Michael Park dies in accident

angry_fox · 18-09-2005 10:32AM #1

Micheal Park the co driver to for Markko Martin has died after an accident on stage 15 of the wales rallyv gb. Reports say that martin crashed heavily into a tree on parks side. He has been martin co driver since 2000.
This is a tragedy and shows how brave the me nand women in the WRC are.

Jonny Arson · 18-09-2005 02:12PM

From what I've heard the accident was very sickening. Martin escaped unhurt. Rally IMO is the most dangerous form of motorsport and how there hasn't been more drivers or co-drivers killed I find incredible.

angry_fox · 18-09-2005 02:54PM

Heres the report from bbc news site

wrc.com wrote:

Subaru's Petter Solberg has been declared the winner of this weekend's shortened Wales Rally GB after on-the-road leader Sebastien Loeb opted to take a time penalty. The Frenchman wanted to avoid winning the event and therefore the title in the aftermath of a tragic accident in which Peugeot co-driver Michael Park was killed. With Gronholm pulling out of his third place in the rally as a mark of respect for his Peugeot colleague and Solberg getting eight points for second, the 10 points for Loeb's victory would have been enough to seal a second consecutive drivers' title for the French Citroen driver, but he was understandably keen to avoid this situation. As a result, he deliberately opted to check in to the final time control late to incurr a two-minute time penalty which dropped him to third overall behind Citroen team-mate Francois Duval and Solberg.

There were no celebrations at the end-of-rally podium ceremony in Cardiff's Millennium Stadium, and the drivers and crowd held a minute's silence .

Snow · 19-09-2005 02:23PM

Zane from MTV2 wrote:

Rally IMO is the most dangerous form of motorsport and how there hasn't been more drivers or co-drivers killed I find incredible.

WRC has probably the best safety record of any competitive motorsport, at least since the group B days

De Hipster · 19-09-2005 02:41PM

RIP Beef & Richard Britton, a tragic weekend for motorsport worldwide.

chern0byl · 19-09-2005 02:51PM

Zane from MTV2 wrote:

Rally IMO is the most dangerous form of motorsport

Definitely not at WRC level. Its more dangerous for the spectators.

Edwardius · 22-09-2005 01:49PM

From what I've heard the accident was very sickening. Martin escaped unhurt. Rally IMO is the most dangerous form of motorsport and how there hasn't been more drivers or co-drivers killed I find incredible

Indeed. It's obviously much more dangerous than the 200mph+ suzis belting round the isle of man. Do yourself a favour and take the blinkers off matey boy. The presence of a large, all encompassing metal cage and the extra two wheels, not the mention the significantly lower speeds in rally does not, a more dangerous sport make. The accident may have been sickening to look at but Park was killed instantly and did not suffer at all, small consolation but some nonetheless. I'm not sure what happened with Britton by way of the collision but I know he was on a 250 which seized. Road racing over the last five or so years has suffered massive casualties and quite a few high profile, but everyone knows the risks and are willing to push them aside in order to compete. R.i.p. both men.

gs39t · 22-09-2005 03:36PM

Any form of motorsport where you can slam into a tree is dangerous....

chern0byl · 22-09-2005 03:42PM

Dead Ed wrote:

Indeed. It's obviously much more dangerous than the 200mph+ suzis belting round the isle of man.

Road racing probably is the most dangerous form of sport. The motorbike riders for all intensive purposes are professional riders except for one thing..they accept that if they come off the bike they might die. Any professional rider in MotoGP would never accept this imo.

I have enormous respect for anyone who can ride a bike at that speed and control it.

De Hipster · 22-09-2005 03:45PM

gs39t wrote:

Any form of motorsport where you can slam into a tree is dangerous....

The danger is a large part of the attraction & adrenaline...therefore accounts for a large degree of the allure.

gs39t · 22-09-2005 06:35PM

I think you'd get enough of that from just the thought of running at that speed with other competitors, or the fact you can hit an armco/wall/tire barrier at high speed - but hitting a tree, or a pillar will much more likely kill you.

I agree that motorcycle (public) road racing is probably the most dangerous, but in my honest opinion, something must be mentally wrong with you if you accept that you have a very high chance of coming off a machine into a tree, pillar, someone's house...etc: things which are not designed to allow the 'safest' crash possible, as with permanant and purpose-built motorsport venues

De Hipster · 23-09-2005 11:21AM

gs39t wrote:

I think you'd get enough of that from just the thought of running at that speed with other competitors, or the fact you can hit an armco/wall/tire barrier at high speed - but hitting a tree, or a pillar will much more likely kill you.

I agree that motorcycle (public) road racing is probably the most dangerous, but in my honest opinion, something must be mentally wrong with you if you accept that you have a very high chance of coming off a machine into a tree, pillar, someone's house...etc: things which are not designed to allow the 'safest' crash possible, as with permanant and purpose-built motorsport venues

People do NOT get on a bike or into a rally car resigned to the fact that death could be in the tree around the next corner.

Saying that, all competitors are aware of the dangers of the sport(s)...(if they're not, they really shouldn't be competing) & equipped with that knowledge still choose to compete, fully aware of the (worst case senario) risks.

Danger is part & parcel of motorsport on any surface & at any event, albeit some more than others.

Comparing Road racing to track racing is like comparing touring cars to forestry rallying...very different sports, setup, bugets & people (for the most part), they are not to be confused because the machinery looks similar.

Speedway · 23-09-2005 11:28AM

i have my own opinions on safety on rallying but personally i love the sport and i don't think that it's suitable for the thread on michael park's death to turn into a debate about safety in various motorsports.

De Hipster · 23-09-2005 11:32AM

Speedway wrote:

i have my own opinions on safety on rallying but personally i love the sport and i don't think that it's suitable for the thread on michael park's death to turn into a debate about safety in various motorsports.

I'm speaking as a competitor...but I agree that this is not necessarily the appropriate place for the discussion.

Edwardius · 23-09-2005 01:40PM

i don't think that it's suitable for the thread on michael park's death to turn into a debate about safety in various motorsports.

Duly noted. Think I just got a wee bit wound up there but I was replying to a ridiculous statement at the time. Does anyone know what's going on with Richard Burns? Last I heard was that he was in brain surgery and intended to return to the WRC at some stage.

Any form of motorsport where you can slam into a tree is dangerous....

I never said anything to the contrary. I was making a valid comparison.

Comparing Road racing to track racing is like comparing touring cars to forestry rallying...very different sports, setup, bugets & people (for the most part), they are not to be confused because the machinery looks similar.

I was comparing the dangers, not the mechanics of the diciplines. I think this may well be a valid overlap in terms of the discussion at hand.

De Hipster · 23-09-2005 02:05PM

Dead Ed wrote:

Does anyone know what's going on with Richard Burns? Last I heard was that he was in brain surgery and intended to return to the WRC at some stage.

I was speaking to someone who was spectating at the GB WRC, bad news on Burnsey as far I hear, apparently the last surgery was not as successful as hoped. Word is he is in a wheelchair & his sight is waning, the latest was a prediction of four months left...very sad.

Edwardius · 23-09-2005 02:34PM

I was speaking to someone who was spectating at the GB WRC, bad news on Burnsey as far I hear, apparently the last surgery was not as successful as hoped. Word is he is in a wheelchair & his sight is waning, the latest was a prediction of four months left...very sad.

Jesus. Last I heard of him he was recovering fairly well, that was a while ago though.

De Hipster · 23-09-2005 02:38PM

He was in Castle Coombe a few months back being driven around in his own collection of cars. No public announcements regarding anything yet...all grapevine stuff. Truely hope it's untrue.

Michael Park dies in accident

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