Surtees was killed during a Formula Two race in 2009 when a tyre came loose from another car, bounced across the track and hit him on the head. Undoubtedly, this sort of concept could have saved the life of Henry Surtees, son of former motorcycle and Formula One world champion John. It is the second of these that most people imagine when they think of a closed cockpit, a jet fighter-style canopy protecting the driver from anything and everything outside the car which could cause serious injury. The third was a roll-hoop structure, theoretically to be placed directly in front of the driver on the edge of the cockpit, which deflected a head-on tyre but has obvious shortcomings in terms of exposure and visibility for the person behind the wheel. The second was a 300mm-thick jet fighter canopy which successfully deflected the wheel assembly away without sustaining windshield damage. The first, a triple layer polycarbonate, 30-mm-thick windshield, shattered on impact but deflected the wheel and tyre assembly away from the cockpit area. The tests involved firing a wheel and tyre, with a combined weight of 20kg, at 225km/h into three different safety concepts. Ever since Massa's 2009 accident it has been high on the safety agenda and that year the FIA Institute conducted a series of tests at an abandoned RAF airbase in Ipswich. And the FIA does not take the subject lightly. Secondly it is unfair because the FIA is a long way from deciding on the type of closed cockpit it would want to implement - in any category - if it needed or wanted to. As Sage Karem's car bounced off the wall on Sunday, the debris flew around his car and down the banked oval track, which is what allowed his nose cone to bounce so violently and tragically towards Wilson. Firstly, as Wilson's death proves, Ind圜ar has a higher risk of drivers being hurt by flying objects due to the nature of oval circuits where cars often go three- or four-wide and debris can easily be deflected back onto the racing line. The blanket term of a "closed cockpit", and the idea that that blanket term is the solution for open wheel racing, is unfair for several reasons. In July, after Bianchi succumbed to his injuries, Felipe Massa, who suffered life-threatening injuries at the 2009 Hungarian Grand Prix when struck in the head by a loose spring, echoed Alonso's statement, but only if it was "better for everybody" and did not radically alter the DNA of Formula One. "All the biggest accidents in motorsport in the last couple of years have been head injuries so it's probably one of the parts where we are not on the top of the safety." "We are in 2014, we have the technology, we have aeroplanes and many other examples used in a successful way, so why not to think about it?" the Spaniard said. Immediately after Bianchi's crash, former double world champion Fernando Alonso led the calls for F1 to seriously consider closed cockpits. While Ind圜ar's last fatality was in recent memory (Dan Wheldon in 2011), Bianchi became the first F1 driver to be killed as the result of an accident since Ayrton Senna in 1994. It comes at a sensitive time for Formula One, just six weeks after Bianchi lost his fight against the serious brain injury he suffered in Suzuka following a 126km/h collision with a recovery vehicle. The loss of any driver from a flying object reignites the debate around closed cockpits and the idea open wheel racing should take this radical step to ensure this can never happen again. Wilson's crash was very much like Jules Bianchi's last year at the Japanese Grand Prix in the sense it was a case of wrong place, wrong moment as he struck the loose nose cone of Sage Karem's car, which had crashed further along the circuit. It is easy to watch the video of the crash which claimed the life of former F1 driver Justin Wilson in Sunday's Indycar race at Pocono Raceway and immediately conclude closed cockpits are the next logical step to prevent future fatalities in motor racing. You have reached a degraded version of because you're using an unsupported version of Internet Explorer.įor a complete experience, please upgrade or use a supported browser
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