Formula BMW

[teletubby]

What do people think of Formula BMW then? 2 good races at Donington, do you bother to watch the support races or just wander around missing the action?

[Reidy_fan]

not a great fan of the single seaters, watched F Renault last year mainly for Paul Di-Resta and Susie Stoddart. Did see the 1st F BMW at donny thought it was close racing but more of a tin-top fan myself

[btccanorak]

I like FBMW, no point in just watching the BTCC races, if you're there you may as well watch everything! You can play 'spot the F1 star'!

[Supertourer]

I usually try and watch all the support races, although, as a tin-top fan, I find the Porsches, Cupras, and Clios more interesting than the single seaters. That said, I have witnessed some cracking single-seater action.

[codename_47]

FBMW suffers a bit from everyone calling it "boring single seater" racing.....I think you can blame Frenault and it's predecessor on the BTCC bill, Formula Ford for that.

FBMW usually puts on a damn good show!
It's just a shame, such as at Donington, that the racing is sometimes tempered by scary accidents as these young guys are finding out where the limit is....(though the guy who launched Joe Osbourne into a roll probably recieved a telling off from his manager for saying live on Motors TV "I was blocking and due to the understeer I'd been suffered all race, I braked early" and yet was suprised to see a car sailing over him! :eek:
The new Ralf Schumacher!? :p )

Fortunatly BMW have recognised this with some super safe cars.

So not all single seaters are boring.....give FBMW a try! ;)

[Barney]

Because I've only been keeping an eye on the series and supports for the last few weeks it's been intersting looking at the suport grids and learning who's who.

I find some of the best racing is in the minor categories, I hope this is the case when I visit. I want to see as much racing as I can.

Is the Porsche racing good, close with carnage etc?

I imagine the Seat Sports would be madness...

Trev :cool:

[Supertourer]

The Porsche racing was good last year, but if it's pile-ups you're after, there's usually something like that going on in the Renault Clio races.

[JLD]

Todays FBMW race was spectacular in more ways than one. The racing was good, some of the closest single seat action I've seen for some time. Unfortuately a bad accident (with one car 'flying' into the fence above the armco) resulted in the safety car being deployed.
Thankfully the driver seemed OK, he walked to the rescue truck without help.

[Ads]

Unfortuately a bad accident

lol, thats an understatement. It was horrific. He had his back wheel clipped then spun and jumped 10ft in the air (No joke), he basically his the top of the fencing :eek: . After hitting the fencing he fell to the ground head first but was only stopped and probably saved!! becuase the car wedged between the fencing and the tyre wall. How he walked away i'll never know.

http://img216.echo.cx/img216/1852/crash2dz.jpg
http://img216.echo.cx/img216/5999/crash29rt.jpg
http://img216.echo.cx/img216/3530/crash33ck.jpg

Apart from that incident the racing was fantastic.

[teletubby]

Jo was certainly a lucky boy........again!

Hopefully he'll have better results from now on!

[bramble]

Thank god for the fence then! There are many circuits in the UK where he would have gone straight into the crowd.

[touring fan]

If I remember rightly. I think that's a fairly new bit of fence there, it used to be much smaller until a similar incident when a F3 car went over into the spectator area.

[Jamie P-E]

I remeber that f3 incident 4yrs ago now it was the most frightning thing I have seen and it missed me by about a foot sadly i was slightly hurt by some debris but i have never been on that bank since


If I remember rightly. I think that's a fairly new bit of fence there, it used to be much smaller until a similar incident when a F3 car went over into the spectator area.

[Claw]

Bruce Jouanny was very lucky in that one. I was there the day after and was wandering why there wasn't anyone on the bank. Thursday issue of Autosport confirmed it for me. :eek:

[btccanorak]

:eek: How injured is 'slightly' Jamie? Are you OK now?

What happened? Wasn't somebody else hurt badly, a spectator I think?

[Stuart]

The run off area was widened, the bank lowered and fencing strengthened after a similar F3 accident in 1992 which very sadly had far a worse conclusion. While the fencing stops us taking any good photos at the chicane, it clearly save a lives this weekend.

[Jamie P-E]

Slight cut to the on my face from debris but the woman who was hit was only a few feet away, it was the most sickening think i have seen. i am fine now but it still haunts me when i go near the bank i was also hury when the mondeo flew out of the track again i was cut by debris i certainly wont be standing there again


:eek: How injured is 'slightly' Jamie? Are you OK now?

What happened? Wasn't somebody else hurt badly, a spectator I think?

[racingdick]

The lady who got hit was a wife of a marshal who was a good friend. Last saw him last year in B&Q. She was still recovering and had to learn how to walk again.

Was really unfortunate as they had just had a child.

I believe he still marshal's at Thruxton and Pembrey, his wife and children still go with him to the races i believe!!

[Ads]

>>CRASH PICTURE<< (http://img208.echo.cx/img208/832/osbournecrash7vw.jpg)

Was in the sun apparently today as well

[racingdick]

anyone know where that pic is a higher res. Or any more of the sequence?

[bramble]

What an unlucky guy - flips and rolls his car at Donington, and now this!

[MartinB]

It seems I was watching a few yards to the right of Abs. These pics I took were after the rescue team had cleared up the scene and after the race had resumed following the safety car laps. The point of impact on the fence can be seen on the right hand side of the first picture.

(Apologies for the size of the pictures - they may take a while to load)

http://www.elmiraconsulting.co.uk/photos/thruxton2005/1.JPG
http://www.elmiraconsulting.co.uk/photos/thruxton2005/2.JPG
http://www.elmiraconsulting.co.uk/photos/thruxton2005/3.jpg

Did anyone stay to the end and see Shanly's Porsche hit the barrier at high speed just a few yards further along on the last lap of the final race of the day? Another huge impact, thankfully only into the tyre wall and not the fence.

(Strange coincidence both cars were number 9!)

[baggy57]

i was at thruxton when the bad accident happened my dad who marshals was on the post down when it happened and it really shook him up!

i was also sat on that bank on sunday when joe osbourne come off i was also there at donnington when he had the other crash! he's one unlucky person!

i find there is usually more interesting racing in the support races than in btcc (although i am a big fan of btcc and been following it for years!)
the formula bmw's always have close and exciting races and its giving young talent a chance to shine through!

serena
x

[codename_47]

That is just one shocking incident....

Watching the TV coverage it was really underwhelming, the first we knew of it was seeing the doctor car drive on to the track, and because there was no replay the commentators immediatly didn't talk about it that much and began speculating on the restart, but reading these stories really shows how close we came to a disaster that day!!

I'm guessing there was no-replay because the cameraman was likewise running for his life (and who can blame him?) but if one of the cars had an on-board camera (or maybe even Osbourne's car itself....doubt it'd show much bar the actual cause of the crash though) then Motorsport UK may shed some light on the incident in the not-too distant future (is it due on soon? :confused: )

[Reidy_fan]

I know if I'm on the banking on the outside of a corner i like to be close to the fence (like duffus at knockhill) theory being if something goes into the fence it wont collapse yet if debris goes over it should go over my head. Guess its part of the risk of going as a spectator.

Dunno if that is a good theory or not :rolleyes:

[Editor]

I believe that debris fence is just that, DEBRIS fence. It's designed to stop debris, an entire car is not debris! :eek:

[bramble]

The fences are very good at what they do. I've seen a range of cars hit the fences over the years but never gone through. However Reidy_fan, they can flex an awful lot (any who's seen an airborne Indy car hitting the fence at 200mph will know what I mean) so I wouldnt want to be too close!

The reason they limit trucks to 100mph is to stop them ploughing through the safety equipment.