Sad Day at Le Mans

tpweiss9953 · tpweiss9953's Garage

Rest in Peace Simonsen!

Joe Bob · Joe Bob's Garage

Bummer, mechanical issue?

MikeD930 · MikeD930's Garage

No...it did not look like a mechanical failure. Here's a vid.

24H Le Mans 2013 A. Simonsen (Aston Martin) Fatal Crash R.I.P. - YouTube

God speed Simonsen. I agree it's a sad day.

andy_uranium · 06-22-2013, 02:28 PM

Always sad when these accidents happen. The risks of racing are real, even with all the safety measures, drivers are still putting their lives on the line every time they put on a helmet.

matt f · 06-22-2013, 02:37 PM

Looks like he got over the curbing, corrected, and right rear caught the end of the curbing and spit him into the Armco.

R.I.P. and condolences to his family.

trekkor · 06-22-2013, 07:36 PM

It had been raining.

Car looked squirrely up until he overcorrected.

This has turned into a 24 hour sprint race.
The teams are driving on the edge the whole time.
There was a decent amount of rain and most teams stayed out on slicks anyway to avoid the stop their competitors weren't taking.

KT

bugmeat · 06-23-2013, 02:57 PM

what speed do you think he was going when he crashed?

tpweiss9953 · tpweiss9953's Garage

I believe they go into that corner at 105mph.

rattlsnak · rattlsnak's Garage

Look ahead in the video. The car in front of him slid around as well, you can see the tire smoke. I'm thinking there was something slimy on the track also.

Brad394 · Brad394's Garage

They will be rethinking all that purdy blue and yellow paint on the outside of the race surface. I see his left rear break loose on the blue paint and as soon as car is on race line (drier and grippy) car shoots to left (wheel turned to correct slide I would guess).

Sad no matter what ... just a sad sad thing to happen

tazzieman · tazzieman's Garage

Looks to me like he sensed an incident ahead (brake lights & smoke @12s), instinctively reacted but couldn't catch the twitch. The blue painted area probably didn't help.

This slip-grip analysis looks plausible http://youtu.be/uDm5TUt0S5E

Jerome74911S · 06-23-2013, 05:25 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by trekkor

It had been raining.

Car looked squirrely up until he overcorrected.

This has turned into a 24 hour sprint race.
The teams are driving on the edge the whole time.
There was a decent amount of rain and most teams stayed out on slicks anyway to avoid the stop their competitors weren't taking.

KT

The above sums it up for me. At some point when drivers' lives are devalued in the interest of winning, it's no longer a sport, and no longer interesting.