Massa crashes after being hit by heave spring

[ringo]

Massa in life-threatening condition after surgery
By PAUL LOGOTHETIS (AP) – 53 minutes ago

BUDAPEST, Hungary — Hospital officials say Formula One driver Felipe Massa is in "life-threatening" condition after surgery for a fractured skull from a high-speed crash at Hungarian Grand Prix qualifying.

Officials at the AEK military hospital said Saturday that Massa will be kept sedated on a respirator in an intensive care unit.

Medical director Peter Bazso said at a news conference that "Massa's condition is serious, life-threatening but stable."

Bazso and chief surgeon Lajos Zsiros say they expect Massa to be awoken Sunday.

I hope he is only saying life threatening to make himself look good as a doctor!

[Ray]

Jet planes are under way more stress than an F1 car would ever be.

yep, but that is sustained load not a crash like - ever seen jetplane jumping on curbs?

No but I have seen what a careless mechanic can do around even the weakest explosives can do. I've seen a very good, very experienced , very trustworthy, and very thorough ordnanceman drop three fully fueled drop tanks on the ground and it almost hit a guy standing next to it. Had he been six inches closer it could have very well destroyed the use of his left leg for the rest of his life. And those particular cads were only just as powerful as sissy as a shotgun round without the pellets. Their sole purpose was to unlock the mechanism to hold the bomb/droptank on and then push it clear of the aircraft upon release. Not to mention a squadron I used to be in, and the guys I used to work with, blew a 400+ pound canopy clear across a hangar, over 200 feet, and almost hit someone. Mind you they had rocket motors to assist in lifting the canopy clear of the aircraft. But carelessness is very easy to have happen and very dangerous with explosives.

[Ray]

Jet planes are under way more stress than an F1 car would ever be.

yep, but that is sustained load not a crash like - ever seen jetplane jumping on curbs?

you mean like landing? on a carrier? they take a good pounding, even just sitting in the hanger bay of the carriers.

Exactly. Jets are also subject to quite a huge range of temperatures and shocks in the air and even then those explosives are dealt with extreme care.

[jonathan189]

James Allen: Massa's doctor reporting to Brazilian media that brain scan is clear and signs are positive. Family is en route to Hungary now.

[jason.parker.86]

1st - How can we blame Brawn for sending out a car which they knew thought wasnt performing as it should be? If this is the case, then 9/10 cars wouldnt be on the track because they would be deemed a danger.

2nd - I think the fact that Massa is not dead shows how well the current setup has worked. I mean fair enough he is in a bad way, but he isnt dead!

I think this should just be put down to a freak accident and I do not see why teams should be redesigning the drivers helmets and introduce a canopy! Could be more dangerious in the long run!

[timbo]

Exactly. Jets are also subject to quite a huge range of temperatures and shocks in the air and even then those explosives are dealt with extreme care.

Never meant to argue about the dangers of explosives on race cars. My example of riding the curbs was meant to show that it would be extremely difficult to tune explosive to fire only in case of accident. For example if a car clips the chicane it may be exposed to even bigger shock (although for a shorter time) than car hitting tire barrier.

I think we should look at top-fuel dragsters for the exaple on protection.

[Ray]

1st - How can we blame Brawn for sending out a car which they knew thought wasnt performing as it should be? If this is the case, then 9/10 cars wouldnt be on the track because they would be deemed a danger.

Because, if I'm not mistaken, Barichello stated that something was wring in the rear of the car and it felt like it was too soft or something like that. If that's the case, they should have pulled the car in and went over the rear of the car and checked and rechecked everything to make sure nothing was loose. Obviously something was. If a spring worked it's way out it's obviously dangerous and they shouldn't have gone back out. Simple check really. In their defense, they could have done those checks and found nothing, it simply failed under load. Which they couldn't cehck in the pits. Now, if they scrutinize the car and find an obvious failure, like they can see some serious structural failure, they should be sat out until they can demonstrate it won't happen again. That's just my opinion based off Rubens saying they knew something was amiss in the rear suspension.

[mpbx3003]

This doesn't sound good, Sky Sports reporting fracture at the base of the skull. I hope not, because that's a career-threatening injury, at the very least.

http://www.skysports.com/story/0,19528, ... 38,00.html

[Ray]

Exactly. Jets are also subject to quite a huge range of temperatures and shocks in the air and even then those explosives are dealt with extreme care.

Never meant to argue about the dangers of explosives on race cars. My example of riding the curbs was meant to show that it would be extremely difficult to tune explosive to fire only in case of accident. For example if a car clips the chicane it may be exposed to even bigger shock (although for a shorter time) than car hitting tire barrier.

I think we should look at top-fuel dragsters for the exaple on protection.

Well sorry if I was a bit, strong shall we say, but it's not something that you can toss around without looking at the dangers of it. I myself take nothing for granted when it comes to things like that. I've even told a full bird Colonel to get out of my shop when I was arming an ejection seat as a lowly Corporal in the Marines. It was also in my right to tell anyone who I damn well pleased to get out of the shop when doing anything dealing with explosives. Same goes for an airplane, no one is allowed anywhere near it when any work like that is being performed.

What specifically are you talking about that F1 should adopt from Top Fuel? The big windscreen in the front of the driver? Because I think those are solely there for aero purposes.

[jason.parker.86]

Eddie Jordan Post Qualifying: "Massa has just had a knock on the chin..."

Some knock...!

[timbo]

What specifically are you talking about that F1 should adopt from Top Fuel? The big windscreen in the front of the driver? Because I think those are solely there for aero purposes.

Windscreen and roll-hoop above the head, not behind it.

[Ray]

This doesn't sound good, Sky Sports reporting fracture at the base of the skull. I hope not, because that's a career-threatening injury, at the very least.

http://www.skysports.com/story/0,19528, ... 38,00.html

Has anyone been able to determine his speed when he hit the tires? Because I think alot of his helmet damage occured then rather than the impact with the spring. And for whatever it's worth some broadcasts show the telemetry thingy on the left showing 5.2G when he hit the barrier.

[Ray]

What specifically are you talking about that F1 should adopt from Top Fuel? The big windscreen in the front of the driver? Because I think those are solely there for aero purposes.

Windscreen and roll-hoop above the head, not behind it.

That sounds like a pretty good idea. Exiting the car would be kinda slow though.

[Ray]

On second thought if you watch the videos closely he is looking in his mirrors as he's going down the straight. I don't think he even saw it coming. Watch the first three seconds of the video, he turns his head twice and right after the second time he looks forward the spring hits him. Man.

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lJvv1ZSJZ0I[/youtube]

[mpbx3003]

I've seen the video many times now, and is it just me, or does his head come forward more than it should?