Unless the racecar is run by remote control, there will always be risk and death. Regardless what safety equipment added, anytime you take a machine or a sport to its edge, it can and will fail. sky divers, motorcyclists, aerobatic pilots, mountain climbers have deaths every year. Risk can be mitigated, but not eliminated. I drove a front motored dragster for years. Scary, sometimes yes. Risky, you bet, Dangerous? of course it was. Fun? Damn right it was. I had people shake their head at me and say "I would never get in one of those death traps". Didn't stop me.
Inclose cockpits of F1 and Indy cars?
- Thread starter Howard Jones
- Start date
For me, a partially enclosed cockpit is the obvious answer. It partially protects the driver, and may very well have saved Wilson's life. Even if that nosecone would have completely caved in a partial windshield, it still would have dissipated some of the impact, which could have meant the difference between a bad concussion and well, the result we got.
to me, this discussion of what exactly causes the bulk of brain injuries is splitting hairs. Yes, I understand that the brain sloshing around inside the skull is the predominant source of brain injury. But foreign object impact, episodic as it is, could largely be eliminated with a canopy. Having a canopy wouldn't diminish my interest in the race. And the canopy could more than likely be mounted to the roll structure via a quick release or even an explosive bolt set up to allow rapid egress. In summary, a canopy won't save everyone, but it will likely save someone.
Pat
Supporter
As far as Indycar goes, perhaps the focus is in the wrong direction. The start of the 2015 Verizon IndyCar Series season marked INDYCAR’s introduction to chassis competition based upon aerodynamic bodywork components designed, manufactured and supplied by Chevrolet and Honda. Cars are to be differentiated by their shape as the manufacturers have designed separate aero kit specifications for road and street course/short ovals and speedways for the Dallara IR-12 chassis.
IndyCar’s new aero kit era began in St. Petersburg with flying debris from the race striking and fracturing a spectator’s skull. As driver Will Power said after the St Pete race, there was an “amazing amount” of pieces flying off the cars. In June, another new and untested aerodynamic configuration went on the cars, for the Verizon IndyCar Series at Texas Motor Speedway. Series officials believe that air flowing through the bumpers when crashed cars were traveling backward at high speeds was a potential cause of the tendency for cars running Chevrolet bodywork to get airborne necessitating the rear bumpers you now see. The lack of on-track testing for the aero packages concerns four-time Indy car champion Mario Andretti.
"These guys are getting a lot of new pieces thrown at them with no testing," Andretti said. "Everyone is experimenting, and everybody is making a lot of educated guesses at the moment. They have no data to go by.
And now we have this most recent tragedy. You don't seem to see issues with this frequency in F1 or other forms of racing.
IndyCar’s new aero kit era began in St. Petersburg with flying debris from the race striking and fracturing a spectator’s skull. As driver Will Power said after the St Pete race, there was an “amazing amount” of pieces flying off the cars. In June, another new and untested aerodynamic configuration went on the cars, for the Verizon IndyCar Series at Texas Motor Speedway. Series officials believe that air flowing through the bumpers when crashed cars were traveling backward at high speeds was a potential cause of the tendency for cars running Chevrolet bodywork to get airborne necessitating the rear bumpers you now see. The lack of on-track testing for the aero packages concerns four-time Indy car champion Mario Andretti.
"These guys are getting a lot of new pieces thrown at them with no testing," Andretti said. "Everyone is experimenting, and everybody is making a lot of educated guesses at the moment. They have no data to go by.
And now we have this most recent tragedy. You don't seem to see issues with this frequency in F1 or other forms of racing.
I think you make a good point Pat.
I have not seen an Indy car - or whatever they are called now - for several years, and am surprised that they now look more like a prototype sports car than an open wheeler - with a few extra bits and pieces tacked on.
Maybe they should take a look to the LeMans cars/designers for guidance.
Getting rid of all the fugly winglets, vanes and barge boards from F1 cars would be no bad thing either.
Tim.
I have not seen an Indy car - or whatever they are called now - for several years, and am surprised that they now look more like a prototype sports car than an open wheeler - with a few extra bits and pieces tacked on.
Maybe they should take a look to the LeMans cars/designers for guidance.
Getting rid of all the fugly winglets, vanes and barge boards from F1 cars would be no bad thing either.
Tim.