70s Nordschleife Crashes

http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=0xwc54G2Ur8

Pretty crazy!!

And most of them were tail-draggers, too......

Lots of bodies flopping about in and out of the vehicles. Wonder if lap belts were that bad or if most thought they were so good they didn't bother with belts?

I love this video, mostly because it makes me feel better about my own performance at Adenauer Forst!

This corner (well, set of corners I guess) is hard to get right, especially on the first lap of the day. I bet this guy filmed all these crashes over the course of a busy afternoon.

Seems like lots of cars were pretty roll-over prone back then, doesn't it? I've seen a lot of crashes, I don't think I've ever seen a car start to spin, then roll-over like some of these are.

oldsaw wrote: And most of them were tail-draggers, too......

well.. consider that FWD was resticted to only a handful of cars at that time.. Rear Engined cars were how you built economy cars.

I am very glad that VW Beetle Cabriolet did not flip.. that would have been messy

Lots of high roll centers, swing axle and semi-trailing arm rear suspensions and long wheel travel equals jacking.

I guess this is why there are so few Fiat 850's left

Doesn't make me want any of those cars any less. The NSU TT's are amazing. The Renault 8 Gordini was awesome even sitting on its lid, and the type 3 notches were the classiest looking VW's ever.

Secretariata wrote: Lots of bodies flopping about in and out of the vehicles. Wonder if lap belts were that bad or if most thought they were so good they didn't bother with belts?

Lots of those cars were old enough they didn't have seat belts at all.

In reply to stuart in mn:

True, according to Wikipedia, Germany only started requiring seat belts in front seats in 1970.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Seat_belt_legislation

Wow that guy that got thrown from the Beetle is the luckiest dude alive. He was about one foot from being crushed to death.

If that's the turn I think it is, it's the one I always forget about when I'm playing Gran Turismo

I thought the highest represented cars were Fiat 850's and swing axle Bugs. The guy at 3:00 who falls out of what appears to be a Fiat was IMHO even luckier than the Bug guy, along with the girl at around 0:18 who was hanging halfway out of the car! At ~4:10 it looks like someone flies out of the car, over the roof and lands in the path of the car which thankfully quit rolling at about that point.

The passenger at the 33 second mark that comes out of the car and gets there head cracked on the roof line made me not watch the rest. It is one thing to put your self in harms way but that is just plain irresponsible.

Yeah, that video was down right scary. The girl at 33 seconds made me cringe.

I had no idea cars from the 70's could be THAT terrifying.

@1:36 - LIKE A BOSS

in 2007 my friends and i were there, and camped out at adenaur forst for one day and video'd the section - people still go off alllllll the time hehe. just not nearly as dramatic as those swing axle cars.

ditchdigger wrote: I guess this is why there are so few Fiat 850's left

I'm at work and can't see the video in question, but assuming it is what I think it is, I watched this a couple weeks ago and that (^^^^^) is EXACTLY what I said.

Twin_Cam wrote: If that's the turn I think it is, it's the one I always forget about when I'm playing Gran Turismo

The one I always forget is the reducing radius at the bottom of a hill, most sims show a little house on the outside of the corner. I don't forget that it's there, just that it's a total bitch.

This video is edited down from the full length "Rhapsody in Blech"

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dWlF4sT0HWs

Pretty much every car has trouble with this corner it seems. There are a few abarth version of rear engine fiats that spin out instead of jack and flip and lots of front engine cars flipping as well.

I think the reason VW's, Fiats and other rear engine cars are so well represented is that they were so common at the time.

that VW vert packed with peeps is SCARY!

stuart in mn wrote:

Secretariata wrote: Lots of bodies flopping about in and out of the vehicles. Wonder if lap belts were that bad or if most thought they were so good they didn't bother with belts?

Lots of those cars were old enough they didn't have seat belts at all.

Helmets I guess too.

BBsGarage wrote:

stuart in mn wrote:

Secretariata wrote: Lots of bodies flopping about in and out of the vehicles. Wonder if lap belts were that bad or if most thought they were so good they didn't bother with belts?

Lots of those cars were old enough they didn't have seat belts at all.

Helmets I guess too.

You don't need a helmet on the Nurburgring. It's a toll road. There are tour busses that drive along with bunches of people on them.

That just gives me a new respect for what modern technology has done for cars, and that some of he older racers really did have their hands full.

Yeah, it's been a few years since I've seen that video, but I remember it well, and I remember thinking everything everybody has said in this thread.

It used to catch me out in GT4 and GT5 all the time until I finally started repeating "Adenauer, Adenauer, Adenauer" to myself pretty much all the way across the fast bit from Aremberg to the other side of the little valley.

I love racing this track in Forza. I can't image doing it, at speed, in real life.