Closed Cockpits and Canopies in F1, yay or nay?

[ScarfaceOne 263]

So after the sad death of Jules Bianchi yesterday. I was thinking, should F1 have canopies(Closed Cockpits) or not? Here is the reason why I think so.  Bianchi, Senna and Tom Pryce's(unfortunately, even if he did have a canopy, that Marshall would have still died) deaths could have been prevented if they had a canopy, as a Foreign Object entered the cockpit area and hit them on the head. Other drivers whose accidents could have been prevented with Canopies are Ratzenberger, Maria De Villota and others. As for drivers who survived these accidents, Massa's accident in Hungary 2009 could have been prevented had he had a canopy, and so would a lot of other drivers. 

 

 

 

Anyways, the only cons according to a lot of people is that the Canopy is too slow to come off in the event of a serious accident, so why not an ejection system where it ejects the canopy only? This could have safety issues. Or at least a fast Canopy open system. If F1 keeps up, I expect one death on the same day as the race by 2020. Death still haunts the circuits, and there will always be risk, even with canopies. Refuelling may return in 2017 as well, increasing risk as fuel can be quite flammable, remember Jos Verstappen's accident in 1994? That could have been prevented with a canopy, as the area around his eyes burnt. Like I said, even with canopies and closed cockpits, death will still haunt motorsport, Dale Earnhardt for example, died in Nascar with a closed cockpit. And Keith O'Dor in the British Touring Car Championship died when a car T Boned him. 

 

 

Here is one more thing I need to post before you start chatting about it. A reminder of these people's deaths, and that there will always be risk.

 

 

https://www.castlecombecircuit.co.uk/images/motorsportdangerouswarning.gif

 

 

[Attack of the Pwns 894]

This is just the nature of the beast, racing will always be dangerous. If they could make it work from an aerodynamic standpoint, I'm not necessarily opposed to having roofs on F1 cars, but like you said, there would still be accidents and, unfortunately, there would still be deaths. At least we don't have nearly as many deaths and injuries in Motorsport today as we did 50 years ago, or even 20 years ago.

[Idris 241]

To be honest I don't see why they ever had an open top?

It would have to one hell of a lid to make hitting a large object survivable?

[ScarfaceOne 263]

To be honest I don't see why they ever had an open top?

It would have to one hell of a lid to make hitting a large object survivable?

 

 

Ah, glad you said that, they could use some special Glass that was as, or more common then Carbon Fibre. The large objects include other cars, on-track debris such as Aerodynamic components and Carbon Fibre. And flying objects including Springs and Tyres. If a tyre hit a canopy, it would bounce off, it depends on how resistent the canopy is. But Jacques Villeneuve thinks this is the natural evolution of the F1 Car, anyways, here are the footage of accidents that caused deaths and injuries thanks to no canopy.

 

 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Tpp7OCngXQM

 

Warning, this one is quite graphic as the Marshall gets run over, it's not too visible though.

 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4-g5Smc0DfM

 

 

 

 

 

All of these accidents could have been preventable if there was a canopy on the cars. Luckily Massa just went into a coma for 2 days. Grosjean didn't kill any of the drivers. But Pryce, Bianchi, Senna and Surtees weren't so lucky. Maria De Villota was another driver who died at only 40mph. After her right eye was removed. The next year she suffered an apparent heart attack caused by the crash. Therefore, these accidents would be preventable if F1 cars had canopies.

 

https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/7/78/Speed_Challenge.jpg

 

But still, even without canopies, Accidents will occur, Keith O'dor in the British Touring Car Championship died when a car T-Boned him, in a special street race at Berlin. And Kenny Irwin, Adam Petty and Dale Earnhardt all died despite there cars having closed canopies, even though Dale sort of was to blame because he didn't strap himself in properly or use new seatbelts(because of his own arrogance).

 

 

 

 

 

And there you have it, there's all the videos of the crashes. If you want to enquire more from me, feel free to ask.

 

Jules was such a promising driver, I have only just realized, he could have been a world champion in the future.

Edited July 18, 2015 by ScarfaceOne

[Idris 241]

I have to quote Richard Hammonds accident the other year. He was really going some but the deceleration caused the brain damage. He had no external injuries at all.

Plus there is the general kinetic energy involved. I hit a tree at 15mph and I bent the scaffold tube bull bar, broke the winch in two and bent up the 12" edge on the quarter plate winch mount. You need a hydraulic press just to bend the tube into the bull bar shape!

I cut the tube half way through and we still struggled to get it back in shape with a Cherokee jeep and a strap!

So a canopy would help with track debris, but anything else is still going to be bad in my opinion.

[ScarfaceOne 263]

I have to quote Richard Hammonds accident the other year. He was really going some but the deceleration caused the brain damage. He had no external injuries at all.

Plus there is the general kinetic energy involved. I hit a tree at 15mph and I bent the scaffold tube bull bar, broke the winch in two and bent up the 12" edge on the quarter plate winch mount. You need a hydraulic press just to bend the tube into the bull bar shape!

I cut the tube half way through and we still struggled to get it back in shape with a Cherokee jeep and a strap!

So a canopy would help with track debris, but anything else is still going to be bad in my opinion.

 

Yes, regardless, there will be a Whiplash, which is still a massive risk. And then there will be Basilar Skull Fractures, I suspect that Bianchi also had a Basilar Skull Fracture, which usually only happens in Motorsport.

[Dawning Demon 950]

Personally I think Formula 1 cars should always have open cockpits, having closed cockpits brings a lot of problems for the drivers including; cockpit temperatures, required space and escape in event of a fire.

 

Drivers have to leave the cockpit in under 5 seconds and having a closed cockpit will hinder that.

 

Formula One will always be dangerous and safety has to be number 1 priority but what happened to Jules Bianchi was sadly a freak accident which I hope will never happen again, which hopefully it wont due to race start times being brought forward and the new virtual safety car being introduced.

Edited July 18, 2015 by Dawning Demon

[ScarfaceOne 263]

Personally I think Formula 1 cars should always have open cockpits, having closed cockpits brings a lot of problems for the drivers including; cockpit temperatures, required space and escape in event of a fire.

 

Drivers have to leave the cockpit in under 5 seconds and having a closed cockpit will hinder that.

 

Formula One will always be dangerous and safety has to be number 1 priority but what happened to Jules Bianchi was sadly a freak accident which I hope will never happen again, which hopefully it wont due to race start times being brought forward and the new virtual safety car being introduced.

 

 

If the Canopy had a quick release mechanism or explosive force like in a Fighter Jet(not including the seat), then it could be done in under 5 seconds. They have to experiment a bit you see.

[Dawning Demon 950]

If the Canopy had a quick release mechanism or explosive force like in a Fighter Jet(not including the seat), then it could be done in under 5 seconds. They have to experiment a bit you see.

They have experimented a lot but the results have always been inconclusive because its just too difficult to fit a quick release feature onto a very small cockpit it would be too close to the driver and it would be even more dangerous.

[ScarfaceOne 263]

They have experimented a lot but the results have always been inconclusive because its just too difficult to fit a quick release feature onto a very small cockpit it would be too close to the driver and it would be even more dangerous.

 

It could be possible in the future. I can see what you mean, hitting the driver on the head or something. Maybe car standards have to be revised just to fit the cockpit. As for explosive canopies, it will cause more track debris and it could injure someone.

Edited July 19, 2015 by ScarfaceOne

[Dawning Demon 950]

It could be possible in the future. I can see what you mean, hitting the driver on the head or something. Maybe car standards have to be revised just to fit the cockpit.

Maybe in the future but for now closed cockpits arnt really suitable.