Gt3 cars unbanned at nordschleife, however...

Im aware of that. No further butchering of the circuit.

 

This is another sad effect of current world mentality.

When I was a kid I rode my bycicles all day without wearing a helmet, and here I am safe and sound. None of my friends had helmets, none of them had any head injuries. Bruises and scrapes were daily business though, but it was part of growing up. Nowawadays a kid gets a bruise, we need an evac chopper. And everyone wears those dorky helmets riding their city bikes at a whopping 20 kmh.

Look at the other thread where someone is complaining that an anonymous internet troll took the name of the German pilot... oversensitive people.

Motorsports are being killed by this kind of people.

I work for a company that has some manufacturing capabilities, everything happens in a well controlled environment, any metal shavings are safely kept within the CNC machines. Still, safety glasses are a must even when I go down to the production facility for 2 minutes. You know, maybe a spec of dust could get in my eye and I would sue the company for stray metal shaving from outer space. Some dude was handling a considerable load and tripped over a pallet injuring his arm requiring 2 weeks of medical care and not much more. Next thing you know we are having a 20 minute presentation with incident location photos, diagrams and avoiding measures. The dude got careless and did not watch his step. Tell him to watch hist step, his safety is his responsibility!!! It's common fking sense. Not put 25 more safety measures in place that everyone must keep in mind unless they want to get fined.

Same thing goes for motorsports. Everyone wants to be in the unsafest possible spot of the track. And the best solution is to just modify the track, the cars, the rules, everything, killing the sport. Instead of just telling people to stay away from those spots unless they want to get maimed or killed under their own accord. I fail to understand how IoM still exists... I am afraid they will cancel it each year but it is the only sport that will give me shivers and cold sweats even when watching youtube videos of it. That is why motorsports exist isn't it? It is all the gear, and talent, but courage and a sense of danger is just as much part of the damn picture.

It's about the elimination of natural selection with humans. In the long run that is a very bad idea. Not for physical health reasons, like it used to be before the technological era, but because too many people who are unfit up between the ears get to reproduce.

 

Lets remeber this is not about human safety at all, this is about $$$ and people covering their arse. That's all OHS is and thanks to lawyers a simple enter at your own risk does not suffice these days

 

@mistery I dont know how to respond to this and I probably shouldnt but ...

Spoiler: ....COME OONN ...

I really hope you are exaggerating just to make a point, otherwise...

Bikes. Ok you and your friends were lucky, smart or whatever you want to call it.
Wanna bring that argument to the thousands of parents who saw their kids have their skulls smashed?
Wanna tell them if their kids were stupid enough to fall or get run over by a car, the world is a better place without them?

I am guessing you dont drive a motorcycle but you'd probably be one of those guys wearing shorts and flip flops and the helmet on your elbow, right? Because if you're stupid enough to fall we are better off without you, right?

Now motorsports.
All those guys that crashed AND BURNED during the 60s because the fuel tank was just a metal box were stupid right?
I mean they knew they would burn and still went over the limit.
Nowadays, helmets, safety harnesses, fireproof suits ... just dont crash idjits, simple logic.... You are ruining the spectacle for all of us that are watching in the safety of our couch....

 

Tbh, @mistery is right. People nowadays are oversensitive. We can't handle **** anymore. The smallest thing will make is cry like a little baby and start demanding stuff. We're always pointing fingers to other people/things that caused something while it was our own damn fault.
People need to start taking responsibility for their own actions. Make the dangerous spots non-spectator spots and you'll solve a lot of problems on the schleife. But nooooo, that's too hard to do or figure out.
And what he says about his company, it's what happens daily. You should know how many people sue their boss/company for millions while they did something completely stupid themselves.

 

Why to make everything so damn difficult? Just sell photographer's "safety vest" as a ticket to the track and no one will get hurt.

 

It's not really anyone's fault the Nissan took off and killed a spectator. With hindsight you should have prohibited access to that specific spectator spot, but that was a very freak accident where everything went as bad as it could (perfect combination of tire stacks, cambered grass hill and distance to the FIA fencing). I would not have stood there as a spectator anyways......but some people need some else to think for them.

