Start into the vln season

Hasnt every single driver in the race there had a first race? How do you get race experiance there without having your first race in which you will not be as experianced.

 

When you already own an international b license you only need to visit a course with an official instructor on the Nordschleife. Jann did this and drove 18 laps in a Suzuki Swift. I guess he also did some laps on friday and maybe in the qualifying session with the Nissan before the race started.

 

You can race in the lower RCN class and then do a vln Training to get licence grade B. With that you can drice all vln cars of the SP3t class and lower. You then need to finish at least 3 races in the Vln within the top 50% of your class to achieve grade A, which I have. And you need to have grade A to drive the really fast cars including the GT3.

 

I hope they don't ban those cars, or worse - nerf the track.
One of the biggest appeals for the Ring is it's danger.

 

Drivers accepting the risks is enough ( the IOM TT proves that) but you just can't kill and injure spectators.

The track may have FIA fences but the chance of an aeroplane crash is so much higher than at other tracks. Playing devils advocate, the Nordschleife is far from original, it's been modified plenty of times in the past.

 

Just ban the spectators standing/sitting on corner exits and other risky parts. How brainstormy is that.

 

It's a 15mile lap, how do you propose to keep them out?

The IOM TT is alowed to continue as year after year it's the riders that die. If spectators were involved things would change rather quickly.

FWIW I think this time GT3s will continue to run at the Nordschleife, corrective action will involve fencing changes and attempts at spectator management. If it happens again the the jury's out.

 

Just put a second fence there to create a buffer zone. Place some cameras which can be accessed by the marshalls/security in case someone goes over them. It might be 'simple' but it would avoid another scene like this.

 

I have absolutely no idea how somebody can propose just "banning the spectators from part xy". Do you want a completely closed race track where some rich kids can burn money, with the public shut out!? Racing series like the VLN would be absolutely pointless when nobody gets entertained. I'd rather ban GT cars - as it was done with F1 and Group C etc. - and not the spectators. You do not need GT cars to have exciting races.

 

It's actually a miracle that they don't die considering where they are standing

 

Not sure but think about it, those GT3 races held over at the Schleife (VLN + 24H race) attract a lot of people. Not sure how much the fee is to go watch the race but think about how much money they get from it.
GT3 racing is exciting, it attracts a lot of people which is good for the track. 'banning' or not allowing people to stand in extreme dangerous spots isn't that bad of an idea. It isn't like they're not allowed to stand anywhere. Just a few spots.
However, I still think creating buffer zones (with 2 rows of fences) would be the best. Crashes like this might still occur but it would reduce the chance of an outcome like this significantly.

 

easiest solution would be to get the tire barrier closer to the catch fence. (not an expert though)

 

VLN: 15€ if you want to visit the pitlane, driver paddock and the grandstands. If you want to watch the race at a certain point around the Nordschleife you don't need to pay.
24H: all days (thursday-sunday) 64€, weekend ticket (friday-sunday) 57€, only one day 24-35€

 

A motorbike and rider make a much smaller projectile compared to a car though, and there's far less energy involved.

If there's anything it's surprising only 3 people were involved. The result if that spectator area had been crowded doesn't bear thinking about.

 

No two accidents are the same. I think in a lot of cases having the barrier actually closer to the track can be better, however it depends on the accident. Having the barrier close to the track makes an impact a certainty, however its often a much softer hit as much of the energy of the crash is dissipated as it bounces down the barrier, there is no "sudden stop" which are the accidents which often cause the most concern.

When a car goes off at a modern circuit, it often connects with a barrier which is a distance away, and this barrier can be as much as a 90 degree angle of impact, in other words, head first. Think of a crash on an oval, and for the moment ignore the speeds of 200mph (which is very rare in european racing), but the majority of incidents on ovals involve a car connecting with a barrier, then scraping to a halt. This has many advantages and of course disadvantages. The main disadvantage is for other racers as they will have to avoid the said car which is having the crash, but for the car which is having the incident, its often the "best way" to crash (if there is such a thing). Its a trade off between the size of run off areas, having a narrow angle of impact and other factors I haven't thought of... oh and speed!

 

Why isn't there such a sound when listening to AC-replay-videos like in your video? This would be cool...

 

PhenOm, I agree with you regarding the fences and stuff and don't get me wrong: I'm not saying that wouldn't be a sufficient solution.

Besides that, I strongly disagree with the thesis that the GT3/4 cars are responsible for people spectating. It just isn't logical, as that would rise the question why people still visit the Nordschleife after F1 was banned, why do they still visit after Group C was banned?

It is because the fascination of racing in my eyes is only weakly correlated to the performance of the cars and this is even more true if the track itself is the fascination.

Especially the 24h race in my eyes has reached a point were many spectators go there for the party and stuff and after a short ****storm, nobody would bat an eye if they watch GT cars going around corners at speed x or touring cars at speed x minus a bit.

I must be honest and say that my reservation towards the GT cars on the Nordschleife are not primarily related to safety, but to other things like cost effectiveness, competitiveness of small private teams and thing like that.

 

It's impossible, but i meant more like, they sign a paper that if they die on a specific part of the track it's not organizers responsibility.

 

The savest way to race would be not to race. And of course a spectator standing behind a thin fence at a very dangerous racetrack isn't 100% save too. Of course it is a tragedy what happened but so is the latest planecrash in the Alpes although flying is the savest way to travel.
How often did such an accident occur at the Flugplatz yet and how high is the chance that this accident will happen again in the future at exactly the same place?
The sad truth is that life is never secure. Maybe there exists something like "fate" or"destiny"...
You can minimize the chance that a spectator might get hurt or die by only racing on designed racetracks with huge outletzones putting the spectators as far away from the action as possible. But even then you are not 100 % save.
My condolences to the family of the killed spectator.

 

Mike, I am sure everybody knows that. But the world went on from the 60s and we learned that drawing reasonable (!) conclusions out of incidents made stuff better.