Henry Surtees Dies In Freak Formula 2 Accident

[RBwhatever]

What a way to exit the sport. So much talent gone so quick.....

http://motorsport.com/news/article.asp?ID=337289

video of the accident:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aTDiYS1NVW4

Henry Surtees dead after Brands Hatch accident

Racing series OBITUARIES F2 MOTOGP F1

Date 2009-07-19

By Motorsport.com staff writers

Henry Surtees was 18 years old when he was struck by a flying wheel at the Brands Hatch Circuit in Kent, England, in the FIA Formula Two Championship series' second race of the weekend at his home venue

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See large picture

Henry Surtees. Photo by www.formulatwo.com.

Surtees and Jack Clarke were in Westfield Bend when Clarke hit the wall at the exit of the corner, causing his wheel to come loose and strike Surtees in the head. He was knocked unconscious and his Williams JPH1 went off the track.

The officials immediately red-flagged the race and the medical team was quickly on the scene. Once the young Brit was removed from his car, he was taken to the track's medical center. Surtees was stabilized before he was transported by air to The Royal London Hospital in nearby Whitechapel.

A spokesperson for the hospital confirmed that Surtees had died from his injuries in the evening (local time).

Surtees was the son of legendary John Surtees, the winner of four FIM motorcycling world chamionships in the late 1950s, and of the 1964 Formula One world championship -- still the only man to win top-level championships on both two and four wheels.

Henry Surtees joined the newly formed Formula Two series after racing mainly in the Formula Renault 2.0 series. Yesterday, he became the first Briton to scored a podium finish in the series. He finished third in Saturday's race one.

"It's a bit of a relief really to pick up the podium! I only have two points so far this season even though we've had a pole in Brno and been fast in the other rounds. It's nice to actually finish a race - I haven't quite been so lucky in the last four races, so it's good to finally get a solid points finish," Henry Surtees commented after his home podium finish yesterday.

His single-seater career started in 2007 in the Formula BMW European series. His first Formula Renault 2.0 ride was in th same year. Last year, Surtees contested two British Formula 3 National class events where he had one win and one other podium finish.

The staff of Motorsport.com extends their condolences to the Surtees family.

[Duncan]

fark that was unlucky....really sad

[Ant97GTR]

Sad to see...RIP and condolences to his family

[grandmasterb]

Very unlucky, RIP & condolences

[Angus Smart]

Holy shit thats bad! very unlucky!

rip

[N1GTR]

What a waste

[Beer Baron]

very unfortunate accident. an unlucky bounce and bad timing caused his death. any number of small factors changed and he'd be alive and no one would think anything of it. a least it may cause people to look into the design and construction of the FIA required wheel tethers for open wheelers as they are clearly not doing their job, which is supposed to be to hold the wheel to the car specifically to stop this kind of death from occurring. it's a problem I guess that is really unique to open wheelers/open cockpits as the drivers are protected well in pretty much every direction except from stuff falling on their heads. unlike in a closed cockpit car where this is not a problem due to cages etc.

anyway, my condolences for his family and for another young life cut short. the only consolation being he died doing what he loved.

[Marlin]

Rotten luck to the poor fella, tragic luck. Richard's right, they need to look closely at the tether system to see if there's any improvement to be had, and it does show how dangerous it can be.

Open wheelers aren't the only ones capable of being hurt, none of us have forgotten Craig's near miss a few years back at Bathurst, remember he was saved by the Larry bar...... if circumstances are against you, rotten luck can sometimes strike.

[RBwhatever]

Anyone remember the guy that was hit at the melbourne F1 by the BAR Honda wheel a few years back? The wheel went through the man hole in the fence designed for emergency crew to jump out in case of an accident. It hit the guy as he was standing in front of it. Of all the places along the fence it went through and hit him. He died later that day.

[Marco-R34GTT]

2002 or 2004 IIRC, I was at that one, I believe it was R. Schumacher and Villenueve that came together.. Was very tragic, I remember something in F1 mag a month or two later, taking into account, mass, velocity, angle of approach and construction material involved, the chances of the wheel actually making it through the gap where something like 15,000,000 to 1. Obviously the odds weren't long enough, or the poor bugger's numbers just came up...

Edited July 21, 2009 by Marco-R34GTT

[Kel]

I hate saying this, but stuff like that still happens- rare as it is thankfully these days - but motorsport with all its safety measures will never be 100% safe (don't tell my dad I said that btw).

