The fall in lap times.

[Super Tourer]

Interesting piece from Pitpass on the fall in lap times. that has prompted the FIA to look at safety issue.

http://www.pitpass.com/fes_php/pitpa...s_art_id=21514


Some examples are:

A fall in lap times (race) of some 6 seconds at Imola since 2000, even the twist and turns of Monaco have seen the lap time fall by 7 seconds, even with the circuit revisions.

[Mr V]

Its this very reason that i think that the FIA should increase the number of laps per race.

The paying public are being short changed as they see less and less for their money each year.

[QuickSilver]

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it's scary to think what the times would have been on slicks
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[BootsOntheSide]

V, think of the TV companies! They only use F1 to fill gaps between football and Coronation Street, and their sums will be useless if the races are longer...

Seriously it's a good point. 6 seconds times 60-odd laps equals 6 minutes less racing.

[Kicking-back]

I wouldn't lengthen the race.

I'd peg the lap times back a bit.

[Spudgun]

This is what happens when you have a tyre war.

[Hungary 89]

Unfortunately anything they seem to do to try to peg back the lap times is eventually overcome by the engineers

It's the nature of the game

[Kicking-back]

It is indeed.

But that's exactly why something has to be done.

[Hungary 89]

Accepted

What are your thoughts?

[NiceGuyEddie]

But what exactly is the benchmark? When is fast too fast? It couldn't be strictly a safety issue. A crash at 300 kph is just as dangerous as one at 280 kph. When has speed ever been the decisive factor for the consequences of a crash, baring in mind that highspeed crashes will always be a possibility, if you are willing to accept that racing is about speed?

[Kicking-back]

The FIA is discussing a proposal for a control tyre, much harder compound, one set for the whole race.

That would work.

[Adam43]

Originally posted by Mr V
Its this very reason that i think that the FIA should increase the number of laps per race.

I love this attitude. A nice antidote to the PC situation we have now.

[Jaxs]

When is fast too fast? when the sponsors signs on the car can't be read.

Yer really.....

[Adam43]

That reminds me of a story about Keke Rosberg. He suggested that a certain other driver was a sponsors dream because he went slow enough for you to read the logos!

[climb]

Lap times falling are not strictly tied to safety: top speeds are obviously reached down the straights, but where the cars save loads of time is while turning, with a relatively limited impact on safety.
Infact the top speeds have not dramatically increased in the last few years.
What has tremendously increased is grip and downforce, cos of tyre wars and aero evolutions.

Therefore limiting horsepower would be virtually useless, both for lap times and safety.

[Kicking-back]

Indeed, it's cornering speed which is the problem.

The cars are now much faster through the corners than ever before.

[climb]

Hard to understand why people who govern auto racing can't get it

[Glen]

Originally posted by climb
Hard to understand why people who govern auto racing can't get it

Hard to understand why you think that - Max has only this week laid down a challenge for the teams to come up with ideas PDQ or he's going to enforce some of his own.

[climb]

Max said that if teams do not find an agreement, FIA will decide basing everything upon safety; safety related to falling lap times: a nonsense.
If the car can corner at,say, 160 kmph where a few years ago they couldn't go faster than say, 110 kmph, it's not a problem of safety, cos if you spin or lose your line at that speed, current cars can protect you with no problem.

Accidents get serious when, like on Ralf's case, you are on a straight at top speed.
But it's not on straight that cars have gained 6 secs per lap.
I hope you can catch my drift.

[Glen]

Corner speeds are far higher than ever before, whereas straight line speeds are more or less the same. The speed at which you come off a corner is very much a problem, and although the cars will provide adequate safety* most of the time there is still a pressing need to reduce the amount of energy in any accident - the primary way to do that would be to reduce corner speeds. * A 2004 car could still produce the freak conditions that caused Senna's death, for example - it is still feasible that a wishbone could flail around and hit the driver's helmet, even with the latest wheel tethers. The more energy is dissipated in a shunt, the higher the chance of something like this happening. Bear in mind that the relationship between car speed and amount of energy in the crash is not linear, but exponential - so when you take 10% out of the car corner speed (which we wouldn't even see on TV) you take far more than 10% out of the severity of the impact.

Ralf wasn't on a straight, in point of fact, but in a flat-out corner (190mph). Had he been on a straight it is unlikely that the car would have swapped ends and put him in the wall.

Slower lap times means slower corner speeds, which most certainly would equal a significant reduction in danger and injury. I don't think it is nonsense at all.

[dcp2685]

Originally posted by climb
Max said that if teams do not find an agreement, FIA will decide basing everything upon safety; safety related to falling lap times: a nonsense.
If the car can corner at,say, 160 kmph where a few years ago they couldn't go faster than say, 110 kmph, it's not a problem of safety, cos if you spin or lose your line at that speed, current cars can protect you with no problem.

Accidents get serious when, like on Ralf's case, you are on a straight at top speed.
But it's not on straight that cars have gained 6 secs per lap.
I hope you can catch my drift.

I hear you. And you're absolutely right. The problem is the amount of speed these cars are carring through the corners. I'm not an engineer so i wouldn't know how to do it. But a FIA regulated spec tire w/ a lower amount of grip in addition to a mandated aero piece that would significantly increase drag. Those two I would think would drop cornering speeds quite significantly.

On the flip side. Something like ralfs or even Alonso's shunt at Indy are dangerous no matter how much power you have. I could have happen to me exactly what happened to Alonso in my 1993 325is (189hp) in the same location and have it be equally as serious a situation.

Increasing engine life (3 race weekends as BMW wants) would help drop the power. And it would be another area where solid engineering would help build the speeds back up.

But the tires and aerodynamics are critical right now.