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[Noshino]

http://sports.yahoo.com/olympics/vancouver/luge/news?slug=reu-lugesliders_pix&prov=reuters&type=lgns



Stay classy Canada.

Uh, but his comments are pretty much the same thing that others have said, even before the accident.

 

[Big-E]

Wow that is douchey. I am kind of upset that that man is speaking on behalf of Canada in a way. I guess the two time defending champion isn't physically and mentally fit to handle the track yet our scrub Canadian lugers are.

 

[Socreges]

http://sports.yahoo.com/olympics/vancouver/luge/news?slug=reu-lugesliders_pix&prov=reuters&type=lgns

Stay classy Canada.

He's only the team's coach, German, and doesn't represent Canada whatsoever. Nice, though.

Also, as Noshino said, many others have said similar things. Staudinger could have more tact, though.

 

[Sealda]

I guess his mistake would be equal to a ski-jumper doing a 90 flip and then lands on his head breaking his neck. That is, something you cannot really protect the athletes from? I mean, yeah, the can big a higher wall in corner 16, but what if someone makes a fatal mistake in corner 15. etc.

I mean, maybe one can die in curling even. Falling and hitting the ice with the back of the head.

(just speculating, i have no idea how outrageous his mistake really was?)

Also, really horrible video. Feels sick watching it, sure i have watched snuff whatever. But its different when it happens during a broadcast of the olympics when no one expected it. Damn, saw some pics of him lying down receiving medical help, only seconds from his death. Eyes wide open, unconscious.

 

[Noshino]

Wow that is douchey. I am kind of upset that that man is speaking on behalf of Canada in a way. I guess the two time defending champion isn't physically and mentally fit to handle the track yet our scrub Canadian lugers are.

WHISTLER, British Columbia — Fast and frightening, yes. Responsible for the death of a luger, no.

Olympic officials decided late Friday night against any major changes in the track or any delays in competition and even doubled up on the schedule in the wake of the horrifying accident that claimed the life of a 21-year-old luger from the republic of Georgia.

They said they would raise the wall where the slider flew off the track and make an unspecified "change in the ice profile" – but only as a preventative measure "to avoid that such an extremely exceptional accident could occur again."

Within sight of the finish line, Nodar Kumaritashvili crashed coming out of the 16th turn and slammed into an unpadded steel pole while traveling nearly 90 mph. Despite frantic attempts by paramedics to save his life, he died at a trauma center.

Concerns about the lightning-fast course had been raised for months. There were worries that the $100 million-plus venue was too technically difficult, and a lack of significant practice time by everyone but the host nation's sliders would result in a rash of accidents.

But the International Luge Federation and Vancouver Olympic officials said their investigation showed that the crash was the result of human error and that "there was no indication that the accident was caused by deficiencies in the track."

In a joint statement they said Kumaritashvili was late coming out of the next-to-last turn and failed to compensate. "This resulted in a late entrance into curve 16 and although the athlete worked to correct the problem, he eventually lost control of the sled, resulting in the tragic accident."

Men lugers, who were scheduled to finish training Friday morning, will get two extra practice runs Saturday. Women will train four hours later than scheduled. Men's competition will be held later in the day as planned.

Kumaritashvili's death cast a pall over the Winter Games before they even started.

"I have no words to say what we feel," said International Olympic Committee president Jacques Rogge, visibly shaken by the day's events.

"It is a nervous situation," Latvian luge federation president Atis Strenga said. "It's a big tragedy for all (of) luge. I hope, we all hope, it's the first accident and the last accident in this race."

Problems at the track date back to World Cup events and international training weeks held last year, when several of the world's top bobsled drivers were upended trying to make their way down the track with its tricky labyrinth of curves and unprecedented speed.

American pilot Steven Holcomb christened one of the course's toughest sections – the 13th curve – as "50-50" to reflect the odds of steering a sled through it cleanly.

Kumaritashvili, who had crashed during training on Wednesday, was nearing the bottom of his sixth practice run in a turn nicknamed "Thunderbird." His last recorded speed was 89.4 mph, measured near the last curve. He was on a higher path – line, they call it in luge – down the final bends than most sliders prefer, and the combination of speed and gravitational pull was too much for his 176-pound body to control.

Sliding diagonally, Kumaritashvili smashed into a corner entering the final straightaway feet-first. He was knocked off his sled and sailed in the other direction, apparently hitting his head before coming to rest on a metal walkway. His sled stayed on the track and skidded to a stop near the finish line.

