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Descriptive Kinematic Analysis of the Potentially Tragic Accident at the 2020 Austrian MotoGP Grand Prix Using Low-Cost Instruments: A Brief Report

Background: During the first Austrian MotoGP Grand Prix of 2020, following a serious accident involving the riders J. Zarco and F. Morbidelli, Morbidelli’s riderless bike cartwheeled across turn 3, narrowly missing V. Rossi and M. Viñales by just a few centimeters. As is the case with ordinary traff...

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Autores principales: Gervasi, Marco, Gobbi, Erica, Natalucci, Valentina, Amatori, Stefano, Perroni, Fabrizio
Formato: Online Artículo Texto
Lenguaje:English
Publicado: MDPI 2020
Materias:
Acceso en línea:https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC7672617/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/33143161
http://dx.doi.org/10.3390/ijerph17217989
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author Gervasi, Marco
Gobbi, Erica
Natalucci, Valentina
Amatori, Stefano
Perroni, Fabrizio
author_facet Gervasi, Marco
Gobbi, Erica
Natalucci, Valentina
Amatori, Stefano
Perroni, Fabrizio
author_sort Gervasi, Marco
collection PubMed
description Background: During the first Austrian MotoGP Grand Prix of 2020, following a serious accident involving the riders J. Zarco and F. Morbidelli, Morbidelli’s riderless bike cartwheeled across turn 3, narrowly missing V. Rossi and M. Viñales by just a few centimeters. As is the case with ordinary traffic accidents, analyzing the dynamics of motorcycle racing accidents can help improve safety; however, to date, the literature lacks studies that analyze the causes and severity of such accidents. Hence, the purpose of this study was to analyze the main causes that led to the accident at the 2020 Austrian MotoGp Grand Prix, to quantify the speeds and distances of the bikes and riders involved, and to hypothesize several alternative scenarios using a low-cost method. Method: Kinovea and Google Earth Pro software were used to identify markers along the racetrack and to measure the distances and calculate the time it took the motorcycles to cover those distances. The analyses were carried out on three 30-fps (frames per second) videos. Results: Zarco’s average speed as he was overtaking Morbidelli on the straightaway before turn 2 was 302 ± 1.8 km/h, higher than that of Rins and Rossi (299.7 ± 1.7 and 296 ± 1.7 km/h, respectively). The speed of Zarco and Rossi’s bikes 44.5 m before the crash was the same (267 ± 7.9 km/h). Immediately after overtaking Morbidelli, Zarco moved 2.92 m towards the center of the racetrack from point A to B, crossing Morbidelli’s trajectory and triggering the accident. Morbidelli’s riderless bike flew across turn 3 at a speed of about 76 km/h, missing V. Rossi by just 20 cm. The consequences could have been catastrophic if Rossi had not braked just 0.42 s before encountering Morbidelli’s bike in turn 3. Conclusion: Through a low-cost quali-quantitative analysis, the present study helps us to gain a deeper understanding of the dynamics of the accident and its main causes. Furthermore, in light of our findings regarding the dynamics and severity of the accident and the particular layout of the Red Bull Ring circuit, racers should be aware that overtaking at the end of turn 2, following the same trajectory as the riders involved in the crash, could be very risky.
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spelling pubmed-76726172020-11-19 Descriptive Kinematic Analysis of the Potentially Tragic Accident at the 2020 Austrian MotoGP Grand Prix Using Low-Cost Instruments: A Brief Report Gervasi, Marco Gobbi, Erica Natalucci, Valentina Amatori, Stefano Perroni, Fabrizio Int J Environ Res Public Health Brief Report Background: During the first Austrian MotoGP Grand Prix of 2020, following a serious accident involving the riders J. Zarco and F. Morbidelli, Morbidelli’s riderless bike cartwheeled across turn 3, narrowly missing V. Rossi and M. Viñales by just a few centimeters. As is the case with ordinary traffic accidents, analyzing the dynamics of motorcycle racing accidents can help improve safety; however, to date, the literature lacks studies that analyze the causes and severity of such accidents. Hence, the purpose of this study was to analyze the main causes that led to the accident at the 2020 Austrian MotoGp Grand Prix, to quantify the speeds and distances of the bikes and riders involved, and to hypothesize several alternative scenarios using a low-cost method. Method: Kinovea and Google Earth Pro software were used to identify markers along the racetrack and to measure the distances and calculate the time it took the motorcycles to cover those distances. The analyses were carried out on three 30-fps (frames per second) videos. Results: Zarco’s average speed as he was overtaking Morbidelli on the straightaway before turn 2 was 302 ± 1.8 km/h, higher than that of Rins and Rossi (299.7 ± 1.7 and 296 ± 1.7 km/h, respectively). The speed of Zarco and Rossi’s bikes 44.5 m before the crash was the same (267 ± 7.9 km/h). Immediately after overtaking Morbidelli, Zarco moved 2.92 m towards the center of the racetrack from point A to B, crossing Morbidelli’s trajectory and triggering the accident. Morbidelli’s riderless bike flew across turn 3 at a speed of about 76 km/h, missing V. Rossi by just 20 cm. The consequences could have been catastrophic if Rossi had not braked just 0.42 s before encountering Morbidelli’s bike in turn 3. Conclusion: Through a low-cost quali-quantitative analysis, the present study helps us to gain a deeper understanding of the dynamics of the accident and its main causes. Furthermore, in light of our findings regarding the dynamics and severity of the accident and the particular layout of the Red Bull Ring circuit, racers should be aware that overtaking at the end of turn 2, following the same trajectory as the riders involved in the crash, could be very risky. MDPI 2020-10-30 2020-11 /pmc/articles/PMC7672617/ /pubmed/33143161 http://dx.doi.org/10.3390/ijerph17217989 Text en © 2020 by the authors. Licensee MDPI, Basel, Switzerland. This article is an open access article distributed under the terms and conditions of the Creative Commons Attribution (CC BY) license (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/).
spellingShingle Brief Report
Gervasi, Marco
Gobbi, Erica
Natalucci, Valentina
Amatori, Stefano
Perroni, Fabrizio
Descriptive Kinematic Analysis of the Potentially Tragic Accident at the 2020 Austrian MotoGP Grand Prix Using Low-Cost Instruments: A Brief Report
title Descriptive Kinematic Analysis of the Potentially Tragic Accident at the 2020 Austrian MotoGP Grand Prix Using Low-Cost Instruments: A Brief Report
title_full Descriptive Kinematic Analysis of the Potentially Tragic Accident at the 2020 Austrian MotoGP Grand Prix Using Low-Cost Instruments: A Brief Report
title_fullStr Descriptive Kinematic Analysis of the Potentially Tragic Accident at the 2020 Austrian MotoGP Grand Prix Using Low-Cost Instruments: A Brief Report
title_full_unstemmed Descriptive Kinematic Analysis of the Potentially Tragic Accident at the 2020 Austrian MotoGP Grand Prix Using Low-Cost Instruments: A Brief Report
title_short Descriptive Kinematic Analysis of the Potentially Tragic Accident at the 2020 Austrian MotoGP Grand Prix Using Low-Cost Instruments: A Brief Report
title_sort descriptive kinematic analysis of the potentially tragic accident at the 2020 austrian motogp grand prix using low-cost instruments: a brief report
topic Brief Report
url https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC7672617/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/33143161
http://dx.doi.org/10.3390/ijerph17217989
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