Motors The Official bit-tech F1 2012 Thread - Post season

Not really, that's not an "Official announcement" of a confirmed GP, it's a PR event hosted by Santander, a demonstration.

This isn't the first time a London GP has been attempted either, I reckon there's about as much chance of it happening this time as it did then... And for good reason, Silverstone's contract doesn't run out for years, we got Russia and Mexico looking to join the calender, the US jumping on the bandwagon this year and they would never be able to satisfy the noise and pollution restrictions.

 

Hmmm, that track looks utterly shite if I'm honest. Totally flat, and only 6 actual corners.

However...

 

Did they seriously include the track map as 450x250 mini image without high res version in that article ?

 

My mate jsut posted his 3-day pass for Monza on Facebook.
His spot is in 6A, which is at the turn in for turn 1... *sojealous*

 

A friend just sent me this, so I'd thought I'd share it here:



Although I noticed that it runs in "ludicrous speed" when viewed in Firefox but in IE seems a much gentler pace.

I could also do with a pause button!

Enjoy!

 

Embed vimeo video

Here's the video.

It is indeed epic.

 

Marussia test driver Maria De Villota has life threatening injuries after crashing during a straight run into a parked truck.

http://www1.skysports.com/formula-1/news/12433/7861387/De-Villota-injured-in-testing

 

I was going to make a "female drivers" joke but that's serious business.

Eyewitness reports are confusing. She was returning to the pits (I'm assuming quite slowly) and yet the crash hospitalized her? Some people said the car briefly accelerated before plowing into the parked truck but that still doesn't explain the severity of the injuries given that we've seen worse that drivers have walked away from.

 

Trucks often have large wheels, mostly solid and are mostly off the ground, but F1 cars are very low. Could have been the impact was not in areas where the force is naturally dissipated by the car.

 

Also I just read that her head took most of the hit, which makes the seriousness suddenly more logical - look at what happened to Massa when he took a arrow spring to the knee head.

 

Just read that she forgot to put the car in neutral and slipped her hand of the clutch just as she was coasting in.

OHS is trying to figure out why the lorry was there (at helmet height, so close to the makeshift pits etc).

 

This does not look encouraging. From the way that looks her head would have hit the solid bar at the rear of the truck



Looks like she's hit the tail-lift. I winced when I saw it.

 

Same, I hope she recovers fully and quickly.

According to this article she is conscious at least.
http://thef1times.com/news/display/06350#page_top

 

Paul Di Resta is no longer managed by Anthony Hamilton. Not sure if this good or bad, I just hope he doesn't screw around like Button did early on.

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/sport/mo...r-Anthony-Hamilton-on-eve-of-Silverstone.html

 

Maria de Villotia has lost an eye. Looks like her careers over, unfortunately. Hope she hasn't sustained any brain damage as well.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-cambridgeshire-18711127

 

Very sad news indeed

 

Lucky to be alive if her head sustained a large impact.

 

Wonder if she got unlucky and had the impact through the visor rather than the helmet. Would explain the injuries for a relatively low speed.

 

It could be that the visor shattered in the impact, but from the pictures I've seen the tail-lift was at perfect helmet height, which was the only thing to take the momentum of the car at the time of the accident.

The helmets are strong, but not designed to absorb that much energy by a pointy object, even high speed collisions they can only be designed for glancing blows, with the impact bodywork taking some of the force and deflecting it away. In this case it seems her head was the only thing to stop the car against the back of the truck once the crash structure at the front had done some work.

Either way, a real shame - she was apparently a highly talented lass who, although she was probably a bit too over the hill for an F1 drive, could easily have taken a seat in GP2 or other high-level series in the next 12-18 months.

 

Will Marussia have legal action taken against them for this? With the likelihood the injuries may go into many millions, surely it could spell trouble for their "budget" F1 team?