World Series Rally1 cars are perhaps the safest four-wheelers in the world. They still don’t protect against everything.
– All the stars in the sky were now in the wrong position.
That’s what AKK’s rally manager saw Henrik Frank describes the crash that claimed the life of rally star Craig Breen.
Hyundai’s Irish star crashed out in the pre-tests of the World Rally Championship in Croatia. According to media reports, Breen crashed into a wooden fence with the left side ahead. The fence penetrated the car, killing Breen instantly.
There is no official information about the accident. However, according to Frank, the news about the fence penetrating the cockpit of the rally car seems like the most likely option.
– The biggest safety risk of these cars is if something gets inside the car into the cabin.
Frank says that a lot of work has been done for the safety of the current Rally1 cars.
– I dare to claim that these cars are the safest four-wheelers in the world.
Various safety solutions take violent voltages, shocks and other shocks into account in accident situations. According to Frank, current rally cars have focused especially on side collisions.
Even so, such a blow could be Breen’s fate.
– It feels so stupid that something like this can happen.
Plexiglas side glass
According to media reports, Craig Breen crashed into a wooden fence. Hyundai Motorsport
How did the fence get into the cockpit?
According to Frank, there are two realistic options. Either the windshield or the side window of the car.
Neither is designed to withstand such a point-like, piercing blow.
– The side glass is just plexiglass, Frank says.
– Even the windshield is exactly the same as in civilian cars. It is not a special glass in itself. If there is enough momentum, the object will pass through them.
What happens now?
Everything possible has been done for the safety of rally cars. Even that didn’t save Breen. Hyundai Motorsport
Motorsport is dangerous, everyone who follows the sport knows that.
After tragic events, the question is often raised whether the trip has already become too dangerous.
– There are as many opinions on this matter as there are those who express them, Frank himself describes.
– However, everything possible has been done for the safety of these cars, Frank assures.
That still doesn’t mean that you can’t invest even more in security. In the near future, we will hear what kind of measures the World Rally Championship and the international automobile association FIA will take.
– If you want to reduce the speed of cars, you will find ways to do that, Frank states.
However, AKK’s rally manager sees the even stricter safety requirements for special stages as a more likely option.
– There will certainly be a discussion about how such accidents can be avoided in the future. If there are dangerous places like this along the route, where an object can penetrate the car, we will pay more attention to them. Such risks will surely be eliminated more effectively in the future.