Head protection in F1
Discussion
After today, Alonso nearly having his head taken off:
http://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/0/formula1/19451264
Do you think F1 will move toward closed cockpits? Great Aero benefits, I guess the issue is getting the driver out quickly in the case of fire.
http://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/0/formula1/19451264
Do you think F1 will move toward closed cockpits? Great Aero benefits, I guess the issue is getting the driver out quickly in the case of fire.
This has been done to death.
Yes a cockpit will help with flying debris. The first time they tested they bounced a wheel off it, which eventually was found something like a kilometre away.
They have proven cockpits can shatter.
The biggest problem is inhibiting driver egress in an emergency.
imho if they go closed cockpit F1 will cease to exist and we'll just be watching short sportscar races.
Yes a cockpit will help with flying debris. The first time they tested they bounced a wheel off it, which eventually was found something like a kilometre away.
They have proven cockpits can shatter.
The biggest problem is inhibiting driver egress in an emergency.
imho if they go closed cockpit F1 will cease to exist and we'll just be watching short sportscar races.
FIA recently looked at a "rollhoop" rather than a canopy:
http://www.autosport.com/news/report.php/id/99155
Can you imagine how much that will obstruct vision when trying to look through a corner ? bonkers imho.
I would imagine the tub would need a fair bit of strengthening too to provide strong enough mounting points to get that on the car and ensure it doesn't get ripped off / come loose.
http://www.autosport.com/news/report.php/id/99155
Can you imagine how much that will obstruct vision when trying to look through a corner ? bonkers imho.
I would imagine the tub would need a fair bit of strengthening too to provide strong enough mounting points to get that on the car and ensure it doesn't get ripped off / come loose.
Whilst incidents such as we saw are always scary I say no to canopies or indeed much change to the current regs.
Not wanting to send this thread off at a tangent I was more concerned about wheels bouncing around. One was loose following the first corner mash up but one came loose when wossiname crashed later on.
I thought they had tethers? Are drivers, and marshalls/spectators not more at risk from flying hubs than flying cars?
Not wanting to send this thread off at a tangent I was more concerned about wheels bouncing around. One was loose following the first corner mash up but one came loose when wossiname crashed later on.
I thought they had tethers? Are drivers, and marshalls/spectators not more at risk from flying hubs than flying cars?
err motorsport is meant to be dangerous, if you put canopies in you might as well ban all open wheel racing from f-ford to f1. motorsport is getting far too sanitised as it is, as I have quoted a few times " I can remember when sex was safe and motorsport dangerous"
as for the wheels and debris, at most tracks marshals are standing behind blocks of debris fence that should take the hit but you never let your eyes leave the track no matter how cute the babes are on the speccy banking lol at least if you can see something coming towards you you can duck
as for the wheels and debris, at most tracks marshals are standing behind blocks of debris fence that should take the hit but you never let your eyes leave the track no matter how cute the babes are on the speccy banking lol at least if you can see something coming towards you you can duck
I believe that when they tested the idea after Massa's accident, they tried 2 different canopies. One was a simple polycarbonate/perspex type thing, the other was made of some sort of super material that they use on fighter jets. The perspex one shattered, the fighter jet one didn't, although it did flex a lot. I wouldn't suppose that drivers getting out quickly when needed would be too much of an issue, when a pilot in a fighter jet pulls the ejector seat handle, the canopy is jettisoned away, so I'm sure designing something like that would, for an F1 engineer, be like learning ABCs for us mere mortals. The only thing they'd have to worry about then is where the canopy would land.
I'm sure most of us have seen the video, but if not http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=e87HIlOIYFA
Of course, vision would be partially obscured, and there are other complications when trying to come up with an effective design. But seeing as F1 engineers are almost as secretive as the folks at Area 51, I wonder if they'll design some sort of force field
I'm sure most of us have seen the video, but if not http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=e87HIlOIYFA
Of course, vision would be partially obscured, and there are other complications when trying to come up with an effective design. But seeing as F1 engineers are almost as secretive as the folks at Area 51, I wonder if they'll design some sort of force field
Its interesting that in that test and subsequent ones they angled the wheel. In the very first ones they fired the wheel upright, which is the one that went high & far. easily enough to go over a safety fence.
Hoops, canopies, cockpits.. I can't really see them being practical.
No-one wants to see deaths/injuries but they are a fact of motorsport, it happens from time to time and its very sad, but I think its a step too far.
Hoops, canopies, cockpits.. I can't really see them being practical.
No-one wants to see deaths/injuries but they are a fact of motorsport, it happens from time to time and its very sad, but I think its a step too far.
silverthorn2151 said:
Not wanting to send this thread off at a tangent I was more concerned about wheels bouncing around. One was loose following the first corner mash up but one came loose when wossiname crashed later on.
Yes Karthikayan's crash looked fairly low speed - I was concerned to see the wheel ping straight up in the air. Had it come down on his head he would probably have been seriously injured.Mr_Thyroid said:
silverthorn2151 said:
Not wanting to send this thread off at a tangent I was more concerned about wheels bouncing around. One was loose following the first corner mash up but one came loose when wossiname crashed later on.
Yes Karthikayan's crash looked fairly low speed - I was concerned to see the wheel ping straight up in the air. Had it come down on his head he would probably have been seriously injured.
I mentioned this in the race thread at the time.
Too many tethers seem not to be doing their job properly.
One of the issues I could see with a canopy would be in the event of a car turning over. The upturned canopy would skip over grass / gravel, whereas now the cockpit edges would dig in a bit and serve as a brake. Granted, would need various chain of events to get in that situation, but motorsport does tend to throw those up from time to time.
Mr_Thyroid said:
Yes Karthikayan's crash looked fairly low speed - I was concerned to see the wheel ping straight up in the air. Had it come down on his head he would probably have been seriously injured.
Crash apparently blamed on a cross-threaded wheelnut that worked loose, which could explain the wheel I guess.Gassing Station | General Motorsport | Top of Page | What's New | My Stuff