John Shiels

I was watching CCWS yesterday and when Legges wing decided to depart coming to a 165 MPH corner and it was bad news. She walked away but it looked like she may have been killed.

I think open cockpit cars are too dangerous in accidents. Your tucked in deep but the chance of head injury is still there and you have great exposure to you most venerable part of your body.

StArrow68

Have to admit, just shook my head after seeing the accident and first replay, didn't look good. But the fact that she walked away is telling. I've driven in the open wheel cars at Sears Point, Russell Racing and at least for shorter drivers your head is protected if you wear a restraint. There was a Doc on the Wind Tunnel program on Speed who went through what has been done to protect drivers and it was impressive. I'm still amazed she wasn't hurt.
Randy

That wing exiting at the corner entry was a real "Oh S... "

Slalom4me

I didn't see the incident and I am glad she walked away. I for one
am a strong booster of women in motorsports and I have high hopes
for Katherine's future.

I never expect to hear about it but I would like to know the results
of the investigation into how the wing came to part ways from the car.

I understand what you are saying about open cars but I wonder
what you feel could be an alternative. Do you think it is time to
consider going to a closed cockpit, open wheel design?

.

John Shiels

When I saw the ambulance going slow I thought she was gone. Senna was killedby a head injury. Then when PT went over S.B in CCWS race this year it looked bad also. i think a little more forward and his head would have been crushed.


I think it would be better and safer. AMLS will be closed soon also. You still have the open wheel look and all the racing is the same in regards to wheel contact. Less fatigue on driver also. Add in some AC also. Driver fitness is also a race factor and nice to see. Where a softer driver would survive in AC better.

Doubt it will take them long to figure out what happen. Same thing on Kimi's F-1 wng also last year.

Slalom4me

The arguement for open cars used to be that spectators can
see the driver - body english & so on.

One only needs to look at some of the photos R&T is publishing to
promote their image service to see where the support for the old
view stems from. However, the cockpit openness that's required
to see the drivers has been gone for decades. In-car cams will
be able to capture video in closed cars as well if not better than
open cars.

Physics and performance of the vehicles will alter because of the
change - who cares. Bring it on ...

.

Lancer033

anyone know where to find the video online?

AU N EGL

"Respect the Kink."

Cage #1 mod this winter

John Shiels

if you are in the states yet the race will re-air Wednesday on speedtv

96CollectorSport

Good lord! Out of all the places at RA for that to happen. I believe the kink is the fastest corner at RA for the Champ Cars. I'm guessing Champ Cars go through there between 155 and 165, then no rear bite ouch!

It's amazing anyone could have walked away from that! Thank God for all of the advances in saftey equipment!

GrantR

Saw a video clip linked elsewhere:

http://www.members.shaw.ca/MrTurtle/legcp1.wmv

that's one nasty looking incident. It's amazing what people can walk away from with a bit of luck!

xsiveone

Definitely the very worst place on the track! Someone said 165 and someone else said 180. I believe 165. They were saying that the top speed was 190 on the straights and it doesn't make sense that they'd be doing 180 entering the Kink and topping out at 190.

Legge said that her car sped up for some reason. When she lost her wing, she not only lost her rear downforce, she lost her drag, so the car probably took off like a rocket. She was a sitting duck as soon as she went to turn in for the Kink. So glad to see that she's all right.

Does anyone else wonder if having the crew push the cars out of the pits having something to do with the wing failing? When I see them push the cars it doesn't look like the safest thing to do. I don't think that the wings are designed to have someone push on them.

You know.. I have mixed feelings about safety. I want the drivers to be safe, but if you take away all the risk, what's the appeal to it? You might as well watch people ride roller coasters. If F1 ever came to Road America, you know the first thing that they'd ask the track to do is cut down trees and give the Kink some runoff room. Or.. Run the chicane before the Kink. The F1 drivers were whining about Monza not having enough runoff room and want them to cut down trees to extend the runoff room. If all the future F1 tracks end up like Bahrain or Sepang, I'm not going to bother to watch. The one exception to the new circuits is the track in Turkey. Why didn't they build something like that in Bahrain and Malaysia?

John Shiels

I can feel what the drivers passing thought as they saw it. When I raced boats you would pass an accident and later find out there was a death. Only the first boat was to stop at an accident.

Smith

I know the safety director at RA. In addition, I purchased a new race car as a result of the kink.

There is no room to do anything to give more run off room at the kink. There is a railroad right of way on the other side of the wall on the outside. They have tried a bunch of different stuff to make it safer but tires caused more problems. Based on the results it looked liked things are about as good as they can be.

I was watching it live and thought that we lost another driver. I was watching live when we lost Senna and DE. I thought that Legge's crash was the worst but often times that is the case.

The F1 guys still run at Monaco.

Slalom4me

I can imagine her surprise at the unexpected acceleration. She
can't be aware that the wing is gone as she doesn't appear to begin
braking until the car starts to rotate when I imagine she locks it up.

From the video, it appears the wing sheared away from
the mount - I don't see any sign of the uprights on the broken section
as it sails away or later when it is picked up by the course worker.
Thats a lot of rivets to let go at once.

Incidently, did anyone note the approach of the Safety Truck?
The driver was really on it hard, catching a bit of air and plowing
through the debris field - the passengers in the back had a ride
that time. Using the clock on the video, there is just 20 seconds
between the time Legge's car stops moving until the truck brakes
beside her. Outstanding response, the kind of reaction I hope
I receive if I should ever experience misfortune.

xsiveone

I know they do, but how much longer?

BrianCunningham

Hopefully they'll find the cause of the failure.
I wonder if it will be like the F1 wing failures where teams were designing them to lay down at speed to reduce drag.

Closed cockpits in open wheels winged car?
I really don't see that happening.

nice to see.

BTW
Same corner where I went off in my 1st 'off' in the Vette. I was only doing 110, though I managed to scrub off alot of speed before I hit.

John Shiels

why not LMP is going closed soon?

John Shiels

that race stinks no passing and dangerous but the drivers like it. I guess they like the atmosphere and parties.

xsiveone

You must be thinking of Imola. Monza is awesome!

xsiveone

LMP has enclosed fenders. It doesn't make much sense to have an open wheel car with an enclosed cockpit. I think that they've done a lot of things in the name of safety. Cristiano hitting the deer was a fluke accident. I'm sure that even Cristiano would agree that if they removed all the risk from driving what would you have?