Flying wheels..., a NO-NO safety situation !!!

[Speed]

From: F1-Live
"Walker(Ron Walker, Australian Grand Prix boss), who earlier stated that the incident was a one in a billion accident, has just told a press conference here in Australia that that cables designed to tether a car's wheels to the main body structure had broken on impact, resulting in a wheel breaking loose and hitting the marshal."


I saw this safety issue, and now is confirmed...
Do you know, if BAR was one of the four teams who failed crashing tests ?

[massifheed]

Oh please! Don't stir things up. The crash test failures were bodywork related. That has nothing to do with wheels flying off. The design of the tethers isn't working like it's supposed to but no one team is to blame, and to try and make the (tenuous) link that BAR would have failed a crash test is crazy. Stop trying to find someone to blame.

[Speed]

I´m Sorry to sound like I´m mixing things up... I was asking as a different question... sorry folks !.

But hey, it´s a fact ? flying wheel killed the Marshall, Am I wrong ???

[TeddyG]

I see what your saying Speed. I haven't been watching F1 for a very long time, does any one know when tire tethers were introduced into F1 and how well have they worked in the past? I may be mistaken but I think I have seen tires flying off cars in quite a few of the crashes I have seen in the past three years. Maybe they need to be looked at more closely and made stronger? It seems they are the main risk to spectators and race officials when accidents occur.

[Maximum F1]

Apparently the wheel that came off flew through an access hatch in the wire fencing...it was said by an australian GP official that it was a one in a billion chance! Thankfully the Malaysian GP which is relatively new is known as one of the safest and the organisers are already planning courses for Marshalls b4 it.
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Maximum F1

[Ralf's Girl]

Wheel tethers simply do not work. The introduction of double wheel tethers was announced as though it would actually have a noticeable effect on keeping wheels on the car in a crash. Only one race into the season, and we can already tell that this is not the case. This was an incredibly unexpected event (who would have thought that a wheel would fly through an access gap in the fence?), but nevertheless it is basically something that happened just six months ago in a crash situation.

Is there any way that wheels could really be kept successfully on a car? I doubt it.

To answer your question, TeddyG, wheel tethers were (I believe) introduced at the start of 1999 and double tethers were introduced this season. Clearly, and very sadly, they don't work.

[Wrex]

From Peter Wright, technical delegate for the FIA, (Autosport.com)

"It was just pure statistics with the amount of wheels bouncing around, that sooner or later one was going to hit something. At the end of the day the last driver to be killed in F1, Senna, was because of a wheel and suspension component. It's not unlucky, it's just statistical inevitability. If you look at a wheel separately, and the amount of energy stored in it, they're going to end up in places you can't stop them going unless you put a lid on it."

Wheel tethers can only sustain so much force, no matter how many you put on. But it's still better than nothing (look at TGF's crash from Friday)

[GURRYP]

Remember, whenever you either take part, or spectate at any motorsport in the UK you will always see signs with the words "MOTORSPORT IS DANGEROUS". This is no excuse for any complaincy on anyone's part, but at the end of the day if something goes wrong, there will always a chance that someone may get hurt.

I know the wheel tethers "failed" as the wheels did seperate from the car, but if they weren't fitted the wheels might have gone much further....

Another sad day for motorsport.

[Liz]

It is my thought that considering the physics of the racing car, there is nothing currently in existence that can hold wheels on the cars every time there is an accident. But putting these tethers on is at least working some of the time, and that is a good reason to have them there.

Motor racing is dangerous. So is everything else. Most people die in bed, but we are not going to stop going to bed, are we?

[Valve Bounce]

This was an exceptionally high impact accident and as a result all four wheels broke off. However, it is not appropriate to say that thethrs don't work, because in a different kind of accident where the suspension and shafts are sheared off, because the tethers are subjected to tensile forces they will hold the wheel. The double tethers do not make the situation more dangerous - its just that they only work under certain conditions.

[Speed]

Ok VB, thing is..., the Marshall can´t wait until a different kind of accident happens. That´s my point.

There´s always the right way to do things... more cables, different material, more supporting points.

It´s only Physics !, and testing.

I´m talking here about flying wheels, not flying parts (this is a more complex issue).

[Valve Bounce]

PLease don't go on at me about the marshal. I am upset enough as it is and I don't need you to tell me the marshal can't wait until a different kind of accident happens. He died because of very tragic circumstances, which has upset me greatly. If you could drag yourself to read my thread "A marshal was killed in the incident", you might gain some insight into how I felt, and still feel right now. You asked for a technical explanation, I gave you one. Tethers will save somebody in a different type of accident, maybe one of our drivers in F1. That was my point.

[Speed]

Sorry to be so tough on you, I know you are upset like me..., maybe my heart went beyond my mind. End of discussion, Ok.