But the loss of this prodigious talent has been overshadowed by the disdainful reaction of some within the online world. Numerous editors, bloggers and forum users rushed to upload links to video footage of the accident and photos of the reaction of Marco’s family & girlfriend. What purpose does this serve?

During the last week, we have been bombarded with images of the final moments of Muammar Gaddafi. I can understand why it was important for the people of Libya to see that the former dictator was no longer a threat to their lives, and that those who supported his regime should understand that the fight was over: I don’t, however, understand why, three days on, we’re still seeing them.

Marco Simoncelli was a racer. Nobody needs to see the moment of his death. Nobody needed to fuel the morbid and tasteless fascination of others.

And yet some have tried to justify their actions by a moral obligation to convey the truth – unsantised. Whilst the truth is most certainly at the core of good reporting, so is decency. The decent thing to do is to send our thoughts and prayers to Marco’s family and friends and remember the talented rider who brightened our lives with his unrelenting enthusiasm.

RIP Marco.

Many people, far more knowledgeable than I, have written some moving tributes to the driver, father, husband and friend who passed away in the 15-car pileup at Las Vegas Motor Speedway last night. Rather than add to these, I thought I’d share links to some of my favourites, together with a statement from BRDC President, Derek Warwick, which was released a short time ago.

Our thoughts and prayers are with those Dan left behind, his wife Susie and their two children, Sebastian (aged 2) and Oliver, born in March this year. Motor racing can be such a cruel sport, especially on those who sacrifice the most.

Many newspaper articles this morning have been reflecting on the fact that motorsport is dangerous and whilst there are always improvements to be made to both the cars and tracks, perhaps it would be more fitting to remind ourselves at this moment of the more empowering truth, that life is precious.

A very touching tribute to a champion. INDYCAR CEO Randy Bernard announces the passing of Dan Wheldon and drivers take to the track with a five-lap tribute.

A statement by the President of the British Racing Drivers’ Club (BRDC), Derek Warwick

Dan Wheldon: 22 June 1978 – 16 October 2011.

On behalf of the British Racing Drivers’ Club (BRDC), I wish to extend my sincere sympathies to Dan’s wife Susie and their boys Sebastian and Oliver, as well as the rest of his family and his team following the tragic news of his death in a racing accident yesterday at Las Vegas in the final Indy Car Series round of the year.

The BRDC is extremely proud of Dan and all that he achieved and was achieving in the United States. He was undoubtedly one of the great talents of his generation as his racing results testified. Two victories in the Indy 500 put him in a very select group of drivers and having won the Rookie of the Year honours in 2003 it was no surprise that he should win the Indy Car Championship in 2005. Dan followed this in 2006 by winning the BRDC Gold Star, beating the likes of Jenson Button, Mark Webber, David Coulthard and Dario Franchitti to this coveted award.

Dan was a true professional and a great ambassador for the sport. He was highly focused in the way he approached his racing and a real perfectionist. He pushed himself, and those he worked with, hard to produce results that were worthy of his talents and that fed his insatiable hunger to win. With his film-star good looks and athletic prowess, it was no wonder that the American public took him to their hearts.

In the BRDC we will remember Dan as a great racing driver who was very much involved with the Club and our circuit at Silverstone during the formative years of his career. Dan was, for many years, part of the BRDC ‘Rising Stars’ young driver programme. So proud of this recognition was he, that even after qualifying to be a Full Member of the BRDC he chose to remain a Rising Star, as he felt it represented what he was and helped the Indy Car world understand where he was set on going; to the very top. As a young driver Dan was also a finalist in the McLaren Autosport BRDC Young Driver of the Year Award on two occasions, which was proof, if it was needed, that great things lay ahead of him.

When Dan did eventually become a Full Member of the BRDC he commented at the time, “To be included in a group of such great names makes me feel very special. I will do everything that I can to represent the BRDC in a way that makes you all very proud.”

Dan Wheldon was a great ambassador for the BRDC and motor sport generally. He will be hugely missed.

Derek Warwick
President
British Racing Drivers’ Club

Recommended Links

There have been many moving reflections and tributes published this morning, here are just a few of the ones which struck a chord with my own thoughts:

• Marcus Simmons (Autosport): Dan Wheldon: 1978 – 2011
• SPEED.com:PRUETT – Danny Boy
• Bright House Sports Network: Racing’s great loss: St. Petersburg’s Wheldon was a gregarious spirit
• Joe Saward’s Blog: The day after..
• BBC Sport: F1 stars pay tribute to Wheldon

 

UPDATE (16:00 hrs Friday 5th): Atkinson has now been discharged from hospital, leaving via a back door of Peterborough City Hospital flanked by four security guards. The actor declined to comment, but it is reported that security guards tussled with a waiting cameraman as he left in a Harley Street private ambulance. Atkinson was in a wheelchair, but we understand that was just a standard precaution – Atkinson is believed to have suffered a shoulder injury and light bruising after the crash yesterday evening.

