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Author: Subject: Denis Welch at Silverstone
stephen_gusterson

posted on 29/7/14 at 09:14 PM Reply With Quote
Denis Welch at Silverstone

Hi

Im not sure what category this should have gone in, as I dont think we have one that fits a fatal accident at Silverstone. You may have seen a story in the last day or so about a guy that was killed in a pre-1966 F1 cars race at Silverstone. It happened right in front of the viewing area of the stand we were in - around 150 yards away. On the first lap the cars came through, looked like he was squeezed a bit, and touched another car, and it flipped over. It was on "the loop" which is a very slow - looks like less than 40mph - corner on the new section, just prior to the wellington straight. The marshalls and medics got their really fast, and spent i would guess 30-45 mins with him. They didnt do a great job of screening away what was happening, i had to look away when you could see the chest compressions going on.

I think perhaps it was head/neck injuries as the protection / roll hoop on a lotus 18 doesnt look that great, and some you see on google images dont event protrude above the driver's head! Im always thoughtful of not flipping my MX5 as I guess those of you with no roll hoop on your Locost are.

What really got me was the silverstone commentary team. Ive seen deaths on TV - like we all have with Senna, and a good few in Indycar, like Dan Wheldon. In all cases the commentary team kept you up to date and respectfully told the condition of the driver. At silverstone they just once or twice apologised for the delay due to a serious accident, and then proceeded to laugh and joke and tell inane stories and quips whilst our stand watched someone dying in front of us. They never mentioned who it was, what had happened, or gave it any respect apart from announcing when the race would restart. That just added to the sadness of the moment, silverstone commentary team on that day were complete plebs.

atb

steve

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posted on 30/7/14 at 10:59 AM Reply With Quote
Its possible the team trying to save his life weren't giving updates to the commentry team due to being a little busy.

Commentry team where just trying to fill dead air - its damned hard with nothing going on and no one telling you anything to keep talking. They also are unlikely to tell you much in case it someway interfeers with any investigation.

The real problem sounds like it wasn't screened very well.

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loggyboy

posted on 30/7/14 at 11:07 AM Reply With Quote
[Video of wrong crash removed to avoid confusion]. Thing with the commentary is at these more/amateur events you cant expect the same level of professionalism you could with major events. They may not have appreciated the seriousness, or had the facilities to be kept up to date themselves.

Condolences to friends and family.

[Edited on 30-7-14 by loggyboy]

[Edited on 30-7-14 by loggyboy]





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stephen_gusterson

posted on 30/7/14 at 12:23 PM Reply With Quote
That video isn't the crash, that's something totally different. The Denis Welch one was two corners on. In that video that's a high speed corner, the loop where it happened is really slow. Very slow in fact.

The guy doing the commentary I have heard a lot at silverstone, he wasn't a newbie. The crash team obviously didn't need to provide news bulletins! I make the contrast to how Murray walker dealt with senna, and how numerous indycar accidents were dealt with reverently. In those cases I didn't experience a commentary team talking total bollox and giggling like girls over anecdotes when someone is getting CPR on the track. At least give it some seriousness. The race was restarted and the meeting continued with no comments at all as to his condition, at least in the hour after it before I left.

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scootz

posted on 30/7/14 at 12:40 PM Reply With Quote
Did they know someone was getting CPR... or are you just assuming that because you had a clear view of events unfolding, then they too must have been seeing what you were!?





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stephen_gusterson

posted on 30/7/14 at 04:12 PM Reply With Quote
Hi. No idea of what the commentators could see, but surely there should be enough protocol an co ordination to give some kinda feedback and respect to the situation. The proceedings were stopped for an hour, the only mention of Denis was by the winner of the race after it restarted, hoping he was ok. The core of my comments is that a race meeting where it costs 50 quid to get into for a day - which is 15 more than the 6 hours of silverstone lemans race - should be a bit more respectful and professional when a fatal accident occurs, rather than seeming to ignore it and infill with banter and bollox instead.
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johnH20

posted on 30/7/14 at 07:18 PM Reply With Quote
I have to agree with the OPs sentiment here. I was as far as possible over in the Copse grandstand but had no idea what was going on but somehow deep down feard the worse. I was amazed the race was restarted by wich time I had taken the bus down to the new paddock and was still none the wiser. I suspect the problem with the commentators was one of communication with race control. I have no doubt that the marshalls and other professionals running the event are of the highest calbre but I have to agree that some of the commentry throughout the weekend was inane
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