Quote:
Originally Posted by Stevensville Mike
I am going to chime in from the racing crowd, HARF. My heart dropped when I read he passed. We cannot have this happen again. Now, all of us old diehards, let's take a deep breath.
Exhale.
Here I go.
If you could have put something in place prior to this happening to prevent this incident, whether it be a canopy, a bar, a windscreen, etc., would you have done it? Of course you would have.
That said, it is time to end open cockpit racing as we know it and put something of the sort in place. I am an avid fan of motorsports, but his passing has to create the opening for a new era in safety.
I can remember watching unlimited hydroplane drivers doing their jobs in front engine, open cockpit wooden 30 footers. Bouncing and battling across the water to the thrill of all along the shores. I can remember some of them dying, too. They have gone to a canopy-type cockpit, and the safety aspect has improved tenfold. They had to.
It might not be the same, for the fans can no longer see the drivers working the wheel/rudder, but it had to be done.
Head shots from debris has to be halted. Justin Wilson, Ayrton Senna, Henry Surtees, Roberto Guerrero, Christiano DaMatta, James Hinchcliffe, Felipe Massa...... some lived, some didn't. Some were never the same.
The time has come for change and this long time race fan will be more than happy to accept it.
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While I don't disagree that the technology exists to add canopies to Indy Cars, I personally believe that it requires some very thorough and careful study.
Take the incident at IMS with James Hinchcliffe. I am not saying this would have happened, but it certainly COULD have happened. Had there been a canopy on Hincliffe's car and had it jammed due to the high side impact, it could have taken the safety crew a few more minutes to extricate him. We know now that during those few minutes he would have bled out and died.
I agree that head impacts from debris need to be looked at. But this is a very complex issue that requires a look at the overall impact to the car design, esp. from a structural viewpoint, the drivers ability to extricate the car or be extricated, and the impact to the aerodynamics of the car. Just because the technology exists to implement a change doesn't necessarily mean it is the right fix for the problem.