http://sports.espn.go.com/rpm/news/story?id=3157158

This news is actually a bit old (just saw it today because a friend gave me a link), but it's very interesting to see that Coulthard may follow Villeneuve and Montoya.

LOL Button: "Comparing football to cricket"

lol, He thinks F1 without TC is too dangerous, but actually think 40cars on a oval is safer??

lol in a f1 car boom a tire could hit your head and in nascar boom nothing happens...

Quote from mutt107 :

lol in a f1 car boom a tire could hit your head and in nascar boom nothing happens...

Call me crazy, but I think more people have been killed in NASCAR stockcars than in F1 cars; I'd almost be willing to bet that's not just in the last few decades, but all throughout the history of both series.

Quote from mutt107 :

lol in a f1 car boom a tire could hit your head and in nascar boom nothing happens...

True, but in NASCAR the high impact is a greater risk. Especially at high speed giant 2.66 superspeedways.

Quote from MAGGOT :

Call me crazy, but I think more people have been killed in NASCAR stockcars than in F1 cars; I'd almost be willing to bet that's not just in the last few decades, but all throughout the history of both series.

Yes I believe more people have died from stock car racing than F1. (Although I could be wrong)

but now day's its wayyy safer

Quote from mutt107 :

but now day's its wayyy safer

True, Kyle Petty's massive door slam (right in the driver's seat too) in Talladega last season was a testament to that. Had he done that a decade earlier the would not have survived: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_8tawUeSN1g

Jeff Fuller's scary crash is also a great example: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=k5sVheIcffM

So yes, I do agree that it is much safer now.

But again, if you spin out and get plowed by 40+ cars at tracks like Talladega then there's a fairly good chance u'll get heavily injured.

List of deaths in NASCAR history:

Dale Earnhardt at Daytona, February 18, 2001 (Daytona 500)
Tony Roper at Texas Motor Speedway, October 13,2000
Kenny Irwin at Louden, New Hampshire, July 7, 2000
Adam Petty at Louden, New Hampshire May 12, 2000
John Nemechek at Homestead, Florida in 1997
Neil Bonnett at Daytona Beach, Florida in 1994
Rodney Orr at Daytona Beach, Florida in 1994
Davey Allison at Talladega (helicopter crash) July 12, 1993
Alan Kulwicki (airplane crash on way to Food City 500) April 1, 1993
Clifford Allison at Brooklyn, Michigan in 1992
J.D. McDuffie at Watkins Glen, NY in August 1991
Grant Adcox at Hampton, GA in 1989
Bruce Jacobi at Daytona, (injured February 1983, died February 4, 1987) twin 125 qualifying
Terry Schoonover at Atlanta ,GA in November 1984
Ricky Knotts at Daytona, February 14, 1980 (twin 125 qualifying)
Tiny Lund at Talladega on August 10, 1975
Ricky Knott at Daytona Beach, FL in February 1972
Friday Hassler at Daytona, February 17, 1972 (twin 125 qualifying
Talmage Prince at Daytina Beach, FL in February 1970
Billy Drew Wade at Daytona, January 5, 1965 (tire test)
Fireball Roberts at Charlotte, NC in July 1964 (accident was in May)
Harold Habering at Daytona , February 21, 1964 (during practice)
Joe Weatherly at Riverside, CA in January 1964
Marshall Teague at Daytona, February 11, 1959 (during practice)
Billy Myers at Bowman-Gray Stadium Winston-Salem, NC April 12, 1958
Bobby Myers at Darlington, SC on September 2, 1957
Thomas Priddy at LeHi, AK in June 1956
Clint McHugh at LeHi, AK in June 1956
John McVitty at Longhorne, PA in April 1956
Lou Figaro at N. Wilksboro, NC in 1954
Frank Arford at Longhorne, PA in June 1955
Larry Mann at Longhorne, PA in September 1954

How many did you have in your tribute, Lizard?

