Comments on: Lessons for F1 in NASCAR’s horror crash

By: USF1fan

USF1fan — Mon, 18 May 2009 06:06:34 +0000

I don’t understand why the cars were going that fast when it was known that the safety car was coming out. The other thing to watch is the guy at the end of the pit lane. You can see him wave the safety car out right as the race leaders are coming up on pit exit. I would say that even though there were lots of things done wrong, most of the blame should be on the guy that gave the safety car the go ahead at an unsafe time.

By: scunnyman

scunnyman — Sun, 17 May 2009 15:14:00 +0000

I reckon it was definitely the safety car drivers fault, but at the same time the drivers would have known it was coming out and where so should have slowed down more.

By: Chaz

Chaz — Sun, 17 May 2009 14:01:42 +0000

Keith. Not sure where to post this but I was wondering if you saw todays serious safety car crash at the 2nd WTCC race in Pau France. It was quite dramatic! I’ve not been able to find video of it just yet but tought you might want to post an entry of this under safety car lessons to be learnt…

By: Trey

Trey — Tue, 05 May 2009 23:47:59 +0000

heres the link
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=j5QT2V-OCXs

By: Trey

Trey — Tue, 05 May 2009 23:47:02 +0000

speaking of the adjustable rear wings. If that rear wing breaks and the driver tries to turn his car even slightly all hell breaks loose. Does anyone remember Catherine Leguie’s crash at road America in 2006. At “The Kink” going 170 mph.

here is the video (she wasn’t hurt but the crash looked bad) …

By: Chaz

Chaz — Tue, 05 May 2009 15:55:03 +0000

I hope Nascar don’t have a knee jerk reaction to this and instead spend their time and money and energy in reinforcing the barriers, period…

By: Mark Z

Mark Z — Mon, 04 May 2009 19:05:36 +0000

I wouldn’t call the plates mere window dressing–the cars would surely be hitting 240 mph in the draft without them, and since kinetic energy increases proportionally to the square of velocity, 195 mph represents over a one-third decrease in the energies of the cars.

Also, I’m no aerodynamicist, but I wonder if the 200 mph mark or thereabouts represents the beginning of a regime where the characteristics of the airflow change and become more unstable or something to that effect, so that the risk of getting airborne begins to increase exponentially. I’m really just kind of waving my hands here, and I’m sure someone could put me right, but I do recall Darrell Waltrip saying something to that effect on the broadcast last week–I think he called 200 mph and above “no man’s land”.

By: theRoswellite

theRoswellite — Mon, 04 May 2009 18:23:27 +0000

This near catastrophe is not about:

…which driver was at fault
…how the cars are configured
…fate, luck, or inevitability

It is simply about track layout, car speed, and the configuration of safety barriers separating spectators from objects entering their area at speed.

Nascar and Indycar tracks are based on layouts in which spectators surround the track…EVEN IN CORNERS. They can’t change these tracks without there being a real alteration in the nature of their sport.

A car, at speed, entering a spectator area could be the event which will bring about such a change.

Anyone designing these tracks today would put the spectators to the inside of the ovals and have the cars, pits and all related support staff outside the track….doesn’t work very well for viewing does it!

How does F1 stand?

Next time you watch a race, mentally project a car’s path at an unaltered speed in…any direction…that it is capable of moving. If the results might be a spectator related catastrophe, then this is a real possibility. One which should not be ignored.

2009 almost entered racing history the way 1955 did, and believe me, NASCAR is very aware of their “near miss”.

By: shellback

shellback — Mon, 04 May 2009 06:02:28 +0000

The stands for Daytona will then be in Kansas

By: GeorgeK

GeorgeK — Mon, 04 May 2009 04:27:24 +0000

Gman, the real solution would be to eliminate Talladega and Daytona from NASCAR racing. We also know that won’t happen as those two tracks are owned by the France family that also happens to own and run the series.

You can’t eliminate restrictor plates as the speeds would then rise to 220 mph+.

The only other alternative is to further strengthen the catch fences. Even then debris will still scatter through the fence openings like shrapnel, which is the cause of the recent injuries. But better shrapnel then the entire car.