Indy Car driver survives crash after both legs impaled by equipment from car and nearly bleeding out - Polidicks

[QUOTE]James Hinchcliffe is in stable condition after he wrecked while practicing for the Indianapolis 500. Hinchcliffe's car collided with the wall at Indianapolis Motor Speedway and flipped before coming to rest. Hinchcliffe was transported to Methodist Hospital, where he underwent surgery to remove a piece of debris from his left thigh. Hinchcliffe's left thigh was pierced by a piece of equipment from the car, causing "massive bleeding," according to the Associated Press, requiring surgery. According to Curt Cavin of the Indianapolis Star, Hinchcliffe is in stable condition. On-board cameras show Hinchcliffe's right-front wheel lifting shortly before impact. A Honda spokesperson said the right-front suspension broke[/QUOTE] [media]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NlbdpXb3FSg[/media] [url]http://sports.yahoo.com/blogs/nascar-from-the-marbles/james-hinchcliffe-involved-in-vicious-wreck-at-indy-practice-175407712.html[/url]

The wheel barely moves when the suspension breaks. Crazy how so little a malfunction can cause shit like this.

He's lucky to be alive.

my mom has met him several times and he seems like a really cool guy hope he can still race in the future

That's, what? Four crashes at Indianapolis now? [B]Wednesday:[/B] [video=youtube;bQZ0mnJKllU]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bQZ0mnJKllU[/video] [B]Thursday:[/B] [video=youtube;AcnAw5sPAbU]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AcnAw5sPAbU[/video] [B]Sunday:[/B] [video=youtube;uaZ8QbTZbb0]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uaZ8QbTZbb0[/video] Plus the one the article's about. Luckily all these guys were uninjured. Open-wheel crashes are pretty scary.

Damn he looks in pain when the camera zooms in.

occupational hazard, I guess. Wonder if the adrenaline from driving at 250 miles an hour desensitizes them to shock from other sources?

Open cockpit racing scares me so much, even with a reinforced rollbar that thing can be sheared by the catch fence. [editline]19th May 2015[/editline] [quote]In the impact, which flattened the right side of the chassis, one of the suspension wishbones penetrated the Dallara safety cell, and subsequently caused the majority of the physical damage Hinchcliffe received. RACER has confirmed through multiple sources that Hinchcliffe had the steel wishbone enter and exit his right leg, then enter his upper left thigh, and continue into his pelvic region, where it came to a stop. The suspension component pinned the 28-year-old in the car, leading the safety team to cut the wishbone from the chassis to allow Hinchcliffe's extraction.[/quote]

[QUOTE=Chaotic Lord;47758437]That's, what? Four crashes at Indianapolis now? [B]Wednesday:[/B] [B]Thursday:[/B] [B]Sunday:[/B] Plus the one the article's about. Luckily all these guys were uninjured. Open-wheel crashes are pretty scary.[/QUOTE] Are all of these at the same turn?

Imagine what he felt when he realized the car wasn't going to turn and he was going to slam straight into a wall at a crazy speed. Terrifying.

[QUOTE=Chaotic Lord;47758437]That's, what? Four crashes at Indianapolis now? Plus the one the article's about. Luckily all these guys were uninjured. Open-wheel crashes are pretty scary.[/QUOTE] I see more and more people voicing their concerns how those IndyCars are making some serious air after the first impact. In a full field during the race or if an airborne car flies into the fence the wrong way, such crashes might turn fatal. People fear that also spectators will get injured or die if a car goes into the fence at a wrong angle. Hinchcliffe is a very lucky man to be alive, given that he didn't get skewered in a critical part of the body, such as the head like in Ayrton Senna's fatal crash during the 1994 F1 San Marino Grand Prix. Also, that Hinchcliffe's car didn't make enough air to cause another impact, which probably would have worsened his injuries to the point that it could have been fatal.

[QUOTE=TheJoker;47758860]Are all of these at the same turn?[/QUOTE] Castroneves' and Newgarden's crashes were turn 1, Carpenter's crash was turn 2, and Hinchcliffe's was turn 3. [t]http://www.autoracing1.com/images/Trackmaps/Indytrack.jpg[/t]

[QUOTE=Recurracy;47758338]The wheel barely moves when the suspension breaks. Crazy how so little a malfunction can cause shit like this.[/QUOTE] The bigger the speed, the smalest of malfunctions could tear you apart...

