Tetsuya Ota's crash at Fuji, in his Ferrari F355 challenge

[Tenshi909]

HOLY FUCK!! U can tell Ota's tryin to remove the helmet shortly after being laid on his back.

[ToroRosso20]

Safety Workers: Oh yeah your fine buddy just lay on the ground. We'll get to you soon enough, your just a little burned is all.

Driver: Someone f***ing help me! I just barely survived my Ferrari exploding.

Wow what horrible medical attention he got after being pulled out of the car.

[Ultrajuiced]

Really poor guy, hurts even to watch him rolling on the floor holding his head. :(

[bhempy9]

Holy fuck

[vonjager]

Holy shit! That is the most insane sounding explosion I've ever heard 0_0

[Aleinikov65]

The RE Amemiya RX-7 driven by Shinichi Yamaji stopped in front of the Ferrari while the other cars drove on. Yamaji used a fire extinguisher from his own car to extinguish the fire and then helped to release Ota's safety harness. He did this before race marshals arrived (NOT SEEN IN THIS VIDEO).

[vodkanockers89]

how stupid those marshals and medics are. not only that it takes way too long for them to rescue ota. he is totally burned and unconscious, and that guy just pulls him out of the car and the first thing he does is bringing that distinguisher back. you can nearly feel ota's pain, it just looks horrible.

[thestaggie]

Jesus! What a fierce impact. I probably would have literally crapped myself if I was in either the Porsche or Ferrari. They could not see each other so it's an impact from nowhere. These guys got banged up real bad but they were damn lucky to survive. It's almost funny how they treat Ota. Pathetic marshalling and medical presence. Fire marshalls should have been over the wall as soon as the Ferrari stopped and an ambulance should have been charging out of the pits pretty soon after.

[Playboo62]

haha the wavin flag man @ 0:25 is going to be grilled

[krazipopov]

Amazing display of gross incompetence. The Porsche driver got out with a broken leg without any help, Ota's visor was melting on his face as a result of the idiot who lied him down.

[arsenal4eva5]

omg they seem more worried about the cars than the people

[ch040294]

wow

[kidkidder]

anyone know the music? such a horrible crash though, wouldnt wish this on anyone. in racing you have to be prepared for such things though, im glad everyone was ok.

[andreasc99]

The guy with the flags what happened 2 him.

[callowaymotorcompany]

Yeah Ota got it bad but dang, that other guy was still smoking when they pulled him out after who knows how long, did he get any money?

[GOTMAXPOWER5433460]

and when they finally came to help they probably caused more damage with the way they took him away

does anybody know about there injuries? because i think the porsche driver would have been hurt as much as he was lying beside his car when it exploded

[manelli79]

Reminds me of a typical NASCAR crash

[efboy]

I think Thanks is due to driver Shinichi Yamaji.He helped Ota out by pulling his own fire extinguisher from the rx-7 and putting some of the flames out.

[212809]

Well American people are just as bad.

[psychotix123]

ota won a law suit though, but the officials were more putting the fire out and cleaning up debris than seeing to poor ota

fuckin japanese

[starstars]

GRANDE OTA!!!!!

[CaptainJackSparoe]

thats some shady biz.

What i hate about it the most is how long people take to help him. If you look at other crashes mainly F1 thats the same.

[bartolemeo]

Ota was trapped in the car for 90 seconds or so at roughly 8-900 degrees. A Mazda driver stopped, used his own extinguisher to put out the fire and released Ota's harness, so that he could be pulled out. Likely saved his life. He suffered great damage to his face and his right arm/hand. His career was over. A sad accident.

[ThisNamesNowTaken]

link please.

[chublets]

the visor melted onto his face

[tommyboomboom]

All marhalls have fire-resistant overalls and fire extinguishers. They spent too long dealing with the porsche and didnt even notice the 355. Ota lost most of his nose, some of his top lip, most of his hair and cant use his right arm. But considering how long he was in there for he got away lightly.

