As I watched the tragic accident at Sepang in Malaysia on the week end, and watching several replays a thought crossed my mind, how did Marco Simoncelli loose his helmet? This is certainly not the norm, can't recall ever seeing a rider coming off and loosing his helmet. Spoke to several people I know who have raced and they too were perplexed by this incident. Has anyone seen helmets come off before, I'm curious!!
I cant recall a time where I have seen a helmet come off in a race, however this was a bit of a different situation as it looks like Rossi hit him at speed in the upper back \ neck with his front wheel which may have caused his helmet to break away. A couple of other forums have threads on this and comment that marco's hair may have contributed as his helmet wouldnt have fitted as snugly as it should, tough call either way. It still saddens me as MotoGP is one of the most incredible forms of racing to watch. while my condolances go out to his family , i still feel for Edwards and Rossi who were also involved in the incident. Chris
I have seen a lot of accidents at the speedway when I was younger. Although you could always be sure that the ambulance would be needed at some stage I have never heard of a helmet coming off like this. There is a still picture at this link that shows the impact and this is would explain why the helmet came off. http://www.latimes.com/sports/lat-marco-simoncelli-20111024-pictures,0,6451460.photogallery
i have only ever seen it happen once and that was a very similar accident to marco,s normalally helmets do not come off unless they is serious damage to person wearing it or to the helmet its self and it takes some force to break one my thought go out to marcos family and also rossi and Edwards
i was watching the telecast and can still vividly recall the images of the dislodged helmet. Not that i have seen a lot of accidents (thankfully) but i will always remember those images. I can't bring myself to watch the replay again. Such a sad thing to happen, very upsetting - thoughts go out to his family, rossi and the whole gp community.
