A race car ploughed into bystanders

Motor racing has always been a dangerous sport. Despite our best efforts to make it safer, sometimes a mishap will result in a tragedy. Last weekend, up and coming racer Marco Simoncelli met his end at the Sepang track.

The 24-year-old Simoncelli died of chest, head and neck injuries after he lost control of his Honda during last Sunday's Malaysian Grand Prix.

While this is the first fatal accident in Sepang, I remember many years ago -- perhaps an even greater tragedy happened at our old Batu Tiga track.

The track has since been turned into a housing estate. But in those days, Batu 3 was one of the most famous race tracks in Asia. Malaysia had quite a well developed motor racing scene in those days -- way ahead of most of the countries in the region. It was considered to be one of the best at the time.

It was the venue of the first world series or Moto GP before Sepang was built. In those days, bikers from all over would come to watch top motorcycle racers such as Eddie Lawson, Freddy Spencer, John Kocinski and Carl Fogarty battle it out.

Years before that, it was also the venue of the Malaysian Grand Prix Saloons Championship. Top makes like Ford, Datsun and others competed. I still remember the date clearly. It was April 24th, 1977, a Sunday.

I was only 19 years old, but I was a devout motor racing fan. I had gone there with my friends, riding my motorcycle -- a Yamaha RD350. The crowd was in a boisterous mood. The weather was bright and sunny.

We had come to watch Harvey Yap drive his Ford Escort BDA in the race. The Ford Escort was one of the best cars at the time. I can't remember what Yap's position at the time was, but he was whizzing by the grandstand at a phenomenal speed.

All of a sudden, on the fourth lap, the cars stopped.

Apparently, there was a major accident. There was a corner known as the Lucas loop. It was a tight right hander at the end of the back straight of the track. Yap was leading the pack when his Escort went off the track. It spun and slammed into a fence, and dragged it for a few hundred metres.

What was horrifying was that the car had slammed into a group of children who were watching the race from outside the fence. Four of them died on the spot. A total of 23 other people were injured. The Shah Alam track became a scene of carnage with ambulances ferrying the wounded to hospital. The final tally was 5 children killed and 23 people wounded. That was the worst disaster in the history of Malaysian motorsports.

Later, a Japanese road racer behind Yap said that he saw Yap's tyre burst seconds before his car spun.

The Shah Alam track was closed for a year after that as authorities mulled over how to improve safety on the track. They added a left-hand chicane just before the Lucas loop to bring speeds down.

It made things safer, but in 1981, another tragedy occurred at the скрашивать also there to witness the terrible accident.

This time it was eerily similar to what happened in Sepang this year.

On Lap 1 of the Improved Motorcycles Race in 1981, Singaporean rider Gerry Looi crashed. He was rushed to the hospital by helicopter. After two operations, his condition remained critical. He suffered brain damage and was on a respirator. He eventually succumbed to his injuries.

Looi raced for Team Suzuki in those days. He and his brother Fabian Looi were famous racers during that era.

The Singapore Grand Prix was banned in 1974, but Looi loved the sport so much he continued racing overseas. His death, like that of the Honda rider at Sepang, was tragic. But it was part of the price these brave men paid -- for falling in love with this sport.