R.I.P. Henry Surtees :expressio

Total freak incident. Gutted.

RIP

A Split second later and he would be alive.

Very young age My thoughts go out to henry's family and Jack clarke.

R.I.P Henry.

:tombstone:weeping: can't say any thing more R.I.P

RIP Henry.

Was it the wheel that killed him (brain injury etc.) or was it the impact that took his life?

After seeing Kubica's crash in 2007 i thought with today's safety standards no one would get killed in formula racing anymore. apparently not.

Quote from NSX_FReeDoM :

After seeing Kubica's crash in 2007 i thought with today's safety standards no one would get killed in formula racing anymore. apparently not.

Sadly it will allways be a part of it. Only the intervals between fatal accidents stretch.

Man its such a nasty accident, just watch what happens to the wheel after, just to show how hard he hit it. R.I.P

Isn't it ironic... I mean John Surtees survived driving over 200mph without seatbelts in cockpits that were not much more but alloy gasoline tanks sliding on tyres as hard as concrete on tarmac in ridiculous conditions with electric fences to the one hand and sheer forest behind some hay bales to the other.

And now, nowadays, his son dies... just like that...

I mean he probably didn't even see the wheel coming or at least he had no time to realise... thus my thoughts are with his parents and all his friends and family.

RIP.

Cold irony: in the video, you can see Henry jinking a little (maybe a foot) to try to avoid the tyre. If he hadn't jinked, it would have probably missed him.

Freak accident. It could happen to anyone.

Quote from samjh :

Cold irony: in the video, you can see Henry jinking a little (maybe a foot) to try to avoid the tyre. If he hadn't jinked, it would have probably missed him.

Yea, he "jinked" it to the right to avoid that crashing car probably, natural racing reflex.. just seen the video, what a horrible luck, he couldn't hit that wheel on purpose if he tried like 100 times

RIP Henry.

Jesus, he's 11 days younger than me. Such a shame, just a totally freak accident. RIP.

..... this is awful.... hes almost 3 years older than me.... it could have been my brother instead of him.....


R.I.P Henry Surtees, February 18, 1991 - July 19, 2009.

RIP Henry, truly a freak accident, completely gutted

Really sad, potential F1 driver of the future.

F2 cars are supposed to have wheel tethers, so I think there's an issue with them if wheels are flying off that easily. (I don't just mean this incedent, check crashes from the races before.) But this was a freak accident, you can't go around saying Henry was killed because tyres fly off too easily. Of course there are things you could do to the track and the cars to prevent this from happening again, but as it was a freak accident, how likely is it that it'll happen again?

R.I.P Henry Surtees. God that's horrible, 18 is way too young. I haven't been following F2, though I've seen him in other series, but I know he was a very good and very likeable driver, and as someone said, he'd achieved the best result of his motorsport career in the race before. It could have happened to anyone, and while I wouldn't wish this on anyone, I do wish it hadn't happened to him.

Such a high class european single-seater death hasn't happened for years (last one Marco Campos in 1995, correct me if I'm wrong), and a lot of that is down to safety advances. It is quite hard to die in anything other than a freak accident these days, and that is what happened here. I've seen Henry walking around the paddock when he was in Formula Renault, but unfortunately didn't get to talk to him. Now I never will, nor will I get to see him race again.

Again, R.I.P Henry Surtees, and my most heartfelt condolences to his family and friends, including of course John. Just unfair. And 5tag is so right about the irony.



EDIT: Made a quick avatar, feel free to use it/share it etc.

R.I.P. Henry

R.i.p.

Really, really, really sad.

R.I.P.


...My world was falling down, picking up the pieces, without you arround.
Feels like you're slipping away, if only I could....

R.I.P

I saw the accident yesterday afternoon and i knew it was bad but didn't realise how bad it was. Such a sad day for Motorsport.

R.I.P Henry Surtees.

just watching the apollo 11 40th aniversary news conference and one of the astronauts just said something thats appropriate. basically that somehow we have become a risk averse society and we are always looking to remove all risk or not do something if it can not be risk free. yes it's a shame when things like this happens and yes wheel tethers may / should have helped but lets be honest as it says on the back of every entry ticket "motor racing is dangerous", drivers know and accept the risks. tristan knows he could be injurred or worse everytime he races yet he chooses to race. jaques villeneuve knew how his father died yet still took pleasure in "pushing the envelope" when ever he drove in F1, especially at spa each year.

henry died doing something he loved, to my mind thats far better than being dead because he got into an argument with some idiot who needs a knife to reinforce his ego, far better than to die a lingering death from an untreatable terminal illness.

RIP henry surtees

Quote from tinvek :

just watching the apollo 11 40th aniversary news conference and one of the astronauts just said something thats appropriate. basically that somehow we have become a risk averse society and we are always looking to remove all risk or not do something if it can not be risk free. yes it's a shame when things like this happens and yes wheel tethers may / should have helped but lets be honest as it says on the back of every entry ticket "motor racing is dangerous", drivers know and accept the risks. tristan knows he could be injurred or worse everytime he races yet he chooses to race. jaques villeneuve knew how his father died yet still took pleasure in "pushing the envelope" when ever he drove in F1, especially at spa each year.

henry died doing something he loved, to my mind thats far better than being dead because he got into an argument with some idiot who needs a knife to reinforce his ego, far better than to die a lingering death from an untreatable terminal illness.

RIP henry surtees

I agree. Henry's passing is sad, and worthy of mourning, but it should not come as a surprise, and nor should his (or anyone elses) participation be questioned. I do hope no kneejerk reactions are made because of it, other than inspecting the wheel tether strengths.

He knew the risks. So did his father.

I don't even think the rear wheels have any tethers in F2... Look at the brno crash, the guy barely touches the rear wheel and it lets go...

"In order to help prevent a wheel becoming separated in the event of all suspension members connecting it
to the car failing provision must be made to accommodate flexible cables, each with a cross sectional area
greater than 110mm², the purpose of which is to connect each wheel/upright assembly to the main
structure of the car. The cables and their attachments must also be designed in order to help prevent a
wheel making contact with the driver's head during an accident.
Each cable must have its own separate attachment which :
- is able to withstand a tensile force of 70kN ;
- is able to accommodate a cable end fitting with a minimum inside diameter of 15mm.
Each wheel may be fitted with one or two cables, dependent upon their performance when tested under
FIA Test Procedure 03/07. If one cable is fitted it must exceed the requirements of 3.1.1 of Test Procedure
03/07 and if two are fitted each must exceed the requirements of 3.1.2."

These are F1 regulations, and F2 regulations state that those are used. So all wheels have tethers. But tethers are not able to withstand every type of crash - see how many come loose in F1 and F3.

K but look at this incident, I'm pretty sure they should be able to withstand a greater force then what was put on it here.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NiwNPJwTA7A