Veloce Raptor

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Professional Racing and Driving Coach

rusnak

Massa looks like a Werewolf from Hungary/Transylvania bit him in the face and then Frankenstein done sewed him up.

A.Wayne

Class act there Buddy ..............................

ltc

The only hockey player who needs 2 eyes is the goalie

Veloce Raptor

It was a joke, genius.





Professional Racing and Driving Coach

mdrums

Has anyone seen a picture of the damage to Massa's helmet yet?

I am wondering if it cracked or broke apart? When I was in my motorcycle wreck my helmet did not crack but the blunt force was enough to split the skin on my forhead.

A.Wayne

I was being sarcastic, Professor .................

ltc

No.
I am hoping/waiting for an FIA report. It is interesting to note that apart from the Schuberth helmets, the majority of the F1 grid wear the same helmet as anyone of us can purchase and wear (Arai GP5, Bell, etc)...a sobering thought.

Schuberth demonstrates/claims that their CF shell can withstand a tank driving over it.
In Felipe's accident, my guess is that the force of the impact resulted in complete compression of the foam padding, allowing the shell to impact his skull/orbital, resulting in the trauma.
But again, it's just a guess based on the 2 photos I have seen online of the hemet/visor post accident.

Ritter v4.0

Here is the pic posted here in the original thread about the accident. Frightening.

Sorry File is corrupted- go to Finn's post of 07-25-09

rusnak

Well ok, you asked for it.

Don't look if you are squeamish, or if you regularly drive at over 180mph in an open cockpit.

The foam has been compressed. I wonder if it would have been better to have a liner inside the helmet to help disperse the force of the impact? Will we see carbon fiber mesh or teflon liners like in bulletproof vests?

ew928

The shape of the cut above his left eye looks like the clear visor had bent in and hit is face after hitting the spring. Just my opinion.

Wonder if moving the visor mounting points further aft on the helmet may make a difference.

cmoss

Since we're all playing doctor...

I would think tha the force of the hit compressed the helment and liner violently enough to split the skin over the occipital lobe (<--knowledgeable doctor words) where the bone is prominent, and the skin is thin with little padding.

ew928

Would like to see the helmet innards post accident to see the foam crushage.

The cut is pretty far inboard from the opening of the helmet. That bothers me.

multi21

That's not entirely correct. Years ago, the FIA commissioned the "8860" helmet specifically for F1 use. The providers of helmets to F1 teams, Schuberth, Arai and Bell all have to comply with the "8860" standards and have done so since 2004.

Formula One is the only formula that the FIA mandates this helmet as the cost to produce, upwards of several thousand dollars, is cost prohibitive to lower formulas. The good news is that the costs are coming down to produce such as helmet.

In light of what happened to Felipe, I can imagine not only the FIA, but the helmet makers themselves are looking at how they can improve upon the 8860 design. It was a spring this time, and no doubt a freak accident, but it could have been some other part or part of a wall or tire, suspension, bird, almost anything.

Circuit Motorsports

Remember that he had surgery as well to repair some things in there. The picture of him being pulled out of the car doens't really show anything conclusive about a cut other than some blood and swelling.