Franco and I joke a lot on what I still call the rabbit run today. Of course, without any hint of courage, just the image of the animal that first stops when it is afraid and then sprints to safety.
‘Franco’ is of course Uncini, I am honored to be friends with, as we met during the glory days of the derivatives on the Vallelunga route, when he, 50 kilos with a suit, helmet and boots, drove a heavy Laverda SFC before going to Spaggiaris Ducati SS changed.
Franco Uncini is the only one in my memory who has survived an accident that is fatal for motorcyclists in 99% of the cases unscathed: being run over by another driver.
His encounter with fate took place on June 25, 1983 on the old Assen racetrack. He lost control of his Suzuki 500, rolled to the ground, was run over and hit in the head so badly that his helmet flew off. I remember the scene because we were there, my colleagues Carlo Canzano and Carlo Florenzano Terenzi, and me. We were really friends with drivers back then.
The frames of the accident clearly show what happened: most of the drivers avoided Franco and avoided him to the right, a rookie, certainly Wayne Gardner – in his first Grand Prix on a Honda Britain Honda NS500 – decided to turn left instead.
We’re still joking about what happened to Uncini who is now friends with Wayne (even if Franco never forgave him), but the reality, if so … it was a miracle. After the rider from Recanati was brought to the hospital in Groningen in a coma, he was in a coma for almost a week. We left him there because they raced at Francorchamps the following week. Franco then woke up from the coma, so we drove back to Holland – I was in the car with GB Marcheggiani, who was Corriere dello Sport correspondent at the time – and then on a scheduled flight to Italy, and Franco locked himself in a bunk going a little crazy . Usually he was a reserved person, let’s say … not quite himself. And I think I’ll stop there.
Franco Uncini was lucky, very lucky. He was even able to go to Vallelunga at the end of the year during one of Maurizio Flammini’s. orchestrated return to get back on the bike. So I can say that he has a tough head, because when things go well we can joke about our great love for speed, but unfortunately not all fairy tales have happy endings.
I go here by heart, from Monza in 1973 where Jarno Saarinen and Renzo Pasolini died and a few weeks later in a junior competition Galtrucco, Chionio and ColombinI. 1977, in another multiple accident, in which Stadelmann lost his life, Uncini was saved by a young Claudio Costa where Dieter Braun, Patrick Fernandez and Johnny Cecotto were also involved.
Now let’s go forward in time: Silverstone 1980. Patrick Pons died, hit by his friend Michel Rougerie who in turn was run over and killed by Roger Sibille the following year in Rijeka, Yugoslavia. 1989, Ivan Palazzese was run over by Preining and lost his life in Hockenheim.
More recently, in 2010, Tomizawa was run over by in Misano De Angelis and Redding and over Marco Simoncelli accidentwho involved Valentino Rossi and Colin Edwards, Ink flows were written.
All of this to say that little can be done about these types of accidents. Tremendous strides have been made in safety, and not just on the routes, since the 1970s. Clothing, helmets and training make today’s drivers better prepared. But nothing can be done about this dynamic.
I chatted with today Luca Cadalora: “With the Superpole you can avoid accidents in qualifying, but then nothing more in the race.”
You can fall and your friend behind you can run over you. But speed and weight never stand a chance, even if it’s as light as a Moto3. And experience has little to do with it.
Today Franco will tell you that Gardner was wrong about looking for space on the left, but the bike was in the middle of the lane on the right.
And his point of view was certainly not clear. Fractions of a second. Instinctive choices, more than reasoning. Happiness.
Every driver thinks that will never happen to them. But there is no parachute for this type of accident. And it doesn’t exist, and not because no one has ever thought it through. Just remember: there is no such thing as absolute security, as fast as in life.