Berci Schlesinger's Fatal Crash @ Cancún 2001 (Aftermath)

Mexican entrepeneur Berci Schlesinger founded Casas Beta, a real estate development company, in 1993. The company had a good start and was growing steadily until the country’s economy was shaken by a gigantic financial crisis in 1995. The increasing interest rates froze the sale of new homes, so Schlesinger moved transformed Casas Beta into a general contracting venture. Such an approach was not long-lasting, as in 1997 he deciding to focus it on the low-income housing business. That demonstrated to be an excellent idea: from ninety units commercialised that year, Casas Beta experienced an explosive growth, and in 2001 it expected to sell 7200 homes, becoming one of the largest companies of its type in the State of Mexico, located north of Mexico City. Schlesinger’s skills in this region were greatly appreciated by his peers, and he was then elected vice president of the PROVIVAC - Promotores de la Vivienda del Valle de México.

For his Copa Corona – Fórmula 3 Mexicana racing program Schlesinger joined the Dynamic Motorsports Team alongside mate Jesús Silva; having his company as main sponsor, he entered the races under the banner Casa Beta/Dynamic Motorsports. His season started in unlucky fashion with abandons in the three first rounds in the Guadalajara oval circuit in Chihuahua and in Zacatecas. The following race would be the Gran Premio de Cancún, an event in the beautiful resort at the Caribean shores of the Quintana Roo state, with races on 14 and 15 July 2001. These races were to be held in a 1700-meter long street circuit dubbed Plaza de Toros, located at Plaza Las Américas, between the zone where the main Cancún hotels are located and the city's downtown. As commonly used in street courses, the circuit was lined with large concrete blocks acting as safety barriers, and after the first practice session the direction of the track was changed from counterclockwise to clockwise to enhance its safety.

Schlesinger qualified tenth amongst thirteen entrants for both races. On the morning of Saturday, 14 July, Schlesinger was taking part on the warm-up for the first race when his car went over a manhole cover at a speed of approximately 110 miles per hour (177 km/h). The cover, that was not secured, came up and hit the car; Schlesinger lost control of the vehicle, which smashed into a wall. Berci was transported to the nearby Hospital de las Américas, but was declared dead fifty minutes after the accident. In memory of Berci Saturday's race was cancelled; Sunday's event proceded as planned, and was won by Patrick Goeters.

R.I.P