Ricers: The Black sheep of Petrol heads

 Car culture, just another thing that I follow alongside motorsport in general. Me being a car fan in the first place actually stems from motorsport. When you talk motorsports, you talk about the cars or bikes that race each other at speeds of over 320kph (200mph). You might talk about advanced engineering, technology, aerodynamics, safety, handling, and the sheer brutality of those machineries. It's the adrenaline that hooked me up with this culture. The sensation of driving as fast as humanly possible, while still have to maintain a level head going at those speeds. 

 

            Consequently, as a result of a thriving car culture, car owners resorted to modify their cars to a specific purpose, depending on its usage on the road. And these modifications are done with three things in mind: practicality, usage, and purpose. Take a look at the differences when building either an off-road car or a drag racing car. For the former, you want high ground clearance, four-wheel drive, good set of suspension kits, and precise handling. For the latter however, all you need is raw power and fast accelerations down the line. Every build is tailor-made and none of those builds are one and the same. Each and every car is meticulously tuned and adjusted to the preferences of its driver.

 

            But there are some of them who are also part of the culture who don't modify their cars to suit all of the above, instead focusing only on exterior appearances of their cars, and those guys are called "ricers". The term "RICE" in relation to the car modification culture is actually an acronym for "Race Inspired Cosmetic Enhancements". As the name suggests, these guys are modifying their cars for the purpose of making that car to look like a race car, but in reality, it's more like anything but one. The polar opposite of this particular build is the one called a "sleeper". These cars are high performance cars with unassuming looks. It is possible that a sleeper could take its form of a sedan, or even an estate car or a minivan of some sort. Those who are labeled as a 'ricer' is that one guy who puts so much aftermarket parts to the point of rendering his own car unrecognizable. Think about a Honda Civic EK9 fitted with a massive exhaust and cheap aftermarket body kit made of plastic.

 

            It's fairly easy to spot a ricer in a crowd of car enthusiasts. They are mostly drive Japanese cars, mostly either a Honda, a Mitsubishi, a Toyota, and a Nissan, with most of the vehicles being either a front-wheel drive, a car with automatic transmission, or the combination of both. But these days, even European or American manufacturers are not spared from a ricer's treatment. As per what I said, it's easy to find a ricer by looking out for a car that has flashy paint job, stickers plastered all over the place, big aftermarket body kits, hood scoop bigger than it should be, lots or fake air vents which mostly done with chicken wires, big spoilers or rear wings that serves no purpose at all, a pair of Lamborghini-esque scissor doors, big and loud "fart can" exhausts, lowered suspension kits to the point of the actual body kit to touch the ground, and an extreme amount of negative cambers, not to mention other cosmetics like a full sound system designed to put everyone within the radius of a kilometer on permanent deafness. Seems like these guys got their influence by watching The Fast and The Furious movies too many times than they can recall. These cars are designed as the "all show, no go" cars with emphasis of flashy exteriors.

 

            Ricers have a nasty habit of overestimating their own ricemobile's performance capabilities. And this is reflected by their tendencies to boast about all of their sense of styling (or lack thereof) and claiming that their cars would actually beat a top of the range supercar. And they sure love the attention they get, even in the expense of their own unrecognizable turd box of a car, or their severe ignorance on how to properly modify a car in the first place. The reality of the matter is these "ricers" are nothing more than a disgrace of the car community.

 

            To put things into perspective, tuners modify their cars to enhance the performance, and usually prefer little to no exterior modification, aside for aerodynamic purposes. Most tuners would maximize the horsepower, handling capabilities, and safety features to suit their purposes of creating a high-performance vehicle. Ricers on the other hand, are deluded to thinking that by slapping some stickers and some aftermarket logos would make their mule-powered rickshaw faster with only standard engine and parts. Tuners also take weight-saving seriously, as excessive weight inside a car can only lead to reduced performance. Ricers don't see this as a problem, by putting massive subwoofers and audio systems, which in turn, slow their cars even more. Hell, a mere sticker when being put on a car could cause the car to gain even a milligram of weight. If you watch any car meet videos or have been to one yourself, there are some demonstrations of some stunts like burnouts, drifts, quarter mile drag race, and the like. These are done by specially trained drivers on closed roads. While ricers, due to their attention complex, always down to do those dangerous stunts on open parking spaces, even open roads. And the results are sometimes either comedic or catastrophic. Doing an excessive burnout on a front-wheel drive car with its nose on the wall? Congratulations, you have blown your engine. You want to test your luck on a drag strip? that soapbox must have been so slow, a snail would beat you to the line. You want to test your drifting skill with that stock wheels with excessive weight? You'll just turning around in circles. 

