Thread: Maria De Villota Seriously Injured in testing crash

Originally Posted by Knock-on

It's true that the car did suddenly accelerate but this is normal as she was doing about 3.2k in 2and and the idle is 4.6k. Why she was in 2nd and not first is something that Maria will know as is why she didn't engage the clutch.

If the revs drop below idle, wouldn't you expect the anti-stall to kick in and automatically engage the clutch (if it were working correctly)?

Originally Posted by Dave B

From the photograph of the incident it seems astonishing that the team would have left the tail lift at head height in a working area...

I'm with you that the main concern is de Villota's heath and recovery, but just to comment on the above...Given the nature of these tests I don't think anyone would have envisioned the tail lift, or anything in that area, posing any kind of danger. This was in no way a normal pit lane where teams and drivers practice things they experience in a race situation. It was simply an area where the car would roll in slowly having done the straight line work and shut down before being pushed under the awning for work to be done.

Omg, losing an eye is absolutely frightening. Hopefully she can still live a painless normal life from now onwards.

It still amazes me that at GP's the safety car is at the end of the pitt lane often as cars exiting the pitts, could easily collide. The safety car should be hind a barrier. A car has hit a truck in the BTCC before and the truck should not have been there. In this case I think at tests like these the truck should be unloaded and moved to somewhere of less danger. From that photo it looked like a really bad crash, hope she recovers?

As for a canopy, i agree a canopy may have caused more injury. Often pilots are injured by hitting the canopy when they eject.

I am hugely saddened by the news
I hope her eye will be the only casualty of her body

Originally Posted by MAX_THRUST

It still amazes me that at GP's the safety car is at the end of the pitt lane often as cars exiting the pitts, could easily collide. The safety car should be hind a barrier. A car has hit a truck in the BTCC before and the truck should not have been there. In this case I think at tests like these the truck should be unloaded and moved to somewhere of less danger. From that photo it looked like a really bad crash, hope she recovers?

As for a canopy, i agree a canopy may have caused more injury. Often pilots are injured by hitting the canopy when they eject.

It's been suggested elsewhere that the lift was in that position so that team members could do ongoing loading and unloading of equipment. Whether or not that is true I think we will see a procedural clarification in this arena now, closing the stable door after the horse has bolted.

Having said that, I'm really sorry to hear Maria lost her eye, but grateful she is alive and stable. Here is to hoping for a quick recovery, physically and psychologically.

How on earth could that have happened? Just boggles them mind.

That she has lost an eye is obviously a tragedy, hopefully she will make a recovery as good as the situation allows.

It is possible that with the ramp being at that height, and edge one, it may not have been visible to her.

Edge on, the ramp is pretty thin.

Either way, a horrible outcome.

Originally Posted by yodasarmpit

It is possible that with the ramp being at that hight, and edge one, it may not have been visible to her.

Edge on, the ramp is pretty thin.

Either way, a horrible outcome.

There are reports that the car accelerated suddenly and she swerved to avoid the people standing in the pit area. A very unfortunate accident.

Originally Posted by Tom206wrc

I am hugely saddened by the news
I hope her eye will be the only casualty of her body

Yes, as that is bad enough. It is a shame really, but it could have been much worse, thankfully she is fine enough to be living. I hope she recovers!

Looking at that pic I'm not sure that what she hit was a lift gate of the type used to put cars on the top of the truck. If you look you can see swing out doors. Trucks with lift gates don't have swing out doors (at least not the ones that I have seen in the US). I'm thinking that was a "normal" cargo truck, one with the floor about 4 feet up or so. And it had a stationary aluminum ramp from the floor to the ground, sticking out about 7-8 feet past the back of the truck. The car then hit somewhere in the middle such that the nose went under the ramp. Then as it kept going forward, the nose funneled the ramp right at her.

At least that's how I interpret the picture, but I could be wrong.

I hope she makes as full a recovery as she can after loosing an eye. My prayers go out to her.

Originally Posted by chuck34

Looking at that pic I'm not sure that what she hit was a lift gate of the type used to put cars on the top of the truck. If you look you can see swing out doors. Trucks with lift gates don't have swing out doors (at least not the ones that I have seen in the US). I'm thinking that was a "normal" cargo truck, one with the floor about 4 feet up or so. And it had a stationary aluminum ramp from the floor to the ground, sticking out about 7-8 feet past the back of the truck. The car then hit somewhere in the middle such that the nose went under the ramp. Then as it kept going forward, the nose funneled the ramp right at her.

At least that's how I interpret the picture, but I could be wrong.

Tail lifts with swings are a common combination.

A sad day for Maria and motorsport in general. My thoughts are with here.

Shall go driving a couple of miles today again, I´m very scared!

Originally Posted by theugsquirrel

There are reports that the car accelerated suddenly and she swerved to avoid the people standing in the pit area. A very unfortunate accident.

That's a real shame, clearly not her own fault, and crashed as a result of protecting others.

Such a terrible tragedy.

The images in this news report are sad I hope her all the best.

Horrible accident, obviously they need to look at what is near the cars when they can move under their own steam. To me the talk about the ramp is irrelevant, most of an F1 car would easily fit under the back or side of a truck trailer, if the ramp had not been their the consequences could easily have been as bad or worse

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Originally Posted by N4D13

I believe that the forum hasn't been working over the last few days, so it's normal that no one said anything about this. Anyway, I'll stick to what Joe Saward said:

For the time being F1 should not be making any snap decisions. The sport should take a look at what happened and then decide whether that warrants any action.

And so nothing will ever be done in this show, which for whatever reason some keep calling sport.
Massa was a step from death, Surtees died, de Villota lost an eye and we have the F1 idiots asking for no actions, no doubt they are afraid that the 'sport' might be losing it's identity if they try to better protect the head of the drivers.
Funny how since Mosley is out the safety of races drivers seems to go nowhere better anymore, as everyone is interested only in the show.

Originally Posted by ioan

And so nothing will ever be done in this show, which for whatever reason some keep calling sport.
Massa was a step from death, Surtees died, de Villota lost an eye and we have the F1 idiots asking for no actions, no doubt they are afraid that the 'sport' might be losing it's identity if they try to better protect the head of the drivers.
Funny how since Mosley is out the safety of races drivers seems to go nowhere better anymore, as everyone is interested only in the show.

Maybe some day you'll grow up enough to realize that people aren't idiots just because they don't agree with your very opinionated view of a great many things.

Until then I suggest you take your idiot to the mirror, where you can find it easily every morning.

If you could actually follow along in an adult manner, you won't find anyone making comments that disregard the safety of any driver or crew member. When you have sudden unintended acceleration that possibilities for injury are very vast, and most likely it would be near impossible to foolproof conditions for such a freak accident.

I'm sure you might suggest that if the cars didn't have engines that sudden unintentional acceleration might not happen?

As we discussed at great length after Massa's accident, there are sensible safety precautions and there's wrapping drivers in cotton wool. It would be foolish to think you could ever completely eradicate risk from motorsport - or indeed any sport - but that doesn't mean that people don't care and it certainly doesn't mean that nothing is being done.