[tommyboomboom]

He's ok considering what he went through. I guess not being able to race anymore must suck, but he runs a pretty successful ferrari tuners in Japan now.

[2005pierric]

really ?

i didn't know that, nice then ;) thanks for the info

[tommyboomboom]

the safety crew should have been sent to fucking prison for that. Well done Tetsuya Ota for being tough enough to survive!

[2005pierric]

indeed, he had to put an end to his carrier tho

[dragonzord87]

Where did you get his book? And is it available in English? I heard he had a DVD too, but I can't find it anywhere.

[cgdale]

The crash happened on the pace lap right in the middle of the straightaway, which explains - though certainly doesn't excuse - the slow reaction of the safety crews, who had to drive over half a kilometer to the crash. Ota later successfully sued the track for shoddy safety precautions. The monetary settlement, though large by Japanese standards, was much less than he deserved, which was the heads of the organizers on a platter.

[zerohalo21]

how the hell did he not die in this crash no thanks to the saftey crew....

[mighty589]

They should close this track for good, every time it rains there it gets ridiculisly wet and impossible to see ahead, just like in the 2007 japanesse GP, it sucked arse. is it worth to have a race track next to a stupid volcano so much?? F*CK Fuji!!

[mighty589]

right?

[Slidingmy240sx]

Fuji is a legendary track. You cant knock that.

[Walrus79]

Where the hell were paramedics and firecrew? Very badly and unsafty arranged race! Why in the hell they were racing in zero visibility anyway?

[mighty589]

yeah really, buch of amateurs, left the guy alone instead of inmovilizing him, hes lucky he didn't break his neck in that fall, why are do they put shuch unprepaired rescue crew?? the FIA should ban japan from racing

[Slidingmy240sx]

ummm remember...this is pretty old...1998. So it wasnt as prepared as it is nowadays.

[gdgdgfdggfdfg]

they should have kept the track as it was in the eighties.

[Slidingmy240sx]

lol...they changed it to make it "safe"...but still...that long front straight is still untouched =)

[gdgdgfdggfdfg]

i know its all safety these days but but so many good cicuits have been ruined, imola was an over reaction to sennas death and why they took out the super fast forest section of hockenhiem ill never know.

[Slidingmy240sx]

then you have the Mulsanne straight @ Le Mans...and there are a whole lot more "track moddin" out there that really piss people off

[CJAEY]

im so glad hes safe though

[nicuusurici]

yes.. but how many stupid helpers^? where is the organisation???

i though that in 98 there was a good first aid equipment...it wasn't

[preludedriver226]

Poor Guy's outta racing, I just read into it, He was involved in a lawsuite aginst fuji raceway and some promoters (the TV staions) and won a settlement. Problem is is to this day his hand and arm and shoulder are still fucked up. He was in the balze for over a minute. While improperly (as you say) arranged saftey crews muked everything up.

[nascarfan1444]

this crash is weird because they were behind a safety car and somebody come out of nowere and crash

[dbassplayer]

Tetsuya Ota didn't race again after this one!

[tadd6]

He will race again.

[megadriver1]

Si lo hubiese recogido el camión de la basura, lo hubiesen tratado mejor, ¿en que circuito fué esto?

[metalLANN]

..bad rescue team!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

[Ron375]

fucking horrible

[geemo77]

I like the rear spoiler in black.

[gigybeast]

the reson why they don't take off the helmets is because if the spin is broken, a already broken neck is bad enough without somone pulling one it. But them not taking off it off because it is keeping his head together is a load of S%$£. If his head has come apart he would not be standing up.

[Terror909]

they took off his helm later, his skull was broken cuz and the helm keeped him alive, after they took it off he died.

[2005pierric]

He survived, that's not true mate =)

But generally, that's why you must not take an injured bloke's helmet off...

