# Ring Taxi in 8-car crash



## fermat1313 (Jan 23, 2010)

pharding said:


> That unending stream of run on sentences and no capitalization is absolutely horrible to try and read. I have no idea why someone would waste time putting their thoughts together and then make it impossible to read.


Pedantic much? His post added more information and insight than most posts on this thread, and all you can do is complain about his writing style? Personally I feel his comments deserve more than this. I don't necessarily agree with all of his analysis and conclusions, but seriously, we don't need the grammar police in here.


----------



## iwantone (Jun 2, 2005)

Dont know if you guys saw this video. For the impatient ones, skip forward to just under 10 minutes..

http://jalopnik.com/5846834/watch-the-scary-nurburgring-crash-as-it-happens


----------



## cwsqbm (Aug 4, 2004)

Nefilim said:


> * nobody under 25
> * no rental cars! especially "track prepped rental cars" ... i'm pretty sure people just don't have the same regard for safety in a rented car, honestly some of these people i saw out there in rental cars, highly dangerous
> * no cars older than x or cheaper than €10k or somesuch (hard to enforce)
> * enforce some kind of one time brief training on basic track etiquette before granting access


Your list confirms my thought of why I thank FSM that the 'Ring isn't in the USA. Its not called the Green Hell without reason, but to neuter it isn't the answer. None of your suggestions would have a meaningful impact on safety and have nothing to do with this accident, or most accidents on the 'Ring.

Remember, in other parts of the world, people accept responsibility for their own actions, and aren't terrified they'll be sued for sneezing.


----------



## bigjae1976 (Feb 13, 2004)

I think a better flagging system would help...won't help if someone misses the signal which will probably be most of the time. Its something that can be done without degrading what makes the ring so special.


----------



## sno_duc (Sep 3, 2008)

bigjae1976 said:


> I think a better flagging system would help...won't help if someone misses the signal which will probably be most of the time. Its something that can be done without degrading what makes the ring so special.


Got me thinking, how about a low low power fm radio station. ( range ~ 10 miles, transmiter center of the ring) Everone tunes their car radio to the proper channel, most of the time dead silience, when needed either full course yellow (or red) or partial course yellows. Thoughts?


----------



## cwsqbm (Aug 4, 2004)

iwantone said:


> Dont know if you guys saw this video. For the impatient ones, skip forward to just under 10 minutes..
> 
> http://jalopnik.com/5846834/watch-the-scary-nurburgring-crash-as-it-happens


I was wrong - that accident happened a few turns past were I thought. That section is essentially a "straight" in that its taken flat out at serious speeds - by the video, the car could be accelerating for over 20 seconds since the last slow turn (at 9:35 of the video). Even the 320i I was in was over 100mph at that point. An M3 is probably over 120mph by then.

I attached a screen shot a second before the Ring Taxi crash from your link. With that mass of cars, its not surprising the Ring taxi was in an accident - the cars were stacked up around a high speed bend, and there was no "out" left with the track and grass filed with other cars. Its amazing it wasn't worse.


----------



## fermat1313 (Jan 23, 2010)

> Got me thinking, how about a low low power fm radio station. ( range ~ 10 miles, transmiter center of the ring) Everone tunes their car radio to the proper channel, most of the time dead silience, when needed either full course yellow (or red) or partial course yellows. Thoughts?


Not a bad idea, but the people who most need it (people who aren't familiar with the 'Ring) wouldn't get much use of it. How do you know where the accident is? If they announce an accident going into the Bergwerk turn, if you don't know where it is, you don't know where to slow.

Ultimately, they really need a better signaling system. Perhaps they should sell their roller coaster and put one in?


----------



## bigjae1976 (Feb 13, 2004)

sno_duc said:


> Got me thinking, how about a low low power fm radio station. ( range ~ 10 miles, transmiter center of the ring) Everone tunes their car radio to the proper channel, most of the time dead silience, when needed either full course yellow (or red) or partial course yellows. Thoughts?


What about the stripped out race cars? Great idea though...easier to criticize than to think of this stuff


----------



## chrischeung (Sep 1, 2002)

What about common sense and driving within the conditions of the road, your car and abilities. Then throw the book at whoever violates this according to law? Like how it applies currently?

Show me a solution that covers 1,000 scenarios, and I'll show you the 1,001st scenario it doesn't.


----------



## ChuckE89 (May 15, 2011)

Having seem a few more videos of the "event", seems like a lot of factors came into play, and while most of you are not into the Ring [I suspect it is a distance thing], if this helps just a single ED'r then all this typing is worth it.

It is a Racetrack, and folks do go there so they can drive in race fashion without the risk of oncoming traffic, pedestrians, kids playing on the sides, and no designated speed limit. This is the place to "get stupid" without endangering others, except for those others who want to "get stupid". Because of these factors, most folks will drive faster than is normal, with the expectation that any change to these conditions would be announced, and visible. This was not one 8 Car accident, it was several accidents. The first one was caused by someone going to fast for conditions, caveat this as because he ran off the track, he was going to fast, but his reasonable expectation was that he could go this fast with no contra-indications that he was going too fast for the current conditions [that being a big truck on the track]. This accident caused a few folks to stop ON THE TRACK [big No No], and these folks took away any maneuvering room away from the Ring Taxi and the Porsche, who were left with nowhere to go.

Who is at fault here? Several folks. The construction work was shown on the track Status board, but it is out of the way and most folks either don't know it is there, or don't look at it [I am guilty here also as I have NEVER looked for/at it]. The warning was not set up where it was most effective, it should have been back up the road at least 500 yards to give folks a chance to slow down before they got into the crunch zone. I didn't hear of anyone running back up the track waving their arms or a safety vest so folks would get an early warning. Several folks topped on the track proper, instead of pulling off onto the grass, which would have given the Ring Taxi much more pavement to stop on. Did anyone get informed of the construction when they bought their tickets, or is this too much to ask of someone who is selling 3 tickets a minute for minimum wage? Were the closest marshals waving any flags before the construction area, and were they close enough [2 km after a waving flag I'm dropping the hammer].

BOTTOM LINE------------------------------
At this Track, during Touristfahren you are responsible for more than you should be reasonably expected, you are your own Track Marshall. If you go to the track, look for the track status board, ask if you have too. Waste a few Euros on doing a more relaxed sighting lap before you try to improve/set your "Personal Best". If for ANY reason you have to stop, get off the track surface, if you didn't see anyone warning you of the area then this becomes your job [it might just save your car], if you are not able to help at the scene [you are a Doctor/Medical Professional/Firefighter], and you can safely do so, drive past the incident so you don't add to any follow on incident [which is what happened here].

Until the Ring folks copy what Hockenheim does, the Ring will always be dangerous. They limit the number of cards to what the track can safely support, and don't mix 2 and 4 wheeled vehicles and don't do maintenance when he track is open. They also use the control lights on he track, which are very visible. The ring should have a mandatory safety briefing for everyone the first time they run the track [until then see Dale at Rent4Ring and he will get you up to speed in 10 minutes, stop by Rent4Ring 30 minutes before TF starts]. Ask someone just coming off the track about conditions.

Either we Ringers make this track a bit safer, or we risk the Authorities stepping in and setting conditions which will kill the Ring as we know it or hurt ourselves. It end up like "Mt Panorama", as mentioned by "chrischeung ", and you will be limited to 37 MPH http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mount_Panorama_Circuit


----------

