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Halos and Heroes

FEATURE BY MIKE LAWRENCE
02/08/2016

Thank Great Zeus that the halo will not be used, at least not in 2017. The only two F1 drivers whose lives it might have saved are Alan Stacey and Tom Pryce. Always assuming that you could transport current technology back to 1960 and 1977 respectively.

Both were freak accidents and the problem with freak accidents is that you cannot legislate against them. That is why they are called 'freak'.

Take the case of Riccardo Paletti who drove for Osella in 1982. The team was poorly funded and Riccardo qualified for only two of the eight races he attempted. In Canada, Didier Pironi stalled his Ferrari as the race started and other drivers were involved in various levels of excitement as they avoided the stationary car. Paletti, starting from the back row was unsighted, and was accelerating as he hit the back of the stalled Ferrari at around 110 mph.

Repeat that with current cars and Riccardo might have been unscathed. It was a freak accident.

In 2009, Felipe Massa was injured when an errant suspension spring from another car hit his helmet. Perhaps a halo could have prevented that, or perhaps it could have deflected the spring so it hit Felipe in the chest and killed him. There is no way of knowing.

Perhaps a halo might have saved the lives of Henry Surtees and Justin Wilson, but neither were racing in Formula One, the only category for which it has been suggested.

Talk of the halo seemed to follow the death of Jules Bianchi, but nothing would have saved him. He suffered axonal diffuse injury because of massive deceleration. It is why babies who are severely shaken suffer brain injury or death.

The halo has been put on the back burner for further evaluation and possible introduction in 2018. In my view it is an idea which should be consigned to oblivion. Representatives of the drivers have welcomed the halo, but one wonders on what grounds.

It cannot be historical precedence because there is none, the case for the halo has been invented. Alexander Wurz, of the GPDA, is quoted as saying that it is a case of 'business first and safety second.'

Sebastian Vettel is reported to have said, 'We don't like the looks of it, but I don't think there's anything which justifies death.'

What deaths is he talking about? There aren't any. It is a made-up sentiment which makes a good sound bite. The case for the halo does not stand scrutiny.

Lewis Hamilton says that he was persuaded by a 'presentation', presumably on behalf of the halo. It would be interesting to know what was said.

As for business above safety, it is business (the trackside and television audience) which has made Vettel a multi-millionaire. Nobody actually forced him to race cars.

Other comments from Lewis Hamilton suggest that drivers expect a canopy in the future.

Grand Prix racing has always been open cockpit racing. You accept that or you don't do it. Every form of motor sport has an element of risk. If you are risk-averse, you can always take up knitting, or golf.

I am of an age to remember when fatal accidents in motor racing were regrettably common. Jim Clark died not because his car left the track, but because he hit a tree on the infield at Hockenheim, where trees had no business to be. Motor racing eliminated unnecessary dangers, but it cannot eliminate danger itself.

When Jackie Stewart began his campaign for safety he met resistance from some of his fellow drivers. They saw themselves as macho heroes and their bravado was essential to pulling babes.

We look back at the death toll in motor racing with horror, but at the time it was accepted. Drivers knew the risks and still went racing. Perhaps two world wars had inured people to the possibility of sudden death. Then there were all the illnesses one had to live through. In a span of four months my brother and I had whooping cough, measles with pneumonia and chicken pox. It could have been worse, it might have been polio, there had been an epidemic.

When I was a teenager a friend of mine drowned when he went swimming in a river known for its fierce tides. Our reaction was that he had been incredibly stupid. Today, there would have been tributes paid, and flowers and teddy bears on the river bank.

Attitude to risk has changed and in the main that is a good thing; there are now far fewer industrial accidents and far fewer casualties per vehicle-mile. We have seen massive advances in health care and medicine. All this is to the good, but there is still a place in the world for risk and sometimes that means sport.

As the world has become safer so we have seen the growth of extreme sports like base jumping, cage fighting and Mixed Martial Arts. Not only do rock climbers seek the most difficult climbs, but some have taken to going up the sides of skyscrapers with minimal equipment.

Red Bull has created a market for itself by sponsoring a range of audacious sports which emphasise risk and an adrenaline rush. There is an audience for risk because we spectators wish that we had the gonads to do it.

Recently a stuntman jumped from a plane at 25,000 feet without a parachute. Follow that.

Formula One's response has been to propose making already safe cars into machines that are even further removed from everyday experience. Saloon car racing is not safe simply because cars have a roof. For years now tin tops have been built around roll cages which are massively strong spaceframes around which body panels are assembled and which provide structural integrity which the base cars do not. There are still injuries and fatalities, often as a result of freak accidents.

