Anthony Davidson Suffers Crash Le Mans 2012

[video=youtube;NOPOkcLeLRU]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NOPOkcLeLRU[/video]

Toyota's Anthony Davidson has broken his back after a horrific crash at the Le Mans 24 Hours race in France.
The British driver was in the opening stages of his first stint and was hunting down the leaders when he was hit by Piergiuseppe Perazzini, whilst lapping the Ferrari driver.
The contact sent the Sky Sports F1 commentator into the air, and his car spectacularly somersaulted. Fortunately, he landed on his wheels before slamming into the barriers at high speed.
Initial reports suggested that the 33-year-old had emerged without serious injury from the incident after he was checked over by circuit medical staff.
However, after being taken to a local hospital the full extent of the damage was revealed.
"Anthony was taken to the hospital nearby for a precautionary check here at Le Mans, which then revealed two broken vertebrae in his back," a Toyota spokesman told Sky Sports.
"He will remain in hospital here until Monday at which point we will find out more about the impact in the coming days.
"The good news is that these are injuries he can recover from over a period of time and we will have to be patient and hopefully he can come back stronger than ever."
Davidson broke the news to his fans via Twitter: "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. Gutted for the Toyota Hybrid team who did an amazing job all week. Thank god I can follow the race on Twitter though!"

Get well soon , class Sky Sports F1 presenter and former BBC F1 (red button) reporter.

Courtesy of Sky Sports F1.

 

Gutted for him, will miss him on Sky.

 

Theres an other motorsports board video and all already on the Le Mans thread.

And it happened yesterday, not exactly breaking news

 

Well, I wish him a speedy recovery, he knew the risks but that's still a horrible injury. I gather it was an amateur driver who took him out as well, have to agree with the comments in the Le Mans thread, it's disgraceful that inexperienced drivers are able to have such an impact on the major races.

I wonder if Georgie will offer us the chance to slow down his crash and watch as his car impacts into the barriers via the SkyPad?

 

Amateurs are a liability, surely the ferrari should have recognised that Ant was the ace driver of the #8 Toyota, and keen to pass?

 

In my opinion it is Davidsons fault. Not a fan of the amateur class (which it isnt even when you have the likes of Pedro Lamy driving in the class) myself but this isnt the Am drivers fault. The code is for the slower car to keep the racing line and the lapping car will finds its way around. The GT-am car took the racing line, which he should have done, and Anthony did so as well which he really shouldn't have done.

 

I think the taking the driving line rule is not meant to be stuck to when it means you drive into a side of another car.

 

Other-Motorsports

Le-Mans-this-weekend

Shouldn't we be discussing this in the relevant thread? It has nothing to do with F1.

 

As if by magic

 

Nice move.

I think the problem stems from the fact that people automatically scan through the various discussions which come under the heading of 'F1', and tend to be unaware of anything else being here. Perhaps if everything was in one forum, rather than sub-divided (which effectively sidelines non-F1 events), people would see the discussion and take a greater interest in motor racing as a whole? At least it might give a more natural reflection of interest; ergo importance. After all, motor racing does contain a much broader spectrum than its most interesting pinnacle.

*There can be no summit without a mountain and its foothills…

 

Looks to me more that Davidson cut across into him. Nothing much the GT AM driver could do

 

What was Davidson meant to do? He was on the inside of the corner and heading straight towards the apex of the corner, the AM driver turned into him and hit the rear of his car.

 

Scrap that, i dislike the above post, having watched it again, it's Ants fault.

 

Racing incident I think. I posted this thread as Anthony does have a link with F1.
If you do not agree with it, I don't care.
I think people are happy to debate the cause of the collision on this forum.

 

yes - Manny. Why not discuss it here.?

 

I see there's a discussion of trying to apportion blame over the Davidson incident, but there is a real problem that is sometimes not fully appreciated.

The following discussion can be difficult to get across, particularly to those without racing experience*; and even to many with decades of racing experience including International B licence holders! (*I do not mean circuit experience, such as 'track days' which count for virtually nothing as this is not competitive).

**The expectations of some drivers can be vastly different, being formed on the basis of one's experience; and often do not take full account of what might be considered 'normal' to the other driver. Of course, this can and does work both ways: as well as an amateur not appreciating what these things can do, the professional driver of a Prototype has often not raced in the various lesser series. For this reason, I've found that a professional driver who has had experience of both (David Brabham is a very good example), is far less likely to commit the 'lack of anticipation' type of error, since they tend to have a better understanding of what it's like for the other driver. By analogy: imagine running through a crowded supermarket when everyone else walks.

At the critical moment of approach, incidents such as these can happen in the blink of an eye with no chance whatsoever of avoiding the consequences of a mistake. The die are cast with preconceived ideas based on one's own experience, right or wrong; and as much as several seconds before of contact. And where we see drivers on the same track with significantly different vehicles, skill and experience, it is almost inevitable that such misunderstandings occur sooner or later. (Indeed, I have never known it not to happen at Le Mans!).

For instance, in the incident being discussed, I know that the driver of the Ferrari said he did see Davidson coming and had been aware of him for some time, but simply didn't think the pass was on at that point. Similarly, Davidson thought he'd been spotted (after all – he had!) and expected the Ferrari driver to realise that he could make the pass easily in his vastly superior car –which would be virtually impossible in a similar, low downforce car to that being driven by the amateur. However, it would be unfair to lay the blame at his feet based simply on status, for the reasons I've laid out.

Neither driver properly predicted the reasonable actions of the other.
Racing incident.

- - -o0o- - -

​

N.B.**This argument applies less with drivers racing in the same category, including F1 drivers; all of whom hold a Superlicence, and who run around supermarkets specifically cleared for Olympians!

 

It was Anthony's duty to make a safe pass as its the rule of lapping slower cars in Le Mans. I don't understand why people say it had anything to do with the Ferrari as he was in a completely different category and if he didn't turn at that point in time he would of possibly had his own accident into a different barrier. He was at the mercy of Anthony's choice pretty much as he could of backed out any time considering what he was driving and he would of just lost a few seconds instead of wrecking the car.

It really ****s me off with people and media trying to blame the guy in the Ferrari by using the F1 logic of lapping slower cars when it's completely different in Le Mans. Anthony made a call, he was wrong and they both got punished for it.

I like Anthony and he is ****hot at Le Mans and I reckon it's only a matter of time until he wins it, but I don't feel sorry for a baseball player when he gets hit by a baseball if he enjoys the sport he's in. I don't see what the point of kisses and hugs and get well cards to a guy who knew 100% what he was getting into that weekend.

Motorsport is dangerous and it seems the public forgot that yesterday. I respect the people who do it, but I won't feel sorry for them if they get injured since they made the choice of entering and they were never forced to do it unlike like slaves in roman times that were told to fight to the death!

 

Listen to the commentary in this one

[video=youtube;PzBn7SClKmU]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PzBn7SClKmU&feature=related[/video]

 

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