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Fatality at LRPHF

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Michael Oritt

Michael Oritt

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There was a fatality in yesterday's afternoon prewar session. A fellow in a 1934 MG PA lost control of his car at the downhill, flipped and/or rolled and subsequently died.

The prewar cars apparently race under or consistent with VSCCA safety rules which do not require, amongst other things, roll bars but this car had one though it appeared quite low to me.

In any case it is a sad development and I don't know what will be the tone when racing resumes on Monday.
 
I was thinking how wonderful it was to be able to watch and listen to a pre war Grand Prix car like the Alfa Romeo Tipo B P3 in almost the same configuration as they would have been raced by such giants of the sport as Nuvolari and Caracciola. Unfortunately, it also exposes the drivers to the same higher level of risk the early drivers faced. It's a hard reminder that even though it's vintage racing, it's still racing and it's dangerous. I'm not sure there's a lot that can be done safety-wise to improve the pre-war cars themselves without taking the character out of them. I have a vague memory that in some period of time the pre-war cars were only allowed to drive in exhibition track tours rather than full racing.

While reading the Hartford Courant story on the accident, I saw the picture below of your car.

33pdi4j.png


Could be wet tomorrow. Stay safe.
 
Rick--

Not having proper safety equipment certainly endangers the driver and in some cases such as fuel cells others as well. I am not a weenie but I try to minimize risks while still enjoying the sport. That includes making high percentage moves on the track as well as providing a reasonable level of safety through protective clothing, a good helmet and HANS device, etc. etc.

And though the particular car in question had rollover protection his race group included many cars that did not and racing without same invites input from outsiders to racing who have preconceived notions of what risks people should be allowed to expose themselves to and might seek to ban racing altogether, etc. etc.

Thanks for posting that picture and also for dropping off the beers--I'll make sure they go to a good cause.
 
In memory of Lee Duran, may he rest in piece. He will be missed by many.

 
In the old days of sports car racing, they had no roll bars. Photos I have of Torrey Pines so stipulates. My uncle used to pit and drive there. He said they had a hoop bolted to the passenger floor. The idea was, you get in trouble, lay over, hook your arm through the loop and hang on for dear life.

Add to that, some exhibition racing is done with supposedly lower speeds, no competition...yet when I was working on the 1/4 midget, I was warned that the old timers took it seriously, would get a wheel into you if they could.
 
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