Dixon in the driver’s seat
Kiwi driver Scott Dixon behind the wheel for test drive to improve safety standards on IndyCar circuit, reports Bob Baum.
With Scott Dixon at the wheel, the prototype for a windscreen to help protect IndyCar drivers from flying debris passed its first on-track test on Friday, a big step toward requiring such devices, perhaps as early as next year.
‘‘It’s definitely a milestone as far as moving forward and moving in the right direction for some more safety initiatives, and we all know the reasons why,’’ the four-time IndyCar Series champion said.
The only real problem for Dixon, he said, was the lack of air flow made things quite warm. But he described that as ‘‘an easy fix’’.
‘‘The cooling thing we kind of knew but we just didn’t want to deal with it right now.’’
Jeff Horton, IndyCar director of engineering and safety and head of the windscreen project, was happy with the results.
‘‘When a guy like Scott gets out, a veteran of ours, and says there’s no deal breakers, a couple of small things to look at, what better could you ask for,’’ Horton said.
The windscreen wouldn’t prevent all flying-debris accidents since material still could sail over the front of the screen or come in on top of the driver, who otherwise is protected only by a helmet. Driver Justin Wilson died in August 2015 of injuries sustained when he was struck by flying debris in an IndyCar race at Pocono Raceway.
But IndyCar officials see the windscreen as potentially a big improvement in safety. With more testing to be done, the windscreen probably wouldn’t be required on the circuit until 2019 at the earliest.
The screen, made up of a new material called Opticore, is fourtenths of an inch thick and rises at a 25-degree angle.
‘‘It’s a little bit different looking through something that’s so thick,’’ Dixon said, ‘‘but I thought it would have messed with my distortion a lot more but there was nothing like that. There was no problem with reflection. The weirdest thing was just how quiet it is. You have no buffeting. The car feels very smooth.’’
Next up is a ballistics test, when researchers will find out how much the screen can take from small, medium and large size debris.
Dixon drove the Chip Ganassi Racing team Honda at speeds of up to 305kmh on the track at ISM Raceway, formerly Phoenix International Raceway and site of two Nascar and one IndyCar races each year.
‘‘Whether we’re developing foam for the car and stuff or whatever, it’s always exciting to do the test and have it a success,’’ Horton said. ‘‘And trust me, we’ve had many non-successful things and we just go figure out the solution and keep working.’’
Dixon said earlier problems with potential limits in peripheral vision had been resolved.
But, he said ‘‘you’re looking through quite a substantial amount of glass or material. It just takes your eyes a little bit to adjust to how you look through it.’’
The reaction could be different from driver to driver, Dixon said, so the New Zealander suggested everyone get to test the screen.
‘‘This may affect other guys in different ways so it’s something that everybody needs to almost try. It ran with little to no problems but it could affect others.’’
Dixon said he would like to see if he gets more used to it over time.
‘‘Your brain and eyes just need to catch up to it,’’ he said. ‘‘The longer that I ran I got more adept to it.’’
Before Friday, the screen had been tested only in a wind tunnel. On Friday, Dixon drove the Honda in sunshine, at dusk and at night with the track lights on. He spoke to reporters after the first run but didn’t foresee any problems when the light changed.
The current project has been ongoing for two years.
Formula One teams have been testing a ‘‘halo’’ windscreen, but it’s an entirely separate exercise.
‘‘We’ve shared with them,’’ Horton said. ‘‘We don’t know the exact stuff that they’re using right now.’’
-AP It was an honest response, if not a particularly advisable one, given Formula One’s newly enlightened image.
‘‘Look,’’ F1’s chief executive Chase Carey told a gaggle of journalists while discussing the decision to dispense with grid girls, ‘‘we’re going to maintain glamour. We’re going to continue to have pretty girls at races. I think it’s a part of life, and it’s a part of what makes our sport special.’’
Face palm. Bang goes the veneer of respectability. What was it that F1 press release last week said about F1’s brand image and not wishing to be ‘‘at odds with societal norms’’?
It was incredibly clumsy – making it sound as if F1’s new owners were simply pacifying the PC lobby by removing grid girls but, nudge nudge, not to worry because they’ll make sure there’s still plenty of totty on the grid – but you knew what he meant. Sort of. They still want stars and beautiful people and glamour. That’s self-evident.
The bigger question for F1 arising out of the grid girls debate is what it means for the sport more generally. Because the fact is, with every concession F1 has made in a bid to move with the times, it has lost a bit of its soul; what made it F1 in the first place.
That is not to say those moves were the wrong moves, necessarily. Any sport that stands still too long will die and you can mount an argument for all of the above. Engine technology needs to remain relevant to road cars.
A world championship is hardly a world championship unless it tries to grow the sport around the globe. And what’s not to like about grid kids?
It does, though, beg the question as to whether F1 is itself a relic of the past; whether it can continue to be F1 without those things that made it so appealing to its fans: the sex, the danger, the bad behaviour, the big personalities.
Never mind James Hunt sleeping with 33 BA stewardesses before the race that made him world champion, Lewis Hamilton felt compelled to delete his Twitter and Instagram feeds and issue a grovelling apology to his fans after making a joke about his nephew wearing a dress.
As for safety, of course noone would wish to return to the killer years, but there is no denying the danger was part of what made F1 so intoxicating.
Carey is trying to stick and twist at the same time, saying on the one hand he wants to modernise F1, to broaden the sport’s appeal, to improve the racing, while at the same time saying he wants to keep the personalities, the heritage, the glamour and the pretty girls (though not the grid girls).
It remains to be seen whether F1 can survive the journey.
TOM CARY
Telegraph, London