The first rescue worker just happened to be nearby and was at his side within three seconds.

At the finish line, there was a loud gasp as onlookers watched in horror as he was catapulted helplessly through the air. Officials quickly switched off a giant TV screen showing the action on the track and did not show a replay of the incident. Soon after, the track was closed as local and Royal Canadian Mounted Police kept media members at a distance as the investigation began.

Kumaritashvili's inexperience may have played a factor in the crash, but he had qualified to compete. This would have been his first Olympics. He competed in five World Cup races this season, finishing 44th in the world standings.

"When you are going that fast it just takes one slip and you can have that big mistake," U.S. doubles luger Christian Niccum said Thursday, when asked about track safety. "All of us are very calm going down, but if you start jerking at 90 mph or making quick reactions, that sled will steer. That's the difference between luge and bobsled and skeleton, we're riding on a very sharp edge and that sled will go exactly where we tell it to so you better be telling it the right things on the way down."

Earlier in the day, two-time Olympic champion Armin Zoeggeler of Italy crashed, losing control of his sled on Curve 11. Zoeggeler came off his sled and held it with his left arm to keep it from smashing atop his body. He slid on his back down several curves before coming to a stop and walking away.

Training days in Whistler have been crash-filled. A Romanian woman was knocked unconscious and at least four Americans – Chris Mazdzer on Wednesday, Megan Sweeney on Thursday and both Benshoof and Bengt Walden on Friday in the same training session where Zoeggeler wrecked – have had serious trouble just getting down the track.

Rogge said he was in contact with Kumaritashvili's family – the slider's father is president of the Georgian luge federation and his cousin is the team's coach, VANOC officials said – and the Georgian government. The remaining seven members of the Georgian Olympic delegation decided to stay in the games and dedicated their performances to their fallen teammate.

They marched into BC Place Stadium wearing black armbands and their nation's red-and-white flag was trimmed with a black ribbon. Later, a full minute of silence was observed in honor of Kumaritashvili, the fourth competitor to die at the Winter Games, all in training, and the first since 1992.

"It's really unfortunate to have something like that happen," U.S. snowboarding star Shaun White said. "We're all in different sports and from different countries but when we get here, we're all part of the same family. It's definitely affected everyone here."

Under giant Olympic rings near the medals plaza in downtown Whistler, mourners placed candles and flowers around a photograph of Kumaritashvili, on his sled and barreling down the track. Around the photo, an inscription read: "In Memory of Nodar Kumaritashvili, May he rest in peace."

Crashes happen often in luge – at least 12 sliders have wrecked just this week on the daunting Whistler surface. Still, some who have been around tracks their entire lives couldn't remember someone actually being thrown over the wall.

"It's a very rare situation," three-time Olympic champion and German coach Georg Hackl said.

Shortly before the accident, Hackl said he didn't believe the Whistler track was unsafe.

"People have the opinion it is dangerous but the track crew does the best it can and they are working hard to make sure the track is in good shape and everyone is safe," he said. "My opinion is that it's not any more dangerous than anywhere else."

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/huff-wires/20100213/oly-lug-luger-dies/

The fact that he was a professional doesn't mean that he couldn't make mistakes

 

[DrForester]

Due to some asking not to have pictures of impact posted I wont post directly.

http://i45.tinypic.com/k4b1ib.jpg

MSNBC Headline story about how networks are getting criticized for showing the video. And right next to headline is a picture of impact.

Stay Classy News Media

 

[Iknos]

Kumaritashvili, who had crashed during training on Wednesday, was nearing the bottom of his sixth practice run in a turn nicknamed "Thunderbird." His last recorded speed was 89.4 mph, measured near the last curve. He was on a higher path – line, they call it in luge – down the final bends than most sliders prefer, and the combination of speed and gravitational pull was too much for his 176-pound body to control.

Means that it was a badly designed track. If they want to test drivers with a very tight last corner they should consider making the exit more friendly to those who experience loss of control.

 

[KHarvey16]

Means that it was a badly designed track. If they want to test drivers with a very tight last corner they should consider making the exit more friendly to those who experience loss of control.

Tracks in every sport have preferred lines. You can take a corner the wrong way at the wrong speed in a car and end up in the wall. Same thing happened here, he wasn't where he should have been.

