Formula 1 - too dangerous - what pish.

[Olazz]

After Jules Bianchi's accident last week, Formula 1 has become too dangerous and the drivers are up in arms about safety.

What codswallop from these overpaid and pampered Primadonnas!!

They live superstar lifestyles, racing around glamorous cities, get paid a fortune for enjoying their hobby and now want it to be a risk-free environment, where no one gets hurt. Oh, if someone drives off the track and does get hurt, lets have a public enquiry and apportion blame! Because someone is surely at fault for not protecting them and looking after them so they don't get hurt.

Nikki Lauda was asked his views on the very young Verstappen coming into F1 and being able to drive these cars. He scoffed and responded that they are not really F1 cars any more but, glorified F3 cars which is why these 16yr olds can drive them.

Bring back big tyres, 1200hp and no driver aids... said he, those were proper F1 cars.

Nobody wants to see a driver hurt or killed, but if you decide on your own volition to climb into a 200+mph race car, knowing you will have to drive in all conditions, whilst getting paid a handsome sum to so do, then don't whine about how terrible your life is and how it isn't safe enough for you to enjoy.

Whilst enjoying your seat in the cockpit, you are being given instruction on how to improve your lap times, the team relaying telemetry, to tell you when to adjust your brake balance, ease up on tyre wear, use less fuel, use more battery, brake later into corner, accelerate faster, how fast your competitors are driving etc etc etc, whilst you whinge and whimper that your team mate won't let you past, or a competitor blocked you a little, or your pit crew was 2/10th too slow!

Enclosed cockpits for F1 cars ... what next, FFS?

Harden the fcuk up say I, or get out of the sport.

 

[Marius De Kock]

+1000000

 

[frank rabbets]

Whatever happened to the "thrills and spills" of motor racing. The glory and tragedy were all part of the parcel. We don't want to see death but part of our human condition is fulfilled when we do.

My dad used to go to the GP's in the 30's, 40's and 50's when you had to stand beside the racetrack behind a rope about 20ft away from the tarmac. The cars were just as fast before the war as they are now on skinny little cross ply tyres and no proper brakes. That's proper entertainment.

 

[Philip A]

I noticed that Williams has a woman on the top echelons of the team. Maybe she's the only one, maybe not... But one thing is sure: women and men are not wired the same way. Men enjoy taking risks, women cringe at the idea of someone gettin hurt.

if you want to sissify F1, just put more women in charge...

There are sports where you put your life on the line. You take calculated risks, you try to minimize them, but ultimately serious injury and death are part of the game.

When a climber ties his shoes before the last push to the summit of an 8000m peak, he's not sure that he'll make it back. When a hunter follows a wounded buffalo in thick bush, chances are that this will be the buffalo's day. When fighter pilots train on the edge of their and their planes capabilities, sometimes they go beyond that thin edge, and end up dead.

That's life, and that's where you sort men from kids. Sorry ladies and metrosexuals... Risk-less F1? Buy yourself a PlayStation...

 

[TonyP]

Kids these days..... pah!

 

[Shayne]

I believe the Isle of Man TT Races has the highest rate of fatality in any sport throughout the world . The Government is hell bent on making it safer , spectators can no longer stand wherever they choose and the course which is a public highway is better surfaced than Brand's Hatch , as a result lap records are broken every year because the course is now faster which means more dangerous . When Carl Fogarty won his first TT he said the race is suicide , i can't remember how many more TT cups he won 3 or 4 i think . Because that's what they do , that's what makes them elite , the world's best need greater challenges than the rest .

 

[Towpack]

There was a program on recently (been on a few times) called, Grand Prix The Killer Years, which is the story of F1 from the late 50's right up to the early 80's. Don't know if anyone on here saw it but the death toll in the early days was horrendous with several deaths it seemed every year but the driver's just (had to) accept it until Jackie Stewart, prompted by his crash at Spa in '66 and the farcical attempts to get him to medical attention, began his lifelong crusade for improvements in safety. He was ostracised by many at the time, some drivers amongst them, for whingeing and 'detracting from the sport'. I think the attitude to the sport back then and the risk of death was completely different to today. Certainly wouldn't wish those conditions back on the drivers of today but I think there has to be a line drawn somewhere, past which you have to accept there is a real risk of fatality. One thing I certainly would like to see is a return to manual stick shift gearboxes with far less electronics and lets see who can really drive!!

As for the TT, there's precious little that can be done, above what already exists, to make it any safer IMO. You can maybe stick a few more straw bales round the place but the bottom line is it's a street circuit with street furniture and no run off areas or any of the other niceties of a short circuit. The previously twisty and tree shrouded Quarry Bends section of the course was greatly improved in 1987 with tree removal, straightening and resurfacing but it just meant the riders could go through faster. Indeed, experienced rider Steve Henshaw died in a accident at Quarry Bends only 2 years later. Riders accept that racing there is a different ball game to short circuit stuff and get on with it, unlike the current F1 car fraternity it seems. A different breed maybe. JMO

 

[1self]

I have seen that Doc. Was really amazing to see those guys have to deal with the day to day reality that they might not make it back in one piece. I can't remember the stats but was it something like you had a 1 in 3 chance of having a fatal injury per race!
I especially remember the part where Jackie Stewart had to tape a spanner to his steering wheel so next time he could undo it himself and get himself out of the car.

