Rest In Peace Ashley!

[West]

A V8 Supercar driver critically injured while racing in Adelaide on Saturday has died in hospital.

Ashley Cooper, 27, had been on life support since his high-speed crash into a barrier on the Adelaide street racing circuit during a support race at the Adelaide 500.

Cooper suffered severe brain injuries and failed to regain consciousness.

Adelaide 500 chief executive Andrew Daniels has told media that Mr Cooper's family, including his partner Casey and parents Alan and Maree, was at his bedside when he died.

His two young children, five-year-old Ella and three-year-old Bailey, are being cared for at home at Ulladulla in New South Wales.

Alan Cooper has praised all those who cared for his son since the accident, including track officials, Royal Adelaide Hospital staff and officials of the V8 Supercars competition.

Cooper started racing a decade ago in HQ Holden sedans, then moved to saloon cars.

He scored many round wins and set lap records.

Cooper led the 2005 Commodore Cup championship for most of the year and finished fourth at the final round at Eastern Creek.

In 2006, he was V8 Utes rookie of the year.

Cooper contested three rounds of last year's V8 Supercar series, finishing in the top 15 at Queensland Racewa

RIP!

I was watching and it was devastating.

[75coupe]

Bugger, I had a feeling he wasn't going to make it, it was a hard hit...

Bloody street circuits, bumpy with concrete walls and no run off, another reason why Australia needs more proper race tracks...

Street curcuits really are just to involve the public to make more money...

[tacker]

to right street circuits are bad for safety nearly did myself in why racing a kart on a street circuit

[ferni]

Wow from what i saw the crash didn't look that bad, and the impact was on the passenger side.... Even with all their safety gear and emergency personal around, this can still happen, brings you back to reality a bit.

RIP.

[eMsta]

yikes - RIP

[West]

....like Lowndes mentioned after his crash, if it was a proper circuit, him and the two cars that was involve would have just spun out on the grass/sand and probably they'll just keep driving on. Unfortunately, its street circuit and any mistakes would cost them, it costed him a new Falcon..well almost.

[sav man]

I think that changing the corner to a fast sweeper was a bad idea, sure the old set-up was accident prone, but the speeds were much less, and there was more run-off. The car didn't bend much, and that force had to go somewhere

RIP

[raps86]

I think that changing the corner to a fast sweeper was a bad idea, sure the old set-up was accident prone, but the speeds were much less, and there was more run-off. The car didn't bend much, and that force had to go somewhere

I agree the corner was alot safer b4 when the v8s started racing there. maybe now they will do sumthing with that corner even if they put a chicane in b4 the corner to reduce the speeds.

RIP Ashley

[moobaque]

I have to say that it puts things in a very scary perspective

considering most of us Vic people for example who do sprint days at Sandown with NO ROPS and in many cases people are using a street seat & belts would be hitting 200+ down the back straight with a concrete wall not that far off your drivers door... we would potentially fair a whole lot worse...

Not going to stop me from doing it but certainly makes me question not having a cage that's for sure.

RIP Ashley

[9krpm]

RIP Ashley and condolences to his beloved family.

Matt Kingsley from Gold Coast is also in serious health. Hope he will make a speedy recovery

[bwebbie1]

RIP

Edited February 25, 2008 by bwebbie1

[ajrichar]

RIP Ashley. This is horrible. Sincere condolences to his wife, friends and family.

[Whiplash]

RIP Ashley. My condolences go out to his friends and family

A very sad time yesterday morning down the paddocks

Matt Kingsley has been cleared from critical care with no spinal or head injuries, he should be released from hospitals in the coming days

[Merli]

Rest In Peace

[giant]

RIP

Also a good time to remember to ensure you harnesses are correctly positioned and mounted & same goes with your seat mounting. from what i have read the seat may have come away which is not good at all. (unconfirmed)

[Beer Baron]

very sad news indeed.

[NISMO]

RIP Ashley.

Heard some intersting comments on the news last night from Supercar drivers.

DJ says that Adelaide is no place for a development series as it's hard enough for the big boys there, let alone in-experienced drivers. I think thats a pretty fair comment.

Another driver (can't remember who) also said that the saftey in top class cars is much more advanced than the car that Ashley was driving. Bit of a worry considering they race on most of the same circuits and would probably do some similar speeds.

[WPN-O33]

R.I.P

[Duncan]

I'm sorry but I agree on the fujitsu series I was thinking about exactly this the other day. Mark Porter was an experienced driver who died at a difficult track, but Ashley was in his first season in these, and they are damn fast cars on a tricky circuit

edit I'm not convinced they are significantly less safe than the main series cars. the cages may not be 100% as good as the newest ones but I'm sure they still have plenty of protection compared to most cars

[paulR32gtr]

RIP

Many have walked away from much worse when equipment does not fail - I also heard that his seat came away.