The 'At least Mr B offered' US Grand Prix predictions and chat

"I also think that had it not been a red car that Max overtook, he'd have been fine", yes that's what I believe.

 

All the more reason to stay on track.

 

That's the excuse and its arguably valid, especially in big braking zones. The simple solution is to put the sleeping policeman style bumps exactly a car widths on the exit of corners and inside the apex of others. This would be enough to prevent people form exceeding track limits without damaging a car beyond repair. The deterrent has to be exactly 1 car width from the external white line in all cases. This would have prevented the track limits at the 2nd to last corner (especially in quali), the Turn 1 overtaking situations and the Max/Kimi scenario.

 

Ok , but I really feel something needs to be done . Surely part of the skill is keeping the car on the track itself ?

 

A nice idea but totally impractical. It is frought with danger.

Going over a 'sleeping policeman' boundary is extremely likely to launch a car into the air. Notwithstanding those who choose to exploit the current situation, we must remember that mechanical failures do regularly occur. And if a car is already out of control (spinning, for instance) before hitting the thing, there is likely to be carnage in the now vital catch-fencing – which would need to be pretty high to insure against landing amongst spectators!

 

I don't think that the case in all situations, otherwise the massive sausage kerbs would never be used - the high speed corners at the latter stages of Austria are a good example. These were subsequently removed because of the drivers crying fowl, even though there weren't any dangerous situations as I recall. Obviously I don't have the technical knowledge on this and whilst flat tarmac is as safe as possible, tiny rumble strip type bumps, enough to lose traction and prevent you re-joining at full speed seems a reasonable compromise. We all want to protect the drivers welfare and in no way increase the danger, but there will always be an "IF" in this sport. If we are not careful, the bumps on the track will be classed as dangerous.

Edit: I was referring to the kerbs/bumps that Charlie strategically and inconsistently uses to make drivers take a longer and safer route to re-joining the track. If these had been in place on the exit of turn 1 Bottas wouldn't have been able to pull of his retake of his position and if it had been used on the 2nd to last turn it would have prevented carrying so much speed of track. In the Verstappen case, if it had been placed at a certain point between the corners, Max would have had to leave the track fully before re-joining. I'm not saying its ideal, but there has to be a way of preventing the advantage, or maximising the disadvantage.

 

...and that's the issue they neither need to keep the car on the track or intend to. They claim to have been forced off track and then use it to their advantage to gain time, position or defend a position.

 

I remember the catch fencing at Silverstone Catching half the field at Club in the rain and yes, wooden poles and netting flying into the crowd the netting became instantly ineffective as soon as the first couple of cars demolished it, can't remember which year 70s I think.

 

That or VERY early 80's .

 

Quite apt

 

Everyone's favourite.... the race in a graph.

 

Could be, I just can't recall the date, can remember the total chao's, the rest of the circuit was dry and cars coming out of Stowe flat into a very wet Club, bloody lucky nobody was hurt. Marshalls and drivers leaping out of the way of cars trying to stop. It was a long time before they put in that silly bit between Stowe and Club.

 

I recon Hammy let Vettel get into the lead at the start just so he could take him, made him look second rate , don't you think.

 

What about a water trough same size and shape as the run off area but filled with 150mm depth of water.

 

A nice idea but totally impractical. It is frought with danger.

Going over a 'sleeping policeman' boundary is extremely likely to launch a car into the air. Notwithstanding those who choose to exploit the current situation, we must remember that mechanical failures do regularly occur. And if a car is already out of control (spinning, for instance) before hitting the thing, there is likely to be carnage in the now vital catch-fencing – which would need to be pretty high to insure against landing amongst spectators!

 

I can’t remember either .

 

Indeed any track altering methods will invariably have an unwanted safety 'side-effect', the solution must be technological, and this is (atm) the best solution I can come up with:

I mentioned collision sensors in another thread, so I'm going to use them here as well, they're pretty cheap and light weight and have been fitted to cars for 15 years or so, so there's no excuse. Two additional sensors located on the extreme edges of the bodywork mid-way between the front and rear wheels, pointing down. If that sensor crosses the white line then on the next straight the red warning light will flash for 2 seconds and the electrical boost to the PU is cut UNLESS the collision detectors on that side have been triggered within 2 seconds of going off-track. If they have then it is automatically over-ridden and referred to race control who have the power to activate it.

To do all that would probably cost a couple of hundred pounds and weigh less than a kilo.


I also want to point out that no one complained when this almost masterful over-take, was penalised

 

Vettel going limp again at the end. He should really check that out

 

1975

 

Yea, bloody well done, couldn't find any footage anywhere, I was there it was unbelievable.

I was only 30 ffs where does the time go.