He defiantly hit the nail on the head when he mentioned that a majority of Europeans lack the knowledge to make any assumptions of NASCAR.

Quote from Christopher Raemisch :

He defiantly hit the nail on the head when he mentioned that a majority of Europeans lack the knowledge to make any assumptions of NASCAR.

And....? We already knew that. Last time I checked America was still on the other side of the sea. It's impossible to recieve information from there. Pidgeons can't fly so long distances.

But seriously, most Europeans aren't interested in american sports. Not "football", not NASCAR, not anything that comes from America is interesting to us. Don't know why but that's how it is.

Maybe, but looking at the facts here, 5 people have died in the past decade, in Formula One no one has been killed.

Dale Earnhardt at Daytona, February 18, 2001 (Daytona 500)
Tony Roper at Texas Motor Speedway, October 13,2000
Kenny Irwin at Louden, New Hampshire, July 7, 2000
Adam Petty at Louden, New Hampshire May 12, 2000
John Nemechek at Homestead, Florida in 1997

If a formula one chassis was to have a crash on these American oval circuits, how would the vehicle fair? Is it fair to say they would have a higher survival rate than nascar?

I would have thought so, especially considering a NASCAR chassis is merely a tubular space frame :-\

Bit of a trendy decision.

I would have preferred Coulthard go for BTCC or something similar, instead of stockcars.

Quote from mutt107 :

but now day's its wayyy safer

NASCAR is now 'wayyy' safer than it used to be, but it is not 'wayyy' safer than F1; in fact, I bet F1 is still much safer than NASCAR.

Quote from samjh :

Bit of a trendy decision.

I would have preferred Coulthard go for BTCC or something similar, instead of stockcars.

Ya that came as a surprise to me. BTCC is exactly what I thought he would go to.

Quote from hyntty :

And....? We already knew that. Last time I checked America was still on the other side of the sea. It's impossible to recieve information from there. Pidgeons can't fly so long distances.

But seriously, most Europeans aren't interested in american sports. Not "football", not NASCAR, not anything that comes from America is interesting to us. Don't know why but that's how it is.

It works vise versa as well. It's a giant culture gap that we apparently have with Europeans. But I'm quite glad that it's not a impenetrable barrier anymore.

Quote from Dalek0220 :

How many did you have in your tribute, Lizard?

12 on that list but 14 overall. He missed Gary Batson who died at Charlotte in 1993 (i believe) and Russel Phillips who's death prompted the roll cage in 1990. I also had a few ARCA deaths as well.

Quote from hyntty :

It's impossible to recieve information from there. Pidgeons can't fly so long distances.

What about teh internets?

Of course it's safer - they don't race in the rain being the total pansies NASCAR drivers are, and Coulthard is scared of water.

Quote from tristancliffe :

Of course it's safer - they don't race in the rain being the total pansies NASCAR drivers are, and Coulthard is scared of water.

As if F1 rain is more dangerous than the high banks of Talladega. :rolleyes: Besides, NO oval racers race in the rain. This includes IndyCar. LOL actually they TRIED to race in the rain...LOL lot good that did them :rolleyes:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hiocaiAmI84

Quote from wheel4hummer :

What about teh internets?

I was thinking the same thing, not to mention cable television which broadcast most races

You put an F1 on a banking see how they fair, didn't they try that at indy two years ago and out of 22 starters they only had 6 finishers because the tires couldn't handle the cornering forces and the tire manufacturers had to design a new tire?

Quote from Christopher Raemisch :

I was thinking the same thing, not to mention cable television which broadcast most races

You underestimate people's will to search for something that's not originally given to them

Quote from Christopher Raemisch :

You put an F1 on a banking see how they fair, didn't they try that at indy two years ago and out of 22 starters they only had 6 finishers because the tires couldn't handle the cornering forces and the tire manufacturers had to design a new tire?