 

[Noshino]

Means that it was a badly designed track. If they want to test drivers with a very tight last corner they should consider making the exit more friendly to those who experience loss of control.

No it doesn't.

"In a joint statement they said Kumaritashvili was late coming out of the next-to-last turn and failed to compensate. "This resulted in a late entrance into curve 16 and although the athlete worked to correct the problem, he eventually lost control of the sled, resulting in the tragic accident."

Like the article mentions, he made a fatal mistake, that even though he tried to fix, he still lost control


"When you are going that fast it just takes one slip and you can have that big mistake," U.S. doubles luger Christian Niccum said Thursday, when asked about track safety. "All of us are very calm going down, but if you start jerking at 90 mph or making quick reactions, that sled will steer. That's the difference between luge and bobsled and skeleton, we're riding on a very sharp edge and that sled will go exactly where we tell it to so you better be telling it the right things on the way down."

Also, some athletes have mentioned the precision needed in Luge, and that the smallest mistake could very well be fatal.


"Crashes happen often in luge – at least 12 sliders have wrecked just this week on the daunting Whistler surface. Still, some who have been around tracks their entire lives couldn't remember someone actually being thrown over the wall."

On top of that, the accident was out of the ordinary as, despite the fact that accidents happen a lot in Luge, the fact that he went over the wall was on itself a rare thing

 

[Iknos]

Tracks in every sport have preferred lines. You can take a corner the wrong way at the wrong speed in a car and end up in the wall. Same thing happened here, he wasn't where he should have been.

They don't put walls right where there is a chance of people messing up.

Failing brakes/steering/etc. everything is taken into consideration.

 

[Iknos]

No it doesn't.

"In a joint statement they said Kumaritashvili was late coming out of the next-to-last turn and failed to compensate. "This resulted in a late entrance into curve 16 and although the athlete worked to correct the problem, he eventually lost control of the sled, resulting in the tragic accident."

Like the article mentions, he made a fatal mistake, that even though he tried to fix, he still lost control

You've just contradicted yourself.

Tracks aren't designed with perfect runs in mind.

 

[KHarvey16]

They don't put walls right where there is a chance of people messing up.

Failing brakes/steering/etc. everything is taken into consideration.

People hit walls all the time when they mess up racing in a car. In the end though, the people in charge of this sport, experts regarding luge I assume, said very clearly that this accident was not due to a bad design.

 

[Big-E]

He may have lost control on his own but the fact remains that the most dangerous corner was lined with steel beams. On F1 tracks you got tire walls and infields for safety. There is always a danger in sports like these but you try to prepare for the worst case scenario and it seems that they didn't do that here. If the track was truly safe why did they build the wall now? I know they are covering their asses now but if you truly believe the track is safe you shouldn't be building retaining walls and starting the athletes closer.

 

[KHarvey16]

He may have lost control on his own but the fact remains that the most dangerous corner was lined with steel beams. On F1 tracks you got tire walls and infields for safety. There is always a danger in sports like these but you try to prepare for the worst case scenario and it seems that they didn't do that here. If the track was truly safe why did they build the wall now? I know they are covering their asses now but if you truly believe the track is safe you shouldn't be building retaining walls and starting the athletes closer.

Building a wall is easier than explaining why you don't need one.

 

[Noshino]

You've just contradicted yourself.

Tracks aren't designed with perfect runs in mind.

No track is designed like that, including this one.

His accident was just far from the margin of error. Once again, in this sport, accident aren't that out of the ordinary, they knew how much security it needed. Nodar's accident was just too far out there that he went over an existing "safety" wall, something that not even the athletes themselves have seen in years

 

[Archer]

/watching the armchair experts provide their precise, in depth opinions

 

[OrangeYouGlad]

Either way, the guy is dead. You can argue that the courses are made that way or that they should have seen the hazard in having the beams there. In the end, common sense says you shouldn't hurtle yourself down an ice chute on a tiny sled at 90MPH.

 

[njean777]

I never knew the reason why they dont put maybe plexiglass or something above the track so incase you do fall off you dont go launching out like that. They need to put something over the track.

 

[Deku]

anarchists vandalized downtown and knocked over magazine racks newspaper boxes.

There's enough rage to go around. I don't think it's anyone fault in particular. There were 500 plus runs on that course before that fatal accident.

I never knew the reason why they dont put maybe plexiglass or something above the track so incase you do fall off you dont go launching out like that. They need to put something over the track.

