Luckily, KTM factory racer Pedro Acosta and MotoGP cameraman Joao are OK after a wacky wipeout sent Costa’s bike 10 feet into the air and straight into an elevated camera tower, quite far from the track where the crash began. There are now a few angles of video on the wipeout from the Hungarian GP this weekend. It’s almost like a trick shot; what are the odds a bike could hit a camera that far away from the tarmac?
Here’s an upload from the MotoGP broadcast. Acosta low-sides and slides, and his bike tumbles, and tumbles, and tumbles, somehow retaining enough kinetic energy when it finally hits the track’s outer barrier to be flung straight upwards, towards a guy running a huge broadcast camera:
MotoGP also uploaded two other angles of the incident:
The funny thing is, it doesn’t even look like a particularly dramatic crash. It’s just the one-in-a-million result of bonking the camera that makes it so wild to watch. Acosta’s protective gear did its job, allowing him to safely slow down on a long slide off the track. The bike just happened to get the right combination of physical inputs to fly all the way up the barrier walls and into the camera perch.
Afterwards, Acosta met up with the cameraman to check on him and sign a piece of broken gear for him, which I thought was a classy move. The camera op said he wasn’t hit personally; the camera itself took the hit. Still, it would have been pretty scary to have a runaway MotoGP bike get hurled up at your perch!
I’m always happy to be reminded just how safe this level of motorcycle racing really is. Look at how healthily and easily Acosta is moving around after that wipeout, thanks to the full suit of protective leather and armor MotoGP racers wear. Meanwhile, drop a bike at 20 mph on the road while you’re wearing jean shorts and a tank top (which I see a lot in my neck of the woods), and it’ll be a much sadder story. Dress for the slide, not the ride, people!
Here are some more highlights from the event if you want a little more Hungarian GP context:
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