New video of the nordschleife crash on 10/2

[EPilot]

Wow that is the worst track safety measures ever.

[Brendon1098]

9 and a half minutes in folks

[Roadkilled78]

Wow that is the worst track safety measures ever.

No kidding

[shake_n_bake]

I like how everybody keeps to the right, even on a racetrack they only pass on the left

I see that was the same M3 that passed them early on. Guess he just couldn't handle the power

[B_artman]

wow.. thats just not right at all! Unless there was some other signage or communication of the maintenance work that we are now aware of, this was a receipe for disaster from the get go.

[89VWdieselGolf]

what kind of car is the camera car?? He was movin!!

[SebTheDJ]

Wow, it looks as if some of the cars were going to plow into one another.

[Jan PL S6]

I was thinking that it might have just happened so they didn't have enough time to really take care of anything but then again the first thing they should put out are warning flags warning other drivers.

[elementpb]

Couldn't really tell because the camera car's exhaust is nice and loud, but I thought I heard a couple of those cars lock up the brakes trying to avoid each other. Seems like they could use a bit more warning. I'd hate to see someone on a bike catch a bit of debris and end up as a 1/4 mile smear because they can't be bothered to put a sign up more than 50 feet from the crash.

[C4 A6]

Wow that is the worst track safety measures ever.

Technically it isn't a track. It is a road first, race track second.

[Doogal]

Lololololololololololololololololololololololololo lololololololololololol

Seriously though, that Megane nearly got ploughed.

[SebTheDJ]

Actually at 10:30 you see the corvette getting hit and spun around.

[Shomegrown]

Wow that is the worst track safety measures ever.

How do you figure? This is public "tourist" driving. It's NOT closed course race driving. If you think you're hot **** and want to run 10/10, you assume responsibility for your actions. It isn't some HPDE with someone holding your hand each step of the way...

I can say with 99% certainty that the construction zone was called out at the track entrance.

[crookedarm]

mother of mary, i wish i would have read that second post before playing in anticipation.

[John Y]

It was a very busy weekend there - the weather was ludicrously good, especially by German October standards, and no doubt one, if not the last, of the year like this. I was there Saturday with friends to do my first Ring lap, and also take a ride in the Ring Taxi - which was a birthday gift to one of the guys in the group. Before we got our ride the track was closed for about an hour due to an incident, and then there was this big mess on Sunday. I did see that rust-colored Vette ("platinum cars.se") lurking around on SaturdayIn between, we did just fine. Little traffic on the first half of the course while I was being extra cautious, opened it up a little over the second half of it but there was a lot more traffic, most of it faster.

On an unrelated note, it was a great time and I look forward to going back - hopefully on a weekday, and to having a little more experience and confidence to open it up. The Ring Taxi ride in the M3 was astonishingly impressive. Phenomenal grip and security in the corners.

[Swapped6n]

Theyre pretty good usually about letting everyone know where there is construction and blockages on the track.

Huge display at the gates show this.

Also, they put signs that warn of maintenance crews working xxx meters down the track, so you normally have plenty of time to slow down.


But yea as some one above mentioned, this is an open driving day: Not an official race day.

[woodrowstar]

what kind of car is the camera car?? He was movin!!

e30

[EPilot]

How do you figure? This is public "tourist" driving. It's NOT closed course race driving. If you think you're hot **** and want to run 10/10, you assume responsibility for your actions. It isn't some HPDE with someone holding your hand each step of the way...

I can say with 99% certainty that the construction zone was called out at the track entrance.

Let me refer to this.
http://bridgetogantry.com/2/index.ph...&Itemid=300088

And here are more pictures of the aftermath.



http://bridgetogantry.com/2/index.ph...&Itemid=300088

[EPilot]

Theyre pretty good usually about letting everyone know where there is construction and blockages on the track.

Huge display at the gates show this.

Also, they put signs that warn of maintenance crews working xxx meters down the track, so you normally have plenty of time to slow down.

They placed the construction slow sign close to the racing line, in a blind spot on one of the fastest bends on the whole track.

[VdubChaos]

What's wrong?

It's racing, it's a dangerous sport. Your car and life is ALWAYS on the line.

I thought this was common sense?

[MCTB]

9 and a half minutes in folks

Thanks for the heads up. Seriously, they cannot afford to put up yellow lights at corners or anything like that?

[klaxed]

e30

Sounded nice. Guy driving was moving right along. Not too shabby at hanging it sideways too.

[C4 A6]

How do you figure? This is public "tourist" driving. It's NOT closed course race driving. If you think you're hot **** and want to run 10/10, you assume responsibility for your actions. It isn't some HPDE with someone holding your hand each step of the way...