 

            In short, ricers are nothing but deluded individuals who think that by putting on excessive stickers, cheap aftermarket body parts, a larger-than-life exhaust, and big audio system would actually enhance their car's performance features, when in reality, they are turning their daily drives into a big pile of brick wall with the pace of an old snail. It's not going to go any faster, nor it would be the safest vessel of transportation. In the end, these ricers instead built a deathtrap with excessive weight on it. 

Formula E: Racing Sustainably One City at a Time

 On Saturday, June 4, 2022, I had the utmost privilege of attending the Jakarta ePrix at the Jakarta International ePrix Circuit in Ancol Beach, North Jakarta as part of the FIA Formula E World Championship Round 9 of 16 races. As a fan of motorsport, I can say that the atmosphere was electric (no pun intended). The Indonesians are always passionate about motorsport in general, and with two motorsport events under the belt in recent years (the other being the MotoGP Indonesian Grand Prix at Mandalika Circuit in Lombok), who knows what the future holds. But for now, we can all be proud of our achievements after a rough two years caused by the pandemic. 

 

            But most of you watching the race might be a first timer when it comes to the Formula E racing series. By looking at the name, you can all tell that this series utilizes single-seater cars powered by a battery pack and an electric motor. In short, this is the first motorsport series that uses all-electric power cars. Quick history lesson, this series was conceived in 2011. Oddly enough, the idea was pitched through a dinner at a small Italian restaurant in Paris by the president of the Fédération Internationale d'Automobile (FIA) Jean Todt and presented to politicians Alejandro Agag and Antonio Tanjani and Italian actor Teo Teocoli. Later on, in 2012, Brazilian driver Lucas di Grassi joined as the first ever Formula E driver, at the time running show cars and prototypes of what would become the modern Formula E car. 

 

            After years of developing the car, named Spark-Renault SRT01e, the first ever race, and first ever season of Formula E kicked off at Beijing Olympic Park in 2014, won by di Grassi after a scary last lap wreck between Renault eDams' Nicolas Prost (son of racing legend Alain Prost) and Venturi's Nick Heidfeld. The car at the time, used until the 2017-2018 season has a top speed of 225 kph (140 mph), and has maximum power available up to 230 kW (308 HP), with 200 kW (286 HP) usable in race mode. The downside of this car was its limited energy capacity, being only 28 kWh. To counteract this, the regulations stated at the time that teams must provide 4 cars, two to each driver. During the mid-stage of the race, drivers must enter pit road to switch to their fully charged second car. This created its own dramatic element, as some teams often miscalculates their pit stop timing, resulting in wrecks. Starting from the 2018-2019 season, a new car, the Spark SRT05E, or the "Gen 2" is used up to the conclusion of this running season. The new car has new battery pack which in turn, bigger energy capacity that its predecessor (54 kWh), effectively scrapping the need for a mid-race car swap, as these cars can now run full distance of the race. With bigger battery means bigger power, with maximum usable power of 250 kW (335 HP), with the same race power mode, but with an added twist named ATTACK MODE, which increases the power output to 225 kW (301 HP) and the top speed of 280 kph (174 mph). The ATTACK MODE is a fairly new strategic element unique to Formula E, which saw drivers driving off the racing line to a specific activation zone comprised of 3 sensors. Once the three sensors have been activated, the halo would turn blue signaling the extra power. Starting this year, the Generation 3 cars will be used for the next season. This new car is expected to be more powerful and a lot faster, with maximum power up to 350 kW (470 HP) and top speed of around 320 kph (200 mph). The new regulations are also expected to include flash-charging pitstops up to 600-800 kW, which could mean doubling the race distance. The cars are also expected to have massive regenerating capabilities with front and rear powertrains, the front end for the regen, and the rear for driveshaft.