[silviadrift92]

no, he lived and sued the Fuji Speed cuircut for $1.25mil, but recieved $800,000

[malchetti]

Why do you or other people make things up like this? It's easy enough to do a search on google to check what you're saying is true, before posting and spreading misinformation.

[malchetti]

Message was to Terror909 by the way.

[ChevyVetteZO6]

no one died you moron.

[hustler6t9]

omg god did any1 see that guy waving the flags wtf man this is the craziest crash i seen man!

[BendCha]

yeep

[silviadrift92]

why was he left in that car for so long?

[2005pierric]

No idea... bad assistance

[ChevyVetteZO6]

what a bunch of fuckin tards... wow. that ferrari really got fucked up

[RanchoCoral]

Strong guy

[jammin1975]

I get upset when I see this video. Poor guy should not have had to stay in the burning wreck for that amount of time. Disgracefull.

[ZO6]

Same here

i was like "where the f--- is the safety crew?"

at least I know the outcome of this popular clip

[2005pierric]

Tout a fait, dans les porsches c'est comme ca, le réservoire a l'avant, c'est poursa que la trappe est sur l'aile aant d'ailleurs :P

[davidGTI]

stupid assistants people, i hope some day they read this

[OGLOC628]

rofl at best youtube comment ever

[2005pierric]

which one =) ?

[OGLOC628]

"wtf man wen he came out of d care he stil wana go bak 2 race"

:P

[2005pierric]

haha yeah ! xD

[rootshooter]

horrible! Damn, stupid assistants!!!! he left him alone on the street and no barrel, no help, no water on face to refresh plastics.!!!!

[inthehizzouse]

The 'response team' was retarded!!!

Not only was he in that inferno entirely too long, but once he's out of the car, they leave him on the side of the road and attend to what left of the smoking Ferarri.

HELP THE DRIVER for f*ck sake!

I can't imagine the pain he must have experienced, and to muster the strength to climb to your feet, even for a few seconds, is miraculous.

He was right to sue.

[magicbrainman]

you can see that he wanted the helmet off---- it was obviously very hot--- couldn't the dumb rescue people take the damn thing off!

[2005pierric]

Nope, it's forbidden, plus it would've ripped off what was left of his face, since the helmet melted on his skin...

[Risingtide93]

this vid makes me vomits... look at the safety crue just leave the half burned driver on the road... no stretcher and left the car in the flame for more than a minute, exposing the driver in 800degree flame...

just horrible

[bossies4choppers]

It is motorsport and it is dangerous, BUT give drivers a sporting chance! I hope the marshals and officials of this track get some of their own ignorance and greed back ten times over! Just shows, miracles do happen. Safe driving to all out there!!!

[Nismo1015]

he's-he's-ALIVE!!!!!!!!!!

[KayQue69]

Organisers/staff have him walk injured to a crumby van after a clear serious accident.... I suppose you pay peanuts, you get monkeys.

[davidadams2006]

thats how not to marshall, i hope they never marshalled again. great to see the driver ok.

[ligerzero9999]

just think, if he wasnt wearing the fire retardent racing suit he WOULD be dead.

its good to see that he was ok in the end

[bcflood08]

I can't believe they had such piss poor medic on staff. No stretcher, no backboard, no attention to the driver, etc.

[Tritaga]

This almost makes me disgusted to be half-japanese... The medics were horrid! this is seriously one of the first youtube vids that I truly felt sad for... my god.. his face >__<....

[jrgm3]

Rice burner ...

[youngnikeboi]

what happend to the dude in the whight car but that was discusting how all of them went to the wight car and left the red to just burn verry sad indeed

[Eccentrc]

Horrible first aid :/ Medic guy left driver alone, no neck support of anything. If the driver would have suffered from neck injury he would be paralyzed for sure now.

[erkmil23]

I keep watching this over and over agian. Those conditions were too wet and foggy for 200 mph racing. Im glad the dude lived but he will probably remember that race for the rest of his life, every time he looks in the mirror..

[2005pierric]

He does...

