"Airbags" in F1's Future?

[snuffy]

Ferrari Airbag May Become Safety Mandate

A novel 'air bag' feature around world champion Michael Schumacher's F1 seat may be mandated to boost driver safety, Ferrari technical director Ross Brawn revealed.

Giving the inaugural 'Sid Watkins Lecture' in Birmingham at the weekend, he said the German champion, 36, pioneered the technology -- for comfort.

''(Michael) has these inflatable bags (around the seat),'' said Ross, talking about the safety work of the Technical Working Group. ''He gets in the car and pumps them up.

''He has had a couple of severe rear impacts and he has not suffered any problems.''

Michael's younger brother Ralf, meanwhile, injured his back in a rear impact shunt last year.

[Adam43]

It is possible things like that may help, although they are more like cushions filled with air, rather than 'air bags' that we know.

In an F1 car there is padding around the head area, but I don't know what teams do for the main body - other than the seat itself.

The last line is great, isn't it? It superficially implies that Ralf would have been alright with these little air cushions. Yet it is so superficial and carries so little weight and consideration that it is worthless.

There was a three seater 'single seater at the Autosport show. It had the two extra seats in the side pods. They got around the problem of having several different sized passengers by having a seat which could, at least partially, be inflated to suit.

[Sodemo]

Hmm air bags? So what would happen if the front wing got knocked off, would the bag activate?

[Skam85]

ha! now that would be comical. I can imagine it now.....a rookie in free practise in Melbourne, comes off the track, losing his front wing. Out pops a huge aribag and that's his practise session cut short.

[RWC]

True (front impact) type airbags have been discussed by the people in charge of f1 safety but there are several issues.
The main one (as i recall them saying at the time) is that the higher impacts f1 cars experience (compared to road cars) make it difficult to design a trigger mechanism that is fast enough
Added to that,they allready have crush type foam on the steering wheel which has a similar effect to an airbag.Even the HANS device provides some front/side impact absorbtion i think (?)

[Marbot]

Originally thought this thread was about James Allen but here goes anyway.At the moment there isn't the technology to make them work fast enough or be large enough to have the required effect, if they were used as they are now they may hinder a driver getting back to the pits for repairs if he were to suffer a low speed collision,obvously the set speed at which the bag is activated can be adjusted,but what speed would that be?

[Adam43]

er, Ross Brawn isn't talking about air-bags as such:

Originally Posted by paddocktalk.com quote in snuffy's post

''(Michael) has these inflatable bags (around the seat),'' said Ross, talking about the safety work of the Technical Working Group. ''He gets in the car and pumps them up."

[ASCII Man]

Does he use one of those pushpumps to inflate them or maybe with the old 'dizzy red face' method?

[Steve Wilkinson]

I have never heard anything so ridiculous

How un-safe! Just imagine you are driving an F1 car, you nerf some ****** in a Ferrari up the chuff and your airbag goes off!

Seriously there are major problems with airbags in road cars that compete in sprints and hillclimbs. There have been a couple of serious neck injuries as a result of an airbag deploying. In a normal road accident the driver's head hits the bag it rebounds. When this happens on track and you are wearing a crash helmet the added weight means your head hits the airbag sooner before it is fully inflated and it rebounds more viciously

I can imagine that an inflating cushion alongside the driver aimed at imobilising him would help but it must a) deflate quickly after the accident to allow the driver to get out quickly, and b) not obscure his vision as the car may still be manouvreable.

I suspect that we are many years away from airbags in F1 unless you count Ross Brawn!

[Glen]

Duh. Why don't you actually READ the story? They aren't air bags like normal car ones that deploy on impact. That's why the "speech marks" are around the word airbags. That's why contributors have explained it.

[Irv the Swerve]

I can see the benefit of these air-cushioned devices, if the technology is up to scratch. Taking it to its extreme, you could envisage the driver being strapped in as normal, then switching a dash control to inflate safety/comfort bags at various points specific to each driver. The benefit in the case of a rear entry shunt and in particular kinds of side impact is clear enough, particularly in relation to the head although with a little work, I'm sure they could work out something for the legs as well. Of course there would be hurdles, namely, as has been said, the deflating of these cushions in an emergency situation, and of course the inflation would require either an extra closed inflation system on the car unless they could be done independently. Also, if a certain cushion in a particular area were not to inflate, this could unbalance the drivers position in the cockpit, resulting in extreme discomfort.

Maybe they could incorporate these cushioned pads on the drivers racesuit in certain areas. No Montoya jokes.

[1200Datto27]

How long would it be till the "Whoopie Cushions" start coming out though?

[garcon]

At first I thought this was another debate about women in F1...

This is one way that the established 'better off' teams can potentially benefit F1 as a whole, by bringing new technology developments into the arena. When it happens with safety developments that's even better. Hopefully, if Ferrari provide the full technical specification to the FIA, the FIA can carry out any additional testing necessary to consider it as a mandated safety requirement in future seasons.

[Andrew Hornsey]

What about a system as used in "Demolition Man". Upon impact your car fills with expended polystyrene!

Sorry, couldn't resist :-)

[Marbot]

Originally Posted by Andrew Hornsey

What about a system as used in "Demolition Man". Upon impact your car fills with expended polystyrene!

Sorry, couldn't resist :-)

OOOH,look it's snowing.

[rustyfan]

Originally Posted by RWC

Even the HANS device provides some front/side impact absorbtion i think (?)

What the HANS device primarily does is that is stops your head from moving forward and hyperextending the neck (which can lead to a basal skull fracture) in the event of a high-speed head-on impact.