VLN2: Charities, Chickenburgers and Crashes!
- Details
- Parent Category: Nurburgring
- Category: Racing at the Ring
- Created on Sunday, 15 April 2012 20:01
- Last Updated on Tuesday, 24 April 2012 22:04
- Published on Sunday, 15 April 2012 13:40
- Written by Dale
VLN days at the Nürburgring are always exciting. This Saturday was no exception. It started with a charity lap, the Benefiz Corso. Six Rent4Ring cars joined nearly 100 regular punters for a parade lap just before the race. You can read more about that here and even watch a video too (I drove the ever-lovely Artega GT). The marshalls at the 'ring are volunteers, and if you watch the rolling BMW video below, it's perhaps unsurprising that some of them are hurt or even critically injured in their efforts to keep the 'ring safe. The Benefiz Corso is a chance to donate some cash towards their particular benevolance scheme whilst getting a special lap of the Nordschleife and GP tracks in front of a full VLN crowd.
So after the charideeee lap, Herr Path and I headed over Breidscheid for a chicken burger and some racing action. We got a large portion of both.
IF you're wondering where the hell Breidscheid is:
View Rent4Ring Map in a larger map
Above you should be able to see the custom map I've been making recently. If all is well, you should even see two icons representing the viewing points at the entrance to Breidscheid Bridge. They're at the top of the map. The start is at the bottom. The camera on the right, at the top, is at the top of some steps. Easy. The second one is Wehrseifen and only a five minute walk uphill. Also easy.
Within seconds of pulling the camera out of my pocket, this happened:
It's not 100% clear what happened, but I'm going to speculate that the driver of the rolling car was trying for an outside overtake into the top of Wehrseifen when an error was made. Somehow he caught the high kerb wrong, and that's how the car rolled.
It was pretty scary watching him try and get out without marshall help, but the charity lap in the morning was held in benefit to a guy who was paralysed attending an accident. And last year another marshall was killed too... so (for a change) I'm not going to sit on an ivory throne and pass judgement...
Comments
It's their/our own choice, but you should have a good enough team around you to either talk you out of it or make sure you've got a spotter further up the track that can give you a warning in enough time for you to high-tail it out of there.
UK race marshals are also unpaid - although some of the smaller clubs give you £5/£10 to cover breakfast/lunch.
I'm the one with the silly hat...
Attended this incident.
This is the video we're shown at our training sessions
You can see how lucky the marshal in the black rain gear is, as he falls down just as the car passes over him - and you can see the tear in near his neck - showing orange below - where a bit of bodywork has caught him.
Third from the left?
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