Risk Fate

Anyone who is involved in motorsport knows that there are dangers involved in it, and as someone who has followed the motorsport world as far back as I can remember, I still find it troubling when I see someone getting injured during a motorsport event. In 2009 those risks where highlighted very clearly with the tragic death of Henry Surtees during a Formula 2 race at Brands Hatch after being struck on the head by a loose wheel from a fellow competitors car after it had crashed, and that event was followed only a week later by the life threatening head injury which Felipe Massa suffered during qualifying for Hungarian Formula 1 Grand Prix.

Stepping into 2010 and the motorsport world starts it off with the Dakar Rally. One of the biggest events on the motorsport calendar and without a shadow of a doubt one of the most demanding as it travels 9,000 kilometres through Argentina and Chile, over some off the most unfriendly environments in the world. The Dakar this year started off under a shadow as a spectator was unfortunately killed when a car went of-course, though the spectator was in a position which had been identified as being unsafe it still goes to show that the competitors aren’t the only ones who have to be aware off the risks. As the Dakar continues to thunder across Argentina and Chile it is expected that competitors will be forced out of the race with vehicle troubles or from injuries sustained during accidents, but those things are all part of the package and anyone taking part in the Dakar who doesn’t expect to hit some sort of problem at some point over the 9,000 kilometres will quickly get a rude awakening.

Even with knowing how demanding the Dakar Rally is though, it is hard not to wonder how fate can be such a harsh mistress when you hear the story of the Italian KTM rider Luca Manca. On stage five on the Dakar Luca Manca stopped to give his rear wheel to fellow KTM rider Marc Coma who had suffered from a massive tyre failure and was having to wait for a support truck to arrive so he could get a spare. As a result Luca lost time on the stage which dropped him back down the overall standings as he was the one left waiting for a spare wheel. Stage six then saw Luca on the attack trying to make up lost ground and after only 10 kilometres of the 418 kilometre stage he came of his KTM bike and suffered a fractured skull. After be flown to hospital he was reported to be a life threatening condition and was to be kept in a coma for five days. Luca is now in a stable condition thankfully, and hopefully he will make a full recovery and we will see him back on the Dakar Rally in 2011. Good deeds don’t always go reward it seems.

Risk is all part of the game. When you mix humans and machinery you always have to be aware of the chance of something going wrong, be it human error or a technical failure, or simply just fate saying it is not going to be your day!