MOTORSPORT: Safety focus after IndyCar fatality

IndyCar is scrambling to work out how to make its racing safer in the wake of British driver Justin Wilson’s death.

Wilson suffered a severe head injury when the flying nose of American Sage Karam’s crashed car struck his helmet towards the end of a race at Pocono raceway in Pennsylvania.

The IndyCar series ends this weekend at Sonoma in California – a road course much safer than the triangular speedway where Wilson was injured, little more than a day before he was pronounced dead, or the Las Vegas oval where fellow Brit and dual Indianapolis 500 winner Dan Wheldon was horrifyingly killed four years ago.

The focus in making IndyCars safer will be on tethering the nose cones and perhaps other bodywork, to try to prevent parts flying loose in crashes, and perhaps on cockpit canopies for the traditionally open-top, single-seat, open-wheelers.

Formula 1 is looking again at transparent canopies in the wake of last year’s Japanese Grand Prix crash that ultimately claimed the life of Frenchman Jules Bianchi, also from severe head injuries.
IndyCar may need to bring forward its new-generation Dallara cars scheduled for introduction in 2018, with more advanced safety measures than envisaged.

Among the safety concerns have been a string of high-speed airborne crashes at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway in May, largely blamed on aerodynamic kits fitted this year on the Chevrolet and Honda-powered cars.

Wilson, 37, who leaves a wife and two young daughters, was well-known to Australian fans, having made his F1 debut in Melbourne in 2003 with Paul Stoddart’s Minardi team, raced Indy cars at the Gold Coast and co-driving a V8 Supercar there with Greg Murphy.

Wilson was a rarity as a race driver – 193cm tall, dyslexic, he sold shares in himself to get into F1 and was unfailingly polite and humble.

He beat Mark Webber to the 2001 Formula 3000 title in Europe and then they were briefly Jaguar F1 teammates in the second half of 2003.

Nine-time Grand Prix winner Webber, preparing for a World Endurance Championship sports car race at Nurburgring in Germany this weekend, tweeted after hearing of Wilson’s death: “Last night a very good man left us. Mate. So Sorry. RIP Justin. My thoughts are with your loved ones.”

Australia’s reigning IndyCar champion Will Power tweeted: “So distraught to hear the news. He was such a fantastic human being and will be dearly missed.”

Over 12 years Wilson drove 174 events in the American-based Indy racing, winning seven times without ever being in the powerhouse Roger Penske or Chip Ganassi teams.

He was runner-up to Frenchman Sebastien Bourdais in 2006 and ’07 in what was then known as the Champ Car series.

This year he had a part-time drive with Andretti Autosport.

The legendary Mario Andretti, father of team principal Michael Andretti, said he was sure the issues arising from the fatality were “going to be addressed vigorously”.

One of his Wilson’s teammates, American Ryan Hunter-Reay, won the fateful Pocono race but the victory presentations were muted.

“These cars are inherently dangerous with the open cockpit, head exposed,” Hunter-Reay said.

“Maybe in the future we can work toward some type of canopy. We’ve seen some concept renderings of something that resembles a canopy. Not a full jet-fighter canopy, but something that can give us a little protection but keep the tradition of the sport.

“There’s been some renderings of almost like a boomerang-looking device in front of the driver that wouldn’t block the vision but would deflect something like this (flying bodywork hitting a driver’s helmet).

“It’s only natural that when there’s a situation like this, a dire situation, it breeds innovation.”