Marco Simoncelli dies in MotoGP crash

[url="http://www.autosport.com/news/report.php/id/95629"]Simoncelli dies from injuries suffered in Malaysian GP crash - MotoGP news - AUTOSPORT.com[/url]

[quote]Marco Simoncelli has died from the injuries he sustained in a crash on the second lap of the Malaysian Grand Prix. He was 24.[/quote]

Apparently he was unconscious following the accident. He then went into cardiac arrest in the ambulance. Would be horrific for Colin Edwards and Valentino Rossi who were involved in the accident, particularly Rossi who was his countryman and close friend.

RIP Simo

Was horrendous to watch and Edwards/Rossi couldn't have done anything to avoid it :(

A huge loss to motorsport :(

This is a black month for motorsports in general.

If i did any form of motorsports this would make me rethink my career. But the crash didn't look that bad when I watched the video but wow it's a shame to lose such an excellent rider.

well 260, if you do motorsport, you know more about the risks getting in to than anyone else can and make the choice each day to do what you enjoy most.
He'd been testing a WRC car just recently too :(

[quote=Matra et Alpine;976569]well 260, if you do motorsport, you know more about the risks getting in to than anyone else can and make the choice each day to do what you enjoy most.
He'd been testing a WRC car just recently too :([/quote]
I didn't know he was testing WRC. But motorcycle racing is a motorsport where it's hard to improve safety because you are racing in an open environment with a suit and helmet being the only things protecting you from asphalt and other riders.

For once they could get something that keeps their helmets ON the head.
I know it's a one in a hundred accident, but how can that helmet fall off!? (And of course, would it have mattered)

apparently the straps are designed to release after a certain point. i think regardless of if thats true though it shows the energy of the impact unfortunately.

these guys are always going to be flirting with death. unfortunately it was only last year still when a rider last died in a similar accident and 2003 before that as well.

[quote=250gto boy;976567]If i did any form of motorsports this would make me rethink my career. But the crash didn't look that bad when I watched the video but wow it's a shame to lose such an excellent rider.[/quote]

didn't look that bad? he was hanging off his bike trying to regain control when it his head, neck and back just went straight into edwards who's bike also fell and he fell too but he was able to get right up. rossi's bike almost lost control but he kept control.

as a rider, this may have been my first season with 3500 miles done, i've learned a lot and i hit a pothole one night, not speeding, just cruising and i almost lost control. i felt lucky to be able to regain control and not crash and get run over.

[quote=250gto boy;976570]I didn't know he was testing WRC. But motorcycle racing is a motorsport where it's hard to improve safety because you are racing in an open environment with a suit and helmet being the only things protecting you from asphalt and other riders.[/quote]

the protection they wear is pretty good considering falling off a bike/crashing is common. the leather works really well and so does the CE armor, however getting run over is another story.

[quote=Brix;976571]For once they could get something that keeps their helmets ON the head.
I know it's a one in a hundred accident, but how can that helmet fall off!? (And of course, would it have mattered)[/quote]

those helmets do not come off easy. even if they arn't strapped. look at the video of how he was hit and then ask how it can come off. his neck seemed to have snapped in all honestly since it hit edwards's bike.

[quote=fpv_gtho;976574]apparently the straps are designed to release after a certain point. i think regardless of if thats true though it shows the energy of the impact unfortunately.

these guys are always going to be flirting with death. unfortunately it was only last year still when a rider last died in a similar accident and 2003 before that as well.[/quote]

i dont think they release. i always wonder how you take a helmet off of someone who crashed, it is not easy.

40 something riders have been killed in the 60 years of moto gp or there abour.

sad month for motorsports, sad day for moto gp. i read this and didn't even want to get on my bike today....

surprised no one has mentioned franco uncini yet - his coma inducing hit was similar to this crash

^ just without the $20,000 dollars worth of rider gear that the MotoGP guys enjoy

[quote=Matra et Alpine;976560]Was horrendous to watch and Edwards/Rossi couldn't have done anything to avoid it :(

A huge loss to motorsport :([/quote]actually if you watch the slow-mo, they would have avoided him if they lifted from their lines & went wide

but it happened fast & they were not "slow" human beings

I was meaning in real time. You cant lift a bike and change direction THAT fast :(
Can't even brake !!

of course you can - that skill is basically essential to my current state of health

i think it was more to do with him crossing back onto their line - not the lack of space

if they knew he was going to be there they would have lifted & rode round the outside

erm crossing their line was the cause of the lack of space !!

I was talkign about the actual incident, not other "possibilities".
In the case on the video there was NO time to lift a bike or steer or even brake :(

I've ridden bikes for 15 years too and on the Isle of Man TT with no speed limits and as near race speeds as a production bike can manage. At those speeds there are a lot of the corner sequences you have to take slower so you ahve TIME to transition the bike :)

You'd have struggled on a high-speed racing bicycle to dodge them in real time, and even then you still might have ended up lobbing the bike straight at them anyway, so on a motorbike of ANY kind it would've been simply impossible - even if they had tried to correct, they'd probably have lost their bikes and had them slam into Simoncelli anyway, not to mention possibly getting pancaked themselves. R.I.P. Marco.

I don't follow MotoGP and would be lying if I said that I knew who Simoncelli was, but it is always sad to see someone young and talented go like that.

RIP

[quote=Matra et Alpine;976593]erm crossing their line was the cause of the lack of space !![/quote]yeah i completely disagree

he was left of the line they were looking at as they screamed in. he dragged right onto their line

to them coming in, he was having difficulty & had drifted wide allowing them to jump him for his place

the eaisest thing in the world to do on a bike is lift & drift off-line - but to do that they would have had to recognise that he was about to drag right across the track

they are not paid to back off - their careers are based on successfull bullying on-track (especially rossi)

my point (getting lost i think) was that they could have avoided him by lifting instead of going tighter whilst keeping it nailed

Badsight, you have never ridden a bike on the limit on a track.
That is obvious from your coments.
If they had "drifted" (!) then it woudl have been TOWARDS the incoming bike.

Let's leave this

[url="http://www.autosport.com/news/report.php/id/95650"]Gardner urges Edwards and Rossi not to blame themselves over Simoncelli's fatal crash - MotoGP news - AUTOSPORT.com[/url]

[quote=Matra et Alpine;976629]Let's leave this[/quote]lol, whats to leave

theres what happened in the crash, then theres your revision of it

i am merely pointing out they would have avoided him by lifting from their line

the impact happened by their staying on their line & keeping the throttle nailed

how were they to know he was about to drift back across the track ?

leave what ? OK how about some respect for the memory :(

I will leave it with Gardners words.

[quote]“The accident that claimed Marco’s life was freakish in the extreme,”[/quote]
Gardner