Wednesday, May 13, 2015

Helio Castroneves Flips Car During Practice At Indianapolis Motor Speedway

Are the new Indy cars safe to drive?

6 comments:

Anonymous said...

like an airplane, aero balance keeps these cars on the ground. Take the airplane. landing with a headwind is good. Landing with a tailwind is disaster.

Youtube is full of cars doing "blowovers", not just Indycars.

Sir Hailstone said...

My guess is Team Penske was testing various rear wing settings trying to find the ragged edge between speed and downforce. Hence the rear end wiggle when slowing for Turn 1 - less airflow, less downforce. Rear tires lose traction and the car comes around, the relative wind flows under the bodywork and the car flips over. I think the cars are quite safe - Helio was able to get out of the car, and I'm sure he was cracking jokes about it after he returned to the pits.

Gary R. Welsh said...

NASCAR has flaps that keep the car from lifting off the ground when it gets turned around. They've proven very effective at keeping the cars from going airborne. I'm not sure how the wings are designed on these cars to keep the car grounded when it gets turned around.

Sir Hailstone said...

NASCAR had a similar problem at the restrictor plate tracks the couple of years they experimented with that unadjustable rear wing. As soon as the car was turned around the wing would lift up the rear and get airborne. That among other reasons is why NASCAR went back to the single blade spoiler.

Maybe some blowout panels in the sidepods and top bodywork? So if air gets under the tub it can escape though the top and settle the car back down before it launches?

Anonymous said...

Why would anyone care if he flips his car? I mean, it's not like he is being forced to drive it.

Heck, the only way I might care even a little is if I was being forced to pay for the racetrack, his medical bills, or anything to do with the Indy 500.....Oh, my bad. Guess I just answered my own question.

Anonymous said...

"Safe" is a relative term at 225 mph. Super light weight cars designed to travel like missiles and this type of event is inevitable. BUT, driver walked away and that says alot about safety measures.