HOW THE HELL DID THEY WALK AWAY?
Meeke and nagle have the greatest escape
The strength of Citroen’s C3 WRC saved the lives of Kris Meeke and Paul Nagle after one of the biggest crashes in the history of the World Rally Championship in Portugal last week.
The #10 Citroen went off the road on a fifth-gear left-hander and cannoned straight into the trees.
The car was completely destroyed, prompting team principal Pierre Budar to tell MN: “The design of the car? Thanks very much – it saved Kris and Paul.”
Citroen’s Pierre Budar has praised his team for the strength of the C3 WRC which saved the lives of Kris Meeke and Paul Nagle when they went off the road at last week’s Rally of Portugal.
The accident happened on the second run of the Amarante stage on Saturday afternoon. Meeke turned into a fifth-gear left-hander too late and the car slid into the trees which lined the outside of the bend.
Meeke was airlifted to hospital after complaining of back pain, but was released the same day and flew home a day later. Nagle was uninjured in the crash.
Having studied the data from the car, Budar explained to MN how the accident unfolded. He said: “We saw the car slid when it got on the loose and the back of the car broke away. There were a couple of smaller impacts and then this very big impact with the car’s A-pillar against the tree. This section of the car wrapped itself around the tree. For me, this was the biggest crash I have ever seen and even the guys who have been here with Citroen for a long time said it was a massive one.
“Of course, after the crash, we saw from the television Kris and Paul were out of the car. And then after this we saw the car: Wow, it’s really impressive. When you look at this car, you cannot think that the two guys inside the car are 100 per cent safe – and they are. They have no injury, nothing broken. The design of the car? Thanks very much – it saved Kris and Paul.”
Meeke’s accident brought the safety of the current generation of rally cars into sharp focus last weekend. When the 2017-specification cars were introduced, they came with another step in terms of cockpit safety. Driver and co-driver are placed further into the centre of the car – and away from a potential side-impact zone – and they are also further back than ever before. The positioning of Meeke and Nagle behind the line of the B-pillar and as far back as possible undoubtedly saved them from potentially life-threatening injuries. The last line of defence for the crew is the seats, which are now equipped with mandatory wings around the head. This feature played a big part in the Citroen pair’s survival of the Saturday crash. No longer, however, do the crew sit as low as they used to – latest thinking has them marginally higher for fear of vertical impact beneath the car which could cause back injury.
Jari-matti Latvala told MN: “When you think back to where we were 10 years ago, the safety side is the biggest difference we’ve made in the cars. Honestly, when you sit in the car, the feeling is really nice and we have to be very, very happy for the work the FIA and the teams have done when you look at Kris’s car.”
Meeke felt the price was high for
“We make the safest car we can” PIERRE BUDAR
what was a minor mistake of turning into the left-hander fractionally late.
The Dungannon driver said: “The consequences were pretty severe, because we ended up in some big trees. The car certainly doesn’t look so pretty. I have to say thanks to Citroen for building such a strong car, and to the medical staff who looked after me so well.”
Some onlookers were surprised at how much damage the impact with the tree did to the rollcage. Budar explained the philosophy in building the car.
“We could build a tank,” he said. “But it’s a balance between the g- force you get from making a tank and the absorption you can get from the rollcage. The cage has to absorb some of the energy in the accident to stop it going straight to the bodies of the crew. We could make the tank, but then any crash will be very aggressive for the body of the driver and co-driver.
“Our first intention when we design a car at Citroen is to make the safest car we can. Our choice in terms of design are 100 per cent more towards the safety when we make the rollcage and all areas of the car – it’s in our culture. When we look at the regulation from the FIA, we always look to go even further.”
Meeke will be back behind the wheel of a C3 WRC in Spain this week as he begins his preparations for Rally Italy. The strategy for that event will be decided after the test.
“I think Kris is OK,” said Budar. “He’s fine. I spoke with him the morning after the crash and he wasn’t so bad.”
Having won Rally of Portugal three years ago, Meeke started in Matosinhos chasing another victory. He led the event early on, but was robbed of his chance of a second success by two punctures in successive stages on Friday afternoon – a scenario which led to him having to drive the Porto street stage on a broken rim.
Those issues dropped Meeke to seventh, the position he crashed from. “The guys need a bit of luck,” said Budar. “Even when Kris is doing the proper things, something is happening.
“In Argentina, we couldn’t blame him for the puncture; it was Thierry Neuville bringing the rock to the road. Before him [Neuville] there was nothing before he got there. Kris could not avoid the rock, if he does then he is out of the road.
“He is quite clever, OK yesterday was maybe his mistake, but except this he did everything properly since the start of the year. He is a very fast guy. We didn’t discuss this mistake yet. He was happy and comfortable and not surprised by anything in the corner or the car. At this level, everything has to be 100 per cent, there is no margin for error.”
Budar added that he would be considering a more involved approach with all of the Citroen crews moving forwards.
“We try to control everything, but sometimes things aren’t under our control,” he said. “We work very hard and we take complete care with the car all of the time. We have a lot of people preparing it and making sure everything is perfect – maybe we need to take care of the drivers and co-drivers in the same way. I’m not talking about during the rally, but between the rallies , when they go home. I have to think about what more care we can to take.”