scary moment in today's European GP

[kneeOhFight]

Australian driver Mark Webber, driving his Red Bull/Renault F1 car, went airborne at 190mph and backflipped, then smashed into a tire barrier in a runoff zone on the street course in Valencia, Spain today. The fact that he walked away unscathed is a testament to the level of engineering in F1 today (see first clip). He was the unlucky soul at the wheel of the Mercedes CLR GT-1 prototype that went spectacularly airborne at the 1999 Le Mans 24 Hours race as well (second clip)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=V86IC6dYtos

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ow3rxq7U1mA

 

[skippy_ps]

Very lucky that Webber didn't get hurt. It looked to me that Kovalainen slowed down at exactly the wrong moment.

Otherwise, a fairly boring race.

Murray

 

[Rex Everything]

That second clip is insane. Looks like he was up 20+ feet or so.

 

[Jailtime]

Whoa, how does that Mercedes just take flight like that? All the other cars were just fine.

 

[kneeOhFight]

Whoa, how does that Mercedes just take flight like that? All the other cars were just fine.

the delicate balance between airflow over the control surgaces on the top and sides of the car and the air passing beneath the undertray, which created ground effect downforce was disturbed, and the thousands of pounds of downforce being created turned into enough lift to spawn the event. Even F1 cars, with mandated featureless undertrays, hence no ground effects, still develop literally tons of aero downforce (more than double its own standing weight), and would stick to the roof of a tunnel at slightly over 100 mph in an inverted position...so much science and physics in play in higher forms of motorsport, and it's extremely interesting

 

[dpastern]

I saw the clip, nasty. He's lucky to be alive. As to blame, sorry, but Webber screwed up when overtaking the back marker. Distraction, lack of concentration, who knows. His car seemed to be mucking from the first lap onwards, so perhaps he was nursing it, who knows.

Dave

 

[dokblues]

That was a Nasty shunt! He is Very lucky Indeed to have survived yet a second horrifc airborne crash. I remember watching the 99 LeMans crash Live and sitting in Silence for quite some time, wondering and praying that he came out of it OK.

 

[similost]

Am I the only one thinking something about Redbull giving you wings?