They padded the pillars and raised the wall on turn 16, the final turn where Noda lost control.
And they lowered the Luge track start to the women's starting position, slowing speed by 6mph. That's all NBC could talk about today.

 

[Iknos]

Nodar's accident was just too far out there that he went over an existing "safety" wall, something that not even the athletes themselves have seen in years

That's my point.

You seem to be thinking that I'm blaming that wall or the pillar. I'm talking about the track itself.

 

[Schrade]

Due to some asking not to have pictures of impact posted I wont post directly.

http://i45.tinypic.com/k4b1ib.jpg

MSNBC Headline story about how networks are getting criticized for showing the video. And right next to headline is a picture of impact.

Stay Classy News Media

That's not a picture of impact. That's a picture before impact.

 

[MisterAnderson]

I've been scanning this thread, have noticed many people suggesting putting higher walls etc. Has no one yet suggested that they have enclosed clear tubes over the entire track? Like those enclosed water slides at water parks? Seems like the logical thing to do IMO.

 

[Ashhong]

uh dude, you know there's a thread for complaints right?


Anyways, fuck, this is messed up :\

RIP

:lol

 

[mclem]

Due to some asking not to have pictures of impact posted I wont post directly.

http://i45.tinypic.com/k4b1ib.jpg

MSNBC Headline story about how networks are getting criticized for showing the video. And right next to headline is a picture of impact.

Stay Classy News Media

Does US media have the policy (I think official) that UK media does, where you can get a warning prior to a news story that it can contain "Some graphic images that may cause offense"?

Edit: Commentary from the BBC: http://www.bbc.co.uk/blogs/jamespearce/2010/02/when_you_arrive_in_a.html . Interesting question: If the Olympics are meant to be inclusive, should the tracks actually be a little *easier*?

 

[numble]

http://sports.yahoo.com/olympics/va...V_?slug=dw-lugefolo021310&prov=yhoo&type=lgns

Officials try to dodge blame in luge death
Dan Wetzel

WHISTLER, British Columbia – Olympic officials continued to claim Saturday that the Whistler Sliding Centre always was a safe, appropriate track. They said this even though they moved the start line and reworked the ice surface to slow speeds, and they also put up a new safety wall at the end of the turn where Nodar Kumaritashvili died Friday after flying off the track and slamming into a metal pole.

The words don’t match the actions. If there was nothing to worry about, then why change a thing? At this point, it hardly matters. At least there were actions, even if they didn’t accompany admissions.

Some of the thrill-seeking competitors complained about slower speeds, which was to be expected. Sometimes athletes need to be protected from themselves. Until forced, hockey goalies refused to wear masks, and NASCAR drivers balked at restrictor plates that kept their cars from hitting impossible-to-control speeds.

“The changes that they made were positive,” American Tony Benshoof said on the first day of the men’s singles event here. “It’s significantly slower, significantly easier and significantly safer. Personally, I’d rather go from up top because that’s kind of my personality and my driving style. But I think, generally speaking, it was a good decision.”

This illustrates why there needs to be rules and why there needs to be responsible officials. Luge lacked those in the run-up to Friday’s fatal crash and showed a pathetic bent when officials blamed Kumaritashvili’s death wholly on Kumaritashvili just hours after the tragedy.

The Whistler track was built too fast and no one admitted that better than International Luge Federation president Josef Fendt. Back in 2008, he watched the track open and was stunned at the escalating speeds – up to 92.47 mph.

“This is not in the interest of our International Luge Federation, and it makes me worry,” Fendt said then. He declared that future tracks shouldn’t exceed 87 mph.

The horror here is that Fendt didn’t act as Olympians began hitting speeds of up to 96 mph in training sessions here. Kumaritashvili was clocked at just under 90 when a small mistake exiting Turn 15 turned wound up killing him. The promising 21-year-old didn’t stand much of a chance.

“It’s a serious business,” Canadian coach Wolfgang Staudinger said. “It’s not like sliding on the kids’ hill on crazy carpet.”

Par for their behavior, Olympic officials had trashed Kumaritashvili’s experience level in the wake of the crash, piling on a guy who was unable to defend himself or his reputation. Once that got out on international broadcasts, it became the defining reason for the crash – the Olympic and luge officials winning the most ugly of public relations narrative wars.

Even if it were the case, Kumaritashvili deserved better, deserved a day to rest in peace without being picked apart.

