8 Heartbreaking Moments From The World Of Motorsport

We recently shared some of the cruellest moments and most crushing defeats in motorsport history, and you gave us even more heartbreaking suggestions!
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Dale Earnhardt was looking set to claim a clear victory at the 1990 Nascar Daytona 500, but a tyre blowout on the final lap handed it to Derrike Cope instead.

The 2011 Indianapolis 500 ended pretty spectacularly, with rookie J. R. Hildebrand crashing out of potential victory at the final corner to give the late Dan Wheldon first place at the illustrious event. Hildebrand’s damaged car limped across the line in second.

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Laguna Seca hosted the 2009 American Le Mans Series finale and saw huge drama in the GT2 class. The No.45 Porsche of Jörg Bergmeister was battling closely with the No.3 Corvette of Jan Magnussen for much of the final part of the race.

It was brilliant to see but it all ended in tears when the Corvette tried to pass the Porsche for the win on the run to the chequered flag, only for Magnussen to get tipped into the barrier just before the finish line. The Porsche won, the Corvette limped across the line second.

The 2016 Indy 500 was won by rookie Alexander Rossi after he conserved his fuel and just made it to the end. In 1999 Robby Gordon was hoping to manage something similar - he was leading with two laps to go, low on fuel and attempting to get to the end. Sadly, in this case he ran out just prior to the final lap and lost the win to Kenny Bräck.

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Sebastien Loeb is used to success in the World Rally Championship but that doesn’t make missing out on the Rally New Zealand victory in 2007 by just 0.3 seconds any less painful. It was a brilliant battle for Loeb but while Marcus Gronholm enjoyed the success of victory, Loeb had to settle for second by the second smallest margin in WRC history.

(Skip to the 47-minute mark in the video to see the final part of the rally, or watch the whole thing and enjoy the action!)

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The 2012 Le Mans 24 Hours produced a truly heartbreaking moment, when Satoshi Motoyama tried to fix his damaged DeltaWing car at the side of the track. He pulled off track with under 18 hours left to go, unbearably early to retire from the race.

With it being classified as a retirement if a track official touches the car or the driver walks more than a short distance away from it, he desperately tried to repair the DeltaWing himself, speaking to engineers through the fence. However, after two hours he had to give up.

7. Pitstop nightmare

As suggested by vdub
As suggested by vdub

Daniel Ricciardo’s reaction on the 2016 Monaco Grand Prix podium after losing out on victory to Lewis Hamilton summed the race up pretty well for him. He had looked set to take the win - which would have been his first at Monte Carlo, and his first victory since the 2014 season - but it wasn’t to be. At his pitstop, his tyres were not ready for him and he was sat waiting for quite some time, before emerging behind Hamilton and crossing the line in P2. It’s tough to look at that picture of Ricciardo not smiling without feeling upset.

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The footage of Nigel Mansell pushing his Lotus F1 car across the line at the 1984 Dallas race, before fainting from exhaustion really is one of those incredible moments you watch in disbelief. It shows just how different racing was back then!

See the original post right here.

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Comments

Ach_

[DELETED]

07/02/2016 - 12:24 |
0 | 0
Ach_

The most heart breaking thing for me is knowing that the legend michael schumacher is still fighting to recover from his accident. He didnt do any wrong in this world and this happens to him. He was my idol growing up. I still remember calling him michael shoemaker. Good times. Hope you come back one day with a full recovery my friend

07/02/2016 - 12:27 |
246 | 0
Andrea Nope

In reply to by Ach_

What saddens me even more is that for the first time since 1950’s a German team is winning in F1.
And it all started to happened the year he went into coma. He still has to see a Mercedes’ F1 victory and cheer for it.

07/02/2016 - 17:53 |
16 | 0
KonTsiou

In reply to by Ach_

And what makes this both truly heartbreaking and ironic is that for all those years he didn’t get involved in any serious accidents while driving at tremendous speeds, but got seriously injured from a simple skiing trip. Keep fighting Michael

07/03/2016 - 16:17 |
8 | 0
Anonymous

In reply to by Ach_

I could never stand the man personally, but what happened to him, and his family is truly a tragedy. Such a sad fate.

07/04/2016 - 07:44 |
4 | 0
Anonymous

In reply to by Ach_

Schumi has a special place in my heart because other than being the GOAT (ok he’s up with Senna) of F1 imho, we’re birthday buds. ;_;

07/04/2016 - 20:01 |
0 | 0
Alex Andrei

Great article Jack!

07/02/2016 - 13:06 |
10 | 0
Dzonny the e36 maniaq

Anybody knows when does the Feel Train depart?

07/02/2016 - 13:09 |
2 | 0

Like…Now…?Whenever you’re reading this?

07/02/2016 - 14:36 |
0 | 0
RoyP

From Feeladelphia

07/02/2016 - 13:22 |
46 | 2
Faris Amer

In reply to by RoyP

damn that le mans vid was sad

07/02/2016 - 15:24 |
16 | 0
10mm

Toyota lost lemans 2016 :(

07/02/2016 - 13:33 |
110 | 2
Jason115

In reply to by 10mm

it was the #5 that lost the win, not #6.

07/02/2016 - 18:09 |
0 | 0
Anonymous

THIS!

07/02/2016 - 14:20 |
22 | 2
Cristian

In reply to by Anonymous (not verified)

07/02/2016 - 17:13 |
4 | 4
Adrian Rivero

In reply to by Anonymous (not verified)

Did the list on the original article

07/03/2016 - 00:56 |
0 | 0
Anonymous

In reply to by Anonymous (not verified)

Carlos Sains car cought on fire within sight of finish line?

07/27/2016 - 20:57 |
0 | 0
Dat Incredible Chadkake

what about dale earnhardt giving up the ghost at the 2001 daytona 500? 😕

07/02/2016 - 15:31 |
2 | 0
Anonymous

never forget Brazil GP 2008
massa lost the championship in the last corner

07/02/2016 - 17:41 |
20 | 0

that is absolutely horrible. how could they not stop the race????that david purley seems to be the only one caring there

07/02/2016 - 22:31 |
6 | 0