Im not one to follow the races, but being from Indy you hear these things. Apparently this was the first year of them trying out some new air thingy sposed to help keep them from getting as much air, so some people think it might be that. But I dont know shit so yeah.

Is it possible that the angle of the turns is too steep?

[QUOTE=Reshy;47759799]Is it possible that the angle of the turns is too steep?[/QUOTE] Indianapolis Motor Speedway has some of the shallowest corner banking of any large track in the nation. They regularly go on courses way steeper than that. Unless you're referring to them being 90* turns, which is a bit questionable of a design choice (Homestead-Miami Speedway tried to replicate this design in a smaller form with fatal results, resulting in them turning it into a standard stadium shape which it mostly retains today with some added banking in the 00s) but not something the track will change considering it's heritage.

[QUOTE=Reshy;47759799]Is it possible that the angle of the turns is too steep?[/QUOTE] More like the indy cars dont have a big enough wing producing enough downforce. Look how tiny those wings are. Could be a factor of a lot of things: down-force, tire wear, humidity, air temp, track temp... I'm not a racecar driver, but theres a lot that goes into these vehicles.

[QUOTE=abananapeel;47759188]Im not one to follow the races, but being from Indy you hear these things. Apparently this was the first year of them trying out some new air thingy sposed to help keep them from getting as much air, so some people think it might be that. But I dont know shit so yeah.[/QUOTE] Weren't air restrictors implemented sometime in the 90s or 00s?

When you're driving a car that cruises closer to 300mph than 200, any minor fuck up turns into a HUGE one.

Good news: Hinchcliffe is expected to make a full recovery. [url]https://twitter.com/IndyCar/status/601084092487073793[/url]

What surprises me is the amount of what can arguably be called 'flight mechanics' the latest vehicles seem to possess. While their form may keep them on the ground in optimal conditions, any disruption of that seems to turn it into an ill-suited aircraft. [URL="https://youtu.be/bQZ0mnJKllU"][B]This video in particular is astounding[/B] [/URL]- the car lifts almost purely due to upwards aerodynamic force and then is kept from flipping on its' roof by the aerodynamic forces acting on the upside-down chassis. Honestly, under the right (wrong) conditions, these could actually take flight and hit the side fence like a missile.

I don't get how there can be so many crashes on such a simple round course

[QUOTE=ashrobhoy;47785558]I don't get how there can be so many crashes on such a simple round course[/QUOTE] Very high speed meaning loss of grip instantly

[QUOTE=TheJoker;47758860]Are all of these at the same turn?[/QUOTE] doesn't matter though, they're all the same turn!

[QUOTE=ashrobhoy;47785558]I don't get how there can be so many crashes on such a simple round course[/QUOTE] The driving mechanics of American racing series tend to be drastically different from open wheel racing of other countries. The cars tend to be poorer in handling but more capable of going through wide, long turns (with stock cars having a hard time going through winding or short turns). I think a good analogy is comparing athletic rollerblading on quarterpipes and halfpipes with a runner going through slaloms, the latter is able to turn on a dime and react quicker but is going to be worse with banking and the former is less stable and still possible to mess up easily with on a high level but better with banking and requires intensive micromanaging of balance. Although from a spectator's standpoint, a complex track with high grip vehicles might look like it is more difficult to manage, it's a similar level of difficulty at the highest tier of competition. The series predominantly using ovals have to be far more conscious about balancing their vehicle, while the ones that are more designed for road courses are able to focus more on how they approach a turn for efficiency rather than if they will wipe out easily. In addition, longer road courses tend to use a different mindset from those of shorter courses and definitely ovals. With longer road courses, you usually aren't going to be the best in all turns and can focus on a particular set of turns to compensate for any gaffs in the rest, but with oval racing, precision is necessary in every turn of every lap because the shorter distance means that compensating for one turn with being better in another is not going to really work in the long run. In addition, most European road course series, including Formula 1, run races that are several hundred miles shorter than those run by IndyCar or NASCAR, even below top level.