Mid-Ohio

#1

For those who didn’t see it, Joey Hand had a horrible accident at Mid-Ohio in his BMW M3 during the Rolex GT race today (6/25). I don’t know on which turn he went off the course (turn 6?), but there was a large berm that vaulted his car into the air flipping 7-8 times. When Speed signed off, he was OK but going to the hospital for evaluation. A very visual reminder of what can happen when racing, and how important good safety prep is.
Ed

#2

Another good reminder to never never scrimp on safety equipment! Thankfully, he crawled out of this car and Speed reported he was ok and going to the hospital. Joey Hand had actually regained control of his BMW when he hit this bump. It was a damn shame too because in his first Rolex race (I follow this series) he was giving the top 2 teams - TRG and Taffel - all they could handle.

http://s25.photobucket.com/albums/c72/everybodylikepi/?action=view&current=m3flipmp4.flv

Post edited by: goldfish, at: 2006/06/26 10:32

#3

… ouch. glad he’s ok

#4
  1. Why is there a "ramp" at one of the fastest parts of that track???
  2. I’m going to ask Mid Ohio if anything will be done to remove it prior to the NASA Championship races.
  3. As bad as that was, he actually spread the energy out over a long time, which is usually much better than hitting a solid object. An old quote…"It’s not the speed that kills racing drivers, it’s the sudden stop."
#5

the berm is apparently part of a new crossover road that enables an alternate track configuration. In this interview Joey doesn’t seem to realize that there was a berm there
http://www.grandamerican.com/News/Article.asp?ID=6724
cheers,
bruce

Carter wrote:

[quote]1. Why is there a "ramp" at one of the fastest parts of that track???
2. I’m going to ask Mid Ohio if anything will be done to remove it prior to the NASA Championship races.
3. As bad as that was, he actually spread the energy out over a long time, which is usually much better than hitting a solid object. An old quote…"It’s not the speed that kills racing drivers, it’s the sudden stop."[/quote]