Videos: Spectators at Pikes Peak, too close for comfort

The second video (below) is now probably pretty famous already – a pack of spectators, let’s call them ill informed, decided to run across the track less then a second before the storming Peugeot 208 T16 Pikes Peak, driven by Sebastien Loeb, raced by. All of it was captured by the guy standing on the outside of the corner, presumably, he would be right in the path of the car, if those idiots, pardon, ill informed individuals, were a tad bit slower. I heard comments that it’s hard to enforce control over the entire track due to it’s length. What kind of reasoning is that?

But then comes another video, of an incident involving a nice looking Porsche turned into a pile of historic metal, after driver lost the rear in one of the corners, presumably lifted for a split second, which then sent rear end in the opposite direction for a moment, after which car kicks it’s rear out again and slides off into boulders. Game over. One comment on Youtube even suggests driver lost control because he was spooked by the people standing so close to the track.

If you take a closer look, you’ll first see the guy taking photos or filming while basically standing on the road, or rather, is, let’s be generous, 1 meter away from it. Then, as the car skids into the crash, and camera guy runs to the scene, you can see camping chairs just couple of meters away from the track. One chair even gets squashed by the Porsche.

These things are very loud warning signs, and no reason should exist that allows for this. Sure enough, who am I to preach and complain (which is, basically, what I mostly do), but aren’t we all so vocal and determined to enforce new levels of safety each time there is a fatality among spectators, only to dismiss it next time we see serious breaches of basic common sense?

Stay safe, people.