who on this site thinks that we should put more safety into our v8 racecars and our own cars after the death of mark porter. i think that it was a freak accident and that there was nothing that anybody could do about it.
blind corner, stranded car, you doing 180kph+ what would you have done?
i also feel that the v8 racecars are safe enough and that that particular spot (the b pillar) is as strong as it could possibly get as the drivers have to be able to get in and out of the car quickly

your thoughts
R.I.P Mark Porter your memory may live forever

I knew Mark Porter, in fact in the early days of his career he stay at my parents place when he was racing in NZ. But I think seeing and looking at the footage there was nothing that could be done or can be done to improve the safety of V8's. It was as you say just a freak accident, that nothing could be done about or planed for.

More can always be done.

It's just sad when it takes someone dying before people make changes.I think the V8 guys need to go over to the world of nascar and have a look.

look at nascar, there are some valid points, they are working on making 180 mph crashes more survivable, HANS is making progress, massive tube cages, but that brings weight, and some people may feel that it'll never be safe i want to go fastt!!!!!

It's a risk they take every day. It takes a lot of balls.

It was an accident, and it is difficult to stop everyone getting hurt. I too knew Mark and at the time thought what if his car had a Nascar side impact set up and Peter Brock's car for that matter. But I also realised that if that style of cage was to be adopted eventually otherr classes would follow suit. Motor racing has always been dangerous and anyone competing should know that at any time your number could be up and you could be killed in infinite freaky ways...look at Bathurst for instance in the last few years theres been kangeroos on the track, wheels through windscreens and sandtraps that don't "trap" ,driving at high speed even in controlled situations is dangerous and can get you killed,it's tragic when it happens but as they say you know the risks and thats motorsport.

personally, I thing V8s would be safer if they were lighter vehicles. less momentum and less energy in that impact would have made that crash substantially less dramatic.

I'm not up on Nascar or what their side impact protection is like, so can't comment there, but there seemed to be alot more damage to both those V8s than the impact first suggested there would be - to me anyway.

but as stirlingmac said, motorsport is dangerous. we sign forms that say that everytime we race. the only way to make it 100% safe is not to do it. Its our choice. I know it and still get out on the track as much as I can. Not that Supersprints are as dangerous as circuit racing, but given the chance I wouldn't hesitate to race either. I love the sport.

anyway, for all this talk about improving safety, you are much more likely to die or be seriously injured on public roads than you are on the racetrack. You could argue that getting to Bathurst is far more dangerous than racing at Bathurst.

my 2 bobs worth...I agree that there is always something more that can be done to improve saftey. I mean club cars these days are propably safter than what the top category of racing was in Australia 25 years ago, mind you its probably just as fast too. I think a category like V8's can definately look at improving safety, the things are very fast so extra weight tacked onto the minimum wont affect speeds too much but the most important thing is that it being the premier category is that the focus is on it and therefore any casualties will look bad on the rest of the motorsport industry in the country. So in saying that yes we should upgrade saftey like side impact bags foam filled doors etc etc in V8's what about the rest of the categories???
Take formula ford for instance....tube frame skinny chassis, a side impact from another car coming head on and Im telling you youd have no chance. But will this make the news...I doubt it and therefore nothing would be done about increasing safety for that category.
So 2 things a) accept the risk and realise you are in a car with great mass travelling at high velocity and therefore you hit something it will be with great force.
b) increase safety incrementally each year like have a target of like 5 or 10 % ( which Im sure Cams have in place now) which will help. Things like FIA approved seats and harnesses and suits have done alot to improve this. This can be measured by amount of incident reports received per capita of events attendees.

I can see a day where I think it will be mandatory to fit auto extinguishers and front and side airbags to our datsuns to pass scrutineering.

Im a Dad of 4 and I certainly want to walk away from all of my accidents to be able to see my kids grow up.

I definitely agress safety is important. But if things were completely safe there would be no thrill to it. Taking a risk is what sends that shiver down your spine, even its its just a small risk with todays safety equipment. I just hope those in government can recognize that risk is the spice of life, and restrain themsleves from banning everything remotely dangerous. Stirling Moss once said he would never have enjoyed racing as much back in the day if it wasn't as dangerous as it was. In his day people would die all the time while racing. Every other race it seemed someone died. We've come quite a long way. I dont know about you Aussies though. Sounds like you guys could make some changes.