11 replies to this topic

[vowcartaGP]

Last night at least 2 track marshals were hit at speed on the infield by an out of control car at Foxhall Stadium, Ipswich, in the Brisca F1 meeting final.

The driver, John Lund, #53, an 8 time world champion of Brisca F1, is rumoured to have been temporarily knocked out after what looks like a stuck throttle forced the car into the barriers. His car then swerved across the track, ploughed into a parked Mercedes course car, and richoted off collecting at least 2 course marshals which were Unfortunatly looking the other way. The car came to a halt when if hit a mini barrier. The marshals were thrown into the air in a very violent accident. Both were taken to hospital and the race was obviously stopped, but did restart again once the marshals were taken away. John Lund was supposedly fine and wasn't even taken away for medical checks.

Although the track announced the two workers were conscious and in a stable condition, I saw this accident with my own eyes and feared the worst due to the speed at which they were hit. I personally felt uneasy watching the restarted race as the meeting continued.

My concern is that the track announcers may have told us false information in the aim of keeping calm and as an excuse to continue the meeting. 2 years ago a driver, again in an F1 stock cars race at Ipswich, hit the barrier and had a burst fuel line, and he was trapped in the car for a very long time. We were told he was fine, but he later spent 2 weeks in a burns unit and was out of racing for the rest of the season.

I know I shouldn't speculate but are such "downplay the situation" announcements common elsewhere?
I am also concerned no local news outlet is yet to report the incident.

Regardless, thoughts and prayers for the marshals involved and let's hope for a speedy recovery.

[ANF]

BBC Suffolk report: http://www.bbc.com/n...uffolk-33126297

[Tapz63]

Well I am sure they downplay so kids and overly emotional people don't get too upset. And as for why it isn't in the local news I don't know, but this is what Google had for first result.

https://m.facebook.c...79804&__tn__=*s

[vowcartaGP]

It is now being reported on the BBC and the Daily Mirror.

One injured person released with stitches to head, another due to undergo surgery. Not life threatening. Miracles do happen.

[Prost1997T]

They might want to invest in a partitioning wall for the infield...

[redreni]

I'm sure the guy on the PA at the track passed on the information he had. I can understand the shock and the uneasiness you felt having witnessed such a serious thing first hand, but I'd be astonished if there was any kind of attempt to play things down so the event could continue. 

 

Personally I've got no problem with events continuing after serious or even fatal incidents once the injured parties have been taken away from the track to receive the medical attention they need. I don't regard stopping an event as a mark of respect, nor do I regard continuing, with a heavy heart, as a sign of indifference. The moment you accept that racing can't continue because somebody is fighting for his life or has been killed, it raises the question, at what point will things get back to normal? How soon is too soon?

 

I'm aware different people have different views, as do different sanctioning bodies. Indycar could have repaired the barriers and re-started the race after the accident that took Dan Wheldon's life. The ACO could have stopped and abandoned the 24 hours of Le Mans after Alan Simonsen was killed there a couple of years ago. Tragically, neither driver's interests would have been affected either way if a different decision had been reached. Was more respect paid to Wheldon than Simonsen? I don't think so; I think both were honoured in different ways.

[TimRTC]

They might want to invest in a partitioning wall for the infield...

 

It is common in all stock car (UK version) racing to have an open infield with marshals and medics station there. Used for events on a weekly basis nationwide and usually without problems. In most cases, many of the circuits are also sports fields, so adding any requirement for fencing on the infield would all but wipe the sport out at many of its non-dedicated venues.

[Prost1997T]

It is common in all stock car (UK version) racing to have an open infield with marshals and medics station there. Used for events on a weekly basis nationwide and usually without problems. In most cases, many of the circuits are also sports fields, so adding any requirement for fencing on the infield would all but wipe the sport out at many of its non-dedicated venues.

I see. If it's a stadium for other events then that makes sense, but it does leave people rather exposed if a car leaves the racing surface for whatever reason.

[vowcartaGP]

So it seems the information they announced was indeed correct according to reports, so im naturally very happy to be wrong.

