. Finally.