Age
Tuesday, August 31, 2010 at 11:58AM
Since the untimely death of Peter Lenz it seems there are calls to limit the age at which riders and drivers can race. From what I hear of the incident Peter's age had nothing to do with it at all. You could argue that lack of experience could have been a factor, except in Peter's case that was certainly not the case, and if you raise the age limit then when do they get that experience?
There are young children racing every weekend in karts and on mini-bikes all over the world. This is how all our champions learned, and if you do not start young you will never make it. How many deaths or injuries do you hear about? I'm sure there are some, just as there are for the big "kids" we watch on TV. I have a couple of expert witness cases involving young drivers, but not through faults in their driving. Let's not overreact to this tragedy. Yes, let us evaluate what happened, as we always should following a fatality, make adjustments to our rules to try and avoid a repeat, but motor racing is dangerous for all ages, and always will be. So is rock climbing, bull fighting, luge, and very many other pastimes we all indulge in. Just driving down the road is an adventure in most countries.
Not much else going on in the motorsport world. Vettel still is getting grief about his dumb move on Button, and Alonso is losing the Tifosi with his driving on the weekend. Button is suggesting that Red Bull has been slowed as a result of the tighter "flexi-wing" tests, and there are comments that the front wing did not seem to be as close to the ground as previous races. We will see, Spa was never said to be suited to the RB6, and Monza likewise, so let's wait until the fly-away races and not count them out yet.
Bulgaria, that hot bed of racing, is reportedly teaming up with that other great motorsport country, Abu Dhabi, to build a track and run an F1 GP.
There are young children racing every weekend in karts and on mini-bikes all over the world. This is how all our champions learned, and if you do not start young you will never make it. How many deaths or injuries do you hear about? I'm sure there are some, just as there are for the big "kids" we watch on TV. I have a couple of expert witness cases involving young drivers, but not through faults in their driving. Let's not overreact to this tragedy. Yes, let us evaluate what happened, as we always should following a fatality, make adjustments to our rules to try and avoid a repeat, but motor racing is dangerous for all ages, and always will be. So is rock climbing, bull fighting, luge, and very many other pastimes we all indulge in. Just driving down the road is an adventure in most countries.
Not much else going on in the motorsport world. Vettel still is getting grief about his dumb move on Button, and Alonso is losing the Tifosi with his driving on the weekend. Button is suggesting that Red Bull has been slowed as a result of the tighter "flexi-wing" tests, and there are comments that the front wing did not seem to be as close to the ground as previous races. We will see, Spa was never said to be suited to the RB6, and Monza likewise, so let's wait until the fly-away races and not count them out yet.
Bulgaria, that hot bed of racing, is reportedly teaming up with that other great motorsport country, Abu Dhabi, to build a track and run an F1 GP.
Reader Comments (2)
Wise words Bob. Age seems to be equated with innocence and so when I young life is lost I think that there is sometimes a rush to over react.
Sad to see the losses for the Belgian GP and how, if the status quo remains, they can only afford an F1 race every other year. The series would be better served if they ran the entire schedule at Spa!
I am sorry to hear about Spa losing money too, but it is inevitable under Bernie's and CVC's regime. I have never understood how if you lose money you can afford to run the race every other year? You are still losing money.