[LM24 Race] Anthony Davidson vs. Piergiuseppe Perazzini

[GAMEOFGUTS21]

As the title states, whose fault was it in that particular incident?

In my opinion, it was Perazzini. I don't think many will say otherwise. However, this thread is the place to say it!

On another note, I sure hope Anthony is OK.

[Steven Humphrey]

That gap was big enough to get 2 cars through! Perazzini's fault 100%

[Paradise City]

Perazzini was snoozing.

[Greem]

"Well that was a big one! Lying in a French hospital with a broken back wasn't what I had in mind at this stage in the race..."

That sounds bad but could be so much worse.

[IceMan_PJN]

It wasn't Perazzini's fault, and this isn't really up for debate. He shouldn't have stayed to his left because he probably wasn't aware that Davidson was coming up on his right. It's easy to be an armchair enthusiast and make calls from the sofa without ever having run a lap, either in real life or even just in simulation, but when you're in the car everything changes. When you're doing upwards of 200 MPH (300+ KPH) and at the end of a fast straight and coming up on a double-right, the second of the two being a tight, slow one, you're eyes and mind are fixed on the next apex and not on your mirrors. You can't approach a hard right at these speeds and be looking behind you all the time.

I've watched the crash in slow motion repeatedly on my DVR, and at the exact moment that Perazzini started moving to his right, Davidson was not yet completely along side him. Yes, he was technically beside, but farther back, probably out of view from the cockpit windows. At that point he would have been focused on making the apex and not anticipating an LMP suddenly appearing to his right. He started moving towards the apex, during which transition Davidson then pulls farther forward and eventually the collision catches his back end (on account of Davidson being faster).

Should he have used his mirrors more? Sure, one could argue that. It's easy to argue that from the sofa. When you're the one in the cockpit for hours at a time, it's easier to miss a few opportunities for a glance at the mirrors here and there. It's entirely possible that he glanced back and saw Davidson farther back along the straight prior to the end and just didn't expect him to catch up with him at the moment that he did.

[Purist]

It's a nice thought, but too many drivers, "amateurs' and otherwise, DO realize that the LMP is coming, and don't turn in on the quicker car.

In just about any formula I can think of, if contact is made when the guy overtaking has a nose ahead, it's the fault of the guy being overtaken, period.

If you haven't got the spatial wherewithal to judge those closing rates, or if you're prone to panicking when a car "suddenly appears" near you, you're not fit to be a racing driver. I don't know any other way to put it.

I don't have to be a racing driver to realize there are certain competencies that are absolutely necessary to perform the tasks required behind the wheel. ("One need not be Caesar in order to understand Caesar.") The driver of the Ferrari, by his actions, demonstrated a distinct lack in these essential competencies, and showed he was NOT capable of maintaining an acceptable, minimum driving standard.

[davyboy]

It's always the responsibility of the faster car/driver to overtake safely. Relieved that Ant isn't in any worse condition than he is.

[GTRMagic]

Originally Posted by davyboy

It's always the responsibility of the faster car/driver to overtake safely. Relieved that Ant isn't in any worse condition than he is.

My question out of this and Mr Boullon's crash were wondering why their race seats didnt do more to keep their physical selves protected in the shunts. Broken vertebrae are a pretty mega outcome, but perhaps the sear pour, or compromises for multiple sized drivers, is the true fault here?

[davyboy]

Originally Posted by GTRMagic

My question out of this and Mr Boullon's crash were wondering why their race seats didnt do more to keep their physical selves protected in the shunts. Broken vertebrae are a pretty mega outcome, but perhaps the sear pour, or compromises for multiple sized drivers, is the true fault here?

It's a good point. Including Guillaume Moreau's accident earlier this month [arguably the one with the most worrying consequences], there have been three serious spinal injuries at this year's Le Mans and it certainly warrants an investigation to see if there's anything that can be learned from them.

[aneesh99]

Originally Posted by davyboy

It's a good point. Including Guillaume Moreau's accident earlier this month [arguably the one with the most worrying consequences], there have been three serious spinal injuries at this year's Le Mans and it certainly warrants an investigation to see if there's anything that can be learned from them.

And whatever happened to Timo Bernhard, another case of a car taking off

[The Badger]

3 serious back accidents so far this year ..... one could say that the safety isnt up to much !!!

