Nürburgring Nordschleife Nissan GTR Crash / Renault Clio

[pu11y]

[video=youtube;2SiRj3gteI0]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2SiRj3gteI0[/video]

 

[pu11y]

Details:

Video account of the accident i had a few days ago in my Nissan GTR, during a sunday TF at the Nordschleife.

First lap of the day, still warming up the car, so luckily (or not?) so i wasn't going anywhere near the usual pace. I let the 2 Porsches pass me and drove behind them for a while. Coming up to Metzgersfeld we caught up with some slower traffic, among them a while Clio rental. I usually give the rentals a wide berth as they are usually driven by people with limited Ring knowledge, who can sometimes get overwhelmed by the whole experience and become a little oblivious to what's going on around them.

Coming up to the Spiegelkurve, Clio has moved completely to the right, so we all try to get past, still being very cautious of the traffic - we are obviously not racing or driving anywhere near the usual speed at that section. However, the Clio cuts straight across the track to the left - he either didn't look or didn't see me, although a big black GTR is hard to miss...I brake hard and move to the left as much as i could go without going off the track myself, but i'm left with nowhere to go. He hits my right wheel, his back end spins, Clio's front wheels dig into the grass off the track and he flips on the roof. He slides for about 50m before coming to a stop.

Fortunately there were some people around to wave and warn the oncoming traffic, and the Streckesicherung arrived within seconds, literally. Occupants of the Clio were pretty banged up, got a few cuts from the broken glass, but fortunately that was that. Clio was a total loss. You drive your own conclusions as to who's at fault here.

Point of the video is to show how dangerous the Ring can be. I'm hardly a novice there, but it doesn't always depend on me if an accident will happen. If you ever drive a rental there, please keep in mind that people will drive past you with 100+ km/h of speed difference in some places. You simply can't afford to rely on luck when turning into a bend and hoping that nobody will come charging hard from behind.

 

[Yiannis197]

blimey...what a nasty accident out of the blue. That shows how tricky the ring is..

 

[Ross]

Someone sent me this at work, entirely the camera cars fault.

He basically expected the Clio to be run out of road and crash into the wall so he could continue chasing the cars infront on his outlap, he'd be in hospital had that have been me in the Clio (and id be in court / prison for GBH / assault).
Trackdays are about fun, not proving how big your c**k is.

Anyone watching this who's put off by trackdays, stick with javelin track days where they actually explain track etiquette rather than let any old clueless nob out on track.

Completely none biast opinion despite being on this forum as i no longer have a 197/200. I hate the new Clio and am happy this is one less now but still, guy in the Clio was completely in the right.

 

[fano45]

I like how he tries to justify that he is not in the wrong. You can't dive down the inside like that under braking.

 

[nutnutwelshman]

Well love my new shape clio on my 11rs and the ring on tourism day is a toll road but whose ever fault it is well take your pick but I'd say the clio did not look

 

[pu11y]

The clio appeared to have lots of room to stay wide though; he should have checked his mirror/over his shoulder. Having said that, the GTR could have held back, especially considering the clio was a rental.

 

[nutnutwelshman]

It's not the inside the cars left hand drive

 

[montana]

Most definitely the clios fault , this is Germany , you pass on the left.

However I would have waited to see an indication from the Clio to show he had seen me , but that's because I am a ring novice and would have been extra cautious.

 

[pu11y]

It's not the inside the cars left hand drive

Not sure what you mean. The clio should have known what was behind him regardless.

 

[Chris]

Well this is the problem when you have whats probaly a novice in the clio and someone who is not in a car twice as fast.

Dont know much about whos right or wrong here, if I were in the clio id have looked in the mirror but its not always as simple as that.

 

[Matt X2C]

That's a real shame. Hard to know without seeing footage onboard the clio but I'd guess clio's turned in without looking though given that he was letting cars by and decided to cut in without looking. He could and should have followed the road on the right hand side, there is plenty of room. Overtaking is done on the left and GTR clearly wasn't racing, he was pretty patiently and cautiously overtaking. Shame to see that happen to a clio.

Every time I drove home from the Ring I breathed a sigh of relief that I had no issues, as fun as it is I was always happy to get home unscathed. Shows how easy things can happen there.

 

[Gez]

Neither car helped that situation, but if I had to choose....I'd say the GTR was in the wrong. Although the TF days aren't race rules a bit of common sense should have been used here. The Clio clearly left the other cars passed, then entering the bend there was no clear indication he was moving out of the way for the GTR, on track you shouldn't overtake on a bend, so the GTR should have waited IMO. it would have taken all of two seconds to get past soon as they'd got out of the bend. That added to what I'd assume in a rental Clio is a novice driver just out to experience/enjoy the track.. there shouldnt have been any pressure put on anyone to move etc. On a trackday you'd expect pressure, not so much on a TF where theres buses etc usually making progress.

 

[Tutuur]

Lol at some of the comments here, if you've driven the ring you would know it's almost impossible to not overtake during a bend. As said by some, the clio has lot's of room, was not driving on the limit, so could've just stayed to the right.

which is pretty much the standard procedure on the ring, always keep to the right when faster cars are approaching.

imo there was nothing the gtr driver could do, he was passing him at a normal pace and the clio driver just slammed his steering wheel to the left, not much to do then being the gtr driver.

shame for both cars but yes, that's the culprit of driving on track, hell even of driving by itself. You can't always prevent a crash if someone else acts stupid

 

[Tutuur]

Gtr would've been better of if he just overtook him like an idiot in this situation though

 

[Yiannis197]

I'm with Tuttur on this. This is not a regular track day, at the ring different rules apply. You need to look over your shoulders all the time, people overtake during bends on a constant basis, there are cars that are 3 times faster than others over there at an open day...

The clio driver is definitely a novice and he should have checked prior to cutting the corner like that, lucky the Nisan driver wasn't going flat out!

 

[Tutuur]

I'm not really a novice at the ring but driving a 100bhp clio dci i still look over my shoulders/ in the mirrors almost more than i look down the track (hypotethically speaking).

Normal etiquette on the Ring is to turn your indicator to the right so people know you've seen them. And then ofcourse stay to the right!

And as Yiannis says, basically the Nürburgring is just an open tol road, would you normally cut into a corner like that on an open road without looking?

 

[sam-r27]

And as Yiannis says, basically the Nürburgring is just an open tol road, would you normally cut into a corner like that on an open road without looking?

The again on an "open toll road" would you expect a gtr to come flying up the inside of you? The Clio wasn't indicating right so clearly had no idea there was a third car and took the corner as normal.

Things like this happen on the ring all the time Normal mix of fast cars and some slightly slower ones all wanting the same inch of tarmac

 

[nutnutwelshman]

If you slow it down the clio as his right indicator on????

 

[Anger]

I've been cut up so many times by hire cars out there, I normally wait for indication or overtake on the straights, problem is there are to many people always going for that quick lap time who forget there common sense