And who knows if inexperience really was the problem? The people that knew Kumaritashvili best, his Georgian coaches, have defended him. They noted he was ranked 44th in the world and came from a family of sliders.

“Insinuation and speculation about his experience is unfair,” said Nikolos Rurua, minister of the Georgian team. “[Kumaritashvili] was well qualified, [a] very hard worker in training.”

But that’s how the Olympics work; it’s never the fault of the IOC or its sub-groups. These guys make the NCAA look magnanimous and becoming.

In this case, it always goes back to the track. If it was a joke by Fendt’s own previous calculations, what changed? At an awkward press conference Saturday morning, he tried to backtrack and shift his words, saying he was placing speed limits only on future tracks, such as the Sochi, Russia, course for the 2014 Winter Games. Why then but not now? Well, he wouldn’t say. It was a lot of circular talk.

“We are not saying that [the track] is too fast, but the track is fast,” Fendt said, before ordering it be slowed.

Look, no one wanted this young man to die. No one set out to build a track that would be so fast and so challenging that simply mistakes can prove fatal. It just happened.

And the reason is the course. It was the speed, the slope, the row of metal poles looming outside a turn exit without proper walling.

Luge officials knew they had pushed the envelope. They said as much. Then the athletes showed up and began sounding alarms. No one wanted Friday’s nightmare scenario, yet no one displayed the courage to step up and prevent it, to say enough was enough too soon rather than too late. In some ways, that’s understandable; it’s a human facility we all have faced.

That no one was man enough to acknowledge they were wrong, to publicly declare they made a mistake, to even second guess their decisions garners less sympathy.

In the end, no one admitted a thing. They just put up a board, slowed the track down and moved on.

It’s the best and only apology Nodar Kumaritashvili’s family is going to get.

 

[DrForester]

Does US media have the policy (I think official) that UK media does, where you can get a warning prior to a news story that it can contain "Some graphic images that may cause offense"?

Edit: Commentary from the BBC: http://www.bbc.co.uk/blogs/jamespearce/2010/02/when_you_arrive_in_a.html . Interesting question: If the Olympics are meant to be inclusive, should the tracks actually be a little *easier*?

Most news stations I watch will give a warning before they start the story. I don't know if it's their stations policy or a FCC regulation though.

 

[Noshino]

That's my point.

You seem to be thinking that I'm blaming that wall or the pillar. I'm talking about the track itself.

Im not thinking that, I know that you are talking about the track, and like I said, athletes have already tried this track, it has been up since late 2007, this track has gone through testing, practices, and official races. In other words, when the track was even more dangerous, this kind of accident didn't happen.

 

[DrFunk]

Does US media have the policy (I think official) that UK media does, where you can get a warning prior to a news story that it can contain "Some graphic images that may cause offense"?

Edit: Commentary from the BBC: http://www.bbc.co.uk/blogs/jamespearce/2010/02/when_you_arrive_in_a.html . Interesting question: If the Olympics are meant to be inclusive, should the tracks actually be a little *easier*?

Yes. Nearly every US media outlet says it

 

[numble]

Im not thinking that, I know that you are talking about the track, and like I said, athletes have already tried this track, it has been up since late 2007, this track has gone through testing, practices, and official races. In other words, when the track was even more dangerous, this kind of accident didn't happen.

http://sports.yahoo.com/olympics/va...V_?slug=dw-lugefolo021310&prov=yhoo&type=lgns

The Whistler track was built too fast and no one admitted that better than International Luge Federation president Josef Fendt. Back in 2008, he watched the track open and was stunned at the escalating speeds – up to 92.47 mph.

“This is not in the interest of our International Luge Federation, and it makes me worry,” Fendt said then. He declared that future tracks shouldn’t exceed 87 mph.

 

[Noshino]

http://sports.yahoo.com/olympics/va...V_?slug=dw-lugefolo021310&prov=yhoo&type=lgns

Do I have to repeat myself?

From Dec 2007 til Feb 2010, the track has been through testing, official practices and races. The track has been modified time after time. If the track was dangerous at the time of the Nodar's accident, don't you think that previous races should have been worse or just as bad?

 

[Deku]

Does US media have the policy (I think official) that UK media does, where you can get a warning prior to a news story that it can contain "Some graphic images that may cause offense"?

Edit: Commentary from the BBC: http://www.bbc.co.uk/blogs/jamespearce/2010/02/when_you_arrive_in_a.html . Interesting question: If the Olympics are meant to be inclusive, should the tracks actually be a little *easier*?

