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I'm sure I remember a Toyota a few years back (possibly Panis?) and during the Friday practice at a grand prix, his cockpit extinguisher kept going off inside his cockpit and covering him with foam!

I realise that this does not guarantee automatic systems are in place though. It could just be a fault with the circuitry controlling the manually-operated fire extinguisher. But either way, pretty dangerous having foam sprayed at you while you're hammering at 200mph!

bernard wrote: If a car catches fire after a crash and the driver is unconcious, then the extinguishers would go off immediately, rather than when a track marshal gets there with the aforementioned pole. Especially if the car is flipped over the switch at the side of the airbox can be pretty hard to get to, not even mentioning the possible flames. This area of the FIA regulations could use a little modernization, the rules are way over ten years old on this.

bernard, I believe it is at this exact point that reality intervenes and it must be accepted that no sport can ever be 100% safe. how can you possibly decide when a driver is unconscious or not?
if you douse him with CO2 you risk suffocating him through lack of oxygen!

Here is the pic of that mclaren and my god you were right on being ugly

http://www.cressinghamscalemodels.co.uk ... 4-10-7.JPG

and I thought during the Chinese Grand Prix this year, when Narain crashed his Jordan, that the commentators on speed t.v mentioned that there is a device in the car that will shoot foam inside the cockpit for acouple of seconds??

the commentators on speed t.v

well thats never going to be accurate then is it...!

so true

zac510 wrote:

bernard wrote: If a car catches fire after a crash and the driver is unconcious, then the extinguishers would go off immediately, rather than when a track marshal gets there with the aforementioned pole. Especially if the car is flipped over the switch at the side of the airbox can be pretty hard to get to, not even mentioning the possible flames. This area of the FIA regulations could use a little modernization, the rules are way over ten years old on this.

bernard, I believe it is at this exact point that reality intervenes and it must be accepted that no sport can ever be 100% safe. how can you possibly decide when a driver is unconscious or not?
if you douse him with CO2 you risk suffocating him through lack of oxygen!

The cockpit rarely sets on fire. I meant putting out the root of the fire, the engine area.
But I realise this is pretty hard to achieve, because of the nature of the environment.
A heat sensor under the airbox intake behind the driver's head, plus a few other strategical spots would give a pretty decent picture of whether the car is on fire or not. The price wouldn't be too big considering that it could very likely save some lives.

But before that, I think the most urgent safety measure to be taken is to secure the driver in case of the car flipping over.
I remember a few years back in monaco, when Fisichella's car flipped over and hit the railing. When the car flips over, the safety arch doesn't help if you hit an object with the cockpit first, like another car or a fence. That's a near certain death, or full paralyzation in the least case. And it's not even that unimaginable an event.

Well maybe we should have closed cockpit cars. Or maybe the drivers should just sit inside on the couch all day instead as driving is too dangerous!

All FIA homologated extiguishers for use in cabin or cocpit are filled with foam (AFFF) and it was done mostly because Halon that was used before sucks out the oxygen and can cause suffocation.

However, if foam is sprayed on burning wheel where Magnesium has already caught fire it will only make it burn more intense. That is why marshals carry powder filled CO2 extiguishers.

...
Ugly Mclaren 1995

zac510 wrote:Well maybe we should have closed cockpit cars. Or maybe the drivers should just sit inside on the couch all day instead as driving is too dangerous!

No reason to be childish over such a serious matter. You know very well that wasn't my point.
Danger is a part of motor racing, but death doesn't heighten the experience for me in any way. Do you have this same attitude when FIA tightens the crash tests nearly every year?

Yeah sorry about that, I spend so much time reading childish attitudes on F1 forums it must be rubbing off onto me

I just believe we have to draw a line otherwise it could really be taken to that kind of extreme. The conservatism and huge emphasis on safety in modern society could become counter productive one day.

The STR1's apparent similarities to the Red Bull RB1 have been subject of much discussion, but there are some clear differences. The lower parts of the sidepods (1) have shrunk and become more rounded, following the fashion for a reduced cross section. This helps improve the quality of airflow directed towards the rear of the car. On the engine cover, the vertical tail fin (2) is much shorter than the full-length version seen on the RB1. And on the rear wing the endplates feature a deeply-sculpted profile (3) at the back. This helps airflow to detach more quickly from the endplate, hence reducing drag.