Motorsport , the meaning of living on the edge. Driving at ridiculously high speeds around some of the most fantastic circuits in the world, but people don't see how dangerous it really can be. Every week thousands of people attend races , wether it be Formula 1 NASCAR or even a local karting event. In addition to the millions watching at home , motorsport is one of the most widely viewed sports in the world and is one of the remaining sports to make a bugetable profit every year. So with all of this profit , why can't they Improve safety?
One of the main reasons why the fans love Motorsport is because of that unpredictability , that anything could happen , the excitement of crashes and daring overtaking moves. But is it safe enough? Are the drivers safe within their cockpits? This is what this article is going to look at.
There have been numerous incidents over the past few years which have given us reason to question the drivers safety but none more so than the catastrophic deaths of Marco Simoncelli and Dan Wheldon.
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| Dan Wheldon with his son holding the Indy 500 Trophy. |
Marcon Simoncelli was just 24 years of age and a tipped future Moto GP champion when the unthinkable happened. He was flung from his bike and his helmet flew off of his head. As he skidded across the track he made contact with Collin Edwards and Valentino Rossi. He died in hospital later that day. His death shocked the teams , riders and fans alike and will leave and unremovable mark on the motorsport industry.
In the same week british Indy Car driver Dan Wheldon also passed away at the Las Vegas motor speedway. During a 15 car pile up , the british superstar was launched off of a fellow racer at 200mph! He then flew into the safety fence and his car burst into a ball of flames. He died later in hospital.
Two deaths in the same week. Two young superstars who died doing what they loved doing. But could this have been avoided?
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| Felipe after his huge crash in 2009 |
If you compare the safety of closed cockpit cars to that of open wheelers , it's easy to see that the closed ones are a lot more safer due to having a lot more protection. GT cars use cockpit racing , which basically means the driver has a roof over his head and will be much safer if he were to have an accident. The engine is also further away from the driver so if there was a fire he would be safer. But the GT cars are not nearly as quick as the Formula 1 cars , so what would you rather...speed and excitement...or better safety for the drivers? However , if you make motorsport more safe , will that eliminate an audience and take away that thrill and unpredictability for which it has become famous for? If you ask some fans what makes Formula 1 so exciting , they may say something like “ the excitement and unpredictability knowing anything could happen and the risk of death just adds to the thrill ride.”
One of the major factors affecting the development of safety is money. Although the FIA make a lot of money every year , the smaller teams within different leagues would struggle as they would rather spend money developing their car. For instance ,whilst Ferrari would be quite happy to spend on enhancing safety as it won't affect their budget ,Teams like HRT may not have the funds.
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| Could Open wheelers learn a thing or two? |
One way of making sure that the drivers are safe is to make sure the engine is as far away from the driver as possible or if that can't be done then put suitable protection around it. This would
prevent the drivers from being in danger if a fuel fire takes place. However this is not as easy to do in series like Moto GP due to the fact the riders are on bikes.
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