Massa
Jul 26th 2009, 9:20 am
#1
Thread Starter
Joined: Jun 2008
Posts: 1,271
Massa
Lets hope and pray he pulls through
Jul 26th 2009, 9:46 am
#2
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Joined: May 2009
Posts: 136
Re: Massa
Thought he was in a "stable" condition?
Jul 26th 2009, 11:01 am
#4
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Joined: Dec 2004
Location: Setubal-ish
Posts: 688
Re: Massa
Couple of inches to the right and it would have hit the visor full on and he'd be a gonner.
After the surtees accident, I think pressure will grow for canopies on the cars. I recall in previous years where cars have rolled and even ended up piled on top of each other, in both cases the head is dangerously exposed. If a car flips on the gravel, the rollbar digs in and does not keep your head away from the deck like it would on a solid track. So it's not just this freak accident that could be prevented. I know there are issues with getting the driver out quickly, but all in all I think it is safer to have one than not have one. It's not really good enough to have the full safety cell like they have now while leaving the head sticking out the top.
Any flying debris like the part that hit Massa would most likely glance off a streamlined canopy instead of hitting it full on.
I think we might well look back at these open top cars in a year or two and think how absurd it was that it took 60 years to get here.
After the surtees accident, I think pressure will grow for canopies on the cars. I recall in previous years where cars have rolled and even ended up piled on top of each other, in both cases the head is dangerously exposed. If a car flips on the gravel, the rollbar digs in and does not keep your head away from the deck like it would on a solid track. So it's not just this freak accident that could be prevented. I know there are issues with getting the driver out quickly, but all in all I think it is safer to have one than not have one. It's not really good enough to have the full safety cell like they have now while leaving the head sticking out the top.
Any flying debris like the part that hit Massa would most likely glance off a streamlined canopy instead of hitting it full on.
I think we might well look back at these open top cars in a year or two and think how absurd it was that it took 60 years to get here.
Jul 26th 2009, 11:17 am
#5
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Joined: Sep 2007
Posts: 244
Re: Massa
- with the blurred boundaries between aviation and high performance automotive engineering, what price a canopy with some kind of explosive emergency release?
Last edited by Cry haddock; Jul 26th 2009 at 11:17 am. Reason: fat fingers
Jul 26th 2009, 11:40 am
#6
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Joined: Jul 2007
Posts: 7,028
Re: Massa
Surely Ferrari will be filing a massive law suit against Brawn for allowing a critical part of their car to simply fall off for no apparent reason and causing their driver to crash. We may not have seen the last of this.
Jul 26th 2009, 11:56 am
#7
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Re: Massa
Jul 26th 2009, 12:44 pm
#8
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Joined: Dec 2004
Location: Setubal-ish
Posts: 688
Re: Massa
I think this has to be considered a racing accident. Bits fall off cars, it's a fact of life. I don't think anyone could hold brawn responsible for this, including Ferrari. I'd be very surprised if there was anything other than a genuine desire to figure out what can be done to protect drivers more.