There are 3 starting positions.

mens>womens>juniors for the Luge.

Men's is highest, nearly 2 football field length higher than the women's starting position, so the speeds are fastest for the men's luge.

And it's already widely know as one of the fastest tracks in the world. There were a lot of test runs (believe I heard Bob Costas say 500 or was it 5,000 runs) before the accident and it wasn't Noda's 1st run there either.

But after accident, and with the criticism that the speeds were too intense, they bumped the men's starting position to the women's spot and the women's to the juniors.

 

[numble]

Do I have to repeat myself?

From Dec 2007 til Feb 2010, the track has been through testing, official practices and races. The track has been modified time after time. If the track was dangerous at the time of the Nodar's accident, don't you think that previous races should have been worse or just as bad?

You can play tons of hockey games without helmets before a serious injury occurs, it doesn't mean that it is safe without a helmet.

They already declared that all future tracks would be up to 10 mph slower in 2008 near when the track opened, if the track's speed was not dangerous, don't you think that future tracks should have been faster or just as fast?

 

[Squirrel Killer]

Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute, and if you were and engineer, you'd know that Statics is usually part of core engineering. I say again, these things aren't put in there to support phantom structures. Those pillars are loaded, hence they are there for a reason.

If you think I find this funny, then come over to the Motorsport thread some time. THESE ARE THE ACCEPTED RISKS OF PARTICIPATING IN THESE TYPE OF TIME TRIAL SPORTS. Jesus titty-fucking Christ. You think I want to see people die? I'm just not stupid enough to blame poor track design when I haven't the first damn clue what those pillars are supporting.

You clearly haven't a clue how leverage factors into placement of supports, so it must just be a matter of sloppy engineering leaving exposed pillars in this area for someone to hit, right? They could put plexiglass there, but there might be issues of turbulence caused by trapping air in that pocket. All I'm saying is there are a ton of factors that go into track design, and reactionary blame like this is ignoring that and the fact that this sport is inherently dangerous. Would ragdolling at a lower speed of 80mph on an access path have been better, or just allowed the camera to capture his gruesome death better? Sheesh. PEACE.

You know, I kidded you on the aerodynamics bit, but left the "loaded pillars" thing alone, because you were right, I didn't have a clue what those pillars were supporting. From the pictures, it could've been a spinning resturant for all I knew.

But while reading a story on how the IOC was telling a blog to take down the video, I actually saw the video for the first time. You know what incredibly immense load the pillars were supporting? A shade. I'm no Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute grad, but I think my AutoCAD skillz allow me to present a possible solution to the quandary of non-aerodynamic influencing deadly steel posts 6 inches from the track:

WAR.

 

[qwertybob]

In this thread people confuse the cause of the accident (driver error) with the cause of death (big fucking steel column).

 

[A Black Falcon]

You know, I kidded you on the aerodynamics bit, but left the "loaded pillars" thing alone, because you were right, I didn't have a clue what those pillars were supporting. From the pictures, it could've been a spinning resturant for all I knew.

But while reading a story on how the IOC was telling a blog to take down the video, I actually saw the video for the first time. You know what incredibly immense load the pillars were supporting? A shade. I'm no Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute grad, but I think my AutoCAD skillz allow me to present a possible solution to the quandary of non-aerodynamic influencing deadly steel posts 6 inches from the track:

WAR.

The shades are needed because otherwise too much sun will get on the track and the ice will melt. They are important.

Now, yeah, maybe they could have done that, or had padding on them from the beginning... with how many crashes there had been at this course they should have thought something like that might have happened. There might be (legal) case against them, I'm not sure... maybe not. Either way though with hindsight it's an obvious mistake, yeah.

Anyway though. the existence of the shade in the first place, at least, has a purpose.

 

[qwertybob]

The shades are needed because otherwise too much sun will get on the track and the ice will melt. They are important.

Now, yeah, maybe they could have done that, or had padding on them from the beginning... with how many crashes there had been at this course they should have thought something like that might have happened. There might be (legal) case against them, I'm not sure... maybe not. Either way though with hindsight it's an obvious mistake, yeah.

Anyway though. the existence of the shade in the first place, at least, has a purpose.

he isn't saying they aren't important he is suggesting that the columns were supporting a relatively lightweight stucture and suggested an alternative structural arrangement

edit: nm didn't read your reply properly I'm Reading on a phone