Stefan Bellof´s fatal crash

[Nortad]

Rule number one in Spa - Never go into the eau rouge next to some other car...

[grinner]

what did he think was gonna happen going into that turn at that speed?

[EVILZ33]

damn sad to see that happen

[Nortad]

Originally Posted by grinner

what did he think was gonna happen going into that turn at that speed?

you can go flat out throw there, specialy with those ground effects car, but not side by side or tailing some one, first because theres no room, second because the slipstream takes downforce away from you. Bellof should have slowed down IMO

[v_dub_ya]

that was a helluva hit

[Remirez]

dang. that was depressing

[SevPP]

Derek Bell was the other driver (i think)in the Rothmans 956. I have this on tape somewhere and remember the crash clearly.

Bellof was always one to push very hard. He holds the unoffical lap record at the Nurburgring (6.19 iirc) and also had a huge crash there, ala CLK GTR Benz style into the scenery on the side of the track

[Headracer]

Bellof was a legend for the exact same reason he got into this crash; he just went flat out. Jacky Ickx was acknowledged as one of the best sportscar racers of the era, and Bellof just tried to go around the outside as if Ickx wasn't there. To put it in perspective, when Bellof set the (then) lap record at the Nurburgring in that same Porsche, he got out and was completely calm about what he had done despite several lurid slides. One of the last real racing drivers in my opinion.

Just to back up what Nortad said, Eau Rouge is easy flat in cars that produce any decent amount of downforce. The key bit to understand is that the transition from a slight dip to a steep uphill section gives the car a lot more grip as the suspension gets loaded by the change in elevation. Even in non-aero cars like some of the older touring cars, that corner is very nearly flat. Granted, that's only on the line that allows you to take advantage of the elevation change (which is incidentally only wide enough for one car).

[SevPP]

^^
Well said.

And it was Ickx, not Bell as I said (thanks Headracer). Been sometime since I've seen the footage and because of my piss poor connection I can't watch much off the net.

[Nortad]

Originally Posted by Headracer

Eau Rouge is easy flat in cars that produce any decent amount of downforce.

yeah, thats right, i wrote tetre rouge, thats in Le Mans.

What you just explained leaves no room for doubts, Bellof was overtaken clean by Ickx and should have backed off, its not nice to say this but he caused is own death the way I see it.

[Headracer]

Yeah, he did cause his own death. The real question to ask though, is how many times he had tried similarly risky moves and gotten away with them. Seems to me that guys like him have to take those risks, or they end up being just another racer. If he didn't have the go for broke attitude we probably wouldn't remember him today. Problem is it only took one mistake back in those days before cars got safer...