Tragedy struck at the VLN endurance race on the Nurburgring Nordschleife over the weekend. Nissan GT-R Nismo GT3 #23, piloted by 23-year-old British racing driver Jann Mardenborough, went airborne, hit the crash barrier and flipped over the safety fence into a group of spectators. One spectator has been pronounced dead, while several have been injured.
While the cause of the accident is investigated, Deutscher Motor Sport Bund (Germany’s auto racing governing body) has suspended SP7, SP8, SP8T, SP9, SP10, SP and SP-Pro-X racing vehicle classes from the track until further notice. These cover many GT3 and GT4 cars.
“The opening round of the VLN Endurance Championship at the Nurburgring was marred by an accident on Saturday which injured several spectators. One of the spectators died, despite the immediate actions of the rescue crew in the medical centre at the circuit. The other injured spectators have been taken to hospital for ongoing medical care,” the VLN said in a statement.
“The VLN and the organisers are deeply saddened by the accident, and their thoughts are with the families and friends of the victims.”
Nissan has also released a statement, saying that Mardenborough and two injured spectators have been released from hospital after completing a series of medical tests. It added that the crashed vehicle has been impounded by the German police and that Nissan is fully co-operating in the investigation.
“We are all deeply shocked and saddened and our immediate thoughts go to the deceased, those injured and their families and friends,” said Nissan.
Mardenborough, the son of ex-professional footballer Steve, was the 2011 winner of Nissan and Sony’s PlayStation-based GT Academy competition. The gamer-turned-racer proceeded to bag a podium at the Le Mans 24 Hours and this year, Nissan selected him to drive the GT-R LM Nismo prototype in the FIA World Endurance Championship and the Le Mans 24.
Looking to sell your car? Sell it with Carro.
No matter how much precautions are taken the dangers of motorsport is very prevalent. RIP
I’m reckoned, too much down force at the back with the big spoiler, not enough in the front. Poor engineered race car resulted front lifts like an airplane wings.
I reckon the same thing, I remembered back in the 90s, the Mercedes Benz CLR had the same problem on the Mulsanne Straight in Le Mans. Not enough frontal downforce, and the overly large rear diffuser and wing caused it to go airborn.
Not exactly.
most cars by are actually shaped like a wing, where airflow over the top is quicker than the bottom. This creates lift by default.
This lift is negated or counted by the wings which creates downforce, flat bottom and rear venturies which speed up airflow under the car to reduce lift.
However, once the vehicle “catches some air”, the bottom venturies and wings loose its effect, and the vehicle takes off due to the net uplift that the body shape provides.
There have been numerous such incidences, such as the Mercedes CTR from Le Mans 24hr 1999.
RIP to the fans. The harsh reality of motorsports continue to bite.
Sh*t happens, cars flipping over crests is not an uncommon thing in Motorsports, its something that nobody can stop.
There are many different variables that could flip the car, it could even be a strong gust of wind.
So quit trying to point fingers and put the blame on someone.
“Poor engineering” what a very very silly thing to say, im sure you know a lot more about aerodynamics than a car manufacturer who have repeatedly invested millions and millions of dollars in making their cars faster.
Nope. The engineers surely has the front wing set up to match the downforce created by the rear wing. Do u really think they would put high downforce at the rear and miss out the calculation for front ones?
In this case, it is because sudden absence of front downforce, as we can see there is slight slope before the car lifts.
This is in relation to the flat underbody and front splitter. At the wrong time and wrong angle, the car would lift like this even without massive rear wing.
It didn’t matter if you drive a perpectly engineered car, if the driver is a human the accident still occur.
By extension, the car is engineered by humans and they can make engineering errors too.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ow3rxq7U1mA
The Mercedes-Benz CLR case last time…
well, it ain’t a video game, son…
wow!! GTR can fly now……
Well..they don’t call the place ‘Green Hell’ for no reason…
Time 2 sue billions of dollars out from nismo on this casualty.
this is another reason to ban ‘motorsport’ once and for all………vehicles are not meant to be for entertainment
Motorsport has been around since the invention of the car. Motorsport will never be banned because of dangers. Motorsport is one of the reasons cars are safer now.
What a dull argument. Without competitive stage to showcase our breakthrough achievement in science and technology. you would only be riding bicycle now. Take F1 changes by year for example, or take smartphone by year for example, or even better, take PC extreme progressions by year for example.