How bad is Davidson ? Hope he recovers quick . I know that his dad is on this forum sometimes ..... can only imagine the shock of seeing your son having an accident like this ..... hope your doing ok to Mr.d
Davidson .

I feel the GT car was at fault , as it seems the door was closed on Ant .

[Aysedasi]

Certainly there was no doubt at all at the circuit where the 'blame' should lie. Having said that, there is more than an element of truth in Iceman's view. We've been here before - last year with Bob Kaufmann. Same goes for the Toyota/DW accident, again, no doubts there.....

I too want to wish AD a speedy recovery, though. (And GM and JCB, for that matter).

[FIRE]

Originally Posted by The Badger

3 serious back accidents so far this year ..... one could say that the safety isnt up to much !!!

I have the impression back injuries are getting more common in the last couple of seasons.

Recently Beitske Visser has broken her back while crashing in Formula ADAC (and took victory the next day! Lucky she didn't crash that day).

[Adam43]

Originally Posted by IceMan_PJN

It wasn't Perazzini's fault, and this isn't really up for debate.

On this forum it is up for debate. Sorry.

[Peat]

Originally Posted by Purist

In just about any formula I can think of, if contact is made when the guy overtaking has a nose ahead, it's the fault of the guy being overtaken, period.

This isn't formula racing though. It's all very well saying 'Davidson was ahead (at that split second) ergo Perazzini is at fault' but you aren't taking into account the closing speed of a car doing laptimes almots 40s quicker.

Racing incident if ever i saw one. Perazinni could have made room, but Davidson could very well have just waited 100 yards.

[AndrewF31]

Honestly, I think that corner is just like the corner where Kauffmann and Rocky went off last year. It's a very difficult fast corner with only 1 stable lane, and much more tricky then the one half way towards Indianapolis because of the slow corner at the end.

I understand that "to be lapped cars" must let the fast ones past but its not an absolute rule on all parts of the circuit.

I believe on parts like this the rule only applies if the fast car is beside them. If not, the faster driver should also be responsible for taking their foot off the accelerator and wait a bit. We saw McNish do that earlier in the day (this morning) when he and, I think, Treluyer, came up to a group of 3 lapped cars at the same place.

We frequently point the fingers only at the GT AM drivers or Gentlemen drivers, and indeed they make some foolish decisions, and this one wasn't too far off that.
However I also believe that the Pros are the best equiped to manage correctly tricky situations since they are trained and prepared to run in high-pressure situations.

In the end both could have done better:

1- Perrazini could have acknowledged Davidson's approach by taking his foot off the accelerator a bit earlier and let Davidson by before the small turn

2- Brake earlier and put himself to the left to let Davidson by at that spot (in my view not so easy at that place after a long fast straight)

3- Davidson concluding himself that he would not catch Perrazini before that point and take his foot off and get the Ferrari on the braking area into Mulsanne Corner.

[Purist]

Peat, perhaps I chose that word badly, but I wasn't merely referring to open-wheelers with my comment.

Andrew, the Ferrari was staying well left. He didn't even start that turn-in until he was past what would be the apex for that kink leading into Mulsanne. It doesn't make sense why you would even turn in sharply at that point. You're past the apex, and onto the little straight run to Mulsanne itself, but still well before the turn-in point for Mulsanne.

I'm sorry, but I don't see how the sums add up on this one as far as Davidson doing anything wrong.

I remember seeing film from 1998 of one of the Porsche 911 GT1-98s making an almost identical move on a then GT2 Porsche, at the same point on the track, and there was no problem whatsoever. The visibility then would have been even trickier, since the "hump" hadn't yet been ground down.

[Peat]

As far as i can see he took a normal line. I'm not entirely sure what you are suggesting that he was 'doing'.

Re:- The formula thing. I know what you are getting at, but the 'rule' is moot when you have large closing speeds in my opinion.

In my view, Perazzini took a look in his mirror/screen, saw a white light approaching and thought 'Ah, a proto will be passing me in a little while' turns into Mulsanne as per normal and BOOM, he had an extremely fast Toyota already there shooting the gap. The closing speed caught him out. GT driver's can't be expected to leap out of the way everytime they see white lights approaching, they are racing too.

This isn't the first time that a LMP has collided with a GT. It's just one of those things with multi-class racing. This one just happened to have dire consequences.

