IndyCar drivers see benefits of screen
Verizon IndyCar Series’ computer-generated design of its 2018 vehicle, released last week, provided the most concrete vision yet of a car drivers and officials generally have lauded.
One feature not included on the renderings of the machine, though, is a proposed small windshield or “aero screen” that many drivers assume eventually will be added as a safety precaution against debris.
Opinion remains favorable toward its inclusion — if a design that doesn’t impede vision can be finalized. But there are some, including driver Mikhail Aleshin, who decry the windscreen as a departure from open-wheel racing and a likely producer of unwanted heat in the cockpit.
James Hinchcliffe, his Schmidt Peterson Motorsports teammate, describes it as “a great idea,” however. “The big challenge comes if ever there’s a point in your field of vision where the screen stops,” Hinchcliffe told USA TODAY Sports, “where half your vision is in the screen and half is out of it. That creates an optical illusion. We have to come up with a design that keeps the leading edge above our field of vision the whole way around our peripheral sight lines, but I think that is very achievable.”
Hinchcliffe discounts protests that including a screen is antithetical to a neo-retro openwheel design. He advocates for any extra protection and points to examples in which a screen might be helpful. Hinchcliffe suffered a concussion in the 2014 Grand Prix of Indianapolis after being hit in the head by flying debris, and he is able to count “the amount of times at Iowa or Texas you come in with bloody knuckles” from being struck.
“If you look back to some of the IndyCars from the ’80s, they used to have plexiglass screens that came up like that,” he said, holding a palm near nose level. “For any purist that says it’s not in the spirit of IndyCar racing, I say get stuffed, because it literally used to be on cars all the time. That one served a much lesser purpose. This one is actually a safety benefit. As a guy who’s actually been hit in the head with stuff, I’m all for it.”
Tony Kanaan also supports the idea but has concerns about heat and possible extrication issues in crashes. He said the screen should not be expected to prevent the type of fatal head injuries that claimed 2005 series champion Dan Wheldon in 2011 or Justin Wilson in 2015.
Mark Miles, chairman of Hulman & Company, which owns the IndyCar series, told USA TODAY Sports last year that the steep angle of the debris that struck Wilson at Pocono Raceway could not have been mitigated by cockpit protection such as the halo designs Formula One has considered.
Wheldon died after his head struck a fence post at Las Vegas Motor Speedway after his car went airborne during a multicar crash, according to an IndyCar accident report.
“If we’re doing something for safety, we always need to look for something we can improve,” Kanaan said. “But how many accidents did we have that were fatal or were really bad, that if we had a windscreen it would have prevented it? For me, even if Justin had that, it wouldn’t have helped, because (the debris) came from the top.
“There’s some things you can’t prevent because it’s just a part of racing. We can’t say if we had (a screen) that Dan wouldn’t be dead, or Justin.”