Competition Safety Car?

[chillibowl]

a bit late to this thread, but im also against a CSC. its never good when a SC has to come out but when it does there is uncertainty about how the field will look after. if its a contrived release then that mystery goes away and so would the excitement for me....or would it?

that said there is a logic to artificially balancing the scales. a couple of teams being allowed to spend 200-300 mil more then the rest is about as artificial as it gets so why not screw them over on track...at the very least its a good stick!

voluntarily agree to spend less money or we will change the rules to take away your advantage...any time you get a 20 sec lead out comes the CSC and we will only do so after your cars have passed the pit entry!

Originally Posted by E.B

Remember when Bernie suggested random water sprinklers many moons ago....

i'll probably catch hell for this but i always liked this idea.

a) i love races in the wet but now days with safety rules being what they are we get laps behind the SC to start the race/dry the track which takes away much of the challenge.

b) tracks cant handle the water so you get pools of standing water. its dangerous and races will get red flagged which leads to very boring intermissions.

c) naturally occurring wet races will still happen but they usually wait it out so for the most part the challenge is now more about seeing how drivers/teams can adapt to changing track conditions rather then a proper wet weather challenge.

now imagine if you could have a wet track in a controlled fashion (say at a Paul Ricard) where everyone is set up for it and the track can handle it.

we would get at least one guaranteed wet race a year so we could see how the drivers do. effectively giving us a proper challenge while maximizing safety...win win no?

plus the added benefit of attending a race live and being able to sit out in the sun and while enjoying a wet race. not having to sit there for a couple of hours in your own wet underwear is a ticket i would pay for.!

[Richard C]

Originally Posted by chillibowl

now imagine if you could have a wet track in a controlled fashion (say at a Paul Ricard) where everyone is set up for it and the track can handle it.

What you are really saying is to significantly reduce the grip levels. With spraying the track with water to accomplish this. Two thoughts...

1. I think the variability of what we see today is cars optimized for dry, running in the wet. If this was to be a regular thing, then cars would be designed toward that goal (wet running) and we would mostly be back to where are today in that the performance may coalesce.

2. This might be contrary to #1 above, but just focus on grip reduction via the car and not the track? But I know many (and I am sometimes in this camp) that the solution is to focus on increased mechanical grip and reduce aero grip.

Richard

[BSchneiderFan]

I don’t want any artificial factors to “spice up” the action. You wouldn’t release a lion on to the pitch in a football match to make things more exciting. Whoever said address the cause, not the symptom had it dead right.

[Akrapovic]

Originally Posted by BSchneiderFan

I don’t want any artificial factors to “spice up” the action. You wouldn’t release a lion on to the pitch in a football match to make things more exciting. Whoever said address the cause, not the symptom had it dead right.

I'd watch the hell out of that.

[Compromised]

Any safety car (entertainment or genuine) taints the "purity" of a race.

Strategies are designed with green conditions in mind - SC considerations are built in, but very ancillary. Once the SC comes out the race becomes more of a game of Texas hold em - the winner will still require substantial skill, but also elements of luck, more so than a normal race.

Odd when the call SC and when they call VSC, eh?

[JHamilton]

You wouldn't want to go down this road. Full course cautions are more prevalent in the US because of different procedures that are formed by insurance. Contrived or "competition" cautions need to be eradicated from all forms of motorsport.

The biggest thing I see around European racing in general that could improve the show is the "culture" around blocking. This is purely conjecture, but I don't think some of the moves I saw yesterday would be tolerated on this side of the pond.

[Richard C]

Originally Posted by Akrapovic

I'd watch the hell out of that.

I agree!

Richard

[S griffin]

Rain and SCs only work as they happen naturally and therefore aren’t always expected to happen when they do. Sprinklers and competition SC would therefore take some of that away

[Adam43]

OT.

Originally Posted by Compromised

Odd when the call SC and when they call VSC, eh?

It depends on the incident. Typically for things on the track it will need a full SC as the marshals need a big gap with no cars. Things that are off the actual track could be dealt with a VSC as the main reason for a VSC is to make sure everyone is travelling at a safe speed with no chance of crashing, even if you are Grosjean and Ericsson is no where near you.

[Skam85]

As much as the sprinklers on track sounds cool and would be fun to watch, it would never happen. Should a driver crash due to lack of grip and suffer an injury or worse, it would be a horrible look for the sport.