James Courtney Escapes Serious Injury in V8 Supercars Accident

"Dusty Ventures" (dustyventures) 11/23/2013 at 21:01 • Filed to: V8 Supercars

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Toll Holden driver James Courtney took a MASSIVE hit to his driver's door in competition at Phillip's Island today when Alexandre Premat slid through a gravel trap and slammed into Courtney's car. Courtney had to be pulled out of the car through the passenger side by Premat and limped off the course but fortunately has been cleared of all serious injury.

Full story !!!error: Indecipherable SUB-paragraph formatting!!!

TheBaron2112 > Dusty Ventures 11/23/2013 at 21:15

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Absolutely insane hit. Glad everyone's okay.

Skif6996 > Dusty Ventures 11/23/2013 at 21:21

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Umm... Holy shit.
I love watching these guys race because they are so nuts. That is something you never want to see though. Hope Courtney is alright.

Harrison Voorhees > Dusty Ventures 11/23/2013 at 21:21

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**James Courtney

nobody > Harrison Voorhees 11/23/2013 at 21:23

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And Alexandre Premat

Aaron James > Dusty Ventures 11/23/2013 at 21:24

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That's scary, not only was it direct to the driver's side but the car bouncing in the air before it hit the door makes it even worse. Thankfully he's OK. I said fudge a few times watching the slo-mo.

Slave2anMG > Dusty Ventures 11/23/2013 at 21:44

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Holy shit.

I saw no safety/rescue peeps come out to the crash...?

Dusty Ventures > Harrison Voorhees 11/23/2013 at 21:50

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Thanks, fixed, that's what I get for posting while distracted.

Dusty Ventures > nobody 11/23/2013 at 21:50

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WHO ASKED YOU?!

;)

Harrison Voorhees > Slave2anMG 11/23/2013 at 22:31

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Its a bad spot on the course for them to come out and help without the safety car coming out. The don't want to endanger more lives in the event that someone else goes off the course.

Simplify, then add beer > Dusty Ventures 11/23/2013 at 23:35

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Bloody hell. That safety cell deformed quite a bit. Steering column is pretty much on the roof!

dataPOG > Dusty Ventures 11/24/2013 at 08:43

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Courtney was pulled out the passenger side door.

Also, that crunch sounded nasty...

UberFisch > Dusty Ventures 11/24/2013 at 08:53

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/Slow clap.

Alexandre Premat acted like a real human. Well done.

kiwichris1987 > Dusty Ventures 11/24/2013 at 09:13

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This was the first incident in quite a few years where I legitimately thought we could have lost a V8SC driver, particularly when you consider it's driver side impact anf the roll cage actually buckled in. Thankfully, not so.

Also, this footage was shown on the telecast today, onboard shot from the Nissan directly behind. Gives a real sense of speed of impact.

RatMR2 > Simplify, then add beer 11/24/2013 at 09:31

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As his race engineer was saying, it's about the worst impact scenario you could expect, in terms of collision point. The door took pretty much all of the impact. Not pretty, but it sounds like he's just got bruising, rather than any broken bones, and he didn't black out during the impact - he is damn lucky considering the state of the car. The team have had a terrible run of luck lately - their car has been totalled 3 rounds in a row, twice due to other people.

I am Jack's complete lack of compassion > Dusty Ventures 11/24/2013 at 09:32

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where can i watch aussie v8 supercars?

mrbwa1 > Dusty Ventures 11/24/2013 at 11:18

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This brings up a few things I've wondered about:

Why didn't they put in NASCAR style roof flaps in the new gen car? I'm guessing that the G loads associated with turning left and right might make roof flaps deploy while actually racing though.

What would happen if a car manages to hit the weakest link: the door latch. With a door that con open, that latch will always be a weak link. Then again, the chances of someone catching just enough air and hitting exactly on the latch are relatively slim. It does make me wonder if they would exec consider a change to a permanently closed door (probably not)?

Considering the worst case scenario of the hit, it's pretty amazing that Courtney is okay (do they check for concussions in V8 Supercars?).

PragmaticPanda > kiwichris1987 11/24/2013 at 11:32

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That hit made my butt cry.

Kaufmania: Mark Webber's Stunt Double > kiwichris1987 11/24/2013 at 11:51

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HolySHit!!!

Josh Brinzo > Dusty Ventures 11/24/2013 at 12:03

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I couldn't believe the wreck when it happened. I thought Courtney was going to be hurt badly because he seemed stuck, but it was good to see him get out. The first race was full of contact. The second and third were much cleaner.

Skif6996 > kiwichris1987 11/24/2013 at 12:06

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Thanks for the link to this video. Seeing this view is just amazing.

