Unsuitable safety cars.
Discussion
In Motorsport, the safety car has to do a lot, especially the fast stuff like F1 and endurance racing. Sometimes, however good a car is, using it as a safety car is not a good idea. Here's a BMW M5 Touring at Road America for an IMSA race. A 2.5 tonne estate car, fully on the brakes into turn 10, with sparks coming off the glowing discs.
https://www.instagram.com/reel/DeADhfuyoAO/?stkn=M...
Yes it's a performance car, and yes brakes do glow red when you really step on them, but sparks?!? That can't be good.
So what other road cars have there been that was seriously not up to the job?
https://www.instagram.com/reel/DeADhfuyoAO/?stkn=M...
Yes it's a performance car, and yes brakes do glow red when you really step on them, but sparks?!? That can't be good.
So what other road cars have there been that was seriously not up to the job?
mac96 said:
Surely the point of a safety car is that is not particularly fast, so provided it operates within its own safe limits there is no problem?
It needs to be fast enough to allow the following cars/bikes to keep some heat in the tyres and brakes. Too slow and it's asking for another incident as soon as the race starts again. John D. said:
mac96 said:
Surely the point of a safety car is that is not particularly fast, so provided it operates within its own safe limits there is no problem?
It needs to be fast enough to allow the following cars/bikes to keep some heat in the tyres and brakes. Too slow and it's asking for another incident as soon as the race starts again. Mr E said:
Did the M5 suffer any braking issues other than the pyrotechnics in very low light?
F1 for a few years had no safety car standard - was whatever the circuit wanted to use.
Looks like Imola 1994. Time behind slow safety car meant F1 tyres lost pressure and reduced ride height hence Senna's car bottoming out over bumps on the circuit?F1 for a few years had no safety car standard - was whatever the circuit wanted to use.
Mr E said:
Did the M5 suffer any braking issues other than the pyrotechnics in very low light?
F1 for a few years had no safety car standard - was whatever the circuit wanted to use.
And sadly we all know what happened a few minutes after that photo was taken. F1 for a few years had no safety car standard - was whatever the circuit wanted to use.
The safety car should be the quickest standard road sports car the organisers can get their hands on. Not a Vectra, and not a large wagon.
It needs to be quick enough in higher-performance series, to allow the both the competitors and itself to maintain a safe condition of tyres, brakes, and engine cooling, able to lap continually at 90% with no performance or reliability issues. The F1 Mercedes (AMG GT Black Series) does a good job, and for a prototype series like IMSA they really need something of similar performance. A 911 Turbo would also work.
How about this one from super formula that was quicker than the super formula cars?
https://m.youtube.com/shorts/EM00_u2hX54
Or the SUV that went on track ahead of the f1 cars at the 2013 Korean grand prix
https://m.youtube.com/shorts/EM00_u2hX54
Or the SUV that went on track ahead of the f1 cars at the 2013 Korean grand prix
bergclimber34 said:
To be fair in 94 less was known about a lot of things, it was the very earliest days of this safety car idea. Yes it was poor, but lessons were learned, and it was not the reason why the accident happened, it may has contributed in a very small way.
Granted it's almost on the door handles in that image, but it was also good for 150mph and low 6's to 60 so it wasn't exactly slow. Though compared to an F1 car it was slow... 
Mr E said:
Did the M5 suffer any braking issues other than the pyrotechnics in very low light?
F1 for a few years had no safety car standard - was whatever the circuit wanted to use.
I recall being at Domnington for one of the Truck races i think and part of the programme was a kart race and they went looking through the car park to see if they could find something fast enough to keep ahead of the karts.F1 for a few years had no safety car standard - was whatever the circuit wanted to use.
They found a Skyline R33 GTR - i think - that they asked very nicely if they could borrow as a pace car for the karts and even then, it struggled to keep ahead of them through the corners. I remember it coming through Redgate like the devil was on it's heels and the passenger/observer looking through the rear window at a field of loonies chasing them down.
An interesting piece of information about that story is that I was in that damn thing on the pace lap, the guy did not have a clue about racing, and was going too slowly, then booting it on the straights!
I was there working for MN on a jolly, mainly to cover the truck races which were pretty cool actually and some lag decided we should go in the pace car with no belts in the back, They started at Goddards and we did a full lap!! it was quite cool seeing them around you on the lap, but the guy driving really was not that great at his job, I think he was roped in at the last minute so not really his fault.
So bizarre to remember and if I recall it was about 1999.
I was there working for MN on a jolly, mainly to cover the truck races which were pretty cool actually and some lag decided we should go in the pace car with no belts in the back, They started at Goddards and we did a full lap!! it was quite cool seeing them around you on the lap, but the guy driving really was not that great at his job, I think he was roped in at the last minute so not really his fault.
So bizarre to remember and if I recall it was about 1999.
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