Also for a car to enter the infield grass area at Foxhall is almost unheard of, there's an entire speedway track inside of the race track, with tractor tyres at strategic points, so almost all of the time there is plenty of space on the infield.

Edited by vowcartaGP, 14 June 2015 - 14:27.

[Afterburner]

Wow. Thoughts are with those involved. It's an awesome job, but things can go so very wrong in such a small amount of time... so easy to take it for granted.

Get well soon, guys.

Edited by Afterburner, 15 June 2015 - 03:25.

[chunder27]

I was at the event, and to be fair the track staff told us all we needed to know. Events were unfolding in front of them aswell as us fans and we were simply told the people injured were stable and taken to hospital.

 

John is a veteran of the sport and a multiple world champion, he will be totally mortified by this, he lost his son many years ago who was a talented driver in his own right, and no doubt will be deeply affected by this.

 

The track at Ippy is long for a short oval in the UK. It has wide bends and a speedway track on the inside with a centre green. ON that green are a few small armco lined areas for staff and around them are parked recovery vehicles, pace car etc. An F1 stock car weighs a lot and is all metal, so hardly going to be stopped much by anything.

 

What I saw was what appeared to be a stuck throttle for John, he hit the fence in the bend, rattled round it without turning left away from it, presumably as he was out.  The car then carried on down the straight in the fence and speared acros the infield hitting a car and a fork lift that was parked there.

 

Perhaps the way forward is to have a tyre wall lining the infield as there is at some tracks, some have a natural barrier anyway, some like Ippy coz of the shale track don't, ut a temp tyre wall is an idea? John then would have hit that, maybe walloped the tyres and bounced into the track or fence and then someone would have rammed his car against a wall and got out to switch it off as has happened before in these circumstances. This is a hard sport, and hits into an armco fence with 2 feet of concrete behind it are unforgiving.

 

Two nasty incidents in a few weeks is very bad for our sport. It will increase the focus. 

 

The incident was well dealt with by the track staff and people concerned, let's hope there are no Altons Towers type ramifications.

[vowcartaGP]

I was at the event, and to be fair the track staff told us all we needed to know. Events were unfolding in front of them aswell as us fans and we were simply told the people injured were stable and taken to hospital.

John is a veteran of the sport and a multiple world champion, he will be totally mortified by this, he lost his son many years ago who was a talented driver in his own right, and no doubt will be deeply affected by this.

The track at Ippy is long for a short oval in the UK. It has wide bends and a speedway track on the inside with a centre green. ON that green are a few small armco lined areas for staff and around them are parked recovery vehicles, pace car etc. An F1 stock car weighs a lot and is all metal, so hardly going to be stopped much by anything.

What I saw was what appeared to be a stuck throttle for John, he hit the fence in the bend, rattled round it without turning left away from it, presumably as he was out. The car then carried on down the straight in the fence and speared acros the infield hitting a car and a fork lift that was parked there.

Perhaps the way forward is to have a tyre wall lining the infield as there is at some tracks, some have a natural barrier anyway, some like Ippy coz of the shale track don't, ut a temp tyre wall is an idea? John then would have hit that, maybe walloped the tyres and bounced into the track or fence and then someone would have rammed his car against a wall and got out to switch it off as has happened before in these circumstances. This is a hard sport, and hits into an armco fence with 2 feet of concrete behind it are unforgiving.

Two nasty incidents in a few weeks is very bad for our sport. It will increase the focus.

The incident was well dealt with by the track staff and people concerned, let's hope there are no Altons Towers type ramifications.

Good post. I too am mortified for John and hope he gets through this. It's also the first time he'd been to Ipswich for a few years so to have such a night as he did is very sad for him. It's a long journey home up north after an incident like this.

A small tyre wall might work like the catch fences they used to have, but he was going at such speed that we could have seen flying tyres had there been one there, and that's probably just as dangerous for the staff on the infield. There is a small podium at the very centre almost, which I would think would be the safest place to stand behind in future. I too hope for no knee jerk reactions like the recent Alton towers incident.

Then again, knee jerk reactions are commonplace these days. One only has to look at World Series by Renault this season to see what I mean.