Yes, it was prompted by Ralf Schumacher's very violent F1 crash on the banked turn (which was ironically was VERY routine for oval crashes and the bank wasn't even that high) in which he got knocked out.

Quote from Christopher Raemisch :

I was thinking the same thing, not to mention cable television which broadcast most races

You put an F1 on a banking see how they fair, didn't they try that at indy two years ago and out of 22 starters they only had 6 finishers because the tires couldn't handle the cornering forces and the tire manufacturers had to design a new tire?

It was the 2005 US GP: the most politically rigged GP ever.

They didn't have 22 starters.

Basically, Ralf Schumacher's car crashed during practice. Investigations found that Michelin's tyres were not rated to withstand the forces on banked sections. Renault team boss, Flavio and other attempted to either change the layout of the circuit, and for Michelin to bring uprated tyres to the race. FIA boss Max Mosley rejected both proposals and demanded Michelin teams to take the section slower!

Minardi's Paul Stoddart and others tried to continue the race without the FIA's approval, by using a chicane to slow the speed of the cars before the banked section. But neither Max Mosley, nor Ferrari's Jean Todt would agree. The plan didn't eventuate because of possible sanctions by the FIA against offending teams.

So eventually all the cars did the parade lap, and then the Michelin cars filed back to the pits, leaving just the 6 Bridgestone cars to race.

Quote from samjh :

So eventually all the cars did the parade lap, and then the Michelin cars filed back to the pits, leaving just the 6 Bridgestone cars to race.

IIRC they'd changed the surface of the circuit - ground it smoother or something. Bridgestone were well aware of it because they supply tyres to other series that race there, but Michelin had no data - that's why the tyres they turned up with weren't suitable.

Quote from thisnameistaken :

IIRC they'd changed the surface of the circuit - ground it smoother or something. Bridgestone were well aware of it because they supply tyres to other series that race there, but Michelin had no data - that's why the tyres they turned up with weren't suitable.

This is exactly the case. It's not the banking itself, it was the extremely abrassive surface that resulted from the diamond-grinding process untaken in the off-season.

Also, don't forget that this was not the first time the F1 boys had been to the track, they were there for a few years prior to this with no problems.

Schumacher's cuncussion the year before was not a result of the corner being banked, it was a result of the nature of the impact itself; that particular impact at that speed nearly always results in some form of injury, both in NASCAR and in the former IRL (what's it called now?).

Quote from MAGGOT :

Schumacher's cuncussion the year before was not a result of the corner being banked, it was a result of the nature of the impact itself; that particular impact at that speed nearly always results in some form of injury, both in NASCAR and in the former IRL (what's it called now?).

I know that the banking is not the direct factor in Schumacher's concussion. I do know that this kind of impact that normally results in heavy injury is very common on ovals or banked turns because of the nature of these turns. What prompted by response was this:

Quote from tristancliffe :

Of course it's safer - they don't race in the rain being the total pansies NASCAR drivers are, and Coulthard is scared of water.

I also do know that the incident was not really "oval turn" related and it was a tire issue. But nonetheless tire failure and crashes like Ralf's are not rare and do happens on ovals be it NASCAR, ARCA or Indy. It's one of the reasons why some Europeans are squeamish about oval racing.

Any BTW IRL is still IRL or IndyCar. I dont believe they have merged yet

Quote from JJ72 :

lol, He thinks F1 without TC is too dangerous, but actually think 40cars on a oval is safer??

LOL ya that is a bit hypocritical. A few laps on Talladega might open his eyes It certainly did Speed and Villeneuve

Quote from MAGGOT :

NASCAR is now 'wayyy' safer than it used to be, but it is not 'wayyy' safer than F1; in fact, I bet F1 is still much safer than NASCAR.

I believe that to be true. But I believe that's just because of the nature of ovals. The high speed impact should never be underestimated

Incidentally: Some of you from outside the UK might not know who Max Mosley's dad was. Just in case you'd ever thought to yourself "Surely he can't really be this much of a crook...".