The current actions are just not thought through. Imagine sitting in a GT3 car, that is shakey and bumpy and you have to focus on your hard to read speedo to not go over 200kph (or 250 at Döttinger). "Ohh sorry, I crashed into the little Fiesta because I was looking at my speedo to not get penalised" There is a massively increased potential for crashes by this overreaction.

Racing car drivers put themselves under a lot of risk and it is accepted and needs to be accepted that drivers can get hurt while racing. Jann left the car being shaken up, but completely unhurt after a massive shunt. Improve spectator areas and block access to critical places at the outsides of turns, that's enough. Enforce the new rule by additional marshals especially for that job (maybe even the police?) and you are fine.

After all, the improved performance of GT3 cars comes from Aero and Tires, not top speed. If anything, the cars are being pushed more to the ground at those spots than ever before......

 

true, I was a bit excited about the chicanes but cars have different grip levels on the same lap because there are many variables and drivers can't always know what the other is going to do. That was my main point. Sorry I got hyped up when someone mentioned chicanes. If you've seen what some of the Tilke tracks have done to F1...

*I say some because Malaysia is a really good circuit.

 

I completely agree with Mistery, although wearing a helmet when on a bike is almost certainly a sensible decision. Unfortunately, Health & Safety laws in this country are getting ridiculous. It won't be long before everyone is forced to provide a risk assessment and method statement every time that they go to the toilet!!

 

Nice use of the meme. The motorcycle in my avatar image was the love of my life for 2 solid years. I did not ride it from my couch. That is exactly WHY watching IoM videos gives me shivers. I know the cornering speeds I felt safe at and the ones that made me uncomfortable. IoM riders blast around country roads about 15 levels above my comfort.

People who had their children hurt are not stupid. People who were burned alive in their cars through motorsports history are not stupid. People who over complicate simple things are stupid. If I wear a bike helmet and I get run over by a car, that helmet will not be of great help, unless its a downhill, offroad one covering your head completely even protecting your chin like a motorcycle helmet. That would still leave me with a crushed body. If you tell yourself otherwise you are kidding yourself. I am not a professional cyclist. The chances of me smashing my head on my bicycle runs are slim to none. I rode my motor bike knowing the risks. I tried to ride accordingly to ensure I got to ride it the next day as well. I do the same with everything else. There is always a risk/reward ratio. Obviously that is not well known to children but children are puffy little bastards capable of taking a lot more abuse than a grown man can, especially when riding a childrens bike. I know, because I've been there, I've been that kid who fell, plenty times.

The guy who tripped and fell at work is not stupid. He got careless. There is a big difference. And it was just an example to illustrate how strong safety advocates can take something small and turn it into a big safety improving undertaking, which basically means the use of extra equipment only so we don't get... careless. 99% of the time those measures get in the way of productivity not to mention extra costs for the company into things everybody resents. That remaining 1% you can't rule out unless you stay at home in bubble wrapping hoping the roof will not cave in.

I would recommend you stop assuming things about people you don't know by the way. Calling me a couch racer is really hurtful and there should be a law prohibiting people doing this over the internet. See? That is me, being an oversensitive pansy. Is it nice?

But enough about this. Back to how safety is turning sports into a much nicer passtime from the safety of our couches. All the technology. All the skill and all the commitment. Killed by rules. To save tires, fuel, the environment, the nice ambient audio track, trackside grass and railings, and obviously lives.

 

Bike helmets are a must and I'm surprised it's not a legal requirement. Anywhere cars and cycles are in close proximity its a recipe for disaster.

However, I firmly believe there is a fine line between protection & prevention and knee jerk reaction. It is easy to get caught up in hysteria surrounding tragedy.

But let's not forget that somebody went to a sporting event for a nice day out and died as a direct result of the sport he went to watch. I feel for him and his nearest and dearest. I'm also glad that the gt3 racing will continue at this famous circuit.

