The great cockpit debate; 'discussion' this Friday....

Well, I am sorry that you don't see reducing risks and working towards better safety as a form of human progress. I do.

People live, work and travel in ever improving better safety conditions, because nobody wants to see people being harmed or loose their lives needlessly. Sport is no different; it's just another form of human activity.

Don't get me started on gun control !!
I am glad that I live in a country where guns are banned; that's all I need to say.

 

Single seat, closed wheel, closed cockpit....good bye F1, hello LMP1.



Mark

 

It doesn't need to go. Those that can't handle it, shouldn't drive it.

Next you'll tell me MMA needs to go, that's dangerous too, right?

 

What is MMA ?

 

Button: Alonso crash not evidence against halo

Button: Alonso crash not evidence against halo - PlanetF1 : PlanetF1

Alonso: Crash a good test case for Halo

Alonso: Crash a good test case for Halo

 

"Mixed Martial Arts."

"Extreme" fighting inside a wire cage.

*Big* pay-per-view audiences.

Cheers,
Ian

 

What has MMA to do with F1 ?

I don't see the relevance in this discussion.

 

Some folks claim both sports are "too dangerous", and should therefore be outlawed.

Cheers,
Ian

 

I think each and every sport has to regulate itself, and that no blanket ban should be applied.

Since I last posted, I searched on google and learnt a bit about MMA, which is banned in some countries apparently? I am not interested in discussing that, I have no interest in that sport.

F1, I have been following for more than 6 decades, and I have a vested interest in the survival of this sport, and its evolution too. I speak as a motorsport passionate, and give my comments accordingly. Fi's goal is to crown the best driver through a series of races; it's there to measure skill.

F1 has one of the largest world audience, and it should be sanitised somehow to be an acceptable spectacle broadcasted to millions of households It cannot be a gorry show, or suffer excessive casualties to stay appealing. F1 has to take note of the changes in society, in technology, in ecology, in health and safety efforts, etc... It is a challenge, and it certainly gets some people's back up in the process, but its survival depends on the hability to change.

Some minor sports with smaller audience may escape scrutiny, but F1 cannot. It must adapt to changes.

 

Agreed.

But where is the problem? What gorry show are you talking about? One fatality in 20 years?

Same here, except "only" 4 decades.

 

Granted, there are less casualties now in motorsport in general, than 30 years ago.
But that's not an excuse to say the work is done; F1 must stay pro-active and prevent potential deaths in future.

I cringe when people criticise attempts to make the sport safer, mostly when it's on the ground of "keeping traditions".

 

It's not a pointless tradition though as an advertisement of "danger". The formula affects the sensations felt by the driver, the way they race the cars, and the experience of the fans. Those are simply facts.

 

Hmmm... Agree on no blanket bans, but I think an 'independent' rules maker generally works better than self regulation. (?)

+1 to all there! Well stated!

Haven't got quite as many years as you, but I'm close....

Cheers,
Ian

 

F1 "too afraid" to commit to full canopy - di Grassi

A possible future semi-closed canopy design by Red Bull at Red Bull canopy

former F1 driver di Grassi reckons grand prix racing should follow the World Endurance Championship in using fully enclosed cockpits.

 

Early halo design. 1970 Indy. Looked like **** then too....
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^ looks a little too 4x4-y, like someone squashed his jeep.

 

I'll say it for the third time: if drivers don't want to race open cockpit, open wheel cars, then they can race something else. Or they can sit on the couch. For every driver currently in F1, there are at least 500 drivers who would love to take their places. Enough of the whining; next man up, please.

 

Yep, like I said, they should race the same cars, just over shorter distances.

Makes sense to me.
Pete

 

I don't care what it looks like...

If that design had been imposed at the time, think about the number of lives that would have been saved; at Indy alone, but also in all open-cockpit series across the world !!!

 

+1

I have advocated that long time ago.

 

Aesthetics are a part of all sports.

Probably not many really. The issue with Indy is the speeds and the walls. You literally had cars and drivers blowing up into pieces. Halo design isn't going to do anything hitting a solid wall at over 200mph. The cars were so unsafe that simply focusing on protecting the head would have seemed silly in my opinion. Gordon Smiley anyone?

Now last few years it may have saved Wheldon and Wilson.

 

So you don't have an issue w the pinnacle of Motorsports having tons of driver aides then?

You wouldn't care about much more contact in f1?

 

Imagine just how many we could save if we didn't race at all and everyone just stayed in bed! Life without risk is no life at all. Each individual can determine what risks they want to take.

Current F1 cars and tracks are too safe and it has resulted in worse driving standards. You can get away with far too much and it is part of the reason F1 is turning into the weak show that even Bernie admits it is. Not a politically correct view, but that is the way it is. I don't want to see anyone hurt, but I also don't want boring and pointless....It's not a fricken bingo game at the retirement village!

 

I don't think you have grasped yet what cockpit protection is about.

It is to protect the driver's head from flying object like detached wheels.

The halo, or enclosed cockpit solution, is not a cure against any accident.

Several single-seater drivers have been killed by flying wheels hitting them on the head.

Do you think it is silly to prevent more deaths?

 

The actual F1 is already full of driver's aides.

There is no more contact in LMP than in open wheel racing.