Maria de Villotta injured in testing

[andartop]

Let me put it this way Pup, my previous post was submitted the same time as yours, so you only need to look a bit higher up the order.

I visited this thread today to see if there are any more news about this tragic accident, and was happy to see there was no more inappropriate discussion about canopies and insurance costs, but sadly there were other kinds of inappropriate posts..

[Pup]

That's cool. My apologies - I was reacting to the "my tragedy is worse than hers" post.

[strad]

Look at the previously posted picture...There is nothing wrong with the way the teams set up.
It's a sad accident..that's all.

[PlatinumZealot]

Look at the previously posted picture...There is nothing wrong with the way the teams set up.
It's a sad accident..that's all.
[img]http://i.imgur.com/QQHdY.jpg[img]

Explain what you mean... because even though you post the picture there is much that can be interpreted any which way.

[PlatinumZealot]

This website displays a good graphic of the location of all that went on..

http://www.marca.com/2012/07/04/multime ... 98535.html

Now that is a dangerous setup. The Truck is so close the driving path; just waiting their to collect the car.

[marcush.]

Look at the previously posted picture...There is nothing wrong with the way the teams set up.
It's a sad accident..that's all.
[img]http://i.imgur.com/QQHdY.jpg[img]

Explain what you mean... because even though you post the picture there is much that can be interpreted any which way.

Is this the Pit slot in white tape only about two feet away from the tailgate lift ??? why would you crowd your working space like that?

[aral]

This website displays a good graphic of the location of all that went on..

http://www.marca.com/2012/07/04/multime ... 98535.html

Now that is a dangerous setup. The Truck is so close the driving path; just waiting their to collect the car.

Are you a H & S expert? The diagram is not to scale, so how can you claim that it is dangerous?


But the thread is supposed to be about Maria, so the incident should not be judged without the full facts.

Marcush. The white tape is not the "pit" otherwise, why would there be a van and a trailer blocking it?

[strad]

Alright..here's the follow up...Which one of you Monday morning quarterbacks would have driven up to do the test and said...Whoa!...I ain't driving here this isn't safe.
Move the truck you say Move the trailer,,,then you say well you gotta move the van...Where do you stop?
They have to have the truck what brought the car..they have to have a load of tools and parts..they gotta have an ambulance..at least over here you don't test without safety personnel...gotta have at least a couple of personal cars..(hers?)
You are always going to have trucks and cars around.

[PlatinumZealot]

This website displays a good graphic of the location of all that went on..

http://www.marca.com/2012/07/04/multime ... 98535.html

Now that is a dangerous setup. The Truck is so close the driving path; just waiting their to collect the car.

Are you a H & S expert? The diagram is not to scale, so how can you claim that it is dangerous?


But the thread is supposed to be about Maria, so the incident should not be judged without the full facts.

Marcush. The white tape is not the "pit" otherwise, why would there be a van and a trailer blocking it?

there is a strong possibility it is the pit, according to a few Test videos like this Caterham one at Duxford too. 2 minutes in.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cTw4iqvEbqM

And for all those asking for a "Get well" thread...looks like a proper one has to be created elsewhere because this one has already been contaminated with the likes of us techno tenacious types. No sense in trying to purify it now. The modus operandi is to keep techno-babbling until hard reported facts come out, and it will always be like that. Soo...
yeah.. That truck should have had a barrier!!

[Pup]

Apart from the liftgate being down, if it was, I see nothing wrong with where the truck is parked. It's no closer than the pit garages at the gp's, and those aren't exactly made of styrofoam, you know. It's not like they never let these cars get within 50 feet of anything. I understand they allow the mechanics to actually go up and touch the cars. Where's the outrage over that?

[Richard]

At some point the car has to approach the pit area and the pit crew push the car into the psuedo garage. That was confirmed by witnesses.

To stop a mile away would be silly, but to have the garage set up on the racing line would also be silly. Reality lies somewhere between the two, and that appears to be what happened here. As far as I recall it is also the practice used by every other team on test or shake down sessions. Some objective evidence about this would be nice (ie pics of other teams).

What is of concern is how a car in the hands of an experienced driver ended up lurching forward. None of us know if it was due to inexperience or bad design, we'll have to wait for the investigations to report on that.

Objective evidence based technical discussion please, that means less emotive posts.

edit to add - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=P7Z-XWvq ... ure=relmfu

[GrizzleBoy]

So what some possible causes then?

Not asking for what anyone thinks specifically, just plausible circumstances that could have led to the car shooting off?

Has anything ever happened like that before in F1 and what was the cause?

[PlatinumZealot]

At some point the car has to approach the pit area and the pit crew push the car into the psuedo garage. That was confirmed by witnesses.

To stop a mile away would be silly, but to have the garage set up on the racing line would also be silly. Reality lies somewhere between the two, and that appears to be what happened here. As far as I recall it is also the practice used by every other team on test or shake down sessions. Some objective evidence about this would be nice (ie pics of other teams).

What is of concern is how a car in the hands of an experienced driver ended up lurching forward. None of us know if it was due to inexperience or bad design, we'll have to wait for the investigations to report on that.

Objective evidence based technical discussion please, that means less emotive posts.

edit to add - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=P7Z-XWvq ... ure=relmfu

She drove a couple hundred km that day, if it was driver error, then maybe she was tired. But I dunno, the driver is reclined in an F1 cockpit, could her foot really drop on the gas?

[Pup]

My guess is that she made some simple mistake, then in her panic to correct it put all of her attention on the steering wheel instead of where the car was going. Technical glitch or not, why didn't she just steer out onto the runway? People do funny things in situations like that - the brain blocks out peripheral stuff in times of intense concentration, and the tunnel vision/thinking can make you completely ignore the obvious.

[element]

My guess is that she made some simple mistake, then in her panic to correct it put all of her attention on the steering wheel instead of where the car was going. Technical glitch or not, why didn't she just steer out onto the runway? People do funny things in situations like that - the brain blocks out peripheral stuff in times of intense concentration, and the tunnel vision/thinking can make you completely ignore the obvious.

People around etc... if the setup was like the picure posted before, that's really dangerous to have the lift deck of the truck just meters ahead were the car is suppose to stop. I wonder the visibility she had of the lift deck from the cockpit, she might just not seen it. Something os obvious in all this mess, the truck wasn't in safe place and it should never had the lift deck down.