 

There has to be an acceptable level of risk involved, more so for the drivers, less so for the spectators. Even as a spectator, I acknowledge that something awful could happen which means that I could be hurt or worse at a motorsport event, I accept that, as that's why on the back of our (UK) tickets it states "motorsport is dangerous" and you attend at your own free will and they aren't liable for injuries and all that jazz.

A friend of mine won't stand at Deer's Leap at Oulton Park because he doesn't feel safe, however I will happily stand there. These things are personal choices. This kind of behaviour is most required at things like rally events. I've only actually been to two of them, but on each occasion I made sure I was well out of the firing line for any cars which might lose control.

 

My question: how are they going to enforce speed limits? Articles have mentioned "a GPS system" but that is so vague. What, are they going to have marshals standing with speed guns for 24 hours monitoring the cars to see if they all slow down at the proper time? And the reduced speeds happen in areas where there isn't necessarily heavy braking...these new implementations might cause unforeseen problems. I agree with what several drivers suggested, just restrict fan areas. The problem was with a car set-up IMHO, a low-aero car on the Ring...notice none of these problems happened when there were cars with less power and higher cornering df and aero grip! Frankly, the real changes that need to be adopted are adjustments to how low-aero cars are set-up. Restrictions need to be in place for those cars so they are not a safety hazard, lifting BOP restrictions in other areas to make the cars competitive with the more aero efficient cars...which all happen to be German it seems .

There should be no track changes. The Ring is a national treasure, changes ruin history. Cars racing there need to be high-aero anyway, why they let high power low aero cars race there is beyond me. Regulations are at fault, not a track...Hell, why don't they behave like F1 did...the track is too dangerous for high powered cars without efficient aero, just restrict them or don't drive them there. It might be picking on Nissan, but their car was at fault, blaming the track seems stupid IMHO, especially when there were literally dozens and dozens of other cars of the same class that were FINE on the Nurburgring. Cars can be easily adapted, tracks...let's bankrupt the local economy with expensive track changes!

 

Here`s something that ford are doing in the auto speed control on public roads.

Ford Introduces Cars That Can Recognize and Obey Speed Limit Signs


"No more speeding tickets! Ford's new S-Max detects speed cameras to slow you down and avoid fines

• Device, called Intelligent Speed Limiter comes in the new S-Max model
• Drivers set a maximum speed using controls on the steering wheel
• Cameras detect road signs and speed cameras so the car be slowed down
• This is done by restricting the amount of fuel supplied to the engine
• System can also detect people and make the car do an emergency stop"

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/sciencet...x-detects-speed-cameras-slow-avoid-fines.html

quote from the daily mail...

To me race cars need to race on race tracks not nords.....

Nords ok to do as a test track or driving Works prepared cars , seeing camber`s and surface`s I find try to punish me than help me lol

Aero doesn't come into play at certain speeds, maybe that's why they roll with low aero, and track relies to much on mechanical grip.
Hence "Leap frog syndrome".

speaking of aero, maybe once again they might have a look at aircraft industry
automatic spoilerons system for GT2/3 cars.
(take some of the load off the front end when braking at high speed)

as well all know break points will differ @ higher speeds, better braking systems or speed limits need to be introduced.
To stop the "Leap frog syndrome". j/k

 

natural selection is actually the problem,
in the history it eliminated many of the "weaker" humans, irresponsible, etc.
but not that everything is so safe ( or at least trying to) .. these people survive , and then project their thoughts into the world, and that's how it's all going down the hill

 

I know I won't ever buy such car, these kind of cars are receipt to distaster,
the check speed for you, they keep you in your lane, they stop for you ,...etc

so you are really just a passenger at that point , not concentrating on anything , totally loosing all your driving skills

there will be a day when you will have to drive a car that doens't have any of these, and you will crash, becasue you will no longer understnad how to brake, avoid obstacle, etc

 

Then humans will be banned from driving cars...

 

robots racing cars would be interesting. But robots spectating.... thats a whole other level.

 

Passivity is the death of motoring.

 

just what I see on the roads in US, most people using automatic transmisison and they won't be able to drive manual,
plus driving auto and not having to use both legs and right hand that often gives them more time to play with their iPhones ... :/