Comments by "Big Blue" (@bigblue6917) on "The deadliest accident in motorsport history" video.

  1. You mentioned that the Jaguar car had disc brakes which were obviously better. I remember seeing British cars having a little notice on the back of the car warning that it had disc brakes. This was to let other drivers know that this car could brake in a shorter distance so you should allow more space between your car and it. James Dean originally wanted a British car with disc brakes but at that time they could not be exported. So he bought a Porsche 550 Spyder instead. Makes you wonder what would have happened if he had the British car with disc brakes. I did read an article published some years ago by an expert who used photographic evidence when studying road traffic accidents. He said that despite claims to the contrary Dean was not speeding at the time of the accident.
    29
  2. I did know about the crash, though not in this detail. So thanks for that. One thing they did have, and went on for many years, was that each driver had to run to their car, which was parked at the side of the road at the start of the race. The driver then had to jump into his car start his engine and then join the race. You can imagine how much commotion that caused and also several accidents as drive tried to join the race track. Many driver complained about this. You can imagine how many never got further then the start because of a shunt with another car in all that chaos. How did a woman change motor racing and air combat? You will notice that in the early races there was a second person in the car. His job was to watch what the other drivers were doing in the cars behind them and report that to the driver. Then one day a driver saw a woman looking into her hand mirror and realised with a mirror in his car he did not need the second person to report what was happening behind him as a mirror would do the same thing. Fighter pilots then added mirrors to their aircraft so they could see if an enemy aircraft was behind them, And today, with all the high tech kit used in an aircraft they still use mirrors.
    4
  3. oldmwr100rs As I mention elsewhere we know it was not the speed. The speeding idea seems to have come along later. One of those urban myths. Though Hollywood myth would seem more appropriate considering all the actors who claim to have had premonitions about his death. What I was mentioning here was an historical fact about cars with disc brakes in the UK were carrying a notice on the back of the car to warn others.
    2
  4. Yes I did see them, thanks. It is surprising how long that persisted. And I could never understand the point of it. As a thought, did this make it a biathlon? A running race and a car race.
    1