Newey's accident in Le Mans (unhurt)

[Adam43]

Newey didn't reply to that: http://www.formula1.com/race/news/4915/765.html
It was, of course, a joke from Ron. I'm not sure "statement" describes it properly.

[PeterMorley]

Originally Posted by AdamAshmore

Newey didn't reply to that: http://www.formula1.com/race/news/4915/765.html
It was, of course, a joke from Ron. I'm not sure "statement" describes it properly.

A joke from Ronzo - "statement" could not describe that properly, miracle maybe?

[Red Baron]

Originally Posted by AdamAshmore

Quick question, was the accident at Goodwood Newey's fault and a result of reckless driving? !

I only caught the incident on the screen but I don't think it was a result of reckless driving; just a racing incident.

Not sure why people are questioning his ability or his right to race historic cars. They were his cars that he destroyed and whilst it is a shame, they will be repaired.

Franchitti crashed someone elses car on the outlap following the red flag for Neweys incident and yet no one questions his ability or right

(I'm not questioning Franchitti either, by the way. Just making a comparison)

Rosie

[fangio]

Peter Morley makes it look like Historic racing results in lot of Hstori cars getting damaged or destroyed.
None of this is true and Newey's second acident damaged the E-type but it was certainly not destroyed.
When you say we should preserve these cars, that is exactely what we are doing; the best way to preserve a Histoic racing car is Racing it!

There are MANY very professional (sometimes wealthy) racing drivers in these races who race their cars for their own fun and the many people who never had the chance to see a 250F or GT 40 being raced in their time.
as owners of these Historic cars we have the obligation to show them to the thousands of enthousiasts in their best form - on a Racing circuit.

The actual number of cars being damaged is absolutely minimal and we all try very hard not to damage them!

[PeterMorley]

Originally Posted by fangio

Peter Morley makes it look like Historic racing results in lot of Hstori cars getting damaged or destroyed.
None of this is true and Newey's second acident damaged the E-type but it was certainly not destroyed.
When you say we should preserve these cars, that is exactely what we are doing; the best way to preserve a Histoic racing car is Racing it!

There are MANY very professional (sometimes wealthy) racing drivers in these races who race their cars for their own fun and the many people who never had the chance to see a 250F or GT 40 being raced in their time.
as owners of these Historic cars we have the obligation to show them to the thousands of enthousiasts in their best form - on a Racing circuit.

The actual number of cars being damaged is absolutely minimal and we all try very hard not to damage them!

I agree there aren't loads of cars being destroyed, but there do seem to be more big accidents than in the past - maybe that is because race coverage is so much better, or is it because more people are trying harder and/or racing on faster circuits (like Le-Mans & Goodwood), or modern safety fences etc. are inappropriate?

Two big accidents close together must be some kind of warning, or extreme bad luck, and I believe Franchitti wasn't able to race in his next professional event, that might have an effect on the availability of the star drivers in the future.

I personally feel that even road car accidents should be avoided, and don't believe that modern 'safety' devices fitted to cars help - a lot of people seem to think that an accident is safe rather than something to be avoided.

Given their design life it is amazing that so many cars have lasted so long, and cars are still being found and restored so the overall number of working historic race cars must still be increasing.

I've had some of my cars damaged racing - the most painful incident happening within sight of the start line (another was before the start line even!), something like 0-10grand in a standing quarter!

It is of course upto the owner to do what he wants with a car, but if he was collecting paintings I wonder what people would do if he hung a masterpiece over the open fire in his living room, or updated the picture in some way?

Neil Corner used to say that he was just a temporary custodian, the car would move on to someone else after his time, he was just looking after it temporarily and it was his responsibility to do so as carefully as possible.

[henk4]

Originally Posted by fangio

Peter Morley makes it look like Historic racing results in lot of Hstori cars getting damaged or destroyed.
None of this is true and Newey's second acident damaged the E-type but it was certainly not destroyed.
When you say we should preserve these cars, that is exactely what we are doing; the best way to preserve a Histoic racing car is Racing it!

There are MANY very professional (sometimes wealthy) racing drivers in these races who race their cars for their own fun and the many people who never had the chance to see a 250F or GT 40 being raced in their time.
as owners of these Historic cars we have the obligation to show them to the thousands of enthousiasts in their best form - on a Racing circuit.

The actual number of cars being damaged is absolutely minimal and we all try very hard not to damage them!

I don't think the issue of historic racing as such was ever questioned. It indeed is the only way to see and even more hear superb racing cars. And I would fully support the view that capable drivers are able to provide us with this golden opportunity. Nevertheless it hurts to see valuable cars being damaged (not to speak of human injury or even death) and that should be controlled as much as possible. Although I think the subject of this thread got a bit too perosnalised on the driving capacities of one single person, even if also references were made to one "South American" driver, there should be some mechanism/regulation or whatever to point out to "accident-prone" drivers that they might better get involved in the Toyota Yaris cup or similar events.
There is also the issue of competitivenss in the lower ranges of the field. A couple of years ago I spoke with an American driver who brought a very valuable and freshly and painstakingly restored Cobra Daytona Coupe to the Zolder track and he was almost scared to death with the way the smaller GT cars were buzzing all around him. He decided to drive a careful race and not to mix in with the Lotus Elans that he surely could have taken on.

[jamesholland]

Originally Posted by henk4

I don't think the issue of historic racing as such was ever questioned. It indeed is the only way to see and even more hear superb racing cars. And I would fully support the view that capable drivers are able to provide us with this golden opportunity. Nevertheless it hurts to see valuable cars being damaged (not to speak of human injury or even death) and that should be controlled as much as possible. Although I think the subject of this thread got a bit too perosnalised on the driving capacities of one single person, even if also references were made to one "South American" driver, there should be some mechanism/regulation or whatever to point out to "accident-prone" drivers that they might better get involved in the Toyota Yaris cup or similar events.
There is also the issue of competitivenss in the lower ranges of the field. A couple of years ago I spoke with an American driver who brought a very valuable and freshly and painstakingly restored Cobra Daytona Coupe to the Zolder track and he was almost scared to death with the way the smaller GT cars were buzzing all around him. He decided to drive a careful race and not to mix in with the Lotus Elans that he surely could have taken on.

As I mentioned in an earlier posting The Clerk of The Course's briefing was very clear that bad driving would not be tolerated and our driving records would be suitably marked if found guilty. That certainly made me appreciate the situation - however I do wonder if the threat has ever been carried out as it would appear there are some drivers who continue to have rather more accidents than the norm.
It also appears that the higher profile races have a worse accident record. Perhaps the higher proportion of ordinary owner/drivers in the more ordinary categories ensures a keener sense of staying out of trouble. Of course racing accidents happen but it does sometimes appear there is a sense of carefree abandon in certain areas.
While I love seeing historic racing cars being driven hard it is up to us to keep our own house in order rather than the safety legislators doing it for us.

[John Turner]

As the ensuing posts have moved in a completely new and interesting direction, I have split them off and set up a new thread, here:-

http://tentenths.com/forum/showthread.php?t=88406