From: b102smi@utarlg.uta.edu (George M. Smiley)
Subject: Re: F1 Portugal: Patrese incident
News-Software: VAX/VMS VNEWS 1.41    
Organization: The University of Texas at Arlington
Date: Wed, 30 Sep 1992 17:26:00 GMT

In article <m14430.717864554@mwunix>, m14430@mwunix.mitre.org (Lawrence Larson) writes...
>b102smi@utarlg.uta.edu (George M. Smiley) writes:
> 
>>I think that the both of you are fools for spouting of at the mouth before
>                  ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
>There is no need for such inflammatory language during a sane discussion.
>
Perhaps, but, there is no excuse to jump to erroneous conclusions based
solely on one veiwing of an incident or the words of an announcer during
during that incident. To do otherwise is to act foolishly and very
irresponsibly. I stand by my use of the word. 
>>strait. What was Berger supposed to do ? Try to put his hand out at 300
> 
>Yes, if he slowed intentionally.
> 
Slowing down intentionally out of high g corner. I'm sure that would of been
a real smart thing to do.
>>km/hr ? Pull over to the side of the road, wait for everybody to pass him
>>and then pull into the pits ? Had Patrese not hit him, he would of ended
>>up trying to pass Berger in the pits, put simply, Patrese was too close
>>to Berger for his own good, it was a racing accident and both drivers are
>>at equal blame. Review the tapes !
> 
>I have not been able to review all available camera views of the incident as
>F1 officials should, but I can comment on your scenario: If I'm on the track,
>hounding someone in a racing situation, and he *decides* to lift or pit, he is
>obligated to signal me. That obligation is an element of the trust that allows
>us to race at close quarters. To do anything less, i.e. to "brake test"
>another driver, is simply assault with a deadly weapon - and extremely
>deadly in the case of open-wheelers. [SCCA mootness deleted]
> 
I then seriously doubt you have ever tried to do so at an advanced speed.
Doing such sould easily result in a broken arm or even result in an accident
in of itself. Berger maintains that he could not of raised his hand to
signal Patrese because of a) the rate of speed and b) the high amount of
g's he was pulling out of the corner. However, this is *NOT* even my point
of contention. If you had bothered to reread the part of my post that you
omitted you would of discovered that the thrust of my response was directed
towards the completely false accusations that Berger was not even planning
on pitting and the even more erroneous accusations that Berger did this
intentionally just to get Patrese of his tail. I have raced before and I
plan on racing again, but, that has got nothing to do with the issue at
hand: i.e. was Berger actually pitting and did he intentionally do this.
>Unless there were some such *unpredictable* occurrences, Berger was responsible
>for that accident. Has anyone at all alleged such an *unpredictable* event?
> 
>-- Larry
No, this is a completely predictable event. For years, I and others have
posted to this newsgroup speculating that the continued unnecessary weaving
and dodging about on the road would result in an accident and now our fears
have been realized. If F1 drivers choose to weave about the road in search
of some extra advantage then these accidents will continue to occur and, in
fact, they should be expected. Berger clearly moved off the racing line
into the dirty portion of the race track away from any sensible line
into the upcoming corner and onto a line with a trajectory that clearly
headed to the pits. Patrese choose to follow him and he paid the price.
Berger maintains that he could not raise his hand and I believe him. 
Furthermore, I'm positive that Berger received a pitboard sign from
Mclaren and that pitboard sign was in sight of anyone who had taken the
time to look for it. The Mclaren pits were ready for a pit stop and 
anyone with radio contact with Patrese could of told him this. You can
place blame anywhere you like if you look hard enough. I choose to
call it a racing accident and given the current state of racing I still
choose to call it a racing accident. Feel free to make your judgement,
but, at least take the time to reveiw the tapes !

George