In the video below you will see Sebastien Bourdais suffer a titanic wreck during Indy 500 qualifying. This is about as scary looking as it gets. The car wiggles when entering the corner and then rockets straight up the track and headlong into the wall. Thankfully for Bourdais that the wall he did hit was a SAFER wall designed to absorb a ton of energy on impact. Even with the SAFER style barrier Bourdais suffered a fractured hip and a fractured pelvis. He’s under good doctor care in Indianapolis and will require surgery (he may have already had it).
Several years go Michael Schumacher was profiled on 60 Minutes and he was asked if he would ever race the Indy 500. He said that he would not because it was too dangerous. This is not to say F1 cars do not have their risks but Schumacher really did not like the idea of running as fast as the do at Indy in as much traffic as they have at Indy with those concrete walls as close as they are at Indy.
Bourdais was hauling when this wreck happened. He had averaged over 230mph and was on pace for one heck of a showing. He was clearly working the car as hard as it would go and to our knowledge there has not been anything released by the time indicating whether this was a crash caused by a mechanical failure or just an instant loss of traction from pushing the car past the envelope.
This is something that has to make you cringe. There’s no doubt that this wreck would have killed Bourdais had it not happened in this advanced era of racing. While we don’t spend a lot of time talking about IndyCar around here we do love the Indy 500 and this is another example of how vicious the place can be.
It’s pretty crazy that these cars are now running in the 230s…yikes…
O K lets look at these cars .I wouldn’t use one to go get the mail. 230 MPH and you have a ,kinda roll bar.How can the governing body justify this. Look at a full body drag car that runs 130 MPH.They have to have a multi point roll cage .ALL KINDS OF DRIVER PROTECTION IN CASE OF A ROLL OVER.This with a full body. And they go in a straight line. If by chance one of these death machines would get under another one. What is there to stop it from being in the drivers face. And face it at these speeds its all on the ragged edge . Heck even boats have bulistic canopies.And you land in the water . I get the fact that no one put a gun to the head of the driver. And I guess its cool that you can see the driver as he or she goes by at 230MPH. F1 is no different .They need roll cages .Just my thoughts
The area the driver sits in is called the tub. It is an extremely reinforced carbon fiber structure that is engineered and tested just for this type of crash.Adding tubes and steel in this case would not make the cars safer.
The cars weigh less than 1700lbs,every piece is designed to shear during a crash.
These are not F1 or Indy cars from the 60’s and 70’s where the drivers legs are in front of the front axle ,the rules that regulate theses cars are written in blood,far too much,but the built in safety of these cars is unquestionable.
Google Dr.Sid Watson and the F1 film “1”,it’s not about Indy cars but the safety applies.
These are not the flaming death machines of the 50,60 and 70’s.
If you think these cars are not safe ? Try running your family car into a wall at 200 mph
Race is a passion for anyone who loves extreme sports. Despite the fact that this is one of the expensive sports, it is traumatic. I sympathize with the driver Sebastien Bourdais for the unsuccessful ride.