 

            What makes this championship unique in its own right is the race weekend format. Unlike any other racing series that runs through 3 days during the weekend, Formula E events only lasts typically 1 or 2 days if the race in question is a double-header. The events are held in mostly city centers, rather than a purpose-built racing facility, with the exception of Mexico City, Berlin, and Jakarta, with the former and the latter are held in a racing facility of some sort, while the Berlin race is held on an old decommissioned Tempelhof airport. The day starts with two 30-minute practice sessions. Then the qualifying session is held during midday, where 22 current drivers are split into two groups determined by their championship standings, odd numbers in group A, even numbers in group B. Fastest four drivers from each group are put into an elimination-style duels to determine the pole sitter. The race is held in the afternoon, lasts for 45 minutes plus 1 white flag lap. The scoring uses the FIA standard scoring for top 10 drivers (25-18-15-12-10-8-6-4-2-1), with the driver who secured pole position secured an additional 3 points and for the fastest lap of the race bagged an extra point to their tally. For the team’s championship, the total points of both drivers are counted. During the race itself, aside from the aforementioned ATTACK MODE, there is something called the Fanboost. The feature in question allows the fans to vote for their favorite driver to receive an extra burst of power for 5 seconds on their cars, only usable during the second half of the race (in the older days, the fanboost applied in their second cars once the swap has been done). Each race, 5 drivers receive the feature based on the votes. The voting period opens 3 days before the event and closes 15 minutes into the race.  

 

            You might think that Formula E is only about the racing itself, but it goes way more than that. Since its inception, this series has advocated for climate crisis caused by the usage of fossil fuels and aims for electrification for the next 10 years. This FIA sanctioned world championship series is the first ever to be net zero carbon across 6 seasons, and the first to hold a certification for sustainable events (ISO 20121). The series also investing in internationally specified projects to offset carbon emissions. The events are powered through renewable and sustainable energy generators. Hell, the car itself, when the season has concluded and the Gen 3 car is finally rolled out, will be recycled for parts used for the new cars. The tires themselves are made of natural rubber compound and recycled fibers suited for all weather conditions, and also recycled after each event. This initiative, along with the racing spectacle is heralded as an effort to build upon a more sustainable world with advanced technology for mankind, and I am sincerely hoping that Formula E stays on this track, while also keep on bringing the motorsport festivals to cities across the globe.

 

            In short, The FIA Formula E World Championship was conceived as part of a dinner between the FIA and few public and political figures, as well as many parties across the motorsport spectrum. The series was first launched in 2014, and currently on its 8th season, with the next season expected later this year with new, faster and more energy efficient cars. Aside from racing, Formula E is also an advocate for sustainability, climate crisis and electrification. Now that the 2022 Jakarta ePrix is in the books, I just want to say thank you to all parties involved in this event, and to other motorsport fans, see you again in 2023.

The Jewel in The Crown: A Tale of Prestigious Events of Different Calibers

When a new year rolls around, a few of us immediately think of award shows, in which artist of different platforms and genres are honored for their hard work and dedication to the platform of their choosing. But what others might think at this time of the year is the milestone events of a specific sporting event. What set these events apart is the former is actually the platform of appreciation for the best of the best, while the other is about the competition and sporting spirit. In this month alone, there are currently two crown jewel events from two different worlds in a span of three weeks. One is for honoring the best of the filming industry, the other is the greatest American motor race ever held. 

