Tinted Tear Offs

[gridwalker]

The BBC commentators have been making a point of discussing tinted tear-offs being used to cope with the setting sun at Abu Dhabi : As the race is being run from the evening into night time, the drivers will have to face variable light conditions that the tinted tear offs are supposed to combat.

Given the fact that drivers will be driving into and out of the glare of the setting sun, and also that the opposite problem exists at races like Australia (going from daylight into evening time, where the setting sun will INCREASE the need for tinting, meaning the problem cannot be compensated for through tear offs), wouldn't it be sensible for helmet manufacturers to develop photochromatic visors?

I have worn "reactions" lenses for years and have been very happy with their automatic tint adjustment according to light levels. Given that this is a cheap coating for everyday glasses (which would barely increase the overall cost of a F1 grade helmet), surely a photochromatic layer could be developed to change tint at a fast enough rate to compensate for the changing light conditions on an F1 circuit.

I think this could be a reasonable safety development at minimum cost.

Any thoughts?

[sknguy]

I'm surprised that helmet manufacturers wouldn't have transitions type visors. At least for the racing market. I'm not sure what traffic laws would say about this kind of visor tinting. The only thing I'd be curious about is the speed of the actual transition itself and would it remain fairly constant with changing conditions.

I don't know how the FIA regulates their use but in some sports you need medical certification to wear a tinted visor. Interesting though.

[roost89]

I've never seen a pair of reaction lenses at work, so I'm not too sure on how much they tint. Would they be too dark when there's artificial lighting? Or not tinted enough?

With the tear-offs, they could have dark tear-offs that move further down toward clear. Can't be that hard, at least as an interim thing.

Can you ahve reaction style chemicals in a thin plastic, which I assume, the drivers use for visors.

[gridwalker]

I've never seen a pair of reaction lenses at work, so I'm not too sure on how much they tint. Would they be too dark when there's artificial lighting? Or not tinted enough?

With the tear-offs, they could have dark tear-offs that move further down toward clear. Can't be that hard, at least as an interim thing.

Can you ahve reaction style chemicals in a thin plastic, which I assume, the drivers use for visors.

They are already using staged tinting on tear-offs, hence this conversation thread, however I was just raising the point that there are circumstances where they arent going to be helpful.

The level of tinting on reactions style lenses can be adapted as per necessity, simply through changing the density of the compounds used in the photochromatic layer. The tint varies according to light levels, rather than simply being an on/off style reaction, so I'm sure the given tint according to specific light ambience can be adjusted as per requirements.

As for whether the chemicls can be bonded to plastics, that is another question entirely. I don't know if it can be done, but I'm certain it's not beyond the capacity of current chemical engineering.

[Belatti]

What about endurance racers? What do they use?

[bazanaius]

Photochromic lenses do indeed change their tint based upon light levels - they are also heat sensitive and won't change as quickly (or go as dark) at higher temperatures (at low temperatures they go virtually opaque almost instantly!). I'm sure with a bit of research they could develop a solution that would work in F1 however.

Another thing I've always thought would be useful for drivers, which is used in other sports, is the 'daydrive' lenses that Specsavers produce. A strange orange tint, they are designed to filter out blueish tints and improve concentration and eye fatigue whilst driving. You can get them as contacts, and I've seen wayne rooney wear them a couple of times (they make you look a bit scarey) - but I can certainly see an application of these for F1 drivers, or any racing drivers for that matter.

ps. most photochromic lenses at the minute are plastic (not glass), and the chemicals are actually included as part of the manufacturing process, it is not a coating.