Whitehouse > Dusty Ventures 11/24/2013 at 12:39

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This would never have happened if they drove on the correct side of the road. ;)

rabbit21787 > Dusty Ventures 11/24/2013 at 12:40

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I was happy to see the other driver go over and help get him out of the car

Tomhlord > Dusty Ventures 11/24/2013 at 13:48

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FYI.. Premat had a right side puncture which caused him to go off. Knowing that, you can kind off tell why the car behaves like it does.

During the same race, several others cars had punctures, including Premat's team mate on the front right.

Dusty Ventures > dataPOG 11/24/2013 at 14:32

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He was pulled out the driver's side, he was racing from the passenger side, Aussies are just doing it wrong ;)

(Seriously though, thanks for the catch, I fixed it)

Dusty Ventures > I am Jack's complete lack of compassion 11/24/2013 at 14:36

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V8 Supercars streams all their races live online via a subscription service. Pretty sure they save them for later viewing as well

Agrajag > kiwichris1987 11/24/2013 at 14:51

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Oooph!

Agrajag > Dusty Ventures 11/24/2013 at 14:52

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That was a hell of an impact. Cool to see Premat help Courtney out of the car.

TA4K > Dusty Ventures 11/24/2013 at 15:16

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Correct, they chuck them up on youtube a short while afterwards.

Bucc-i knows secret Kinja-Jitsu! > Dusty Ventures 11/24/2013 at 16:18

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That would have never happened if James Courtney was not, you know, driving from the passenger side of the car!

!!! UNKNOWN CONTENT TYPE !!!

Mojonaut > Bucc-i knows secret Kinja-Jitsu! 11/24/2013 at 17:00

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Not funny.

xkakkoiix > kiwichris1987 11/24/2013 at 18:08

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What ? No wrecking ball as soundtrack edit yet ?

bobby__lee > mrbwa1 11/25/2013 at 00:28

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1. don't need the roof flaps because they have closed side windows.

2. The actual door doesn't really provide any crash protection, it's just a skin all the side impact bars are fixed to the roll cage.

pandachum > Bucc-i knows secret Kinja-Jitsu! 11/25/2013 at 02:47

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Eff off.

Jarrod > Bucc-i knows secret Kinja-Jitsu! 11/25/2013 at 08:35

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oh, do shut up you annoying cunt.

MrDude_1 > Dusty Ventures 11/25/2013 at 08:41

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Holy shit. That may be the hardest hit I have seen on video.... and he walked out of it. I want door bars like THAT on my car. wow.

jacknifetoaswan > I am Jack's complete lack of compassion 11/25/2013 at 08:51

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They're also usually played about two weeks after the race, on FoxSports1, formerly SPEED Network. I just set my DVR for the series, and watch them whenever they record, usually off-hours.

Fivepointohpwr > Dusty Ventures 11/25/2013 at 09:14

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Holy smokes! What an impact!! Crazy that the car that got hit had all four tires off of the ground! Glad to see Courtney's alright. At least Premat pulled him out of the car after taking him out.

jacknifetoaswan > bobby__lee 11/25/2013 at 09:16

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But it does bring up a good point, in that the side roll bars don't extend up to the driver's shoulders, like they do in a NASCAR-style safety cage. Since the drivers have to be able to get in and out of the vehicle quickly, especially during Enduro races, the bars are more at mid-torso height. That certainly contributes to intrusion, but from an engineering standpoint, I don't think there's anything that can be done to resolve that, other than building movable bars into the cage, that the drive has to lock with a heavy duty pin after entering the vehicle, or to make them go NASCAR style and enter the car from the window.

The Stig's Canadian Cousin > Dusty Ventures 11/25/2013 at 13:51

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I love the slow mo replay. Wish that everything was like this.

pirates-ecu > kiwichris1987 11/25/2013 at 14:38

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holy bloody shit, was that a battering ram.... shades of first season Romain Grosjean there. Damn that was a scary crash

pirates-ecu > Agrajag 11/25/2013 at 14:41

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when you get professionals at that level, safety and death become real issues. Its like seeing a guy get hit on a motorcycle, your brain kicks in and you go to rescue mode.

I once just threw my car in park at an intersection because of a motorcycle accident, LEFT IT RUNNING, and ran across a 5 lane intersection to help the guy. (his leg had been pinned and dragged. (Nothing like spending 25 mins with your hand in the guys crotch till the ambulance got there. his foot was hanging by threads).

my point is you go into reaction mode, and I am glad to see it.

Bill Strong > Dusty Ventures 11/25/2013 at 15:57

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That was insane. Glad everyone involved is okay. Does anyone have images of the car after the wreck? Kinda interested in the cage design and how the impact affected the rest of the safety cell. Kinda looks like they only use X-bars for the drivers door.

Firenze Storm > Whitehouse 11/26/2013 at 09:04

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They are driving on the correct side (British guy here)