The tabloid newspapers have as usual been besides themselves competing for the most sensational headline, singling out the McLaren’s 240+ mph top speed and claiming that “.. the car burst into flames”. The other popular headline is that the TV actor “cheated death in a high-speed accident” or my favourite, “Rowan Atkinson escapes fiery crash”.

In reality it’s nothing quite so dramatic and I’m sure Rowan is more concerned about damage to his car than himself. I live not far from the A605 and it’s a fast open road, with dual-carriageways in several places – not the sort of road where a driver of Rowan’s calibre ‘loses control’ without some other mitigating factor. The roads were wet earlier in the day, but by yesterday evening conditions were dry and visibility was good.

On arrival, police and paramedics found that the car had left the road, but was otherwise intact – if it had ‘caught fire’ as some have reported, then it must have been a small one.

Picture: via Northampton Chronicle.

A spokesman for Cambridgeshire Fire and Rescue Service was quoted in the local CambsTimes newspaper as saying: “One crew from Stanground, one crew from Dogsthorpe and a rescue vehicle from Dogsthorpe were called to a report of a car fire on the A605 near the Haddon services.

This was a fire caused by a single vehicle road traffic collision. The driver of the vehicle was out of the car before the arrival of firefighters and crews extinguished the fire using just one hose reel.”

Atkinson was taken to the newly opened Peterborough City Hospital where he was described as suffering from shoulder injuries.

The Blackadder and Mr. Bean star appeared on Top Gear a few weeks ago, setting the fastest time around the TG track for a ‘Star in a Reasonably Priced Car’. Atkinson has owned the F1 for 14 years and spoke fondly of his pride and joy when interviewed by Jeremy Clarkson on the show.

Unlike most owners, Atkinson uses his F1 regularly, having clocked up over 37,000 miles and is both familiar with the car and the roads he was driving on.

We wish Rowan a speedy recovery and look forward to seeing him in his new film, Johnny English 2 Reborn, which will be released later in the year.

He smashed the late Tony Pond’s 21 year record at his first attempt, setting a lap time of 19 minutes and 56.7 seconds and averaging 113mph around the course.

That was his first lap, his practice lap if you like. On his second lap, he was joined by Road & Track photographer Chris Cantle and in less than 2-minutes from the off, Higgins had what he describes as “..the biggest moment of my life..”.

Watch and admire Higgins’ skill and sheer calmness behind the wheel as he experiences a moment that for most mortals would have been their final moment.

And here’s the on-board view where you can see just how awful a crash would have been at these speeds..

Hats off to Mark Higgins for such an incredible piece of driving and for remaining such a sportsman when everything (nearly) went horribly wrong.

The last time we can remember such an embarrassing situation was the Brake Assist PLUS failure that Mercedes experienced when demonstrating their new S-Class to a German television station in 2005.

The scene takes place during a demonstration of the new system “city safety” before a gathering of international press in Sweden. A Volvo S60 is propelled out of the tunnel at about 35 km / h towards a stationary truck. The system ‘should’ have detected the obstacle and stopped the car before it crashed. But that’s not what happened…

Apparently the impact occurred because of a battery problem on this pre-production vehicle and therefore the “city safety” was not activated on the S60.

WIRED magazine who filmed the video point out that they were able to attend a number of other demonstrations of “city safety” which were all successful. Volvo also said that if had been a real driver in the car instead of the dummy, he would have noted that the system was failing on this test vehicle and applied the brakes manually.

No worries then…

Take a look at the video over on WIRED Magazine to see for yourself (click on the image below);

Click to view the video on WIRED magazine

These snaps provided by the guys at GTSpirit underline the level of damage done to the C9, showing that Horacio Pagani will need his finest spit and polish to iron the kinks out of this sad mess.  It’s not known exactly what happened but what is known is that the accident occurred on Autobahn B14 and judging by the extent of the damage, the C9 was pushing on before impact.

The C9 is expected to go on sale in 2011 with a price tag around the eye watering three quarters of a million pounds mark.  For your money you’ll get a 6.0L V12 that punches out around 700hp with a top speed of 225mph.  We just hope today’s accident hasn’t set back the development schedule of the C9.