A racing driver once seemed the natural successor to a fighter pilot, he was brave, skilled and dashing, an heroic figure. A current airline pilot may be seen as having an interesting job, but it is just that, a job. Only occasionally do they have to muster their training as when the crew of US Airways Flight 1549 put down their Airbus A320 in the Hudson River, following a massive bird strike, which itself was a freak occurrence.

Tens of thousands of flights had safely taken off from LaGuardia airport before that incident in 2009, and tens of thousands have done so since. The incidence was a freak.

Now that the halo has been mooted, it is in the air and if a driver is injured or killed in the future, the absence of the halo could lead to law suits even though there is no historical precedent to show they are needed.

Lawyers acting for the family of Jules Bianchi are suing everyone in sight except the owner of Suzuka (Honda) and the organisers of the 2014 Japanese GP. To do so they would have to make a case in Japan whereas it is easier to do so in London.

Everyone who can be blamed in an English court is being blamed though that does not include the circuit owner or the race organisers. The one person who is not being blamed is Jules Bianchi himself, who made a mistake by driving too fast for the conditions. Every other driver negotiated the same corner, in the same conditions, without leaving the road.

We live in an era of blame culture where people who make mistakes are victims. I think of my friend who drowned because he swam in a river which nobody else dreamed of swimming in. We did not think he was a victim, we thought he was plain wrong.

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READERS COMMENTS

 

1. Posted by geek49203, 09/09/2016 13:33

"I'm much more familiar with the IndyCar situation than the F1 situation, but as pointed out, the effort to "do something about open cockpit" is pretty much identical.

Prior to Justin's death, IndyCar/IRL/CCWS/CART/USAC had gone a long time w/o any death that could've been prevented by a halo or canopy. Mike Spence was killed in 1968 when his front tire came back and hit his head. Jovy Marcelo died in 1992 of head trauma, but there seems to be little evidence he was hit by debris. Greg Moore went in head-first to a wall at California and like Jules, died of injuries that wouldn't have been prevented. Paul Dana hit the rear tire/transmission/engine of a stalled car, and witnesses describe that scene as akin to an airplane crash in terms of destruction. Dan Wheldon had a fence post slice into the tub of his car when he hit it at over 160 mph, hitting him in the head.

Which brings up another aspect of this conversation -- if the supporting structures of a halo or canopy are compromised (the case with Wheldon certainly) then the new measures won't mean much.
"

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2. Posted by gturner38, 10/08/2016 1:13

"there's no historical precedent that they are needed apart from Tom Pryce, Ayrton Senna, Henry Surtees, and Justin Wilson. Yes, I know the last two weren't F1, but it's just dumb luck that it was other series. As for the notion that the halo could have resulted in Massa being killed, I'm not sure the physics works out on that premise. It seems to me that any contact between the halo and the spring that would have caused that amount of deflection would also eliminate a lot of the speed difference between the spring and the car.

You point to the instance of a bird strike on an airplane being a freak occurrence. While that's true, it doesn't stop airports from monitoring birds on the airfield and trying to chase them away from runways for just that reason. "

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3. Posted by stoney, 08/08/2016 21:31

"Fantastically poor researched article.

The number of deaths playing golf far outweighs those seen in F1. Lightning strikes, astray balls...
Statistics on knitting claimed 2 per year on average, but were only available from unreliable sources. Knitting Weekly shall never be believed for pandering that Tunnel Stitches were chique and would aesthetically enhance many commonplace designs with a fresh look."

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4. Posted by Ro, 08/08/2016 5:47

"Although it look ugly, it would have saved the life of Henry Surtees, The halo as on the Ferrari looks to large and ungainly, the one on the Red Bull seemed more effective"

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5. Posted by Ro, 08/08/2016 5:45

"Please dont forget Henry Surtees...."

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6. Posted by bfairey, 07/08/2016 23:37

"Weren't those 1965 cars great, no junk hanging off."

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7. Posted by The Canadian, 05/08/2016 21:00

"So... Where to start?
I like the speed and technical issues of Formula 1. I've been a fan since the 60's. I'd like to be able to watch it with reasonable assurances that, unlike back then, my favorite driver will not die for my entertainment.
Personally, I have no problem with increasing safety, even if it means enclosing the cockpits.
That doesn't make drivers wimps... Have you ever driven a race car? I've driven in road racing and can tell you, F1 is Crazy difficult compared to what we did. The skill level needed to process all of that at once is astounding. That's what draws me in...
Yes, there is the historical notion that F1 is traditionally open cockpit, open wheel racing... and I personally also think the HALO idea is ridiculous...But to imply that certain proposed safety features will ruin the sport, or that drivers who want these things might be wimps? I don't know Mike...there has to be a common ground someplace... "

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8. Posted by rgsuspsa, 03/08/2016 19:20 (moderated by an Adminstrator, 03/08/2016 19:51)

"This comment was removed by an administrator as it was judged to have broken the site's posting rules and etiquette."

