Safety car speed

andy666 · 28 Feb 2012, 00:34 (Ref:3032194)

A question for you brainy people , Is there a min or maximum speed the safety car has to drive at when leading the pack ? The reason i ask is i watched the Senna movie again at the weekend (sorry i know this has probably been done to death on here)and the SC i think was an Opel Vectra GSI . I have done a bit of research and never really found a definitive reason for the crash (conspiracy theories a side , like the sniper in the trees !) but one was the tyres loosing temp and the car bottoming out. In the movie you see Senna accelerate out of a corner obviously trying to get some heat in the tyres and he overtakes the SC and then gestures for the SC to pass him . So was the SC not powerful enough or not being driven fast enough ?

**Born Racer** · 28 Feb 2012, 00:36 (Ref:3032195)

The thing I don't get about that theory to do with the SC (which many have posited) is that he did a lap at racing speed before the accident. Would the tyres not have been up to optimum or near enough optimum temperature?

JeremySmith · 28 Feb 2012, 00:43 (Ref:3032198)

I watched the Senna movie again at the weekend as well and the very same thing struck me about the safety car which in that case did not look like it had the steam to lead anything..

I think safety car speed these days is around 80-100 MPH..

bludvl_x19 · 28 Feb 2012, 00:50 (Ref:3032201)

Quote:

Originally Posted by Bernd Maylander

During a safety car phase, safety is the most important element; however, I still need to maintain a certain level of speed.

“This is so the race cars do not overheat from the lack of cooling air or that their tyre pressure does not decrease. The teams also have an impact on the velocity.

“They inform Race Control if they want me to speed up or slow down. I tend to drive at my limit during the safety car phase. However, for the Formula One drivers 280 km/h is quite slow. Just to give an example, a Formula One race car is on average 35 to 55 seconds faster with every lap it completes, depending on the length of the track. This means that a Formula One car can overtake the safety car every three laps. It is incredible how fast these cars are.

http://www.formula1.com/inside_f1/sa...iver/7430.html

andy666 · 28 Feb 2012, 00:55 (Ref:3032203)

Quote:

Originally Posted by JeremySmith

I watched the Senna movie again at the weekend as well and the very same thing struck me about the safety car which in that case did not look like it had the steam to lead anything..

I think safety car speed these days is around 80-100 MPH..

A couple of scenes it only looked like about 40-50 mph !!

JeremySmith · 28 Feb 2012, 00:59 (Ref:3032205)

Indeed, Senna must have been thinking, What is this pile of junk trying to do ?

**Bononi** · 28 Feb 2012, 01:31 (Ref:3032218)

Oh those days...

JeremySmith · 28 Feb 2012, 01:36 (Ref:3032219)

Truly wonderful, just wonderful ....

Kempi · 28 Feb 2012, 06:31 (Ref:3032284)

The safety car was new that season (iirc) and not yet the same (sporty) car at every track. The topic of safety in particular due to low tire pressure because of the slow speed of the safety car was addressed before the race. It seemed a selffulfilling prophecy, however I agree with Born Racer that it cannot be the (only) reason as they had a lap at racing speed already which means the tires should have warmed up some.

andy666 · 28 Feb 2012, 07:58 (Ref:3032296)

Quote:

Originally Posted by Kempi

The safety car was new that season (iirc) and not yet the same (sporty) car at every track. The topic of safety in particular due to low tire pressure because of the slow speed of the safety car was addressed before the race. It seemed a selffulfilling prophecy, however I agree with Born Racer that it cannot be the (only) reason as they had a lap at racing speed already which means the tires should have warmed up some.

I think you are right about the SC being new and the tyres approaching temp , but how quickly would the tyres have lost temp due to the low speed ?

Peat · 28 Feb 2012, 09:24 (Ref:3032324)

The whole Senna/safety car thing stemmed from the fact that it was one of the first times a SC was used and there were no real protocol's in place.

Senna felt the SC was going too slow so was trying to back-up to make space so he could have a squirt through a corner to try and maintain some heat. Problem was, the SC driver saw Senna slowing and would slow aswell (maybe thinking that he was going too fast). That's when Senna was getting up alongside and waving at him to speed up. Majorly frustrating i imagine!

Anyway, as you all saw, a full lap had passed. They had been through Tamburello flat-out (with lots of sparks mind...) a lap prior to the crash so i find it hard to accept that it was a primary cause.

Now, the SC drives pretty much flat-out. You can hear the tyres squealing bl00dy murder when it's on track!

**garcon** · 28 Feb 2012, 09:30 (Ref:3032327)

Not much problem with the latest AMGs keeping a decent pace. They sound better than the F1 cars too.

In fact, the issue more recently, on at least a couple of occasions, has been the pack being unable to keep up with the safety car in the wet...

TrueBlueFlyer · 5 Mar 2012, 10:39 (Ref:3035286)

quite a few pix on the internet of the AMG safety car sliding off the track...

Sodemo · 5 Mar 2012, 22:53 (Ref:3035681)

Quote:

Originally Posted by Born Racer

The thing I don't get about that theory to do with the SC (which many have posited) is that he did a lap at racing speed before the accident. Would the tyres not have been up to optimum or near enough optimum temperature?

Yep. I often think that, and I think its something which people overlook. He had already done a racing lap before the accident. Tyres would have been near enough there.

Pingguest · 7 Mar 2012, 10:04 (Ref:3036423)

As Bernd Maylander said, in the Safety Car he drivers at the limit. Because of that, the FIA always have a second Safety Car standing by. It is certainly not unforeseeable, that the Safety Car could spin, leave the track and/or crash.
Another reason for the second Safety Car is fuel mileage. Recently, the Safety Car almost ran out of fuel twice. The first occasion being the 2007 Japanese Grand Prix and the second occasion being the 2011 Canadian Grand Prix.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Kempi

The safety car was new that season (iirc) and not yet the same (sporty) car at every track. The topic of safety in particular due to low tire pressure because of the slow speed of the safety car was addressed before the race. It seemed a selffulfilling prophecy, however I agree with Born Racer that it cannot be the (only) reason as they had a lap at racing speed already which means the tires should have warmed up some.

In modern Formula 1 the Safety Car was introduced in 1993 and first used during that year's Brazilian Grand Prix due to heavy rain.

Catingaround · 8 Mar 2012, 02:02 (Ref:3036779)

They are chucking it around these days, I think I saw that the SC car wasn't that far off the Nationwide Series (NASCAR) wet lap times in Canada this year

There are some good stories about the following medical car in Professor Sid Watkins book, with top drivers tearing after the field at the starts.

Truenorth · 8 Mar 2012, 02:43 (Ref:3036790)

Wasn't that Maylander in the Safety Car coming in second at the Bathgate 12hrs?

We certainly don't want the Camry Pace Car from the Daytona 500!

Truenorth · 12 Mar 2012, 00:09 (Ref:3038577)

GO! go! go!

http://americanlemans.com/blog/safet...lms-safety-car

**Bononi** · 12 Mar 2012, 13:07 (Ref:3038792)

Nice one !

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