Last month we witnessed the Grammy Awards Ceremony by The Recording Academy, honoring the best artists of the music industry (but to be honest, with today’s music standards, I don’t think there is any to be proud of). Tonight, by the time of writing, we are just hours away for the most prestigious award shows ever witnessed, the Academy Award Ceremony, also known as the Oscars. This particular ceremony specifically presented for the filming industry, organized by the Academy of Motion Arts and Sciences. The history of the Oscars can be traced back to 1929, where the first ever award took place at the Hollywood Roosevelt Hotel in Los Angeles, California. At the time, the ceremony took place at a private dinner, honoring the best of the industry of 1927 and 1928. Emil Jannings and Janet Gaynor were the first recipient of Best Actor and Best Actress Award respectively, and the silent war movie Wings directed by William A. Wellman won Best Picture Award (Outstanding Picture Award at the time). At last year’s awards, Egyptian-American actor Rami Malek snatched the Best Actor Honors with his role as the ever-flamboyant Queen vocalist Freddie Mercury from the movie Bohemian Rhapsody (the movie shares the title with the 1976 hit single from the album A Night at The Opera by the band). On the women’s side of the spectrum, Olivia Coleman was the 2018 winner for Best Actress on the movie The Favourite as Queen Anne of England, Scotland and Ireland. Best Picture went to the comedy-drama movie Green Book, starring Viggo Mortensen and Mahershala Ali. On this year’s edition, method actor Joaquin Phoenix is predicted to win the award for his brilliant acting as the sadist clown Joker from the namesake movie, directed by Todd Phillips. For the Best Actress, the field is pretty much competitive, with names like Cynthia Erivo, Scarlett Johansson, and Saoirse Ronan currently aiming for the honor. On the Best Picture field, there is a prediction that the award is coming to either the aforementioned Joker, Ford V Ferrari, or the Korean comedy/thriller Parasite.

Another aspect of events this caliber is to establish a legacy and put their names in the history book as the fastest from the rest. In the world of motorsport, the Daytona 500 mile race is arguably one of the most prestigious racing events in history, alongside events organized by National Association of Stock Car Auto Racing (NASCAR) like the Brickyard 400 at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway or the Southern 500 in Darlington, South Carolina and similar events on the global scale like the Formula 1 Monaco Grand Prix or the 24 hours of Le Mans. Referenced by the name, this race event is held annually at the Daytona International Speedway in Daytona Beach, Florida, which covers 500 miles (800 km) and lasted for 200 laps. On the first edition of the race (dated 1959), Lee Petty (father of 7-time NASCAR Cup champion Richard and grandfather of Kyle) won the race driving an Oldsmobile. Richard would go on to win the event on a record total seven times, his final win happened in 1981. The race can be also considered as a curse for one Dale Earnhardt. His first and only win came in 1998, after what racing commentator Mike Joy described as “20 years of trying, 20 years of frustration” after a late race caution flag. Three years later, he succumbed to his injuries as a result of a horror last-lap wreck involving him and Elliot Sadler. At the time, beside competing as the driver of the #3 Goodwrench Chevrolet for Richard Childress Racing, he was also competing as Team Owner, fielding three Chevrolets for Dale Earnhardt, Inc. with Steve Park driving the #1 car, Michael Waltrip (who went on to win the race) with the #15 team, and his son Dale Earnhardt Jr. in the #8 car. The famed #3 Chevrolet returned to Daytona 500 victory lane in the hands of Austin Dillon, Childress’ grandson in 2018. For this year’s event, Joe Gibbs Racing’s Denny Hamlin will start the race as the defending winner of the Harley J. Earl Trophy. His teammate Kyle Busch is the defending Cup Series champion and two-time Cup Series winner; but has yet to win the 500-mile race. Kyle’s brother Kurt won the race in 2017. 

It’s safe to say that whenever an event is called a “crown jewel” one, there is going to be something of a prestige and glamour, yet competitive. Whether you are honoring the best the entertainment business has to offer, or to be recorded in history as the fastest race driver of them all, these two events are setting the tone of what has been a great year of entertainment or as the teaser of what we are going to experience during the course of one year. What we are witnessing is history, and will be forever be remembered. 

The Dakar Rally: The Most Dangerous Form Of Motorsport Ever

Here we go. Ever since I wrote about the concerns of the safety of motorsport/auto racing after the death of two racers in the span of four months, I am constantly hoping that motorsport will be at least remotely safe with all these changes and improvements of safety regulations, but when the new year rolls, a rally raid endurance championship opens its doors for all the drivers and riders to test both the man and the machine to their absolute limits through harsh conditions. No wonder lives are claimed every year during this big motorsport spectacle. Although I am more into the on-road side of the spectrum, the off-road motorsport category always presents something new and unique through every race and every road surfaces these guys have to pass through. Both FIA (for cars) and FIM (for bikes) has their own interpretation, this particular cross-country event is open for all vehicle classes (as in 2019, these categories are cars, bikes, trucks, quads, and the new UTVs). Let me guide you into the wonderful, yet treacherous world of the Dakar Rally.