Rating: Neutral (0)

9. Posted by ClarkwasGod, 03/08/2016 14:06

"Spot-on article."

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10. Posted by C5, 02/08/2016 20:46

"A rare and surprisingly clear piece from Lawrence. And for one I agree with most of it too.

Definitely, safety should be improved wherever it can. But to me as well, with the great improvements the higher side walls and the HANS device has resulted in, the halo really is inventing a problem that doesn't exist, except possibly under very odd circumstances.

And at the cost of introducing several new, and possibly more severe problems - visibility and extracting a driver from a wreck coming to mind.

Short of a sizable, massive, object (a bouncing bowling ball, maybe?) somehow making its way onto the track - the halo is clearly useless for small stuff - what is the halo supposed to do anyway? As I understand it, it's to protect the driver if the car turns upside down, or cars land on top of each other.

Great.

Cars usually stars flying because they tangle wheels or mount each other because they run into the back of one another. So why aren't anyone suggesting to put fenders and bumpers on the cars? That seems a much more efficient way of fixing the problem.

And since the halo doesn't protect against small stuff, which we know from Massa's accident can be seriously dangerous, why not put in a windshield, like Red Bull tried out? Of course it needs to have some support, but a reinforced roof will fix that not problem.

Also the speed itself, especially in the corners, a serious problem if the driver loses control of the car. So why not restrict the power plant to, say, half the power of today to curb speeds? It's the same for everyone, so there is no impact to the competition?

Even better, why not have the drivers sit in the pit and remote control the car? The technology is inexpensive and efficient, and it will look exactly the same to the spectators and on television.

Again, I'm not against the sport being safe. Very far from. I just seems to me that the halo, if anything, it's a half-****d solution. Either there is a problem, and it should be addressed properly, or there isn't one, and we can spend the time and efforts elsewhere."

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11. Posted by Oldbuzzard, 02/08/2016 18:52 (moderated by an Adminstrator, 03/08/2016 19:51)

"Back in the 1960's, in the US, sprint cars racing on dirt and paved tracks were dying at an alarming rate. The sport was growing rapidly across the country and the cars were getting more and more sophisticated (as much as a sprint car can!) and speeds were climbing. The cars of the day had a roll hoop behind the driver's head. The cries for full "roll cages" (i.e. front and rear hoops connected by two longitudinal bars at the top corners) grew louder with each death and the cries for tradition and "heroes" were just as loud. Eventually all tracks and sanctioning bodies made the full cage mandatory. The death rate dropped like a boulder.

Arguing that a halo device in F1 is not needed because a device like that would have saved only one or two F1 drivers in the past is ludicrous. If a halo device saved the life of one F1 driver in the next 20 years, would the halo be considered unnecessary?

Mike, how much value do you put on an F1 driver's life? Obviously not much. Was Jackie Stewart a wimp because he demanded increased safety measures at circuits? Was Ayrton Senna a wimp because he considered quitting at Imola on that fateful day? No, he became your hero and now he's gone. And, no, a roll cage may not have saved him, but how do we know for sure? We don't. Too many of my friends have died in racing accidents and all my current ones will always be my heroes, halo bars or not. If the FIA and people like you prefer aesthetics over safety, I spit on all of you. "

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12. Posted by Kico28n, 02/08/2016 16:14

"As ever you sum up the situation perfectly Mike. F1 is a mess & a shadow of it's former self. In this world we now live in there is always a need for someone to harbour blame. After 40+ years of loyally following F1 I am finally to the point that I don't really care if I miss a race now. The Silverstone safety car start fiasco was the final nail in the coffin for me. Best drivers in the world - bah! FIA too scared to let them drive on a bit of water in case someone dared spin off & they get hit with another law suit - bah! The whole show now is just pathetic."

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13. Posted by nonickname, 02/08/2016 14:35

"Thank you Mike for yet another excellent article.You have hit ALL the nails on the head. Idiots like Verstappen would not fool around in the breaking zone is it could kill you...in the past you only did that if you had balls and knew a mistake could kill you.These days the driver is indestructible due to all the safety in the car.
The next step? Well rubber bullets for all of the armed forces perhaps, and video games for the air forces.
Halo's should be the reward for a really ballsy driver who just,just,just.. got it wrong"

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