Apparently the PGA star hit a fire hydrant and then a tree as he pulled out of his driveway in Isleworth, near Orlando, at 2:25am this morning. He was driving his 2009 Cadillac Escalade and Florida Highway Patrol have confirmed that the airbags in the Escalade didn’t deploy, which means he was travelling at less than 35 mph.

The highway patrol said the crash was still under investigation, and charges were pending, but added that the crash was not alcohol-related.

Latest reports now state that he has been released from hospital after being treated for facial injuries, so perhaps the publicity machines got a little ahead of themselves with those initial reports.

Weird eh?

Take a look at the full set of pictures at TMZ

We understand that the driver was unhurt, however the damage inflicted on the California will require a little more work to fix.

Demand for the Ferrari California has been strong, with waiting lists extending between 2-3 years, so let’s hope this one manages to get fixed and the driver learns that showing off on a busy public road is neither clever nor worth the risk.

The following quote comes from the Galveston Daily Dews;

LA MARQUE — Police on Friday identified a Lufkin man who accidentally drove a $2 million Bugatti Veyron, a rare automobile that is perhaps the world’s fastest, into a saltwater lagoon.

Andy Lee House, 34, owner of Performance Auto Sales, told The Daily News on Wednesday that a low-flying pelican distracted him, causing him to jerk the steering wheel a bit — and he then dropped his cell phone.

The crash, however, was captured by someone filming the car as it traveled on the northbound frontage road of Interstate 45 about 3 p.m. Wednesday. The man filming was traveling north on I-45. No pelican was visible in the video, which shows the car veering from the road and splashing in the lagoon.

With the Veyron in more than 2 feet of saltwater, House declined to give his name at the scene near Omega Bay.

Driver Offers Thanks

House posted a comment to The Lufkin Daily News, thanking everyone who was worried about him and the car.

“I have taken my exotic cars to school events, rallies, and allow anyone to take pictures of my cars and even rides in them,” House wrote. “I have allowed many people into my home to see my cars that I don’t even know. … Say what you want about me, but there is a man in heaven right now looking over me and that’s all that matters!”

The 2006 Veyron is thought to have been one of only 200 made and one of only 15 in the United States.

Police Report Released

A police report, made public Friday, lists House as the driver and owner. The pelican caught his eye as it was quite close to colliding with the car, House said. House never said he was using the cell phone at the time. Dropping it added to the distraction just enough, sending the front passenger wheel off the road and into the soft, sloppy, muddy shoulder.

A Daily News reporter arrived at the scene about 15 minutes after the car entered the water just in time to see the gurgling exhaust stop bubbling like an outboard motor as the 1,001 horsepower engine died.

House, who was looking at real estate in Galveston the day of the crash, was not injured. The Veyron is capable of speeds of more than 253 mph, but House hadn’t risked driving it on a private fast track to test the limits, namely because the insurance company wouldn’t cover any resulting mishap, he said.

Insurance Company Takes Car

House called Gilbert Harrison, the tow truck driver who carefully winched the Veyron from the lagoon, telling him it was OK to release the car Friday to the insurance company. No information on the extent of the damage to the car’s electrical system, engine and components was available.

Harrison remembered House saying his phone rang frequently after the crash. House seemed quite calm, Harrison said.

“What I told him was I’d be as gentle as possible,” Harrison said of the tow that cost less than $1,000. “I did this tow like I do every car — like it was my own.”

According to the Lufkin Daily News, the owner Andy Lee House purchased the Veyron, carrying a $1.25 million price tag, from a dealer last month.

Last week House brought the car to Air Cooled Engines in Lufkin to show store employees — a usual occurrence whenever he got something new, according to 20-year employee Alan Arrowood. Arrowood said he’s sad to hear the negative things that have been said about House, calling him a “nice guy.”

“He brought that Bugatti by here last week and we all got to sit in it and look at it — a once-in-a-lifetime deal,” Arrowood said. “He’s a really nice guy. Last year he brought by a Ford GT to show us. That was a nice car.”

The car was insured through Philadelphia Indemnity Insurance, according to the La Marque Police report. An insurance sales agent with the Grundy Agency, the company that underwrites for Philadelphia Indemnity Insurance, said that it would cost around $8,000 yearly to insure a 2006 Bugatti Veyron. “There’s no coverage limit but typically the vehicle would be insured for the value,” Grundy Agency sales agent Lauren Gindele said. “Also, policies are paid yearly and not monthly.”

Sounds like the Veyron driver, Andy Lee House made a genuine mistake and however stupid it might seem in hindsight our sympathies go out to him. He must be gutted.

No words can fully capture what happens, so you had better take a look.