[Tim Falce]

As there's a lack of "It was a racing incident, **** happens" button on the poll I've gone for both. IMO it's one of those things that can happen with such high speed differentials in racing.

[Piglet]

Originally Posted by davyboy

It's always the responsibility of the faster car/driver to overtake safely.

This would be my starting point. In all lower level racing this is what drivers are told over and over again. The slower cars should stay on line, meaning that the faster guys know exactly where they will be and can use their extra speed to go around them. The last thing you want is slower guys diving off line in an unpredictable way.

However, this seems not to be the theory in place at Le Mans - we saw it with the two big accidents last year and this one (and probably others but I haven't seen much coverage of this year yet).

The faster cars seem to drive at the apex and expect that the slower cars will not be there when they get there. IMHO it's a recipe for this type of incident.

The slower cars are driving at the limit of their own vehicles already; as someone else said, they can't look behind them at every second and the closing speed currently is huge so they are caught in seconds. Even if they see the approaching fast car they can't just lift off mid corner.

IMHO we will continue to see these incidents up until "normal" rules are applied and slower cars stick to their line with the faster cars going around them.

As for the injuries, I think some have forgotten that motorsport is dangerous, we've seen some massive impacts in the last couple of years and the injuries have been relatively minor considering the forces involved. To me that's a good sign. Yes any injury is bad but the alternatives could be a lot worse.

[wewantourdarbyback]

Hard to put the two crashes together really, Perazinni turned in on Ant and clipped him, causing the crash, whereas Rob Kauffman made no contact whatsoever with Rocky, who lost it because he dropped a wheel on the grass trying to get past.

[Purist]

I will retract one thing. The Ferrari's turn-in point, if the track had been clear, was not problematic in itself. I think I got a bit fouled up by some slow motion, close-up clips they showed later on in the coverage.

As has been pointed out, many passes of this type have been made at that exact spot for decades, with absolutely no problems. A GT car has the ability to stay in the outside lane through that section. In this case, I don't consider it an issue of a GT car having to "leap out of the way", but rather, of the GT driver being cognizant enough not to put himself in harm's way in the first place.

ACO rules of late, and this has NOTHING to do with fins or holes, haven't helped the general situation either. That is, the LMPs (both classes) have had power cuts, leaving aerodynamics as the primary means of getting that lap time back. Since gaining time on the straights through less drag is becoming less of an option, the designers are turning to increased downforce to aid in cornering speeds and in the braking zones. In other words, the places where the speed differentials are greater are shifting toward these more problematic zones. In order not to lose inordinate time, LMP drivers have no real choice other than to take increased risks in these areas.

Let's face it, no racing driver worth his mettle is just going to sit there behind a GT car through the Porsche Curves, and lose 20 seconds on the guy in front who has clean track. The irony in this example is that, historically, those passes on traffic in the Porsche Curves are even riskier than what Anthony Davidson was doing.

[gregtummer]

Most of these accidents between LMP1s and GTs are the unintended consequences of taking away horsepower from the LMP1s.

The standard line of thinking is that "we'll take away LMP1s horsepower, they won't go as fast down the straights, and will be safer." But what has happened now, is that instead of waiting to pass on a straight, the LMP1s have to divebomb the slower GT cars to keep their momentum up through the turns and carry that momentum onto the straights. Hence why we are seeing these accidents.

[Peat]

That's a point i hadn't really considered. The LMP cars only major advantage is on corner entry through mid corner.

However, saying that. Surely the problem is magnified if you are in an LMP2? You don't see that many incidents of this type with them.

[Holt]

Davidson rightfully assumed Perazzini saw him so he went for the gap.

The problem is Perazzini is not talented enough of a driver to give a prototype room going into that tricky bend, so he turned in early and took out Davidson.

It's Perazzini's fault, but more importantly it highlights the trust prototype drivers put in GT drivers. The problem is, you can't trust all GT drivers the same, as there are a large group of "gentlemen" drivers who can barely drive the track as it is without worrying about giving someone else room.

The solution is to make it where prototype drivers can differentiate GTE Am cars from GTE Pro cars. In another thread I suggested yellow stripes or flashing lights or something on the rear of GTE Am cars so prototype drivers get something of an idea of who they are dealing with.

If Davidson knows Perazzini is driving that car he doesnt go for the gap and Perazzini doesnt have to exceed his driving abilities by turning in 20 feet later for that corner.