Allan McNish’s Lucky Day

8 Replies to “Allan McNish’s Lucky Day”

1. Rockenfeller was damned lucky as well. That night time crash was just insane! He even had the presense of mind to get out and jump over the safety barrier!
   Watched the McNish crash a dozen times and still can’t get over how oblivious the photographer in the blue press pinny was to it all.

2. Thank modern technology and the distribution of force, folks. Otherwise McNish would have been a spot on the seat.

3. Lucky? I would say the track officials behind the barrier were the lucky ones. Had the Audi flipped over the barrier there would have been carnage.

4. What a credit to modern engineering! Mass x speed = carnage, except that new materials and monocoque chassis allow for both dissapation of huge forces and a solid cage to protect drivers.
   I recently saw an insurance co. crash test between a 59′ (I think) Chev and its’ current counterpart. It was a 3/4 head on crash, meaning basically, that portion directly in front of both ‘drivers’. Amazingly the heavy old Chev was decimated, while the new, much lighter and smaller Chev remained intact to the degree that the drive would have suffered virtually no injury.
   Partly due to airbags, but primarily because of the crush zones and ridgid driver compartments that are now standard. There has long been a belief that the big old cars of the past were safer in a serious crash, but this test certainly put that ‘conventional wisdom’ to rest.

5. Surprisingly amateurish care by his initial rescuers. He could have had serious internal, back,
   neck, and head injuries not readily apparent in his adrenalin pumped condition. They could
   have at least supported him horizontally until a backboard was got under him.

6. Did you notice that tire which was still bouncing through the crowd with some velocity? That still could have killed people who clearly didn’t notice it.

7. grok – more entertaining was the photographer that out ran the tire!

8. I think the winning piece of engineering there was the barrier. Kept the car (barely!) on the gravel, folded up and dragged beautifully which shed a ton of energy off those two cars, with the rigid part barely even getting bent. Good stuff!