Justin Wilson in coma after debris hits him in head (update - rip)

[rage2]

khXcB3cPynU

1:16 mark is where you see his head hit a flying nosecone, which sent it 60ft in the air. Was a passenger at that point and crashed into the wall. Airlifted to hospital, in coma. Watched it unfold this afternoon near the end of the race, reminds me of the Massa accident where the tiny spring to the head nearly killed him. Get well soon Justin.

[mikestypes]

Just finished watching the race. I don't think it will be a good outcome as the nose cone is a beefy piece to hit. Any idea what it weighs?

[cloud7]

I hope he pulls through but I agree that it is not looking good with a piece that big... He would have slowed down slightly because Sage Karam's crash would have brought out the yellows... but they are still going pretty quick and a nose cone is probably not light (probably a few pounds without the front wing). Hoping for good news.

As an aside, Tony Stewart has volunteered his private jet to fly the Wilson family to be at Justin's side. Great gesture.

[rage2]

RIP. :(

[vengie]

Wow, very tragic accident.

RIP

[GTS4tw]

Oh man. RIP. damn.

[lilmira]

RIP

[malbadon]

He was such a friendly guy and a great racer. Bah!

[cloud7]

Very sad news to hear the news... I feel sick to my stomach...sigh. RIP.

[jampack]

Just saw this. RIP :(

[rob the knob]

P7EFP_wr2fo

[spikerS]

:cry:

[diamondedge]

RIP Justin. Been a bad year for racing.

[lil*tymer]

Damn. RIP

[spikerS]

I have always wondered why they don't have a closed cockpit in F1, maybe this will be the event that calls for it.

[rage2]

I hope Karam doesn't take this personally, but it can't help with so much criticism towards his driving all year.

http://www.foxsports.com/motor/story/indycar-carpenter-rahal-rip-rookie-karam-after-iowa-speedway-showdown-071915


"I ripped his ass, too," Rahal said. "We can't drive like that. The kid doesn't respect anybody out there. He thinks he is better than everybody already and he is going to hurt somebody if he is driving like that. Ed looked calm compared to the way I thought he would be."

[killramos]

Originally posted by spikerS
I have always wondered why they don't have a closed cockpit in F1, maybe this will be the event that calls for it.

I feel like with the number of fires this would end up being way more dangerous. Such a small pod to be enclosed.

[bjstare]

Originally posted by spikerS
I have always wondered why they don't have a closed cockpit in F1, maybe this will be the event that calls for it.



Originally posted by killramos


I feel like with the number of fires this would end up being way more dangerous. Such a small pod to be enclosed.

Slight sidebar: Just FYI, Indycar =/= Formula 1


On topic - this is really too bad. Always sad when racing drivers/riders pass away.

[killramos]

^ I realize that but both mine, and spikerS point are valid in either sport.

[Zhao Kan]

I put an open wheel car into a cement wall and that accident didn’t phase me one bit… if anything it made me push harder on the track.

But this is something entirely different. Pretty freak accident that it’s parts of his car that hit him, but I’ve always secretly wondered why there hasn’t been more driver head hits in open wheel incidents. There is really nothing preventing something from coming at your head, and at least with me, there is zero chance of hunkering down in the cockpit.

I’m undecided if anything should be changed though. It’s only a few incidents in the last decade that this has been a problem, and 2 of them happened on ovals, which imo is the most ballsy place to take an open wheel car……. well, excluding a hillclimb/rally.

[speedog]

This is actually a great discussion to be having - that is, whether or not to enclose the cockpits on open wheel race cars.

I used to be of the belief that the cockpit should be left open as a sort of tie back to history but looking at things more closely, I now believe there is some merit to consider moving to a closed cockpit. Hell, they'd still be open wheel race cars but just minus the open cockpit. Visibility probably wouldn't be reduce that much and fire, well there really haven't been any fire related open cockpit related deaths or even incidents in recent memory but I could be wrong on that. But even with the fire thing, just put in on-board fire suppression.

I look at it this way, even the two noted deaths in open wheel racing mentioned In this thread are two that didn't have to happen but did. Take note of the HANS device - you pretty much see it in every form of motorsport now - even drag racing and speed boat racing. What is unfortunate is it took a very innocent looking crash that killed one of stock racing's best to bring about such change and a change that has been embraced almost universally now. Window nets on stock cars - didn't come about until Richard Petty almost knocked his helmeted noggin on the ground in a bad accident.

Maybe some serious thought should be given to enclosing cockpits, maybe it's about time. Numerous racers pissed and moaned about the HANS device in the beginning but I believe they've all realized that the possible benefits far outweigh any of the possible negatives they were bitching about.

[rage2]

F1 has been testing closed cockpits for a couple of years now. Autosport published an article about it today, with Whiting saying it's not a matter of if, but a matter of when we'll see closed cockpits.

After that it's a matter of trickle down to other open wheel series. I believe F1 is the only series that's testing such a concept.

edit - this is the new Mercedes concept being tested next month.

http://cdn-0.motorsport.com/static/img/amp/600000/630000/638000/638400/638450/s6_523790/f1-fia-to-carry-out-closed-cockpit-tests-2015-fia-to-carry-out-closed-cockpit-tests.jpg

Driver protection, easy extraction in an accident, aero benefit. Only problem is that it's ugly as fuck.

[JustinL]

Originally posted by speedog
Visibility probably wouldn't be reduce that much and fire, well there really haven't been any fire related open cockpit related deaths or even incidents in recent memory but I could be wrong on that. But even with the fire thing, just put in on-board fire suppression.


The only fires that I can remember in open wheel cockpits came from an outside source. Tony Kanaan in Edmonton (I saw that one in person), Kimi Raikonen, Felipe Massa, etc. all seem to be fueling splash related. I wonder if a canopy might even add a little fire protection in these cases. All the rest of the fires in open wheel cars originate behind the driver and they look for the red F, pop the belts and bail out to watch it burn.

http://www.edmontonjournal.com/cms/binary/1831562.jpg

[EK 2.0]

Originally posted by rage2


Driver protection, easy extraction in an accident, aero benefit. Only problem is that it's ugly as fuck.


And more real estate for sponsors....

But yes quite ugly.

[cloud7]

According to his brother's tweet, it looks like Justin's organs went toward saving 6 lives today. Very inspiring. Full of respect for the guy.

[spikerS]

:thumbsup:

[Sugarphreak]

...

[malbadon]

Article talking about canopies on ESPN is good.
http://www.espn.co.uk/f1/story/_/id/13514509/closed-cockpits-not-simple-solution

Basically touches on the dangers of solving one problem to increase another, which is speed of driver extraction. Hinch is only still with us because of how fast they were able to extract him.
The canopy needs to be quickly removable in an accident not only by the driver but by any half trained volunteer marshal or flag person on the track.
If a side impact accident like Hinch's twists the chassis causing the canopy to become jammed, you've solved one problem but created another.

The rear tire pods in Indycar is another example, stopped guys from launching into the air over top of each other but turned the tracks into debris fields.

As far as that fugly Mercedes thing goes, great for a wheel, wouldn't have stopped Massa's spring.

In the end the sport is dangerous, you can reduce the danger up to a point but it is still dangerous.
The guys would be way safer in full bodied cars doing 40mph less as well, but then they'd be stock car racing.

[phreezee]

In tribute: http://www.ibtimes.co.uk/indy-cars-cross-golden-gate-bridge-honour-justin-wilson-1517521

GPaUuAalCk4