Open cockpit incidents

[David Love AI27]

Henry Surtees was killed when a tire hit him in the head in a Formula 2 event.

and

Felipe Massa was hit in the head by a spring off of Barrichello's car causing him to crash in practice in the F1 event.

[Al Fernandez]

There's certainly a safety advantage to being in an enclosed car. I didnt see Surtee's incident, but Masa's looked scary.

[AllZWay]

Cristiano da Matta hit a deer several years ago also.

[GlennCMC70]

i saw the Massa incident. at the time (eating @ Hooters) i didnt have audio so i couldnt tell what it was or that he was injured by it. once i learned it was a spring from another car, i was floored.
my guess is they did a spring change and left the offending spring on the car somewhere laying around. that had to be one hell of an impact. 2-3lbs of tool steel..... at 180+mph = thats gonna leave a mark.

[AI#97]

i saw the Massa incident. at the time (eating @ Hooters) i didnt have audio so i couldnt tell what it was or that he was injured by it. once i learned it was a spring from another car, i was floored.
my guess is they did a spring change and left the offending spring on the car somewhere laying around. that had to be one hell of an impact. 2-3lbs of tool steel..... at 180+mph = thats gonna leave a mark.

Actually they explained it at length in a news article later.

There are 3 springs at the rear of the car. one "soft" spring for each rear wheel, then a "heavy" spring that takes the load from both when the car is fully loaded at speed by the aero. It was the 3rd spring that got shot out and struck Massa.

Pretty scary stuff and one of the reasons you will never find me in an open wheel or open cockpit car.

[GlennCMC70]

seems like there should be some type of retention device to hold that to the car. i would assume F1 rules already address this, so i would have to (once again) assume there was a mechanical failure of some type.
link to the article?

[jeffburch]

Later in the race a car lost a wheel.
FIA parked them.

Jb

[David Love AI27]

I saw both on youtube, Massa's incident occured when another car had a suspension "failure". But I believe Glenn my be on the right path, I happened during practice, so I am willing to bet it was a spring change that somebody f'ed up...

well I just checked youtube and most of the footage as been removed by F1..

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uc6uENwrOfo&ytsession=NnKY9GU-0RtO_Cvkaarf8U2bgBj_bHoDvtXRkxqT2UXck6VP5LJjoJlXZv QpUSamU_1b4fQwZVdj2JJ1PyJaUpLU-fhgAH3_l7Pn9hF6FJK8TNVukbM1OkwYPmxAXq8XxFanvFmjN3c 9hfGd5hBbKgRSMBZB3LbtuZErstP00Ekv8rWCppNn3aA3Bq6X3 cC_-N2JTpH6wFYxIzcq4jxX-C-0iUTQa5_BzMysYiHtof3PPgbyZSYYR-SKz8Sirv2NM1K9a9h9VfxpU8dp9gvylXz7OHQwzE6ZsS9XAUYS pR8uU6Q_rb1fMHVUjhjz9C0NiKj7gEvB9LwCQq1aK1jMww

In the clips I saw last night it showed the other car way ahead with the rear dragging

Here is the Surtees incident all other clips have also been removed

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TytRf3aer9w&feature=related

[evarner]

Not sure how long this one will stay up, but it shows a shot of the helmet damage. Unlucky, but lucky at the same time. 6-8" to the left <facing the driver>, it would have been much, much worse.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LuH_QZ807gE&feature=related

[AI#97]

seems like there should be some type of retention device to hold that to the car. i would assume F1 rules already address this, so i would have to (once again) assume there was a mechanical failure of some type.
link to the article?

I can't get to it at work today but google "massa injury" and you should get a couple of Yahoo/AP press articles. some of the info was bogus like the speeds and such but the explaination of the rear suspension designed was sound.

Eric, got any picts you can post here of that helmet? Gov't net nanny cuts a lot of stuff we can't see.

[mitchntx]

I'm no Eric, but how about ...

http://images.theage.com.au/ftage/ffximage/2009/07/26/mb_massa_wideweb__470x342,0.jpg

Its a link to an image source that net nanny might still block

[Al Fernandez]

It was qualifying, not practice. The spring came off of Barrichelo's car, and his qual time was pretty indicative of an actual failure, not something that happened to be lying on/in the car just falling off. His called in via radio saying something was broken and ended up pretty far back on the grid.

Crazy circumstances. I'd still drive an open wheel car if I got a chance though!

[AI#97]

I'm no Eric, but how about ...

http://images.theage.com.au/ftage/ffximage/2009/07/26/mb_massa_wideweb__470x342,0.jpg

Its a link to an image source that net nanny might still block

DAMN!!! That's crazy it was only that much damage. He looks sort of like I did a couple years ago when I got windmilled by a full beer bottle on the left temple. I can only imagine his impact was 10X plus what I got. Helmet seemed to do it's job though considering a 2lb mass hitting you with 1600lbs of force (from broadcast)!!!! Hope Massa pulls through this ordeal 100% especially knowing how little it takes to do permanant damage if you are following Mark Bettin's injury as well... :cry:

[michaelmosty]

Wow, that is all very scary!!! :shock:

[David Love AI27]

That helmet is 2,500 euros sans graphics, can someone convert that to $$$

[Fbody383]

That helmet is 2,500 euros sans graphics, can someone convert that to $$$

Call it $3550 of your American dollars... today.

Forex is not for the weak of heart; Forex traders can and do lose money.

[RichardP]

There is a video of the basic rear suspension design down the page here:

http://axisofoversteer.blogspot.com/

It would be a pretty weird failure for that spring to get launched...


Richard P.

[Wirtz]

The pic of Massa is amazing. Read today they took him out of the chemical coma and he is responding. Even though they had to "relieve pressure" in his skull which cannot be good. Also saw speculation on his eyesight but didn't seem like anything for sure just yet.

Hope he is ok. Crazy stuff....

[Fbody383]

The pic of Massa is amazing. Read today they took him out of the chemical coma and he is responding. Even though they had to "relieve pressure" in his skull which cannot be good. Also saw speculation on his eyesight but didn't seem like anything for sure just yet.

Hope he is ok. Crazy stuff....

Apparently good vision from his left eye and answering questions in 3 languages. Sounds like good recovery to this point and diminishing risks of regression.

[Todd Covini]

There is a video of the basic rear suspension design down the page here:

http://axisofoversteer.blogspot.com/

It would be a pretty weird failure for that spring to get launched...


Richard P.

What I took from that vid is that it's impossible for any of the rear springs to get launched.

[David Love AI27]

There is a video of the basic rear suspension design down the page here:

http://axisofoversteer.blogspot.com/

It would be a pretty weird failure for that spring to get launched...


Richard P.

What I took from that vid is that it's impossible for any of the rear springs to get launched.

Wrong choice of words Elvis.... imPROBABLE not imPOSSIBLE

[AI#97]

There is a video of the basic rear suspension design down the page here:

http://axisofoversteer.blogspot.com/

It would be a pretty weird failure for that spring to get launched...


Richard P.

What I took from that vid is that it's impossible for any of the rear springs to get launched.

It would seem that way...however, watching Baricello's car hit the pavement after it was gone proved otherwise!