The Dakar Rally was first held in December 1978 (although its first official edition was dated in 1979) with the starting point in the French capital Paris, finishing in the city of Dakar, Senegal through Algeria, Mali and Niger after a brief sea transport through the Mediterranean Sea. The first event featured a total of 182 competitors separated in three vehicle classes, with 80 cars, 90 motorbikes and 12 trucks. This is also the only edition of the race where all vehicle classes are classified together. The subsequent events saw these categories compete separately. France was the successful country in this edition, as three French drivers all won the overall rally standings in all three classes. Those were Alain Genestier (cars/Range Rover), Cyril Neveu (bikes/Yamaha), and Jean-Francois Dunac (trucks/Pinzauger Trucks). This route ultimately gave the race the current “Dakar Rally” name, as the route between the subsequent events (from 1980 to 1991, as well as 1993, 1994, 1998 and 2001) features Paris as the starting point and finishes in Dakar, with variations of race stages going through cities in between (in 1998, the organizers went overboard, setting the race from Paris to Dakar and back to Paris). There are few times either the start or the finish is in different cities. In 1992, the finish line moved to Cape Town, South Africa in a bid to combat declining number of competitors. During the 1995, 1996 and 1999 events, the rally actually started in Granada, Spain. The rally would return to Spain, traditionally finishing in Dakar, with Madrid served as the route between Arras, France and the Senegalese capital in 2002, and Barcelona, which became the starting point of the 2005 edition. In few instances, the Senegalese city actually start the race, with the 1997 edition featured the Dakar-Agadez (Niger)-Dakar route, and the 2000 edition, which finished in Cairo, Egypt. One edition in particular (before the race moved to South America) featured neither Paris nor Dakar as either the start or the finish. The 2003 edition won by Hiroshi Masuoka and Andreas Schultz in the Automobile category driving the Mitsubishi (Masuoka became only the second Japanese to win the event after Kenjiro Shinozuka in 1997, also with Mitsubishi) started in Marseille and finished in the Egyptian city of Sharm el Sheikh. After the cancellation of the 2008 event due to concerns over terrorist threat, the rally returned in 2009, this time in the South American continent, with the routes taking place between Argentina and Chile. Aside from the two countries, the race also traveled through Bolivia, Peru and Paraguay, with the last edition of the event was back in 2019 held in Peru. The current edition of the Dakar Rally is currently held in Saudi Arabia, the first time for the Asian continent and the Middle East region. The drivers and riders are currently navigating themselves from Jeddah to Qiddiya, comprising 12 stages in total. 

Many would say that the Dakar is the true test of endurance for both man and machine, as this particular motorsport event typically held in unnaturally harsh conditions like mountains and deserts (most notably the African Sahara Desert and the Atacama Desert in the South American routes), with varying terrain surfaces like mud, sand, camel grass, erg and many others. The vehicles entered for this particular rally raid event are also specifically modified to last the entire event. You will probably notice a few key differences in vehicle specifications between cars used in the World Rally Championship (WRC) and the ones in the Dakar. Most common difference is the ground clearance level; with rally raid cars are noticeably higher than their WRC counterparts. Cars competing in the Dakar would most likely survive a WRC special stage, but the WRC class car wouldn’t last long in the more harsher desert environment. The key difference between both car classes is while WRC use the base of modern production cars currently on sale, most cars are either heavily modified or specifically built to withstand the more hostile environment. The drivers and navigators (on cars, trucks and UTVs) have to be extra careful on navigating themselves through the stages of the race. There are current talks about the inclusion of electrically powered vehicles to enter the rally itself, although it’s not for the first time. The 2017 edition saw a Spanish manufacturer Acciona, with a crew comprised of driver Ariel Jaton and navigator Tito Rolon competed with a fully electric car in the category, finishing 57^thplace overall. The car itself used a 250 kW electric motor with six battery modules capable of charging independently, with a 100-watt solar panel mounted on the roof as the energy source. The bikes used in the rally are also radically different from normal motocross bikes. While the FIM-spec MXGP bike equipped with a 250cc engine, the engines used in rally raid bikes are limited to 450cc. The motorcycle class once had two subclasses, the bikes and the quads. The latter was spun off as a separate class beginning from the 2009 rally. These quads are typically four-wheel drive with the engine capacity up to 900cc. The trucks are probably the biggest and heaviest category competing in this historic rally, with onboard crews can be up to three at a time, this category hold a specific distinction as the most powerful category of the race, with engine capacity exceeding 10 liters. The 2017 edition saw the introduction of the UTVs (Utility Terrain Vehicles). Previously fall under the broader Automobile category. These UTVs are permitted to run as a separate category with engines not exceeding 1000cc in capacity. 

