Auto racing is always dangerous, and there can be no denying
that. Formula 1, though, seemed to be in denial for around 8 years since Elio
de Angelis’ fiery crash during testing at Paul Ricard, France in 1986 till
Ayrton Senna and Roland Ratzenberger had their fatal crashes during the San
Marino Grand Prix weekend at Imola, Italy in April, 1994. That 8-year period
was the first time in history where Formula 1 did not encounter a single
fatality.
A History of Serious
Crashes in Formula 1
For sure, there were serious accidentsfor Nelson Piquet and Gerhard
Berger at Imola in 1987 and 1989 respectively while Martin Donnelly had his
career ended after a horrific crash at Jerez, Spain in 1990, where his car
literally broke in two and he was thrown onto the track unconscious and with
multiple fractures to his bones at various parts of the body along with
internal injuries.
Imola 1994 was the wake-up call though, that things can
never be left to chance. There was too much complacence with regard to safety
till then. Just because there weren’t any deaths in that 10-year period, it
doesn’t mean that things were safe. Looking at how racing car cockpit designs were
back then, it just was a miracle that there weren’t any casualties.
Cockpit Protection improved
but left the Head Vulnerable
It wasn’t just the driver’s exposed head - albeit protected
by a helmet - that was at risk, but also the chest and upper body. It was in
the years following 1994 that cockpit sides were raised to give the driver’s
upper body reasonable protection from debris. And then, from 2010, cockpit
sides were raised further, to more comprehensively cocoon the driver’s head.
But a significant portion of the head was still exposed,
particularly the crucial top part that houses the brain. Crash helmets have
evolved to become safer and lighter, but they can never always protect the
brain from serious injury or even death. That was made clear in other major
championships such as Formula 2 and IndyCar.
Recent Fatalities in
Circuit Racing
Henry Surtees lost his life in a Formula 2 crash at Brands
Hatch, England in 2009 when a tire from another crashed car landed on his helmet.
In IndyCar, Dan Wheldon became a victim of head trauma after colliding with a
fence post at the edge of the banked Las Vegas Motor Speedway in 2011. More
recently, IndyCar driver Justin Wilson died from head injury after debris from
a crash hit his helmet at the Pocono Raceway, Pennsylvania in 2015. That was
the next wake-up call for the whole of open-wheel auto racing, particularly
Formula 1 that was observing the events in the other series such as IndyCar,
Formula 2 and Formula 3.
A Close Call
Of course, back in 2009, Formula 1 too had a close call when
Felipe Massa was struck above his left eye with a suspension spring that got
detached from the car ahead during qualifying for the Hungarian Grand Prix. The
spring penetrated the helmet at the part where the visor joins the helmet
structure and hit the left eyebrow causing that eye to shut and remain so till
surgery rectified it. In fact, it was feared that Massa would lose sight, but
he was miraculously saved.
Fatality Strikes Formula
1 again
20 years after 1994, Formula 1 was struck with its first
fatality when Jules Bianchi crashed into a tractor that had arrived to retrieve
another crashed car during the caution period of the 2014 Japanese Grand Prix,
Suzuka. Bianchi suffered diffuse axonal injury (DAI) caused by sudden
deceleration of the head. He died 8 months later, never recovering from the
coma. Though Bianchi’s helmet didn’t actually strike anything, the incident
only made the call for safer cockpits louder and stronger.
Say Hello to Halo
The need to protect the driver’s head emerged, and
eventually research by the FIA, motor racing’s governing body, into various
kinds of protective canopies finally resulted in the introduction of the halo,
a carbon-fiber frame to be fixed on top of the car’s body, aheadof the open
cockpit. Formula 1 implemented this in 2018 followed by other series around the
world, including Formula 2, Formula 3, Super Formula and S5000. Soon there were
crashes in Formula 1 and Formula 3 that revealed how the halo protected the
cockpit and prevented serious head injury.
IndyCar Goes a
Different Route
For some strange reason, IndyCar did not adopt the halo as
it is, but added a transparent screen around it to protect the driver from even
smaller pieces of debris that could penetrate the area between the frame of the
halo and car body. This is called an aeroscreen, and will be used from the 2020
IndyCar season.
Now I am all for safety, but I think the aeroscreen is
taking it too far. Either leave it as an open cockpit car and add the halo for
cockpit safety, or employ a fully closed cockpit with doors and
air-conditioning like the sports prototypes and GT cars have. This aeroscreen
looks like an odd compromise. The screen has not been proven to protect from just
about any debris, and the risks of such small pieces of debris penetrating the
cockpit between the frames of the halo is extremely rare anyway.
Why the Aeroscreen
Isn’t Ideal
The top part of the helmet that protects the most critical
part of the head, the brain, is still exposed by the halo and the aeroscreen.
They can only prevent large pieces of debris that come towards the head from
ahead. The screen around the halo in an aeroscreen actually does not serve much
of a purpose here since the halo structure itself is good enough and placed at
a favorable angle tointercept debris that usually are big enough.
Why the Halo Would
Have Done the Job
Besides, there are heating issues reported by drivers since
the screen blocks the air coming towards the cockpit. Closed race cars have
air-conditioning or other helmet cooling devices to prevent the heat, but, with
the current design, air-conditioning can’t be added. The problem still isn’t
fully resolved despite adding vents below the aeroscreen structure. Drivers are
now resorting to helmet cooling devices on special helmets that enable air to
be fed directly to the head of the driver through a hose. But are all these
complications needed, when a halo would have done the job? I and certainly many
fans think so.
About Kyle
Kyle Terrace Simak is an upcoming racing driver looking to
make the cut in the various junior series of the SCCA to eventually make it to
the top rungs of professional motorsport. He is also a scholar of various
aspects of motor racing and likes to give his insight into the different
aspects of the sport.
No comments:
Post a Comment