da Matta bizzare on track accident at Road America

[Kevin M]

Originally Posted by Dean

Huh? Lateral traction and driver skills have little to do with speed... Yes, I might have seen loss of control at higher speeds, but probably not by the end of the excercise. Added speed does not aid in the learning of the techniques. We can achieve the same G loads at lower speeds by confining the distances the motions occur in and incraease safety at the same time. At those speeds, we typically have the lane toss setup with only 2 car lengths or so for the lane change.

And the vast majority of cars at Audi events in the groups that do excercises are mostly stock on street tires.

I don't care about "most people" who don't know how to drive, I am talking about people who do, and have the skills/training.

Like I said, most people driving down the freeway at any given moment are not driving a vehicle that would even be permitted to participate in an Audi school, let alone perform well at a lane-toss. The odds of something going horribly wrong are much higher for someone who is unskilled and unprepared to do so... and for those who are as well. Not only that, factor in other vehicles in the vicinity. I'd rather hit the deer than possibly put myself into a position to hurt or kill other people who also happened to be in the wrong place at the wrong time. What if there had been someone in my blind spot last year when I swerved around that dog? I am normally extremely alert and observant about what vehicles are around me, but I've been fooled. And most people cruising down the highway on auto-pilot haven't got a clue what's going on around them... do you want them swerving into you or another vehicle near you? I'm still with Scott...

By your definition, I suppose I have the "skills/training" to successfully swerve around animals in the road, since I've done it... but if I had it to do over again, I'd have taken the poor pup out. I'll happily trade totalling a car against the possibility of flipping into a cliff wall, or a semi, or whatever.

[Dean]

Whatever.

dogs <> deer.

[Kevin M]

Eh, it's a moot point anyway, at least in my case. What my intellect says I should do and what my instincts do for me are often at odds with each other behind the wheel.

[Nick Koan]

Update:
http://www.crash.net/news_View~t~da-...~id~136515.htm

da Matta walking and talking.

Former Champ Car World Series champion Cristiano da Matta continues to make significant progress as he recovers from his injuries suffered in testing at Road America with the Brazilian driver already able to converse in both English and Portuguese.

Although da Matta is still in the Theda Clark Medical Centre, where he has been ever since his August 3rd collision with a deer at Road America, his recovery process has quickened over the past two weeks according to Champ Car Medical Director Dr. Chris Pinderski.

"Cristiano has made excellent progress in the past several days," said Pinderski. "Although he is still somewhat confused, he is now conversational in both English and Portuguese. Additionally, he has started to walk on his own for short periods of time with minimal assistance. We anticipate that Cristiano will be ready to make the transition to a rehabilitation setting next week."

[MPREZIV]

Good to hear!

[sperry]

Thank god! Hopefully he'll be back in the car next season. I was thinking we'd never see him racing again, but if he's already walking after less than a month, it sounds like he may be on the road to full recovery.