The drivers and riders have to familiarize themselves with surrounding environment; with most of them are seasoned rally drivers with varying degrees of experience. Drivers like Stephane Peterhansel, current defending champion Nasser al-Attiyah, rallying legend Sebastien Loeb and Carlos Sainz Sr are some of the famous names competing the rally from that background. Throughout its history, there are only two Formula 1 drivers who entered this prestigious event. Those two are the 1983 winner Jacky Ickx and two-time world champion Fernando Alonso, who is currently competing alongside co-driver and multiple Dakar Motorbike Class winner Marc Coma under the Toyota Gazoo Racing banner, driving a Toyota Hilux Dakar. The Japanese manufactures have a long history in the cars category, with Toyota as the current defending champion and Mitsubishi being the most decorated manufacturer in history. Other manufacturers have also taste the victory circle, like Mini (although as a non-factory effort), Volkswagen, Citroen, and Peugeot. On the two-wheeled side of the spectrum, Australian rider Toby Price is the current defending Dakar champion with KTM as the manufacturer, dominating the class since 2001. The last non-KTM winner was BMW in the previous edition. Peterhansel also held a record to be the only Dakar winner to win in two separate categories. In the trucks, Russian manufacturer Kamaz is the current champion with driver crew of Russians Eduard Nikolaev, Evgeny Yakovlev, and Vladimir Rybakov. Although being relatively younger as a race category, the UTVs boasts manufacturers like Polaris and Can-Am as two competing makers. Much like KTM’s dominance on the bikes category, Yamaha has been dominant in the quads since its 2009 inception. Other makers competing with the Japanese are fellow compatriot Honda and Can-Am. 

I did mention that The Dakar Rally is the most dangerous, totally unfriendly racing events ever existed, didn’t I? This is also one of the things the event is most famous of. In every event, there are bound to be at least one fatality during the course of the race, with most of the recorded deaths is from the bikes category. The first fatality was back at the first ever rally, when French Rider Patrice Dodin lost control of his Yamaha XT 500 bike approaching the start of the Agadez - Tahoua stage while adjusting his helmet. He suffered from skull fracture and was later declared dead after being transported into a hospital in Paris. The latest competitor to succumb from this rally at the time this article comes out is Portuguese rider Paulo Goncalves; his cause of death is cardiac arrest. There are some other competitors from the trucks and the cars who died after getting involved in a sort of an accident. Kees van Loevezijn from The Netherlands and Frenchmen Charles Cabannes and Laurent Gueguen are the only three competitors (engineer and two support truck drivers, respectively) from the heavy category to die in this rally, with the Dutchman died after being thrown out from the truck after hitting a sand dune, Cabannes was shot dead by rebels at In Kadeouane Village, Mali, and the latter name was killed after caught in a landmine in Morocco. The first automobile accident was occurred in 1998 when co-driver Patrick Canado died after the Range Rover driven by Rene Boubet crashed into a Mercedes-Benz 280 of Italians Klaus Seppi and Ambrogio Azzuffi at high speed while the last accident happened in 2003, this time causing co-driver Bruno Cauvy to lose his life after an accident during the Libyan stage of Zilla and Sarir causing the Toyota Land Cruiser driven by Daniel Nebot to roll over at high speed. Nebot survived this incident.

