It seems not many people noticed,but I had a quite serious crash too in the Masters Heat 2.I hit a kart in front of me on the run down from Turn 2 (hairpin) to entry of turn 3 and my throttle got jammed.Went full speed into the tyre wall and apparently disapeared completely under the tyres.
Luckily I did not hit any other kart seriously and went backwards into the tyres/fence.Result is a chassis to be thrashed (frame bent) and a driver with 3 fractured ribs.
One issue I want to address is that fortunately for me 2 other drivers went out in the same corner and apparently they were the ones pulling me out from under the tyre wall.Not the Marshalls.I still have to say many thanks to Mohd Nizam Rolan and S.Ratnaraj for their help.
Another point is that the doctors arrived only minutes later by foot.No issue for the medical care they gave me,but I do believe there needs to be a process in future which allows the doctors to arrive faster at an accident scene.I understood my crash looked quite serious and I did not move for at least 1 minute.Mainly of course because it's difficult to make a move when there is a tyre wall on top of you.....
Otherwise I really enjoyed the race week-end and I even wanted to finish the race day.I tried the Pre-Final with a bent chassis that had a hell of an understeer and 3 broken ribs that gave a hell of pain.Lasted only 6 Laps,but this is another story.
My message is that with a serious injury,seconds can make a difference . The organizers should look into how doctors can arrive faster at an accident scene and how Marshalls can help to secure faster an injured driver .

Rolf, I was following immediately behind you when you clipped the front wheel of Steven Cheah's kart as you went for the inside line and lost your rear bumper, which then flew up and hit Guy Ermer in the helmet. You then skidded and mount Raj's kart and accelerated when you landed into the tyres. Quite spectacular.

I was laughing at Guy continuing bad luck but when I saw you head off the track at full speed, and karts heading in every direction, all joviality stopped.

Luckily I had room to change course and go around the outside, missing the skidding karts.

I didn't realise you were hurt in the crash. Wondered where you were in the Final. That's bad news. Props for competing later with broken ribs.

Best wishes on a speedy recovery.

Seems like there is some momentum in the view that things, whilst far from critical, can be improved.

Who should take these points forward?

Drew

Rolf - driving with broken ribs? wow.....i could not even breathe when I broke 2 of them last year. Sleeping, coughing, sneezing would be hard the next 6 weeks! I tried sleeping with a rib protector.....yes, it was that painful but then again, i took no painkillers after the 1st day.

Happy recovery!

BACK TO ISSUE AT HAND.

Drew - JAMES LEONG, is active on this forum should be reading this thread in earnest and he, being the promoter of the RMC series should do something.

Knowing him - I am sure he will reply and take our suggestions seriously - on both the tyre wall locations and emergency team response.

The time lag in providing medical assistance at the scene of an accident is one of the most worrying aspects of the sport. At race meetings there are flag marshall points dispersed at key locations around the track. We have medical staff apparently asleep in their van...

As a suggestion, it would seem to be preferable to have perhaps two people at each flag point with one being designated a situation assessor. In the case of an accident the situation assessor at the nearest flag point should attend the scene as quickly as possible and wave a medical assistance flag (maybe a red cross on a white background?) if such assistance is required.

Upon raising of the medical assistance flag the race director should red flag the race to assist the properly accredited medical teams access to the injured.

I think that all would agree that its more important to ensure the safety of our competitors than worry about the petty gripes arising from a race cut short?

As far as track safety goes, I say tyres in front of all hard objects including all fences, and please something to slow me down before I get to the tyres...

Thanks Jules. I met James for the first time last weekend and was very impressed by his interest and support for us new drivers and the general success of the event.

I will let things now take their course.

Cheers

Latest news from the SMSA on Ang Kok Wee is that he's been operated on and the multiple fracrtures in his left arm have set, on his way to a full recovery now. Get well soon!


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On the issue of getting the ideas across to officials:
Several of the officials and those in charge of track inspections read these forums so they are probably already considering what can be done (and probably already were after the incident as well) to improve things by the next round. To make sure that your ideas get across though it's best to email/call/meet the officials directly.

The forums are a good way to throw around ideas in an informal manner (and develop them into a more formal form if needed) and certainly gives ideas to officials. For obvious reasons the officials aren't expected to or under any obligation to reply here. So far they've replied quite well to complaints by making changes that have been noticed and appreciated by competitors, as I'm sure they will this time as well.

Rolf I only just had a look through the masters results and noticed that you had DNF from the pre and DNS in the final.

I then figured that the pictures I saw of Raj and Nizam pulling you out meant you might've been a bit injured! On Sunday after seeing the pics I figured you were ok because I saw you walking around. Speedy recovery for your ribs!

