Drama at the 2010 MMER - Lotus 2 Eleven of Team Empire Motorsports goes up in flames

angelmelanie86

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Re: Drama at the 2010 MMER - Lotus 2 Eleven of Team Empire Motorsports goes up in fla

thank you for the prayers guys..he just undergo his second operation..thanks for the prayers..keep it going..love u guys...
 

koolspyda

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Re: Drama at the 2010 MMER - Lotus 2 Eleven of Team Empire Motorsports goes up in fla

bad news. hope the guys/crews recovers. was talking to some of the crew weeks back.
hoping for a turnaround of fortunes :(
 

east

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Re: Drama at the 2010 MMER - Lotus 2 Eleven of Team Empire Motorsports goes up in fla

Saw this action happenned while at MMER tat nite, the driver ran wt its suit burning... They put out the fire the first round but then it came back again for the second time. Pretty quick n swift action. All the other pit marshal from other pit ran over to put off the fire asap before it goes kaboom... The fire started pretty fast due to the oil.
 

LotusDiablo

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Re: Drama at the 2010 MMER - Lotus 2 Eleven of Team Empire Motorsports goes up in fla

Our best prayers are dedicated for Jordan's speedy recovery ...

But the credits should be given to the track marshals who braved the danger and put out the fire before even the firemen arrived to the scene ...
By international race event standards, of the type that MME is trying to emulate, the pit marshals reaction time was not quick enough. I've seen flash fires at other international events and the reaction time was much quicker because the marshals always had their hand on the trigger and nozzle aimed at the car everytime refuelling took place and no one got injured and only minor damage to car, and they could continue. Only 'injury' would usually be someone inhaling the fire retardant.

Many things went wrong that night. Like all accidents there was a chain of events that led to the catastrophe involving many parties - both organiser and Empire. I called it a catasrophe because in the 11 year history of MME I've never seen such a serious fire. Consider that dry break fuel rigs were made mandatory in MME only a few years back to avoid just such incidents. What went wrong? It is believed that only 3 teams in MME actually used proper FIA approved dry break refuel rigs. Only Audi, one of the Lambo teams and Petronas I think. Though this may or may not have played a role in the fire it shows that safety standards need to be taken more seriously. Anyone who has participated in international races and did MME know how lacking standards are in MME.

I saw several instances of teams disconnecting their refuel couplings and quite a lot of fuel surged out. Saw the same in S1k also where the valve failed to close fully for one team.

This was a serious incident and I'm sure the organisers will take serious measures for next year but it's unfortunate that persons had to pay the price dearly for improvements.

There is certainly a lot of weakness in MME but safety should be the no1 priority. There is still plenty of work to be done to get it up near the level of european race events. There is no more excuse about keeping the costs attractive for local competitors because they now have S1k for lower budget local teams. Lets not even get into the 'mandatory tyre' issue in MME this year which proved to be a nightmare for almost everyone.
 

momentum

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Re: Drama at the 2010 MMER - Lotus 2 Eleven of Team Empire Motorsports goes up in fla

Not really, mate.

Karting and nomex suit might look the same on the outside, but the thing that sets these 2 apart is the fireproof cotton layer sandwiched between the outer layer and the inner lining. And if you notice, karting suit outer layer is much stiffer than nomex suit since the idea is to work like a motorcycle suit, which is to protect you from abrasive injury, not fire injury.

So for those who still use karting suit for car racing, think again. Malang tidak berbau.
just to add information to the FIA standard requirement is that the FIA approved suit, balaclava, gloves, shoes, internal garments. the requirement needs the suit to withstand 11 seconds of high heat flames and after that 11 sec. the garment is required to bend the burnt area and impact it and repeat the burning process and fold the other side and impact on the same bent point as before and repeat this process of a few times.

the idea is as during the process of the poor guy who got burnt and he is rolling on the floor and waving his hands and legs and what if the material doesn't burn but gets torn during the process? as a second protection to this issue, all ppl in the pit area are required to wear internal nomex garment if the fire does goes on more than 11 secs. which is said by the previous post that the fire went out in 30 secs.
 

compaq

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Re: Drama at the 2010 MMER - Lotus 2 Eleven of Team Empire Motorsports goes up in fla

CIK certified Kart suits are Tear resistant,no Nomex content. You don't need fire resistant in Karting.

FIA certified Race suit are Fire resistant with Nomex content and can only resist fire certain period of time. After that it will still burn. And avoid heavy washing,advise to dry clean or the chemical in the Nomex may fade.

When comes to safety racing attire,think of it as an insurance. Afterall,investing in a couple of thousand ringgit worth of racing attire and able to use it many times, i suppose its not expensive at all considering the consequences that may occur in case.... So,lets not talk about how much this piece cost...and how much that brand cost etc....

Happy Motoring guys.....:driver:
 

Hawke

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Re: Drama at the 2010 MMER - Lotus 2 Eleven of Team Empire Motorsports goes up in fla

After all the international events in Sepang, it is surprising that it takes an accident of such a severe nature to make it a wake up call for the management.
 

angelmelanie86

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Re: Drama at the 2010 MMER - Lotus 2 Eleven of Team Empire Motorsports goes up in fla

thanks bombe994. keep the prayers going...appreciate it alot..and yeap..credits shud be given to them....
 

julian.jules

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Re: Drama at the 2010 MMER - Lotus 2 Eleven of Team Empire Motorsports goes up in fla

It is believed that only 3 teams in MME actually used proper FIA approved dry break refuel rigs. Only Audi, one of the Lambo teams and Petronas I think.
For my team and no, its not Empire......

The Fuel Dry Break Nozzles ( male and female ) we use are original ATL items...and cost an arm n leg.

The Rig is made to SIC SR which i suppose you have seen.

We also used a ATL Safety Fuel Tank.

Can you inform me - what is lacking so I can be of international standard too? Btw, I tot the Audi also caught fire at the start, in pitlane? How & why ah?
 

faisal

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Re: Drama at the 2010 MMER - Lotus 2 Eleven of Team Empire Motorsports goes up in fla

The Fuel Dry Break Nozzles ( male and female ) we use are original ATL items...and cost an arm n leg. The Rig is made to SIC SR which i suppose you have seen. We also used a ATL Safety Fuel Tank.

Can you inform me - what is lacking so I can be of international standard too? Btw, I tot the Audi also caught fire at the start, in pitlane? How & why ah?
Many others too use ATL Dry Break nozzles and in-car fuel cells/tanks. R3 (who did not participate this year) been using had theirs since 2004. Similiarly HMRT since 2003 been using ATL equipment.

I believe LotusDiablo (is that u Azrai?) meant the actual fuel rigs themselves not being FIA inspected and certified.
 

khellvinne

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Re: Drama at the 2010 MMER - Lotus 2 Eleven of Team Empire Motorsports goes up in fla

Wow..big accident...
after reading all the post, i'd learned many things...
thanks to all..
And my prayers goes to the injured...