As a motorsport fan, I can’t seem to enjoy Dakar somehow, not because of lacking any excitement, but because of its body count. Despite this, I always keep on tracking the progress of the drivers and riders currently competing in this event, with the hopes of surviving the Saudi Arabian edition of the race in one piece. With future races expected to be held in the Arabian peninsula in five years time, I can only hope that the organizers would pay more attention on the safety of all parties involved in this event, and in turn, decreasing the death toll during the race itself. 

Motorsport: Safe, Yet Potentially Deadly

This piece is written in the wake of a fatal accident that cost a young Indonesian rider Afridza Munandar's life at the Asia Talent Cup race in Sepang Circuit, Malaysia last weekend (in conjunction with the MotoGP Malaysian Grand Prix). Before that, on August, French F2 driver Anthoine Hubert succumbed to his injuries sustained as the result of a crash at Spa-Francorchamps, Belgium, at the Eau Rouge-Raidillon section of the track. This marked the first on-track fatality since Ayrton Senna's fatal wreck at Imola back in 1994. As for two-wheeled racing, the last fatal crash that happened across a weekend was Luis Salom's high-speed slam into turn 12 at Catalunya Circuit in Barcelona, during the Moto2 second free practice back in 2016. But when it comes to fatal crash during a race itself, we have to mention a three-bike pile-up between Marco Simoncelli, Colin Edwards and Valentino Rossi at Malaysia in 2011. The force of the crash even dislodged Simoncelli's helmet off. He was later pronounced dead because of the injuries sustained, and cancelling the race altogether. Although being a fan of motorsport (or auto racing as they would called it in the US), I have to admit, this is the most dangerous sport ever done by humankind. There are countless cases of on-track fatalities happened across the history of the sport, and usually ended with some sort of improvements and rule changes in regards of the safety of the drivers and riders.

Perhaps the most famous example of safety improvement after the death of a driver was the afromentioned Senna crash and Dale Earnhardt's fatal last lap wreck at turn 4 of the 2001 Daytona 500 race. Earnhardt succumbed to his spinal cord injury sustained at the crash. This ultimately made the use of Head and Neck Support Device (HANS) mandatory across all racing discipline governed by FIA (Fédération Internationale de l'Automobile) and NASCAR (National Association for Stock Car Auto Racing). Earnhardt himself refused to wear one, citing discomfort. Some races were forced to change venue after the death of a competitor, as evidenced by Daijiro Kato's high-speed impact at 130R bend of Suzuka Circuit that ultimately claimed his life. Since then, the MotoGP Japanese Grand Prix is held at Twin Ring Motegi. Firesuits was strengthen to withstand over 9000 degrees of soaring heat after the famous 1976 Nurburgring crash involving Niki Lauda, who went on to return to the F1 circuit at Monza exactly six weeks after the incident. And after a heavy crash at the same track as Kato's incident during the 2014 F1 Japanese Grand Prix that eventually costed Jules Bianchi his life, the halo (a single protective bar installed in front of the cockpit to protect the drivers from flying debris) was made mandatory by the FIA across all single-seater, open-wheeled racing discipline. And already this single bar demonstrated the capability of saving a driver from a potential fatal accident, like when Charles Leclerc almost squashed by Fernando Alonso, who was bumped by a brake-locked #27 Renault car of Nico Hulkenberg at Spa last year.

