Please discuss here all your remarks and pose your questions about all racing series, except Formula One. Both technical and other questions about GP2, Touring cars, IRL, LMS, ...
I think if a driver is unconscious and the car is on fire, its probably best he is shielded by a canopy than left exposed to breathe in smoke and extinguisher dust.
Leaving fire aside, I cant think of any other reason you would need to get a driver out of a car quickly.
This is Tony Schumacher's Top Fuel car. Note that the roll hoop(s) extend(s)over the head. You would need to reconfigure the cockpit to let the driver get out more "forward" but these guys prove it can be done.
Note also the windscreen...
Peripheral vision could be an issue but I don't think the current drivers have much as it is...
There were similar concerns that seatbelts and HANS were dangerous, but now we take them for granted.
tommylommykins wrote:The same applies with open-cockpit cars. The drivers fit so snugly and securely that nobody is going to pull a driver out from his care mid-fire.
The teams have to demonstrate the drivers can get out of the cockpit in a certain time limit, and also that the marshalls can lift an incapacitated drivers from the cockpit while still strapped to the cockpit. I don't have the regs with me, but it is something like 7 sec for the driver and 20 sec for the marshalls.
The new Dallara which was tragically driven and developed by Dan, is designed to not fly up in the air on contact. There are fences behind the rear wheels, so front to rear contact can simply not happen and that is usually the reason for cars to go airborne.
Before I do anything I ask myself “Would an idiot do that?” And if the answer is yes, I do not do that thing. - Dwight Schrute
In case of an emergency, why not have a canopy ejection release activated by the driver or in case of a real emergency, the team . Say the driver is unconscious, a team member can eject the canopy remotely. Of course the canopy wouldnt pop out as violently as a fighter jet but something in that fashion.
Pup wrote:Once again, I trot out the now 42 year old solution to most of open wheel racing's problems, the safe(r), (more) aerodynamically efficient, and (stunningly) beautiful Pininfarina Sigma:
the car, it's the car, it's the car, they have known or years that car takes flight, and yet they still raced it, glad the FIA is doing the invetigation or IMS would cover it up,like with Renna, no Lola or Reynard ever, ever did that
From the closed-cockpit thread, on the James Allen website someone commented about the use of air-brakes for both slowing the car and producing humongous downforce to prevent take-offs. This sounds like a very interesting idea, the only issue being how it could be activated.
There is a race between Human-Powered submarines usually held at a Navy testing tank in Maryland every other year. One of the safety requirements is that the pilots of these submarines needs to have a "dead man's switch" that would pop up an emergency float to the surface when the pilot becomes unconscious to have divers rescue them.
There would have to be a similar system in place for immediate deployment of flaps acting as air brakes. The control of the system would have to react faster to conditions than folks on the pit wall (like with DRS activation controls) or the drivers, themselves (the time delta between what looks like just a flat crash versus an airborne event is so small that even a driver fully focused should not be required to make that judgment).
Just an interesting idea. One that shouldn't be overlooked.
If we can't see the driver anymore why bother putting him in the car? Race drones!! You retain all the skill required by the drivers now. From a marketing perspective you appeal to a generation or two of gamers who careless about cars.
RB7ate9 wrote:From the closed-cockpit thread, on the James Allen website someone commented about the use of air-brakes for both slowing the car and producing humongous downforce to prevent take-offs. This sounds like a very interesting idea, the only issue being how it could be activated.
hardingfv32 wrote:If we can't see the driver anymore why bother putting him in the car? Race drones!! You retain all the skill required by the drivers now. From a marketing perspective you appeal to a generation or two of gamers who careless about cars.
Brian
Hope not, otherwise DTM/Nascar/LeMans are finshed.
--- the sons of bitches are going to cover this up, now the FIA and ACCES will not be involved , in Europe they would be charged criminally, those cars for years have had the tendency to fly and then rotate, they have known this for 10 years, but yet everytime one flys into a catch fence they did nothing, that car never meet FIA crach tests I highly doubt the new car was FIA crash tested.
IndyCar says FIA not involved in Wheldon investigation
IndyCar has moved to clarify that the FIA will in fact not be formally involved in the investigation that will be carried out following the accident in which Dan Wheldon was killed.
IndyCar had said on Tuesday that Formula 1's ruling body, alongside with the Automobile Competition Committee of the United States, would assist with the investigation that would look at the circumstances that led to Wheldon's fatal crash.
"The safety of our drivers, their crews, IndyCar staff, racetrack staff and spectators is always our paramount concern," read a statement from the IndyCar series organisers.
"As part of our standard safety protocol, a full investigation has been launched by IndyCar, with assistance from the Automobile Competition Committee of the United States (ACCUS) and Federation Internationale de l'Automobile (FIA), the national and international governing organisation, to determine the factors involved in this accident."
The series, however, issued another statement on Wednesday saying neither the FIA nor ACCUS will be "formally involved" in the investigation.
"As part of our standard safety protocol, a full investigation has been launched by INDYCAR, with assistance from individual members of various motorsports bodies. It was incorrect to state that either ACCUS or FIA are formally involved.
"We hope to have preliminary findings to report within the next several weeks. In the meantime, it would be inappropriate to comment further until the investigative team has had the opportunity to conclude its work."
cossie wrote:--- the sons of bitches are going to cover this up, now the FIA and ACCES will not be involved , snip--
Indy is not FIA sanctioned why would they let them investigate. Not standing up for Indy in any way but every race I have ever entered you signed a waiver saying you take responsibly for you death or injury.
I think its going to be pretty tough to keep the cars on the ground. any flat object given angle of attack is going airborne. My real problem is with the cheese grater of a catch fence with a 4inch spacing. My guess is once the car hit it it flex enough to allow his head to be caught. The front and rear roll hoops do nothing if they object that hits them is flexible.
