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[bigpat]

The helmet suppliers work closely with the riders, so I'm sure he had the best fit he could....

As for helmet coming off, we don't know if the chin strap broke or not. As far as I see, the helmet did its lob protecting his head from the impact. As sick as it sounds, I would rather his helmet be ripped off, than the force potentially decapitating him......

[racechick]

Yes.Thats what I meant when I said they must have to give at some point. I didnt like to state the graphic consequenes of the strap not giving Partly because it sounds so horrible and partly in case I was wrong .

I guess Marco was just tragically on the wrong bit of track at the wrong time

[Herbs]

Thought of the hair the other day. I've seen a lot of huge accidents in bike racing and have never seen a helmet come off.

It happens on the roads more than you'd hope/imagine.

[bud]

I read on another forum where users were saying he was interviewed on the grid and was asked about his helmet size and he confirmed he wore a size up to fit his hair in. Compared to an auto helmet, bike helmets have a lot more space around the chin and jaw area. So this fact coupled with it not being very tight fit like its meant to would explain the ease in which his helmet came off. Just don't know whether it was a buckle failure or it came loose due to the force.

Helmets shouldn't come off if they are on properly, ofcourse there is always the limit of things. I don't think it was a case off his body being forced one way and his helmet the other which would lead to a decapitation with the strap. Having looked at a replay in slow motion it comes off during the collision off both bikes, his head hadn't hit the ground yet.
I just hope they learn from this and find out why it happened so it can be prevented in the future.

[andrew]

By the sounds of his injuries, he would have died regardless of his helmet staying on or coming off. He died of massive internal injuries - I read that the medics were having to pump blood from his thorax.

[bud]

Yeah we won't know what he died from until the coroners report. I read they controlled the blood build up in the thorax so that might not have been what killed him.

I'm also concerned by the medics at the track, firstly the ambulance did not make it on track, it was stuck behind the fence. Where was the access road? medics had to carry him ( also they drop him) to the fence and pass him over the fence to other medics. I'm not sure they stretchered him off either which is a worry in any bike accident like that incase of back or neck injury .

[EagleF1-27]

Oh. I wonder if that contributed?

I don't know if he would have survived if his helmet stayed on as Rossis bike hit him in the neck but it would explain why it came off so easily.

If Rossi's bike did hit him in the neck then no, his helmet staying on wouldnt have likely saved him. From what I remember of MotoGP there has always been a quite exposed area between the top of a riders leathers and the bottom of their helmet. Perhaps this is the area they need to focus safety on rather than the helmet itself, as there are some major blood vessels running through both sides of the neck along with of course the spinal column down the back. Maybe they need something similar to the HANS devise which still allows a good degree of head rotation so the riders can look around them. Some sort of rigid neck collar that couples to the helmet in a similar way to what deep sea divers have, which would cover up and protect this exposed area of a bike rider. The benefits of a system like this would also help roadbike riders in an accident as well.

[Herbs]

^^^And how would you be able to look around and behind you with a hans device on?

[andrew]

A HANS device would not have saved Simoncelli as he died from massive internal injuries and not a broken neck. Whilst his neck was injured he would have still died if his neck was uninjured. Poor lad was a gonner as soon as the bike was out of control.

[killem2]

Its hard to improve safety in this sport, Moto GP is the pinnacle of insanity. I don't watch the sport much but I was pretty sure another death happened last year at the time of the Italian GP. I think it was a Japanese rider.

[bud]

Its hard to improve safety in this sport, Moto GP is the pinnacle of insanity. I don't watch the sport much but I was pretty sure another death happened last year at the time of the Italian GP. I think it was a Japanese rider.

Yes Tomizawa was killed in Moto2 In a very similar fashion.

[LewEngBridewell]

Its hard to improve safety in this sport, Moto GP is the pinnacle of insanity. I don't watch the sport much but I was pretty sure another death happened last year at the time of the Italian GP. I think it was a Japanese rider.

Yeah I gave up watching MotoGP a couple of years back. The last thing I want to see is drivers rolling around in gravel traps and on the track, while their bike is flung elsewhere, fatal or not. These accidents happen often. Not a nice sight.

Don't miss watching that strand of motorsport.

[killem2]

*trying to bring some light heartedness to this thread because i fail at grief*



Perhaps this should be the future. Motorsport will turn the oddest of wheeled objects into rockets.

[darwin dali]

Or this

[bud]

Computer simulations are safer...