[Risingtide93]

omg...

[resq1610]

Appalling medical response Yes you need to provide scene safety but to leave the guy unattended terrible

[efabio]

Horrible!!/God Bless

Makes me rethink about racing.

[Bricktop1967]

mothers that was amazing! Thought he was cooked for sure!

[damireagle]

discusting first aid!!!! fucking gooks. stupid fucks

[thelastconti]

What a madafakas... worst first aid i've ever seen

[DermochelysCoriacea]

jesus! I'm glad he survived, but I wonder how badly his face was burnt.

[jas905]

fs ,God was on this guys pasinger seet. And serisly the first ade ppl should be fird thay cared more abt the car then him lol :O

[adh106]

That is such a crap van lol

[repnout]

SSMOKINN

[OpeiGrafikka]

That's gotta be the WORST trackside first aid I've ever seen, and that was BESIDE the pits! Imagine if it'd happened halfway round the track! Oxman0313 I've seen people with broken necks try to stand up...

[curiousaust1n]

WTF!!!! how are they about to just pick up up and drag him into a shitty van??? pathetic...

[alluct]

oh man , what happend that man ? i get sad

[lwkleijn]

the smoke is comming out of his face that poor guy

[jackiejayetv]

How on earth did the poor guy survive all that manhandling japs havent got a clue.its amazing he wasnt suffacated by the extinquisher fumes!

[kezzajl]

The marshalls seemed alot more bothered about the guy who had the smaller crash not ota, they didnt even giv ota a proper ambulance for gods sake no respect for broken bones or fractures

[VC15GR]

You are right I asked my friends and they told me the same thing.

[VC15GR]

I can't belive he is alive.But why didn't they take his helmet off.His face was burned in his helmet.

[2005pierric]

you must NEVER take an injured man's helmet off. Moreover, in this case, it would've ripped off what was left of his face...

That's what I think :P

[uglydabear]

wow, thats one heavy hit, im just glad the guys alive and not suprised hes no longer racing,

its a warning to all the street racers out there. it only takes a second.

[Winchester1973]

What in the world!! How about an ambulance?? They are picking that poor guy up in a freaking piece of crap van that's good for nothin'!

Disrespectful idiots.

[oxman0313]

That van is the ambulance. he was up on his feet so they didnt need a stretcher. I am more suprised he lived that was one hell of a crash

[abalsiger]

wow. I can't believe he lived.

[cazybeast2]

DAMN, he is the luckiest person ever, sitting in that flaming wreckage, i thought he was done for.

[deepzun]

das ist der hammer is der mann tod

[2005pierric]

Nein er ist nicht tod. Aber fährt nicht mehr.

[simjack1]

o shit the ferrari men is very lucky

[darkmaxuy]

My god, please bless that guy :(

[jeydinho07]

this shit is crazy dawg!!! I tought he died.

[Danyotube]

-_-

[xperfab66]

is that an ambulance at the end ? It doesnt seems to be ? He was carried like an old bag !!

I watched videos of Formula 1 accidents of the 70s and it just looked like theese video ! Incredible 30 years later :(

[bastiagueiro]

Incredible! all those people and none seems to attend the injured drivers!

[JCrashB]

Here's a picture of Tetsuya Ota's (the Ferrari driver) helmet:

h t t p://w w w.p o r t a l-i d e m a.c o m/f1_2003/graph/mov-tetsuya_ot­a_helmet.jpg

And here's himself 5 years after the crash:

h t t p://w w w .p o r t a l-i d e m a.c o m/f1_2003/graph/mov-tetsuya_ot­a_face2.jpg

As you can see, the visor of his helmet melted and burned into his face. That was the worst injury he had. Plus some more minor burns on his body and of course intoxication from the fumes he inhaled while in the fire.

[JCrashB]

Oh, and it wasn't the safety crew that put out the fire, it was another driver who stopped to help. So, the marshals can't be even credited for that. Suckers.

