Motor racing accidents at Brands Hatch, 1988/9

Abstract

Little is known about the incidence of injury to race track motor-cyclists and car drivers. In a 1-year study at Brands Hatch, 70 of 33,184 competitors required hospital treatment. We found this injury rate to be higher than on the public highway. However, the anatomical distribution of injury caused by motor-bike accidents is similar to that found on the public highway. Motor-cyclists are more likely than car drivers to sustain limb trauma requiring outpatient treatment only. The number of participants requiring admission to hospital is broadly similar for car and bike races, being less than 0.1%.