9 replies to this topic

[ReynardDave]

Any details on this?



Apologies if it's been discussed before or if this is the wrong place for it.

[Collombin]

It's a pretty horrific fatal accident, that of Takashi Yokoyama in an F3 race at Fuji in October 1997.

He ran into the back of another car, apparently having failed to notice that the yellow flags were out, and the car was destroyed when it hit the gantry above.

[lustigson]

Is that picture for real? I've seen racing cars fly, but this is unbelievable. Did the guy survive? Did the guys on the pit wall survive?

[Lost Boys]

I have various pictures of this and on the computer at home, a mpeg feed of the aftermath of the crash. Also a picture of Yokoyama out of the cockpit, on the track. Sadly he didn't survive.

Tom Coronel (now of WTCC fame) crashed his car quite heavily which brought out the safety car. The train was proceeding down the pit straight and Yokoyama, towards the back either didn't know how slow the rest of the field was moving, or was distracted in whatever way, didn't slow down. He hit the back of another car at around about 130mph and it launched him up, over and into the timing bridge over the start / finish line (about 5 metres in the air)
The car was destroyed and Yokoyama didn't survive the impact.

The last I knew, it was still in the Tokyo courts around 2003.

A terrible, terrible crash.

[Rob Semmeling]

Full details are at the Motorsport Memorial website:

http://www.motorspor...php?db=ct&n=667

A truely tragic accident that defies belief...

[ReynardDave]

Thanks for info on this terrible accident.

[lustigson]

Thanks, LB.

I see this crash happened in 1997? It shows that reality is sometimes as horrible as fantasy. It reminds me of that terrible movie with Mick Jagger, Freejack, from 1992.

[eldougo]

Indeed

If he ran into a car where is that car,the one in front still has it rear wing so it could not have been it,It still puzzels me that a car could get so much height with the heavy end at the top,Grevity sure has not kicked in yet.It just does not seem real to me

[2F-001]

Presumably a wheel-to-wheel contact to generate that altitude rather than a nose-into-rear-of car contact. But the impacted car might be out-of-shot right perhaps, or the pile seen directly below the airborne car in the picture which doesn't look too healthy.

[eldougo]

2F-001.

I know what you saying ,however there on sign of a car to the right in that dust.And in the time the car got to that hight, the car he hit should be seen in the photo? .( even if a smouldering wreck).