Veloce Raptor

http://www.gpupdate.net/en/f1-news/2...ubber-bullets/

John H

I wondered about that. I know what my car looks like after a club race weekend. I can't imagine taking one of those pellets to the face shield.

Veloce Raptor

The implication here is that these pieces of klag are muuch harder & more solid (and thus more dangerous) with Pirelli rubber than with Bridgestone.

Chads996

I once had a small marble sized piece of rubber sneak in and hit my cheek (just unde my left eye) while at speed on a straight. Snuck through the window, through my visor (full face with the shield 1/2 open) and smacked me. Damn thing hurt so much, I had to pull into the pits. I can only imagine what those bits feel like at the rate the F1 cars are traveling.

C.

Veloce Raptor

As an aside, it still cracks me up when I see folks wearing open faced helmets in DE's, even instructors. Ay ay ay...

Scootin159

FWIW - while flagging at the track last year I was hit with marbles a few times. They sting, but unless one hit you in the eye, I don't see how they could really be a safety concern.

Veloce Raptor

Are you serious???

You were stationary. Imagine if your face was 6" above the track, traveling at 200 mph, and one of these projectiles hit you in the throat.

multi21

At 200 MPH I don't care where it hits you it's not safe. If u look at the track during the last race, the "chunks" of rubber were really large and numerous. And just think about it for a moment, these drivers are getting hit repeatedly lap after lap for 1
5 hours straight.

ubercooper

Normally I would say Vettel should take a look a his paycheck and stop whining but....

200mph=293 feet per second

Thats the velocity of a paintball.. Anyone whos been shot with one of those suckers knows it hurts, especially if your trying to drive a Formula car too.


I'd say you've fallen out of your car

Scootin159

I'll give it to ya that it's not quite the same scenerio, but it's all about relative velocities. If the rubber chunk is moving forward at 150mph, and you're driving 200mph - it's really only a 50mph impact. However if it's moving forward at 150mph and you're stationary, it's hitting you at 150mph. I really have no idea at what speed they travel at, but I do know that the most common scenerio for us to be hit with them is when they get kicked up by a front splitter or when they're thrown up by a rear tire. In both cases they're inevitably moving forward when they hit you, and seem to be traveling at close to the speed of the vehicle that threw them up.

Bob Rouleau

A side effect of the FIA mandated tires it seems. Unintended consequences!

Nizer

Between that and the lack of on-site air traffic controllers....

Formula One: Vitaly Petrov Describes Crash in Malaysia
2011-04-14 14:11:41.21 GMT


By BRAD SPURGEON
April 14 (New York Times) -- SHANGHAI - Vitaly Petrov of the
Renault team described on Thursday some of the frightening powers
that can be unleashed while driving at speed in Formula One --
especially during a crash.
Petrov placed third in the Australian Grand Prix, finishing
on the podium for the first time. At the race last Sunday in
Malaysia, he crashed out with a horrendous thud as he went
airborne over a curb. When he landed, the steering wheel column
broke and, unable to steer, he hurtled off the track.
"I was just disappointed, I had nothing painful," Petrov
said Thursday in the paddock in Shanghai in preparation for the
Chinese Grand Prix on Sunday. "I knew I would hit the curb, but I
didn't expect to fly. I was lucky that my car went straight and
not to the left or the right, because if it had gone right I
would have crashed a lot harder."
When asked if the team would do something to reinforce the
steering wheel, Eric Boullier, director at Renault Formula One,
said no, the problem was not a weak steering wheel. He said the
team had determined that the car hit the pavement when it landed
with the force of about 30 Gs, or 30 times the force of gravity.
Petrov had another problem that fans could not see on
television. He described how the little ***** of rubber that fly
off the treads of the cars in front and that litter the track
become projectiles flying at the driver throughout the race.
"I think I received quite a lot from Ferrari, and it even
comes straight into your visor," said said. "I think I had three
or four shots. And off the racing line it is a disaster. If it
hit your hand it would definitely hurt, but it depends how big it
is and how fast."
Who says Formula One racing is safe!?

Copyright 2011 The New York Times Company

-0- Apr/14/2011 14:13 GMT

Seth Thomas

We had a ball of rubber shatter the windshield of the #78 GS M3 this year. This was at Homestead Raceway after one of the Rolex practice sessions. The Rolex cars and the CTSCC cars were leaving a lot of rubber on the track during those hot afternoon sessions. As the rubber chunks build up off line and a car drives through picking them up more gets added to the chuck. They become like snowballs going down a hill. This chunk was huge that hit the windshield putting a baseball size dent in a windshield covered with 3 layers of tear-off.

So I can empathize with the F1 drivers as far as getting hit with those things.

TrackDays247.com

Take a look at the amt collected under an ALMS car....it is unbelievable. Baseball / softball size.

My993C2

As much as I enjoy F1, you have to question what kind of Kool Aid the governing body has been consuming. They tell Pirelli "We want you to purposely make us crappy tires" and what is the result? The tracks aren't rubbering in, and now rubber klag bullets are being hurled off to the sides of the driving line. Soon Marshals will need to be wearing body armor to protect themselves. The dirty line was always dirty before, but it is even worse now with ball bearing like rubber debris littering the track.