Two Competitors Killed in Dubai - Class 1

[Darin Jordan]

DUBAI, United Arab Emirates (AP) -The Class 1 Dubai Grand Prix has
been called off after two competitors were killed when their powerboat
crashed at high speed.

Victory 1 lost control, flipped and landed upside down on Friday,
killing UAE driver Mohammed Majid Al Muhairi and French throttleman
Jean-Marc Sanchez during the f...irst race of the final round of the Class
1 World Powerboat Championship.
Muhairi, 34, was the European Class One champion in 2009, while
48-year-old Sanchez was part of the 2007 World Class One champion team.
The duo were airlifted to the hospital, where they were pronounced dead on arrival.Read more: http://sportsillustrated.cnn.com/200...#ixzz0ZUwtB2Fw

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7p-CnoNZrpw

[Flying Scotsman]

Sad story

Douggie

[RCprince]

It looks like that is the second time it happened to that particular boat or open canopy design hull.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-utisXeH4Iw&NR=1 Very tragic .

[Scott T]

That's really sad news.

Even with the safety built into the boats these days, this shows that it's still a dangerous sport. Must have been a big impact to do that much damage to the boat.

[Fluid]

Unlike the 1995 boat, the 2009 Victory cat had a full canopy - but it lacked some of the safety features mandated in many other forms of boat racing. No full-face helmets, no auxillary air supply, no head restraints....sadly it takes a fatality like this to force the sponsoring organization to tighten its safety rules.





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[Jeff Wohlt]

Sad deal. Yes, rules, rules, rules.... but then again...you step in to the life of speed and water and deaths are going to happen. You can add rules to the point of no return but it is the nature of racing and every driver knows it.

[RCprince]

There are all type of things wrong with this rescue, in my opinion, I'm not a racer, but 1: Stopping the race, 2: no helicopter divers for a team this popular, 3: The time it took to get on the scene, 4: the diver seems to not like the first pair of flippers he tried on. Like I said I'm not a racer and it's all 20/20 hind sight. I guess I'm accustom of the luxuries of being in America.

[Fluid]

Sad deal. Yes, rules, rules, rules.... You can add rules to the point of no return but it is the nature of racing and every driver knows it.

Rules need to achieve a reasonable goal. In Unlimited and F1 racing they have done so, with far fewer deaths and serious injuries since the intorduction of enclosed capsules and auxillary air supplies. This in spite of increased speeds and a higher incidence of blowovers. Those rules work - they don't eliminate death but they have made a real and reasonable impact on the sport. Ditto for NASCAR - had 'ol #3 Dale Ernhardt been required to wear the head restraint he eschewed, he'd likely still be racing.

Nothing will make high speed sports "safe" but there is no reason not to use proven technology to improve the drivers' chances of survival. The days of cowboys running without safety gear because it's somehow 'less manly' are over. This is proven technology that saves lives without reducing the 'experience'.



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[NitroVal]

Well, thats the problem with offshore powerboat racing. Since it isnt highly regarded as a mass spectator sport (as compared to NASCAR or F1), sponsorship dollars are weak. Since alot of teams are privately funded or owner/operator, funding for R&D sucks. In order to be fast in some of these classes, it takes alot of money, and as we all know, the faster you go, the price rises exponentially. Some teams may cut corners in certain areas to help them be competitive with the big dollar boats.

[Jeff Wohlt]

When Callan racing first came up here to set the record run at 200 he always had a chopper and frog team ready. Same when the bud boys run.

I agree...cutting corners is the not the ticket. Few offshore cats have F16 canopies and some have air but not that many...or they were not using them when running at our Lake Nationals for the last several years.

They are certainly strapped in but when you blow thru the hull and mainly the front the impact alone will knock you out and then you pretty much drown.

Whatch this dude that has no real driving ability in a fast bassboat.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1UEETjztLqI

[Scott T]

It's odd that there seems to be no chase helicopters with divers, Victory is the most cashed-up team in the series. Even our Australian series has a bunch of choppers with divers in the air at every race, and they get to the scene of an accident very quickly.

The governing body had already started looking into cockpit design, so this will spur on any changes (hopefully for the better).

http://gulfnews.com/sport/other-sports/enhanced-vessel-safety-put-on-fast-track-1.553217

[NitroVal]

Im curious if they may ever venture into the break-away capsule design, like in the drag boats. Those seem to work pretty well..

[Jeff Wohlt]

2 racers it works but doubt they want to be among 15 boats or more at 150 mph bobbing in the water.

[norbique]

Their necks were broken from the massive impact, nothing could have saved them, no capsule, no frog team or whatever. Very sad! May they both rest in peace.

[AndyKunz]

A head restraint would certainly have given them a better chance.

Andy