In my younger days, back in South Africa, I used to follow rallies with interest. There were (and, I assume, still are) some pretty tough events there, such as the Roof Of Africa Rally for motorcycles through the Drakensberg Mountains in South Africa and Lesotho, or the Kalahari 1000 Desert Race. Many drivers and riders came to grief, no matter how experienced they were or how up-to-date their vehicles.
I was therefore pleased to receive an e-mail from reader Henk W., providing a link to this video clip of some very spectacular rally crashes. It brought back many memories. According to Henk, no-one was seriously injured (except, perhaps, in their pride) in any of these incidents.
Wild rides, indeed!
Peter
Did Henk define serious injuries? I notice the vehicles had nice roll cages but looking at the crashes I can't help but wonder if some of the drivers didn't have concussions and broken bones.
This reminded me of one of the amateur rally races I was in, many moons ago: we went off between two trees and thought ourselves lucky. The clinch came when we tried to reverse back into the track: no way we could fit between them anymore. We'd gone in with the car on two wheels, coming out no way it'd fit!
5 point belts, roll bars and cages… Try that in any 'regular' car and there would be pieces and parts everywhere..
HANS devices, too.
Jim