I can say with 99% certainty that the construction zone was called out at the track entrance.

I win.

[duke of chucchinchilla]

Skip to 11:48 in the OP video for a little power slide action.


For those who haven't seen it, this is what racers approaching the construction zone saw (skip to :25). It doesn't matter if drivers were given a warning before leaving, the construction zone was still marked improperly.

[Shomegrown]

They placed the construction slow sign close to the racing line, in a blind spot on one of the fastest bends on the whole track.

"Racing line"?

It's not a closed course racing session. Unfortunately, many people come to "tourist" driving sessions thinking it is.

Instead of a construction zone, it could have just as easily been a downed motorcyclist lying in the middle of the road after a crash. I've seen it. It could have also been a 50+ foot tourbus driving 40 mph. I've seen that too. Tourist driving is not closed course, you never know what you're going to find after any of the countless blind corners. You MUST drive in a way to keep your car under control for the unexpected.

This is not the place to be driving your ultra high performance car at 10/10. Not on one of the busiest weekends of the year. Not while there are active construction zones.

If you can't read the big flashing signs, you shouldn't be on the track. Lack of English translation is no excuse.

[Cousin Eddie]

Wow, it looks as if some of the cars were going to plow into one another.

They did. Check 10:30 in the video. Absolutely ridiculous. All the B.S. going on there as of late and then add this fuel to the fire. It'll be shut down in the next couple years unfortunately. Idiots combined with a free-for-all and lack of any proper control.

[Shomegrown]

They did. Check 10:30 in the video. Absolutely ridiculous. All the B.S. going on there as of late and then add this fuel to the fire. It'll be shut down in the next couple years unfortunately. Idiots combined with a free-for-all and lack of any proper control.

Top Gear and Grand Turismo will be the rise and fall of public driving at the Nordschleife. It's a shame, really.

[Cousin Eddie]

Top Gear and Grand Turismo will be the rise and fall of public driving at the Nordschleife. It's a shame, really.

This is true. I'd almost rather lose the chance of me ever driving it to have it remain available for the many race events.

[Tiny4cyl]

alalalala oooolalalal eeeeyiyiyiyiy

[2.0T_Convert]

It seems silly be to say just because it's an open free for all day that caution doesn't need any heed.

[K.Lagan]

alalalala oooolalalal eeeeyiyiyiyiy

Ha ! Typical surprised french folks.

I liked the "oh putaaaaain de meeeeeerde de merde de merde de merde, putain comme c'est violent !" with a weird Swiss accent a little bit more.

Anyway, to refrain what was said here, the signals sucked bad for a racetrack ... You would expect something a little bit more visible than a hidden sign on the side.

[C4 A6]

Top Gear and Grand Turismo will be the rise and fall of public driving at the Nordschleife. It's a shame, really.

Seriously, I guarantee that 9/10ths of the tourist population that drives on Nordschleife has never been on an actual race track before and they think just because they can do it on Forza 3 or GT5 in a Viper ACR that they can do it in a rented M3. Unfortunately since (at present time) it is still a public road, they can't really shut it down to tourists without also closing it to general traffic, though I'd like to see them implement some sort of toll system that gives any residents in the area swipe cards to get on and then tourists MUST take a 2hr learning course that covers the basics of DRIVING

[Cubster]

Ugh...can't see at work.

[Lupo TDI]

I don't think the signal position sucked per se (ie not far enough away), but I think one or two drivers saw it and reacted bad and touched each other. Add heavy traffic to that and there you have the mess we're seeing. Just imagine driving the same trac portion without the accident; you wouldn't have any problem getting through the construction zone.


Serious question: Why didn't anyone in the first vid get out of their car and go signal the coming cars to slow down? Is it even allowed?

[MrRoboto]

"Racing line"?

It's not a closed course racing session. Unfortunately, many people come to "tourist" driving sessions thinking it is.

Instead of a construction zone, it could have just as easily been a downed motorcyclist lying in the middle of the road after a crash. I've seen it. It could have also been a 50+ foot tourbus driving 40 mph. I've seen that too. Tourist driving is not closed course, you never know what you're going to find after any of the countless blind corners. You MUST drive in a way to keep your car under control for the unexpected.

This is not the place to be driving your ultra high performance car at 10/10. Not on one of the busiest weekends of the year. Not while there are active construction zones.

If you can't read the big flashing signs, you shouldn't be on the track. Lack of English translation is no excuse.

Albeit, when it is in such a tight spot, even if you're driving at 5/10ths, you could probably still get into an accident when cars are bunched up like that. All it takes is just one sometimes.

I just think it doesn't take much extra effort to give warnings at least 500m to 1km ahead of the construction zone. They do that prodigiously on the Autobahn, don't know why they can't do that here.