What could be done for the safety of drivers' head?

Ali · Post by **Ali** » 20 Jul 2009, 12:00

Yesterday, we had a tragic accident which ultimately killed one of both the youngest and talented drivers, Henry Surtees, son of 1964 F1 world champion John Surtees.

Why poor Henry was killed was because of a loose wheel of another car detached from its tethers, which was supposed to hold it during an accident. That freak accident showed one more time that racing cannot be 100% safe even we have the most improved safety rules in place. A loose wheel can destroy it all of a sudden, sadly.

Then what could be done for the helmet region, which is highly vulnerable to any external impacts, defencelessly. A simple roof or broader escape roads eliminating tyre barrier use, which in turn could spread cars' parts all over the place or making more robust tethers?

What do you think could be done?

Post by **phil1993** » 20 Jul 2009, 12:04

Tethers - no matter how much protection, if the wheels are flying then they are a danger to fans and drivers and marshalls - get the tethers sorted and the problem is solved - but we may still get incidents of bits of suspension hitting drivers

Spinninggenius · Post by **Spinninggenius** » 20 Jul 2009, 12:27

If the tethers could be made any stronger then why wouldn't they already be?

In my opinion nothing can be done. Tethers don't work, a roof with the driver inside wouldn't be much use if there was a fire or if it rained, and at some tracks the barriers can't be moved because of a lack of space. Clarke went off and spun in gravel, had it have been concrete run off he may have just been able to carry on normally

Totopupu · Post by **Totopupu** » 20 Jul 2009, 12:47

Nothing

Post by **phil1993** » 20 Jul 2009, 12:52

Spinninggenius wrote:If the tethers could be made any stronger then why wouldn't they already be?

In my opinion nothing can be done. Tethers don't work, a roof with the driver inside wouldn't be much use if there was a fire or if it rained, and at some tracks the barriers can't be moved because of a lack of space. Clarke went off and spun in gravel, had it have been concrete run off he may have just been able to carry on normally

well they can make tethers stronger because they're always working on making every part of the car safer and safer, advances can always be made...man always improves things

Post by **Zack** » 20 Jul 2009, 13:27

I think they need to work on every part .. specially tethers don't serve the purpose.

Totopupu · Post by **Totopupu** » 20 Jul 2009, 14:03

But you should understand that racing is a dangerous sport and if F1 or F2 will not be dangerous, noone will watch these sport.

Post by **phil1993** » 20 Jul 2009, 14:05

Totopupu wrote:But you should understand that racing is a dangerous sport and if F1 or F2 will not be dangerous, noone will watch these sport.

Quite a good point ruined by a cretinous comment

Racing is dangerous, but we don't watch it and hope for injuries and deaths. We know it dangerous, which is why these signs are around safety fences:

Ali · Post by **Ali** » 20 Jul 2009, 14:14

Wheel Tethers in Formula Two
by Ed Gorman, Times

The death of Henry Surtees at just 18 is a tragic reminder of the risks all racing drivers take in pursuit of their sport. However there are clearly going to be questions asked about safety in the new Formula Two category in the wake of Surtees' death following an accident at Brands Hatch on Sunday.

As already reported here, the young British driver was hit on the head by a loose wheel from Jack Clarke's car which had spun. It seems the wheel had broken its tether. This was not the first time this had happened in the short history of Formula Two.

I notice in John Surtees' own account of Henry's first race of the weekend at Brno on June 20th that he lost a wheel himself during a first corner melee. As his father put it: "Henry's rear wheel was detached, breaking the tether by the impact whilst he was still on the track, and he vividly recalls this rear wheel passing him at great speed, only to realise it was his."

Clearly tethers do break - we see it occasionally in Formula One - but in the Williams-engineered Formula Two cars, it seems there could be an issue with this vital safety component. One Formula One observer was surprised to see wheels coming off. "For sure, in a junior category like that, it should be remarkably easy to achieve a tether that would hold a wheel on," he said.

Code: Select all

http://timesonline.typepad.com/formula_one/2009/07/wheel-tethers-in-formula-two.html

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Totopupu wrote:if F1 or F2 will not be dangerous, noone will watch these sport.

Are you telling me that you are watching F1 because there would be fatal crash to watch? Jeez. God save you, man.

blizzard · Post by **blizzard** » 20 Jul 2009, 14:49

I couldn´t believe it when I saw it.
The impact of the wheel didn´t look that heavy.

I was and I still am pretty speechless, because I thought it was impossible to die in a FIA homologated open wheeler series these days.

I always hated the big tarmac runoff areas on modern F1 tracks, but now I changed my oppinion. It was the track that caused the drama with Henry. First of all the car which lost the wheel only crashed because of the gravel, on tarmac he might have continued. And secondly the runoff area itself was way to small, so the wheel could bounce back on track.
On a modern F1 track this wouldn´t have happened (except Monaco perhaps).

Poor Henry

Kubica´s accident in 2007 looked 4 times heavier, but he walked away so to speak...

Post by **Zack** » 20 Jul 2009, 14:52

***WARNING - The following video depicts a fatal accident***
[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bvt8HAdBaw8[/youtube]

Williams

swca92 · Post by **swca92** » 20 Jul 2009, 15:43

This accident has many discussion points, firstly I think Brands Hatch is too small and outdated. The run off areas are too small and the facilities are poor, only local events should be held there. Secondly, the wheel tethers did a pathetic job, the wheel came off at a fairly small speed impact and the front wheel even came off Surtees car when he barely touched the barrier. Despite that the accident was enormously unlucky, I've never seen or heard of an incident where a wheel from another car killed another driver. Surtees did nothing wrong and was killed, just shows how lucky other drivers who came perilously close to being hit on the head by another car (Brundle at Brazil 94, Barrichello at Melbourne 02 and Coulthard at Melbourne 07 spring to mind) were not to suffer serious, if not fatal injury.

AzShadow · Post by **AzShadow** » 21 Jul 2009, 16:34

Ali wrote:
Totopupu wrote:if F1 or F2 will not be dangerous, noone will watch these sport.
Are you telling me that you are watching F1 because there would be fatal crash to watch? Jeez. God save you, man.

He probably meant where it would lead to if we took out the danger completely from F1. No matter what you do, as long as the cars drive fast, it will always be dangerous. And if they don't drive fast (ie not dangerous), then there wouldn't be a lot to watch. I'm sure the drivers know the risks involved but that's the life they've chosen.

Totopupu · Post by **Totopupu** » 22 Jul 2009, 21:05

AzShadow wrote:He probably meant where it would lead to if we took out the danger completely from F1. No matter what you do, as long as the cars drive fast, it will always be dangerous. And if they don't drive fast (ie not dangerous), then there wouldn't be a lot to watch. I'm sure the drivers know the risks involved but that's the life they've chosen.

Thanks! It's the perfect summary of my opinion

HandoZiZle · Post by **HandoZiZle** » 22 Jul 2009, 22:01

Beside making the tether and helmet stronger, i don't see much more that can be improved around the cockpit area to protect the head. Open wheel racing is dangerous and freak accidents like these do happen from time to time. I say the safety should be focused away from the cars...ex. run off areas or better impact barriers.

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