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Message no. 1
From: Luke Kendall <luke@********.CANON.OZ.AU>
Subject: Not SR: Cannonball run deaths
Date: Tue, 24 May 1994 14:17:00 +1000
You might remember I posted something about this race in
Australia. It started on Sunday, the race being done in
stages, from the Northern Territory to Ayers Rock (in the
central desert), and back - about 3000km.

The leader at this point was a japanese team in a Ferrari F40,
a `millionaire dentist' being the driver.
But about 40 mins ago, the car crashed into a checkpoint,
killing the driver and co-driver, and two officials at the
checkpoint.

The two friends from work were coming third at that point.
One just rang. They're at Ayers Rock now. They came
to the scene 2 mins after the accident. Other people
were already there, attending to things.

He said it was pretty bad. Bits of Ferrari all over the
place, dead bodies...

They don't know yet whether the race will go on or not.

His theory is that the Ferrari driver underestimated his
speed, came to the checkpoint unexpectedly, and hit the
brakes and either locked it up, or hadn't come to a stop
as he went through the checkpoint.

luke

PS:
He said that at speeds of 220kph, bumps make the Maserati
jump sideways - by half the width of the car (4 feet)! But
he says that they're used to it now: the car is going straight,
it lands straight, and `you just keep driving'.
They're averaging 220kph.
Message no. 2
From: Jeff Norrell <norrell@*******.ME.UTEXAS.EDU>
Subject: Re: Not SR: Cannonball run deaths
Date: Tue, 24 May 1994 09:22:44 CDT
I would guess that the F40 had an ABS system so don't think they locked up the
brakes... But underestimating your speed is a common ailment of non-professional
drivers. And yes, bumps at that rate of speed can do amazing things to any
performance vehicle, be it motorcycles, cars, whatever.

Here's an SR question... Can a rigged vehicle compensate for a bad road?
(This is probably in the rules somewhere, but I don't get to play that
often so don't keep up.

-Blade
Message no. 3
From: Robert Watkins <bob@**.NTU.EDU.AU>
Subject: Re: Not SR: Cannonball run deaths
Date: Wed, 25 May 1994 16:41:49 +0930
> The leader at this point was a japanese team in a Ferrari F40,
> a `millionaire dentist' being the driver.
> But about 40 mins ago, the car crashed into a checkpoint,
> killing the driver and co-driver, and two officials at the
> checkpoint.
>
[ A little bit chomped ]
> They don't know yet whether the race will go on or not.
>
Yes, it will. However, today is a scheduled restday, so everyone gets a
day to recover.

> His theory is that the Ferrari driver underestimated his
> speed, came to the checkpoint unexpectedly, and hit the
> brakes and either locked it up, or hadn't come to a stop
> as he went through the checkpoint.
>
What happened was: the Ferrari moved out to overtake a (non-particpating)
Holden Commodore. Ferrari sees checkpoint about 100m ahead. Ferrari slams
on the brakes, gets back behind the Commodore, hits some gravel, and loses
control. Now, why the Japanese drivers didn't know the checkpoint was
there is the mystery.

> luke
>
> PS:
> He said that at speeds of 220kph, bumps make the Maserati
> jump sideways - by half the width of the car (4 feet)! But
> he says that they're used to it now: the car is going straight,
> it lands straight, and `you just keep driving'.
> They're averaging 220kph.
>
Yeah, the Stuart Highway is great for those kind of laughs.


--
Robert Watkins bob@**.ntu.edu.au
Real Programmers never work 9 to 5. If any real programmers are around at 9 am,
it's because they were up all night.

Further Reading

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Thwap!