Big crashes always happen in every racing series. Formula E is a fairly new series, but already has two near fatal wrecks in the form of a tangle between Nick Heidfeld and Nico Prost during the final lap of the inaugural FE race at Beijing, China, and a horror shunt between Nelson Piquet Jr and Jean-Eric Vergne at Mexico City earlier this year. NASCAR also has its fair share of big wrecks, dubbed 'the Big One', usually occured on races at Talladega and Daytona. But probably the most well-remembered big (and horror) wreck happened at either of those tracks was the final lap of the 2014 Coke Zero 400 at Daytona, when Austin Dillon (#3 DOW Chevrolet SS of Richard Childress Racing) was punted in the rear bumper and subsequently flown across the field and landed in the trackside catchfencing on the outside of the tri-oval. Another instance was back in 2017 when Joey Logano lost control of his #22 AAA Insurance Team Penske Ford Fusion and hooked the #10 Stewart-Haas Ford of Danica Patrick in the process at Kansas with 67 laps remaining, which subsequently collected the speeding Aric Almirola, resulted in a violent crash between the #22 of Logano, #10 of Partick and the #43 machine of Almirola. While Logano and Patrick walked away unharmed, Almirola complained about his back and had to be extracted from the heavily wrecked #43 Smithfield Ford Fusion of Richard Petty Motorsports (RPM). He was awake and alert. In Formula 1 however, the biggest (and the messiest) recorded wreck was the start of the 1998 Belgian Grand Prix at Spa during an extreme downpour. The crashed claimed as many as thirteen cars, instigated by David Coulthard who lost control of his McLaren. Another instance of crahses in wet conditions happened at the start of the Singapore Grand Prix in 2017. Max Verstappen (#33 Red Bull Racing) squeezed in a sandwich by both Sebastian Vettel and Kimi Raikkonen of Ferrari, sending both Verstappen and Raikkonen into the wall, with Fernando Alonso collected along the way. Vettel retired 3 corners later on the same lap.

While these crashes happened because of either outside factor or driver errors, some wrecks happened because of driver shenanigans. The NASCAR Chase For The Sprint Cup round for 2015 season was marred by a feud between Joe Gibbs Racing's Matt Kenseth (#20 Dollar General Toyota Camry) and Joey Logano. Before that, in 2013, he was also involved in another feud with another Joe Gibbs driver in the form of Denny Hamlin (#11 FedEx Toyota Camry), who ended the feud wrecked by Logano at Autoclub Speedway, injuring his legs in the process. The feud first started in Kansas when Logano spun Kenseth out from the win. He went on to score 3 wins in the first rounds of the Chase, until the Martinsville race came up. Kenseth was all over Logano during the course of the race, with him and Penske teammate Brad Keselowski (#2 Miller Lite Ford Fusion) swapping first and second place. Keselowski later tagged Kenseth at the exit of turn 2 with Kurt Busch (#41 Haas/Monster Chevrolet SS) as the collateral damage. The opportunity presented itself when Kenseth, limping around the track was about to be lapped by leader Logano, and at the entrance of turn 1, he hooked the right front bumper of his #20 Camry into the #22 Ford's left rear and drove them straight into the outside retaining wall much to the fans' delight. That crash would cost Logano a chance of winning the 2015 Sprint Cup in the later stages of the chase, which was ultimately won by Kenseth's teammate Kyle Busch (#18 M&M's Toyota Camry). Kenseth was later suspended for two races.

Two drivers in the heat of the battle (usually for the win/championship) can also cause a crash or a mistake that would lead into a crash. Lucas di Grassi (Team Abt Sportsline FE) was in desperate mode heading into the final race of season 2 of Formula E against Sebastien Buemi (Renault eDams). Held at Battersea Park, London, going into turn 3, Di Grassi hooked his front wing into Buemi's rear end, sending them into the wall. Buemi later clinched the championship by scoring the fastest lap of the race. In NASCAR, during a playoff elimination race last year at Charlotte (First year with Roval configuration), Martin Truex Jr (#78 Auto Insurance/Furniture Row Toyota Camry) and Jimmie Johnson (#48 Lowe's Chevrolet Camaro of Hendrick Motorsports) was battling tooth-and-nail coming into the final lap. The battle was even until the final chicane sequences of turns 15, 16, and 17. Johnson locked his wheels, spun out and collecting Truex in the process. Team Penske's Ryan Blaney (#12 Pennzoil/Menard's Ford Fusion) took the win as the result of the incident.

Let's face it, we attend races and watch those events on TV and various streaming services for exciting racing, great battles, nailbiting finishes and of course, the wrecks. Many fans will say that every race has to have at least one accident (don't take my word for granted, I was just paraphrasing Bernie Ecclestone's respond to Jeremy Clarkson's question during an episode of TV show Top Gear). We can't say for sure that motorsport is 100% safe, but with all these safety measures in place, these daredevils can at least breathe a sigh of relief knowing that the safety standards being implemented today is constantly improved. And I'll end this by stating my deepest condolences to Munandar and Hubert families. These young racers had big potential, but gone too soon.