Thanks for all the well wishes.Guess I got of lightly compared to Ang.
Was actually quite surprised when I went to the hospital on Sunday eve in Singapore (my wife insisted !!!!!!) and they told me I have 3 broken ribs.
Yes,I had quite a lot of pain on Sunday,particularly after I tried the Pre-Final.Several people told me I had a strange,white face when we were taking the group pictures....
I am taking pain killers and sleep surprisingly well.My wife bought all kinds of medicine which she is plastering every few hours over my ribs.
(Now,don't get wrong ideas here )
I plan to be back in action for the KB race.Even if I have to look like the Michelin advertising guy for additional rib protection .
I am sure the organizers will take our inputs seriously.I am not trying to put blame on them.My intention was to give a constructive input in case other drivers get into the same trouble.For sure,for me I had all bad luck for one year during the last race.

Thanks to all of you who have been giving inputs on the RMC round 1 especially on the medical issues. Jules is right when he said that I am reading the forum. In fact I made it my daily duty to read what is in it so as to get an idea of what your comments are and what I can do to improve the series.

On Ang Kok Wee's case, I had a chat with the doctor in charge as well as the DCOC who was at the scene first. The doctor confirmed that Ang was not unconscious but was suffering from shock and pain in the arm. He probably injured his arm when he left go of his steering and his arm hit the fence. He did not hit any post. The damage to his kart was caused by the steel wire. On the point of red flagging the race, it was not done because the officials was not aware of the seriousness of the injury and moreover Ang and his kart was out of the racing area/line. I know that this is not an explaination on our part but would like to put the record straight.

I am fully aware of all your concerns and I promise you that these issues will be addressed. If RMC were to continue at Sepang, the AAM has now asked the track owners to either strengthen the fence or place a row of tyres there to stop any kart that may get out of the circuit. The track would not be allowed to be run if these safety features are not in place.

Furthermore, I have spoken to the doctors and that they should be more aware of the situation and perhaps be located at a certain bad spot in case of emergency. There are two doctors on duty and one would be roving while the other would remain at race control. Marshalls and all officials are communicating by walkie-talkies and I think there may have a been a lapse of reaction time to get to the scene. This will be reviewed and resolved to get a better response time from both marshalls and officials concerned.

On the case of Rolf, there were two marshalls at each post. In fact the two marshalls at the post where Rolf went off helped to pull the tyres barrier off him. It took four of them to lift the tyre barrier off as the whole row came on top of Rolf.

I hope you all do not misunderstand me and say that I am being defensive. In fact I am not. I was a driver before and I am a strong advocate for safety. I know what's like to get injured. I want to improve the series and make it the best in this region. All your comments and suggestions will help.

I look forward to seeing all of you in KB. Andrew, I am glad to help and would always be available for anyone who needs it. I am not a such an NBA as perceived.

James Leong

James,

Thanks for your input and interest. I never once doubted that you would be very responsive to the views of the competitors.

I will disagree, however, on the point that Ang didn't hit a steel post. The fact he DID is evidenced by the nature of the damage to his kart. There is a distinct 90º dent intruding over 1" in his wheel rim and the whole nature of the ripped and bent seat stays which could only have happened if he hit something immovable, not something with the initial flex absorption of a fence.

It is true that the kart came to rest away from a post but the initial impact was with a post.

He has personally told me that he was unconscious. It was obvious for all to see, by the attitude of his head and the fact he did not move even slightly in the 3 minutes before the doctor even made it to him. He came to around the same time as the doctor arrived. Ang says he was semi-conscious from then till he reached hospital.

We can't determine what his arm hit, though suffice to say, when you look at the impact path of the damage on the kart and the way his body would have been thrust, and consider the multiple clean nature of the breaks in his arm, it would be likely he hit something hard like a post and not just the mesh. Mesh wouldn't cause a break unless he got his arm caught in it.

This is all history now. The key thing is that the need for better more alert medical support has been recognised and I am happy to see (as I expected) that James and the management will be actively ensuring it is improved.

Cheers

Andrew

so drivers arrival first to help? i dont get it..

Within about 1-2 sec of this picture 2 more marshalls showed up. The drivers were already there because they also retired from the race there.

The drivers stopped immediately because they were worried that Rolf was badly hurt as it was a high speed accident. Rolf actually flew over the front of Raj's kart on his way into the tyre barrier!

They rushed to help him. Kudos to them for their concern and sportsmanship.

The marshalls were at their post on the other side of the track, so they arrived a few seconds later. The marshall in the photo is on the radio to race control, providing information to the Race Director so he can decide whether to red flag the race or not.

oic.. well Rolf lucky he got the tyres barrier or its the wire fence..

Just to add a comment, I spoke to Paul David and said that Ang's accident is the second time I've seen someone go into the fence at that point of the track. We MUST get some tyres put there - people don't go off there often but when they do, it's fast and dangerous. Paul agrees so we just need to make sure it happens.

A high percentage of the drivers read this forum - if we all refuse to race unless tyres barriers are put up, then it will happen.