Most dangerous races and tracks in the world (Part 1)
Racing is one of the most dangerous sports in the world. Driver’s crash and falls are common when it comes to racing. Racers usually reach the neck breaking speeds of over 200kph. At speeds like those, it’s only a matter of time for disaster to strike. The racers car is so fast that they need to be active and alert. If they take their eyes off the road, or lose focus for even one second, they are in danger of crashing. Even though there are safety gears, and regulations that the drivers have to follow, accidents still occur. The reason why racing is so dangerous is due to the level of competition that goes into this sport. It’s not only the reward money that is on the line, but his honour, his pride and his ego. These three things are the only things that matter to a sports person. This article is dedicated to the most dangerous races held in the history of motor racing. (In order of least to most dangerous).
10. Paris-Madrid Race
To start off, at 10th place we will look at is the Paris-Madrid race. This was an endurance race that started in 1903. There were 275 vehicles that entered this race out of which 59 were motorcycles. The race began In Versailles, France and ended in Madrid. The reason why this race is on the list is because of when it started. The spectators were wowed by the cars and did not know better. They would stand too close to the barriers and would even sometimes step out onto the track. During the race, a woman was run over, only 45 km away from the starting point. The drivers were also inexperienced. They would lose control of their cars, and hit trees. Their cars would flip over and catch fire, due to the poor level of construction, since they were devoid of any safety measures.
The race was stopped before the drivers could actually get to Madrid, and were required to tow the cars back to France using horses. A key racer who was one of the casualties of this race was Marcel Renault (the founder of car manufacturer Renault).
9. Motordome
At number 9, what we will look at isn’t really a race, but rather a track. The Motordome was built in 1930. It became very popular in the United States of America. The track was constructed of wood with banking of at least 60 percent. The vehicles racing would reach the speeds of 120mph and lose control of their cars, crashing them. Rider Eddie Hasha was one of the victims. He lost control of his car and slammed into the wooden wall, killing four little boys and injuring numerous others.
8. Mille Miglia
The Mille Miglia was an open road endurance race that took place from 1927 until 1958. It was hosted in Italy 24 times. The race was started by Contes Aymo Maggi, and Franco Mazzotti. This race featured high powered cars such as Ferraris, Porches etc. The first race started on March 26th 1927. 76 contestants left the starting line, with only 51 actually reaching the finishing point. Some had car issues, and others lost their way. But there were at least two fatalities. The first one happened in 1957, killing Alfonso de Portago and his co-driver Edmund Nelson and 9 other spectators out of which 5 were children. The accident was caused by a blown tire. The manufacturers and the Ferrari Team were sued. It turned out that the Ferrari Team did not change tires as required by the rules, in order to save time. The second accident took the life of Joseph Gottgens, who crashed in his Triumph TR5. The race was banned after the second crash only to come back to life after a long 25 years (in 1982).
Tags: