Dario Franchitti's accident at Houston

[Kewee]

I stand by my 'silly statement with little knowledge'. My annoyance came from Dario Resta referring to a usually effective safety device as ridiculous structures. Clearly they're not ridiculous, they're a very sincere effort, which included a lot of hard work and testing, to make the cars safer. You were right Fenderman when you stated the redesign was meant to minimize the chances of that kind of accident. Minimize being the key word, in other words not total. As I said nothing can be 100% and there are occasions when the speed and angle of impact will deem them ineffective. I just find it unfortunate to say the least, when people with little knowledge level criticism at those who are trying to do their best to make the cars as safe as possible, especially when a drivers lying in hospital. I had already referred to Dan Weldon's input into the new Dallara and should also point out this was far more significant than mere bodywork shape. The entire survival tub was redesigned which is why some have said the work Weldon did probably played a major role in saving Franchitti's life. One last point before the F1 community, including F1 fans, become too precious about F1 safety, the redesign of the cockpit of the Formula 1 cars, providing the drivers shoulders and heads with far better protection after the Senna tragedy, came directly from Indy cars. It's fair to say Indy cars have been far safer than F1 cars for many years, the tracks are where the problem lies and probably always will.

 

[Dario Resta]

Those 'ridiculous structures' you refer to do work, nothing can be 100% though. It's widely believed that the new chassis named after Dan Weldon, due to the work he did developing it prior to his death, probably played a major role in saving Franchitti's life. It's unfortunate to read silly statements backed by no knowledge. IRL always learn from their tragedies and will continue to do so.

As I understand it Dan Wheldon had input into strengthening the survival cell, and that probably did help Franchitti. The structures I referred to are those behind the rear wheels which are intended to stop a car being launched. These very obviously do not work.

There was no real difference between Franchitti's accident and several similar previous accidents, so I stand by my comment that the nerf bars or whatever you want to call them will not prevent that kind of accident. These are the ridiculous structures I was referring to. I would not want to belittle anyone's efforts to increase safety, but they don't do what they're supposed to do - prevent a car being launched.

Sorry if I annoyed you, and apologies for my lack of knowledge. I'll remember in future.

 

[Kewee]

Dario Resta ...... I'm aware that the structures your referring to are those behind the rear wheels but you seem to misunderstand how they're designed to work. There are a number of points to understand. They are multi purpose being both a safety aid and an aero aid, you need to remember these cars have to stay stable at constant speeds in excess of 200mph on the faster ovals. The structures behind the rear wheels are not designed with the strength to act as bumpers, that is not possible nor is it their intended use. Just as in F1 when Indy cars touch nose to tail both the front wing on one car and the structure guarding the rear wheel, in the case of an Indy Car, are damaged and become ineffective allowing front and rear wheels to make contact.
What the structure behind the rear wheels is intended to protect against, though this can never be guaranteed, is the front wheel riding over the rear of another car, WHEN THEY'RE RACING ALONGSIDE ONE ANOTHER ON THE OVALS. At the speeds they achieve on the ovals the slightest drift as they set up for the turns far too frequently led to interlocking wheels, the obvious cause of some of the worst accidents we've seen. You can never eliminate accidents but these are the types of accidents the aero package is designed to reduce. They have different aero packages for road courses and ovals but neither could prevent the type of accident we saw at Houston. None of the drivers would go back to racing without the aero safety aids including Franchitti, he spoke about their effectiveness, especially on the ovals, not long before his accident and this won't have changed his mind, it certainly won't change Dixon's.
One last point we were both wrong about. The structural changes to the survival cell that many believe saved Dario's life were not made with any input from Dan Weldon, they were made nearly a year after his death to improve safety even further after learning lessons from his accident.

 

[tonyw151]

What gets me worried is how quickly the car went airborne. Not too unlike the Mercedes at Le Mans in '99. Maybe the series needs to rethink its flat bottom?