Btw.: URLs above were distorted on purpose because YouTube doesn't allow them to be written out clearly.

[bcflood08]

He actually looks pretty good for a burn victim. The nose reconstruction is almost perfect and other than a little disfiguration around the mouth, it isn't real noticiable.

[JPRJAMES]

Guys! He had a fire suit on!! Looks like is right arm face and lungs were the worst. I feel his pain, there is nothing worse.

As far as the track crew!! You have to make sure the car isnt on fire or....................plus not to mention, he was already burned with no evac transport.

Trust me, he didnt know how bad that shit hurt yet. Give it 5-10 min and there is no worse pain. I burned %75 of my arms in a rocket explosion. Shitty shitty, Jap or not, shit still hurts!

[itsadaniel]

He had a fire suit on.. But you can see that the protection on his helmet wasn't just burned on the outside, it was burned from the inside.

He suffered major burns to his face and neck area, disfiguring him for life.

[ilysabeth]

finaly someone comes and helps him.

[RipperGand]

azorixx's right.

[reylandcossie]

poor guy

[Dro621]

thats hateful to use that term but anyways whatever happen to him after the crash?

[2005pierric]

He survived and sewed the track team for not helping him...

He retired after that crash, not able to race anymore...

(He was quite criticaly burned...)

[TmSensis]

howcome i'm not surprised with that...sishh

[speedtroller]

I can't believe the response team let guy roll around in pain. He was a terrible crash and totally burned and they finally haul him into a van like they are moving a log. He could have had interal injuries and he was totally going into shock. They could have paralysed that guy. It's the worst crash medical response I have ever witnessed. PERIOD!!! Get it together JAPAN!!!!!

[ThisNamesNowTaken]

:50 to 1:00 into the clip dude starts to clean up while driver is trying to free himself out of the car, 1:04 to 1:10 counted about 9 people on the crashed car while only 3 people (1:10 to 1:15) are actually attending the car that caught fire and driver was only able to free himself after they pulled him out of the car that was on fire. 1:07 to 1:09 are they actually more worried about the grass being on fire? What are they putting out?

[ThisNamesNowTaken]

LOL. I thought about that myself. I think you and I've been watching too many F**ing cartoons making fun of situations like this. It wouldnt be funny if it happened in real life.

[ttic24]

Fuji, so it's Japan, Toyota track ?

[louise12345]

What's with the track worker? He could run over and pull the guy at least out of the Porsche, but no, he's tidying up.

[danilozinho]

the driver to ferrari dead?

shit :(

[2005pierric]

nope

[slipknot998]

the fukin rescue people!! were more wooried about the car instead of him..! damn did u c his head hit!! ouch!!

[fishlet77]

wow that is unreal, and i second your motion 2idiot4u those guys sucked seem to be more worried about the car lol

[freshyip]

thanks for posting, he is alright now.

[Demetevler06]

holy fuck!!!

[Zemadgoat]

Unbelievable ! 8-o

Comment le type peut s'en sortir vivant sans séquelles ?

Et le staff c'est vraiment une bande de guignolos...

[2005pierric]

ouais le staff etait.. inutile...

En fait, il a eu des sequelles, puisqu'il a été brulé au visage et les poumons ont pris cher... (la visiere a fondu sur son visage). Il a poursuivit en justice l'equipe de securité ...

He sewed the "safety crew" soon after.

[davidGTI]

no mms q pedo con el ferrari?

[2idiot4u]

OMG what a f*cking amaturistic security team! (if there is any...)

[danielhanlon19]

Man, he must he the luckiest person alive after that one.

[red03mitsu]

that is un-fucking-real. I've seen this crash a few times and i always thought the guy died. That is amazing he survived.

[nodens2007]

He survived but suffered serious injuries. The accident was caused by the pace car. The accident went to the courts and the organizers paid Ota a huge sum.

[NeWyoRKsPLaYaz]

omfg where did that f355 come from??