Is this real?

Is this real, and if so, who was involved?

Yes it's real. The drivers were Tetsuya Ota and Tomohiko Sunako. Ota was badly burnt (40% of his body) and successfully sued Fuji Speedway afterwards because they were unable to get him out of the car within 30 seconds.

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bloody hell, how useless were the marshalls there?!

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how come the explosion was so huge?

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Fuel tank exploding.

I've seen the footage of him be treated to by the marshals. They pulled him out of the car quick enough (well, ish), but then left him rolling around on the ground for ages. The guy's hands were horrifically burnt and he was totally blind. He kept trying to get up, but the injuries to his hands and obvious lack of awareness prevented him. When they decided it was about time to get him into the ambulance (well van with lights on it) they carried him and just dropped him in it. Literally. You just couldn't imagine they could treat anyone like this.

Takes a strong stomach to watch it, not so much for the injuries (nothing particularly visual or obvious) but more for the sheer neglect that humans can manage.

Just seen the aftermath video Gav, one guy just leaves him after trying to help him, it's awful.

"Just seen the aftermath video Gav, one guy just leaves him after trying to help him, it's awful."

If you mean the guy in black, it was one of the drivers, i think, and not even a track worker.

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Nope, I mean the one in the pink helmet.

So what was he permanently blinded? The marshalls were awful, they seemed more intent on sorting out the cars than looking after him at first

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If I remember he suffered arm injuries preventing him from moving one of them freely. I believe he has sight now.

I've got a picture of his helmet after the crash, and all that's left of the visor is a little clump of plastic at the base of the face opening. His face was totally exposed to flames and heat.

Hell, that's horrifying!

Well the guy who's car is a fireball sued Fuji because a) they didn't help him and b) because the race shouldnt have been running in those conditions.

Surpasses Hollywood really, don't it?

No car should be allowed to race if, in a collision, the fuel tank explodes.

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Everyone knows that million-to-one chances happen 9 times out of 10; indeed, it's a common requirement in fairy tales. If the human didn't have to overcome huge odds, what would be the point? Terry Pratchett - The Science Of Discworld

GPGSL S5 Race driver for IED.

turkey_machine Wrote:
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> No car should be allowed to race if, in a
> collision, the fuel tank explodes.


So you're proposing that each and every car should be tested, bearing in mind it will need to be put through every collision and every angle to see if it explodes?

Damn right. If it explodes like that, then all cars should be crash tested with a full tank of fuel, cause it *should not happen*. Simple as.

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Everyone knows that million-to-one chances happen 9 times out of 10; indeed, it's a common requirement in fairy tales. If the human didn't have to overcome huge odds, what would be the point? Terry Pratchett - The Science Of Discworld

GPGSL S5 Race driver for IED.

I actually think that a lot of racing series do exactly that. Many of them mandate kevlar tanks with self-sealing technology, so that fuel leaks are contained. It is not a brand new invention. They used to fly with these in WWII and they often got riddled with shrapnel, incendiary bullets and 20mm cannon shell fragments without exploding like that.

FIA even has safety and production standards for fuel cells. Most cars that you can purchase are crash-tested in all sorts of manners, albeit they cannot take the kind of shunts you get in racing.

I am pretty sure that if the cars had tanks with self-sealing technology, this would not have happened. What I think is most likely, is that the specific racing series in question here, had no regulations for fuel cells, so that Porsche, and that Ferrari 360 (and probably most of the grid!) had the stock fuel tanks installed.


MarcA Wrote:
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> turkey_machine Wrote:
> --------------------------------------------------
> -----
> > No car should be allowed to race if, in a
> > collision, the fuel tank explodes.
>
>
> So you're proposing that each and every car should
> be tested, bearing in mind it will need to be put
> through every collision and every angle to see if
> it explodes?

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It's only after we've lost everything, that we are free to do anything.

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"When you begin in this sport you are given a chequebook. Every time you have a big one you must write a check to the angels. The trick is to finish your career before you empty the chequebook".