Alex Zinardi loses both legs in crash at American Memorial

[GL]

I just saw the video of the crash and Tag's car literally sliced through Zanardi's car I wouldn't be surprised if he actually lost his legs in the actual accident and that the doctors merely kept what they could. I still wonder how an F1 car would fare. I'm not so sure it would fall apart in the way the champ car did. Don't F1 cars have much longer nose sections? That, in addition with their lower masses might have resulted in a different outcome. Anyhow, you can what-if the situation until you're blue in the face I guess....what a horrible tragedy.

 

[Midnight Rambler]

GL: As I said above, I think both F1 or CART cars would sustain similar damage from that kind of an impact, which as you said, literally cut the car in half (due to angle of impact and the speed). A longer nose would only help if the impact point were further out from the driver.

As for his injuries, I imagine if both legs were lost in the wreck he would have bled to death, almost instantly. Most likely he had crushing injuries. When limbs are cut, they can usually be reattached with some success, but crushing injuries are worse as they destroy the vascular systems, among other things.

 

[trmiv]

<< I still wonder how an F1 car would fare. I'm not so sure it would fall apart in the way the champ car did. . >>



An F1 car would fall apart pretty much just like that. Indy cars and F1 cars are designed to throw off a lot of pieces, and come apart like that car did in that wreck, to absorb the energy of the impact. The cockpit is designed to be strong to protect the drivers, but the rest of the car is designed to come apart to dissipate energy. If you look at a lot of what turn out to be minor (not this one) F1 or Indy car wrecks, they look horrible to most people, because the car simply disintegrates, but that is to design. The forces in that wreck should have killed Alex, but it speaks to the safety features of the car that he came away with just the injuries he did. Even though his injuries are horrible, at least he will live through this and still be able to be with his wife and young son.

 

[GL]

Midnight Rambler, I heard that they were afraid he would bleed to death so I wonder if he really did lose parts of his legs in the crash



<< A CART spokesman described Zanardi's condition as "extremely critical", saying he had lost a lot of blood and had sustained severe injuries to both legs. >>



From AtlasF1 - subscription required though.

And I don't have a good feeling about the F1 race tomorrow. Hopefully I'll be proved wrong and Montoya can pull out a win...err actually, Montoya's car can pull out a win (damn piece of unreliable crap!).

 

[Midnight Rambler]

GL: Hadn't heard that. His survival thus goes to prove that CART's safety team is second to none. F1's is great too, but the CART Simple Green safety team is on equal par with them. No other series has safety teams that even come close to CART & F1.

I too was looking forward to tomorrow's F1 race at Monza, JPM made Scummi Jr. look pitiful in qualifying, I guess it's those darn Harry Potter books distracting Ralfie again. But now I'm worried that JPM might be distracted by this terrible tragedy in CART, as he is still close to those in the CART community. I imagine this will also further dampen spirits at Monza, as Alex is naturally popular in his home country.