Careless Driving Caused This Massive 15-Car Nurburgring Shunt

A massive and largely avoidable mass crash has been reported at the Nurburgring, damaging 15 cars and leaving two people in hospital.

According to a local police report, a Porsche 911 GT3 RS that was being driven like it was on fire popped a radiator hose right in the middle of the Hatzenbach Chicane – that’s the one you see in my photo below.

Then, owing to the fact that no marshals were present and no yellow flags or warning lights had been activated, in tandem with other drivers’ general refusal to leave margin for error as they chase personal best lap times, 14 more cars piled in, losing grip on the coolant spill and smashing into already stranded cars.

Lap timing is banned on open days, with the owners’ idea being for people to enjoy the circuit without taking risks. We all know no one actually listens to that, though, which is how the ball gets dropped, big time.

Three people were taken to hospital with serious injuries, including one person who had to be cut out of their Audi and helicopter-transported to hospital. Authorities are chalking the total insurance bill well up into six figures.

The police are asking that people drive ‘on sight,’ by which we understand they mean to drive within the limits of your line of sight, i.e. making sure you can stop before hit what’s just coming into your vision.

This is the sort of carelessness that could one day see the Touristfahrten banned altogether. That said, the track has a question or two to answer about marshalling, but if you drive the old course yourself, remember that this sort of thing can and does happen…

Source: Bridge to Gantry/RheinlandPfalz Polizei