Shinozuka seriously injured.

RickP:Clio51 · 9 Jan 2003, 14:47 (Ref:468487)

Shinozuka seriously injured in todays stage, lets wish him and his co-driver, Thierry Delli Zottiwell.

PARIS, Jan 9 (AFP) - Japan's former Dakar Rally champion Kenjiro Shinozuka has been seriously injured after crashing during
Thursday's eighth stage, organisers said.
The 53-year-old Nissan driver and his co-driver Thierry Delli Zotti were both reported to be a serious condition.
The accident occurred some 373km into the marathon 727km stage, the longest in the Rally between Ghat and Sabha in Libya.
"The two men were evacuated by medical helicopter towards the Rally medical centre at Sabha," organisers said.
"From there, once their state stabilises they will be
repatriated towards Tunis by helicopter."
Shinozuka, who won the Dakar driving for Mitsubishi in 1997, was in third position overall Wednesday some 51 minutes 20 seconds behind French Mitsubishi leaders Stephane Peterhansel and Jean-Paul Cottret.

SJ Spode · 9 Jan 2003, 16:56 (Ref:468594)

Best wishes for a speedy recovery

Liz · 9 Jan 2003, 17:25 (Ref:468622)

I'm sorry to hear that! I'll keep them in my prayers.

**Asp** · 9 Jan 2003, 18:50 (Ref:468685)

An update from eurosport's website.

Quote:

Former Dakar winner Kenjiro Shinozuka was in a coma and fighting for his life after sustaining 'very serious' facial injuries during a crash on the eighth stage of the Dakar on Thursday. Chief medic Christian Noël confirmed on France Television that his 'life was in danger'.
Shinozuka, aged 54 and Japan's most distinguished rally driver, and his French co-driver crashed their Nissan pickup on the 727-km stage between Ghat and Sabha in Libya.
"Shinozuka has fallen into a coma, and is suffering from a serious facial trauma," Noël added. "His condition is stable and we will take him to Tunis, then to Paris as soon as his he is able, but for the moment, his life is in danger. We will have to wait 48 hours before knowing the full extent of his injuries."
Noël, however, had favourable words for co-driver Thierry Delli-Zotti: "Thierry's condition is acceptable. He is ok, he is stable and presents no important danger. We are not worried."

Speedworx · 9 Jan 2003, 19:25 (Ref:468731)

This is terrible news. I had a feeling something was gonna happen today.

Tuesday: Schlesser retires
Wednesday: Loprais retires

Kind of figured, that things go in threes. Didn't expect someone to be in a coma.

cybersdorf · 9 Jan 2003, 20:50 (Ref:468828)

Hang in there Kenji. You're not done yet.

R · 9 Jan 2003, 21:13 (Ref:468850)

What?!? Oh no, this is terrible news. I haven't seen Eurosport's update yet (it starts in 15 minutes time), but I didn't expect something like this to happen. I just popped in here to see if there had been any major developments.

Hang in there, Kenji. You'll be in my thoughts and prayers.

cybersdorf · 9 Jan 2003, 22:03 (Ref:468881)

Speeddemon555 · 9 Jan 2003, 22:58 (Ref:468945)

Yes prayers for Kenji to come through.

avsfan733 · 10 Jan 2003, 02:03 (Ref:469078)

anyone know exactly what happened? From the picture it appears he nose dived over a jump or something to that effect

Lee Janotta · 10 Jan 2003, 04:58 (Ref:469159)

"Motorsport.com -- Motorsport.com -- Japanese driver Kenjiro Shinozuka and Frenchman co-driver Thierry Delli-Zotti were seriously injured during stage eight of the Dakar Rally today. Shinozuka was driving the No. 201 Nissan in the T2/3 Super Production class. The team Nissan XX car flew off a bump in the Libyan desert flying ten metres (approximately 30 feet) before rolling over and coming to a rest on its side."

Absolutely terrible news.

Lee Janotta · 10 Jan 2003, 08:29 (Ref:469245)

I hate to give the gory details, but Speed Channel showed the wrecked Nissan in tonight's coverage. The truck got airborne and then nosed straight into the sand. In the impact, Shinozuka's face struck the steering wheel with sufficient force to bend the rim.

Thierry was wellenough to give an interview at the site, despite being a bit bloodied, so at least he'll be fine.

Nordic · 10 Jan 2003, 09:07 (Ref:469276)

The BBC web site reports that Shinozuka has had brain scans that have shown no lasting damage & his injuries are now not belived life threating.
He remains in an induced Coma.