I to would like to see manual gear shifts back. Maybe even refuelling. The fact that they are even talking about having an enclosed cockpit seems very bizarre as F1 is a sport that is open cockpit and should remain that way for ages to come.

Have you seen the amateur footage of the crash from Japan? It is truly horrible and I would never wish to see anything like that again. Lesson learnt, safety car needs to be introduced quicker than it was. It took them a long time to get Sutils car off the circuit and that should have been a sign to stop things earlier.

In terms of doc's I am looking forward to this,

http://vimeo.com/108230034

Lets hope for all that they don't go and ruin F1 even further!

 

[yogi]

I noticed that Williams has a woman on the top echelons of the team. Maybe she's the only one, maybe not... But one thing is sure: women and men are not wired the same way. Men enjoy taking risks, women cringe at the idea of someone gettin hurt.

if you want to sissify F1, just put more women in charge...

There are sports where you put your life on the line. You take calculated risks, you try to minimize them, but ultimately serious injury and death are part of the game.

When a climber ties his shoes before the last push to the summit of an 8000m peak, he's not sure that he'll make it back. When a hunter follows a wounded buffalo in thick bush, chances are that this will be the buffalo's day. When fighter pilots train on the edge of their and their planes capabilities, sometimes they go beyond that thin edge, and end up dead.

That's life, and that's where you sort men from kids. Sorry ladies and metrosexuals... Risk-less F1? Buy yourself a PlayStation...

 

[moggy1968]

If you crash under waved yellows, your driving recklessly, whatever the conditions.
Motorsport is dangerous. risk should be mitigated, but it cannot be removed entirely.

 

[clivehorridge]

+ several for all said above.

I remember the 70s best, when we used to go to Mallory Park every Saturday. It was always a treat when there was saloon car racing with my favourite driver Gerry Marshall in the DTV Firenza.

We would rush to devil's elbow to watch him lift the rear n/s wheel (many times the front n/s too) as he peeled off the dropping left hander to position himself down the bridge straight.

Always sideways to some extent, pushing the car to the limit, which is what racing should be about.

It seems that F1 these days is almost all computer controlled and driver aided to the extent that drivers don't drive any more.

RIP Gerry, you gave thousands a lot of pleasure with your 'shit-or-bust' approach and you really were one of the finest and most consistent drivers of your time (for the best part of 40 years I would guess).

 

[moggy1968]

talking of how soft racing is these days, they were talking at the weekend how slim the drivers are nowadays (unhealthily so, personally I think there should be a minimum weight and you carry ballast if your under it) then Mansell came on for an interview, fuck me the size of his neck!!! it's still feckin mahoosive

 

[frank rabbets]

Jackie Stewart recalled a certain dip on a racetrack where the downward G force was so strong he could not lift his foot off the throttle pedal to brake for the bend ahead. And that amazing footage of Colin Chapman standing at the side of his wrecked F1 car after a first test dive with an engine in the back "the fuckin bell housings broken in half". .

 

[moggy1968]

although, if we're talking pure balls, what about from the modern era Webber overtaking Alonso round the outside of Eau rouge, feckin mental!!

 

[Shayne]

When we were kids my mates dad was a sidecar passenger in the races , for months after every race his nose bled and he coughed up blood , he used to joke that coughing it up was better than farting it out , even as youngsters we weren't fooled into thinking it was a joke .

 

[clivehorridge]

although, if we're talking pure balls, what about from the modern era Webber overtaking Alonso round the outside of Eau rouge, feckin mental!!

Like this?

 

[moggy1968]

this one shows it better

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8sYtKMVwoMU

I remember Coulthard laughing in amazement, saying he had to look away!

 

[frank rabbets]

I've just watched "breakfast" on the beeb. There was an article on electric racing cars and their development. Over 50% of the people involved are women. Well they like electric things....ironing boards, hoovers, washing machines............

 

[Shayne]

I've just watched "breakfast" on the beeb. There was an article on electric racing cars and their development. Over 50% of the people involved are women. Well they like electric things....ironing boards, hoovers, washing machines............

 

[moggy1968]

I've just watched "breakfast" on the beeb. There was an article on electric racing cars and their development. Over 50% of the people involved are women. Well they like electric things....ironing boards, hoovers, washing machines............

fuck me, how much more politically correct do they want to make it!!

I heard one of the front running cars is driven by an overweight disabled black lesbian dwarf