Derek Pierce injured at Knockhill

[Mike Hogg]

Quote from another forum with regards to the legends at Knockhill today:

"However, there was one really rather sour note. Derek Pierce was involved in quite a serious accident which stopped the Legends Final. He was a completely innocent victim in a multi-car crash and was carted away on a wheelie board into an ambulance. I was standing right where the accident happened, and unfortunatly decided to not bring the camera with me so couldnt snap it.He was sent at least 10 feet in the air, rolling as he went. There wasnt anything about his condition from the circuit commentators, but the marshels did have the sheets out. But I'm rather hoping he isnt that injured. The car was an absolute mess though."

That's two really serious accidents in two weeks, hope Derek's okay. The irony is it was his old car I was driving two weeks ago that got destroyed too.

Wonder if we're maybe trying to get too many of them round at the same time now? The field has been huge this year in the SMRC series and there have been quite a few accidents and incidents. There were 31 of them on track today...

[Big Bad Wedgie]

As I was on the Chicane today I can provide the following info:

Blankets are put up as a standard operating procedure to provide privacy for the injured driver from muppets with cameras.

I have no details of Derek's condition other than I think he was OK. Had a neck brace put on as a precaution. He was not cut from the car and as far as I could tell there was no major damage to the roll cage.

There are a couple of major gouges out of the track surface where the car dug in as it rolled. According to Duncan V they are nothing special and he kindly pointed out a number of marks in the same area where he had an off on his bike a few years ago.

[Mike Hogg]

Thanks for the info. Good to hear he's ok.

[Giggsy]

Mike i don't race in the series so my comments are nt a personal attack at anybody, or the standard of driving in the series. But could the problem not be with the setup of picking your race positions out of a hat, rather than where you are on the time sheets. I also understand that that is a major factor in the excitement and close racing, but safety has to come first.

It's just been unfortunate that these 2 accidents have happened so close to each other, maybe it's partly to do with the crowded grids, and also a matter of people not having the patience and trying to hard straight away.

The only time there's carnage in the other series is when faster guys are trying to come through and being to aggressive to soon.

As i said, that's not a personnel attack at all. I like watching the legends, it's just an opinion......

[Mike Hogg]

No worries, Giggsy - what you're saying has been a topic of conversation among the LEgends community all year.

I notice there was quite a large spread of times through the (very large) field so with this race being a Final, there were probably a lot of slower guys in front of the Pros and Knockhill regulars. It can cause a bottleneck and there had indeed been talk previously about how aggressive some of the quicker guys were being and the lack of patience that was sometimes shown with regards to getting past slower cars. It had gotten better but the last couple of weeks has seen a couple of really unfortunate accidents. That's racing I guess!

[Blair]

Good to hear that Derek is OK.

Maybe what Giggsy's saying is true too, but what about the rolling starts. You're all getting to the first corner much faster than most other races (was this a first lap accident too?), and they're damn crowded! ;D

[Michael Booth]

I think the problem could have been due to the fact it's the National Legends, who don't have as much experience at Knockhill - watching from Duffus I was amazed at how many tried to go side by side through Butchers and up through the chicane, it was always going to end up in tears, with Ross Marshall off before the chicane and two rolling afterwards.

I didn't even know Derek was racing, so sad to see him involved. Hope he's alright.

Actually, the 2nd heat had a spin at the top of Duffus by Thorburn and #13, and miraculously nobody hit them, David's car stopped sideways, halfway down but everyone missed him which was good.

[dagman16]

Further to BBW's comments on this, I too was at Chicane today.

What happened was that Colin Chadwick spun in the middle of the pack and Derek had nowhere to go and tripped over him.

The roof of Derek's car was ripped off completely but the roll cage was intact apart from scrape marks.

Derek seemed OK and did get out the car himself.

Hopefully he was OK but seemed fine and chatting as we dealt with him.

We nearly had a repeat a couple of laps later when Tony Caig hit another spinning car in the dip before the Chicane. Fortunately Tony landed back on all 4 wheels but ripped one wheel off the other car.

David

[flagirl]

Further to the comments on serious incidents on the track, it is common practice for marshals to shield the area with sheets to protect viewing from the public for the driver's privacy. It is also radio protocol that the details are not broadcast over the radio for the same reasons and also so that the next of kin can be advised who may be elsewhere on the circuit and as not to cause unnecessary panic. After the dust has settled and driver has safely been extracted from the vehicle and either taken to hospital/medical centre info can be detailed ie "sitting up chatting up the nurses" or perhaps gone back to his garage. Hope that satisfys those concerned.

[Heinicke]

This is awful news, I really hope Derek is OK! I thought he was racing in the Renault Clios this season, but they've finished now haven't they?
As Mike will know from his crash this season, its very difficult for the next of kin to watch the driver being taken out of the car and carted away to the Medi Centre in the ambulance. I hated it, Dad being watched, the spectators swarmed round like flies. I shouted to him and he gave me a wee nod to say he was OK. I ran from the pitlane down to the hairpin in so much distress, Mum followed me down and was shaken so was I!

[bigfrank28]

Derek is fine. I spoke to him after his tumble at the Touring Cars and he was sore but ok. He was racing at the weekend at Brands hatch in the Clio Cup.