R · 10 Jan 2003, 09:12 (Ref:469281)

In the circumstances, that is good news.

cybersdorf · 10 Jan 2003, 09:48 (Ref:469308)

Thank goodness.

Liz · 10 Jan 2003, 12:12 (Ref:469624)

The co-driver said in his interview that they rolled several times. Judging by the look of that car it would not surprise me. If he recovers without serious brain damage it will be plain miraculous, judging by the look of that steering wheel.

Those cars must be designed to be shot into space.

**Asp** · 10 Jan 2003, 13:02 (Ref:470036)

Apparantly it was a collapsed sand dune to be more specific on the 'bump' - go up one side to discover a sheer srop on the other and just go flying.

It's a problem of that Dakar (and other Rally Raids) that's existed for many a year - I think a 'pile-up' in 2000 (?) happened when about 6 cars did exactly that over the same dune. Thankfully everyone did survive that one.

Good news on Shinozuka at least.

SJ Spode · 10 Jan 2003, 13:13 (Ref:470114)

I haven't seen the footage but would a head restraint system (HANS or similar) have helped, mind you I'd imagine they'd be pretty uncomfortable on the length of stages you're talking on the Dakar.

429CJ · 10 Jan 2003, 16:20 (Ref:470366)

Those open-face helmets... if I happened to be a race driver, I'd never use one, no matter how hot the cockpit.

Lee Janotta · 10 Jan 2003, 16:24 (Ref:470374)

Quote:

Originally posted by SJ Spode
I haven't seen the footage but would a head restraint system (HANS or similar) have helped, mind you I'd imagine they'd be pretty uncomfortable on the length of stages you're talking on the Dakar.

Honestly, I can't imagine how his harness allowed enough travel for his head to strike the wheel, if it was properly installed and tightened. If he was wearing it loose, the HANS might have made things worse, but if it was tight, _maybe_ the HANS would've helped.

But the HANS really isn't an option on the Dakar. Not even full-face helmets are an option, and firesuits are barely tolerable on long runs like these. Some drivers in the American equivalent, the desert races, take the start in their firesuits, stop for a couple minutes and strip them off, then put them back on next time they'll run into an official. Richard Burns got special dispensation from officials to drive part of the Safari rally in street clothes a few years ago. Gets ridiculously hot in a front-engined steel-bodied car in the middle of a desert going up and down, up and down all day.

429CJ · 11 Jan 2003, 18:03 (Ref:471293)

Yes, only car drivers I have seen in Dakar wearing full face helmets are those in windowless cars, like Ford Protruck.

Crash Test · 13 Jan 2003, 06:29 (Ref:472729)

I'd say it would be fairly easy to strike your head on the steering wheel, even with the belts fully tightened. The guy in the photo below had his belts fully tightened, and his head struck the steering wheel, bending it much more out of shape than the Shinozuka incident (with an open face helmet), was KOed in the crach, but recovered well enough in time. Fortunately, he was using a good steering wheel, which is meant to crumple in an injury (if he had a cheaper, harder wheel, he would have been in a lot of trouble).

I don't know what happens, but I have a suspicion on these long rally raids that drivers would slacken off their belts for comfort's sake. On the HANS device- remember Oriol Servia's massive shunt at Laguna Seca a few years ago when he nosed dived into the first hairpin... and he was fine from it...

StuiE · 13 Jan 2003, 06:53 (Ref:472734)

Quote:

Originally posted by Lee Janotta
I hate to give the gory details, but Speed Channel showed the wrecked Nissan in tonight's coverage. The truck got airborne and then nosed straight into the sand. In the impact, Shinozuka's face struck the steering wheel with sufficient force to bend the rim.

Owch

Get well Kenjiro

Lee Janotta · 13 Jan 2003, 07:20 (Ref:472740)

I was suggesting that with the belts loose, the HANS could make things worse, not with them tight. Loose, your neck wouldn't be able to bend to dissipate at least a little of the energy of impact.

RickP:Clio51 · 13 Jan 2003, 07:55 (Ref:472754)

Lee, you're comments are close to the common myth. As a Hans wearer, I assure you that you don't otice it after the first 10 minutes. And as to the details about drivers racing in t-shirts, you're right, but have you ever wondered why you no longer see the Citroen guys like that? Because they've bought breathable suits, the air flows through them and you don't have the same overheating problems. For hot events, I wear a full face with forced airflow into it and a cooling shirt that drives 5 hours of cold air into the nomex, overheating isn't a problem regardless of the temperature. In a big impact, the belts can occasionally stretch sufficiently to allow the face to impact the wheel and I would never wear an open face in serious competition. Cheers Rick

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