Jeremy Braithwaite wrote:
> Macklin must have been day dreaming when Hawthorn
> passed him and braked for the pits. He only had to keep
> his foot on the throttle and steer round the Jaguar . . .
> but Macklin should have been able to cope with the
> situation if he'd been on the ball.
> The speed differential of the cars did not contribute to the accident.
While I have all the respect in the world for the opinions expressed on this
point (and speed differentials generally), the fact is that not everyone
uses their mirrors properly - especially when confronted with an unexpected
situation like a car suddenly swerving in front of you under hard braking on
a straight. We could--and should--be better of course, but after more than
80 years of using rear-view mirrors on racing cars, incidents like this
still happen on occasion.
And when they do, it would be hard to convince me that a significant speed
differential does not contribute to the severity of the resulting accident.
Jim Hill
Madison WI
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