I will never forgot the first time I saw firsthand someone die during a race - that will live with me forever.

You tell yourself the driver went out doing what they loved but that never really makes you feel better about the loss or the tragedy of the situation.

[Tektrader69]

Anyone remember the guy that was hit at the melbourne F1 by the BAR Honda wheel a few years back? The wheel went through the man hole in the fence designed for emergency crew to jump out in case of an accident. It hit the guy as he was standing in front of it. Of all the places along the fence it went through and hit him. He died later that day.

That was a horrible day. I was in a corporate tent opposite that when it happened. Couldnt beleive it as it unfolded in front of my eyes.

It was gut wreching watching this poor bugger trying to hang onto life. Its not something I ever want to see again. I will never forget it.

[Beer Baron]

2002 or 2004 IIRC, I was at that one, I believe it was R. Schumacher and Villenueve that came together.. Was very tragic, I remember something in F1 mag a month or two later, taking into account, mass, velocity, angle of approach and construction material involved, the chances of the wheel actually making it through the gap where something like 15,000,000 to 1. Obviously the odds weren't long enough, or the poor bugger's numbers just came up...

it was 2001. if you were there in 2002 and 04 you missed it. after it happend they had/have different fences. graham beveridge (think first name was graham, but definitely Mr Beveridge) died after being struck by a wheel through the fence gap. you must be thinking of 2002 when rubens and R schuey came together. similar accident but no body died though one of them was left with tyres marks on his helmet from the other car! I was at the inside of T1 when it happened and got some great pics of one car flying over the other. that race also saw 11 of the 22 cars out of the race on the first lap! and michael blitzed the remainders and webber took an awesome 5th place.

[Beer Baron]

Rotten luck to the poor fella, tragic luck. Richard's right, they need to look closely at the tether system to see if there's any improvement to be had, and it does show how dangerous it can be.

Open wheelers aren't the only ones capable of being hurt, none of us have forgotten Craig's near miss a few years back at Bathurst, remember he was saved by the Larry bar...... if circumstances are against you, rotten luck can sometimes strike.

yeah I thought of that incident too. but as you pointed out craigs cage and in particular the larry bar saved him and he was not hurt let alone killed. I don't think anyone in a sedan has been killed by a loose wheel in recent memory, they just don't have the same vulnerability from directly above as guys in open cockpit cars do.

[Marco-R34GTT]

it was 2001. if you were there in 2002 and 04 you missed it. after it happend they had/have different fences. graham beveridge (think first name was graham, but definitely Mr Beveridge) died after being struck by a wheel through the fence gap. you must be thinking of 2002 when rubens and R schuey came together. similar accident but no body died though one of them was left with tyres marks on his helmet from the other car! I was at the inside of T1 when it happened and got some great pics of one car flying over the other. that race also saw 11 of the 22 cars out of the race on the first lap! and michael blitzed the remainders and webber took an awesome 5th place.

Oh no you're right man.. Yeah, I forgot, it was indeed 2002 where Barrychello and RalphSchu decided to play tag-team F1 and then half the field crashed, with Webz coming 5th in the Minardi and whatnot.. Yeah, my bad, I did miss it (The 2001 incident I mean).. Either way though, was very sad, poor bloke ey.. Back to 2002, was that the race that Coulthard speared off just before the last corner, in which Micheal took the lead after which Montoya jumped him at the restart? Only to be repassed by the Schu a few laps later??

[Imtorqing]

Do you remember the wheel hitting the front windscreen of Lownde's car during Bathurst as that could have been real bad too.....

That's the unfortunate thing with an open cockpit.......

I will never win lotto that's for sure(My families renowned for lack of good luck) but I can assure you that I am more likely to have this happen to me...

I have told my family that if I die as a result of driving my car(At speed), not to feel sorry for me as I have gone out doing something that I love which is and always has been the way I would choose for me to go rather than in a nursing home wearing a sh!tty nappy....

My condolences to his family for this tragedy as his life was just beginning............

Bill aka Imtorqing

[Neil]

It's very very sad that such a young guy has lost his life. What a freak accident,,,well I hope it is.

I've really never thought about a major part flying into my open cockpit.

I'm sort of glad he died and not ended a para or a quad or something worse.

Lowndes incident at bathust brings up an interesting point. Shoudn't sedan racers be made to use a visor and have it closed. Shards of glass in the eyes at that speed would cut your eyes to bits.

Neil.